Reddit mentions of The Automatic Millionaire: A Powerful One-Step Plan to Live and Finish Rich

Just so you know, DD is a bit ambiguous in finance land and I was confused (I thought you had automated your direct deposit ala The Automatic Millionaire). I figured it out from context though.

But yes, I agree that you can get most of the benefit for little work. In MMM's example, he considers reducing expenses to be increasing his quality of life, so I read his blog from that perspective.

Personally, I enjoy thinking about optimizing. I'm an engineer and I like to see how much fluff I can cut out without negatively impacting our happiness. My wife isn't the same way, so she keeps me in check. I'm not as hardcore as MMM, but I do bike to work, do most of my own home repairs and rarely eat out, and sometimes to my wife I might as well be MMM (she grew up in a high spending, low income family, I grew up in the opposite).

Don't cut anything that will make you less happy. I think we and MMM can agree on that. =)

For me it all started with checking out The Automatic Millionaire from the library. Started reading more library books about personal finance, and then snowballed from there.

The Millionaire Next Door changed my entire perspective on money and life. If you read no other PF book, read that one - it's an eye opener. Along the same lines, I'd recommend Your Money or Your Life. If you don't want to be really hands-on with your finances (I have a lot of friends like this) I usually recommend The Automatic Millionaire. It's got a infomercial-esque title, but in reality it's an easy read with really good ideas, particularly for the uninterested/inattentive.

As for investing, try The Boglehead's Guide to Investing. A lot of the info is free at the Boglehead Wiki.

For FREE reading, head over to The Simple Dollar and Get Rich Slowly. Both are incredibly useful websites with extensive archives on investing, frugality, debt, and all things personal finance. I read both every day!

(as an example, here's an article on the 25 Best Books About Money over at GRS.)

A lot of people like Dave Ramsey, but I don't recommend him very much. He's got good advice in there, but his books contain religious references that I feel are particularly useless in a personal finance guide.

Agreed - A Random Walk Down Wall Street is the best book out there.

Also, see The Automatic Millionaire. This is a convincing book as to why you need to start saving for retirement at a young age, and how every year you wait to start saving can result in tens of thousands lost at retirement. (Essentially - compound interest starts compounding hugely after 25 years).

Also, Fooled by Randomness is a classic as well about having a sophisticated approach to investing - e.g. how randomness fools individuals into thinking that they're actually controlling the market in investing...

12 years old, but I think it would still apply: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Wealth by Ric Edelman. Also, Automatic Millionaire by David Bach

I like these anecdotes that show the power of compound interest. Here is another from The Automatic Millionaire. I saw something like this in my early 20s, and being a math nerd, I've been compelled to max out my retirement contributions ever since. I'm now in my early 40s and have around $700k saved for retirement. The future is looking pretty sweet.

There's tons of great books and blogs on this topic. The most common phrasing of the ideas is Personal Finance.

This book and it's partner book "Smart Couples Finish Rich" helped me get started.

http://www.amazon.com/Automatic-Millionaire-Powerful-One-Step-Finish/dp/0767923820/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1