Balance

How to Invest and Spend for Happiness, Health, and Wealth

By: Andrew Hallam

Narrated by: John Harrison Gass

Stop chasing money and start redefining success

Sure, money is important. And yes, it can make you happy—but only up to a point. The truth is, science has shown that we each have a set point that links our earnings with happiness; go beyond that point, and your happiness ceases to increase with income.

In this illuminating guide to living a financially healthier, and happier, life, bestselling author and financial journalist Andrew Hallam demonstrates how you can optimize your income for maximum happiness by investing responsibly and living according to your values. You’ll find tips for using robo investors, insights for investing in socially responsible funds, and how to craft a personal budget that aligns your spending with what you hold most dear.

Drawing on behavioural science, evidence-based investing, and environmental science, he shows you how to start framing success in a way that actually brings happiness, not stress, into your life—by balancing your money, connection, health, and purpose.

Whether you’re a broke teenager, a middle-aged millionaire or someone who hopes to retire on a shoestring, we all have one thing in common: we want to enjoy our lives. That means living better and laughing more. It means caring for the environment and helping our children to succeed—while defining “success” the way we really should

©2022 Andrew Hallam (P)2022 Andrew Hallam

Critic reviews

“Balance is one of the best personal finance books you’ll ever read—because it’s so much more than that. Andrew Hallam has written an insightful guide to spending and investing money, not to impress others but to build a life of satisfaction and significance." Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of When, Drive, and To Sell Is Human

“Decades ago, Andrew Tobias gave us The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need. It’s still a good read. But Balance, by Andrew Hallam, ups the game and takes us many steps further. Balance gives us a complete, modern context for the role of money and investing in our lives. Beneath a rich collection of anecdotes and stories, this short book provides a depth of research into the realities of investing and the errant relationship between money and happiness.” Scott Burns, personal finance columnist and creator of the Couch Potato Portfolio

“In Balance, Andrew Hallam describes what it means to be ‘successful.’ And it's not what you might expect. If you want a healthy mindset with respect to money, health, relationships and purpose, you'll learn a lot from this humorous, impressively researched book.” Leon Logothetis, bestselling author of The Kindness Diaries

Excellent book

An excellent book and a very useful one. This is the second book by Andrew Hallam that I’ve completed, and both were great. Highly recommended for anyone who is considering their financial future.

Great advice and primer.

Packs a lot of sage advice into a tiny package. Nothing ground breaking; just the practical stuff that people don’t think about or take for granted.

Review

I enjoyed the breadth of topics covered in the book. Some werre familiar and some were thought provoking.

Decent book into investing and spending

Practice gratitude, focus on relationships, accumulate experiences and not things, invest in low cost index mutual funds, eat less meat to help the environment, model sound behavior at home for children, contribute to your community. A couple of nice tidbits on children's college choices. There's nothing I'd argue with, but there wasn't much added to my knowledge set either. Also can be a bit dry.