Classic teachings on riches, avarice, and contentment Being financially successful doesn't always depend on your knowledge. It's all about your conduct. Not even extremely intelligent people can successfully educate behavior. It's generally accepted that managing money, investing it, and making business decisions need a great deal of mathematical computations, wherein data and formulas dictate our exact course of action. However, financial decisions are not made by individuals using spreadsheets in the actual world. They are made in a conference room or at the dinner table, when strange motivations, ego, pride, personal history, and your own perspective on the world are all mixed together.