First, I feel like I was in the exact same place you were when I was 15, back in 1997. However, I didn't listen to my parents when they gave sound advice about saving and investing. Luckily, I managed to turn things around by the time I was about 25. Now, I've got over $200K invested and saved and my wife and I just got back from an eastern Europe road trip over the xmas break and didn't have to think twice about money. We still make a budget for everything and spend as little as we can.

Here are the 4 pillars of finance. They are all equally important and you need to know what part they all play.

• Banking
  
• Savings
  
• Budgeting
  
• Investing
  
  This book will be a great introduction for you. You can get it used on Amazon for $10, or better yet, try to find it at your local library, or your school library.
  
  When I was 15, I made minimum wage by working at a fast food restaurant, great way to get money. I usually spent all that money on taking my girlfriend out on dates to restaurants and movies, and on gas for the car and the car payment itself. It will be difficult, but staying single will save you a lot of money. Or, splitting the bill on dates will at least help. If you have to buy stuff, try to buy it used. The best way to accumulate money is to only spend it when you absolutely have to.
  
  
• You don't need an awesome car, just a cheap one that will get you around or a bike if your town is conducive. Take the bus, or car pool with friends as much as you can to save on gas.
  
• If you're out with friends, don't spend money if you don't have to, or at least only spend a little on cheap stuff, like just a cheeseburger and water, not the $8 value meal. Your friends may look at you weird now, but they'll look back on it later and see how smart you were.
  
• You don't need awesome clothes, so don't waste your money on that. Same goes for gadgets, or at least try to buy them used, only if you must have it.
  
• Stay home as long as your parents will allow, even in college if you can.
  
• Before you start investing, become familiar with investing. You can read all you want for free at Investopedia. They have great videos too. The Motley Fool is not a great place for beginners, but this page is ok. Seriously, don't read anything else on that website, it's mostly BS.
  
• I'm not trying to ruin your childhood with these suggestions, but there are tons of free things you can do with friends or inexpensive things. You don't have to spend money to have a good time.
  
• Ask your parents if there are things you can do around the house for allowance. Ask them if they will give you your week of lunch money up front and let you keep it, even if you spend it on bread and lunch meat and take a sandwich everyday. Save that left over money! DON'T spend it on crap foods and candy in vending machines. It's not "extra" money to waste, it all adds up.
  
  As you get older:
  
  
• Credit cards can deplete you of all your money, very fast. DO NOT GO INTO DEBT. If you do get a credit card, do not use it unless you have the money to pay it off right away. This will ruin your life, not kidding. No amount of rewards points or "cash back" is worth going into even $1 of debt. When I was 15, I couldn't get a cell phone plan unless I had good credit. However, they did let me get the account if I could pay a deposit of $150. Hopefully, your parents will do this for you though.
  
• If you don't get a scholarship and your parents can't pay for college, DO NOT GO INTO DEBT by taking out student loans. Go to a local state college or community college and try to pay your tuition with cash. You might miss out on some of the cultural aspects of a university, but you'll still get your education and I've never been turned down for a job because I went to a community college instead of an expensive university.
  
• Once you've read up on the basics of investing, read this book, you can get it used for under $5 or free at your local library.
  
• Another great book that taught me a ton about accumulating wealth is The Millionaire Next Door. It might not all make complete sense right now, but it will demystify what it really means to be rich.
  
  Wow, this post got a little long winded. I've got plenty of other advice information that I've learned over the years. I'll try to post it later when I get a chance. Last bit of advice, as for investing, take your time, don't be in a hurry. Make sure you know what you're doing before investing your money in anything. Good luck!
  
  Edit: I just read the bit about you living in Finland and having free school. Rock on! I'll leave the advice about student loans and community college for others.

Caution: Wall of text to follow.

Firstly, congrats on caring at a young age about your finances. That's something not a lot of people can say. With that being said I'll like to take each of your paragraphs in turn and answer your questions at the end.

NOTE: If you just want answers to your questions and not my advice skip ahead.

> While I believe that there are some truths behind "Money doesn't buy happiness", it is a lot easier to be happy knowing that you are well-off.

As a word to the wise from someone a little further down the road let me just say there is more truth than you yet realize in those 4 simple words. Many people don't come to see the truth till their old age looking back on a life filled with regret, so take some time now and seriously contemplate it, because the reality is in 85 very short years you'll likely be dead, and all you ever had will belong to someone else. If the only happiness you get in this life is seeing dollars in your bank account you'll miss out on a lot.

> The leading cause of divorces are because of financial issues. I mean, that has to speak for something.

In the vast majority of divorces it's not a lack of money that's the problem, it's a lack of agreeing on what to do with the money that is. Marriage can work below the poverty line, and above the 1% line. The financial issues of marriage aren't solved with just "more money!"

> I want to be able to support myself, other family members who aren't as well off, and be able to buy my kids (if I have them) a car, pay for their college funds, etc.

Supporting your own family is honorable, but beware when helping out "less fortunate" family members. There are many, many problems that can arise from that if not done properly, and enabling a family member will only make their situation worse, not help them.

> I don't want to be a doctor. Or a lawyer. . . . . who can bank at least a million in one year.

That is a very big dream, but it's not unrealistic. Big dreams are good, and as long as you can approach them level headed they help give you focus. I say that your dream is worthwhile, and although I caution against greed as it can destroy you and your life, there is nothing wrong with wanting to be a CEO making $1,000,000.

ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTIONS

> So tell me. Where do I start investing and also building my way up to becoming the CEO of a company?

You start right where you are. There is nothing stopping you from pursuing your dream now. Begin with learning. Learn what it takes to be a CEO, learn how other CEO's have done it, learn what your talents are. There will be much learning for you starting out.

I recommend the internet and a library card. Read a CEO's biography (it's as close as you'll come to getting to interview some CEO's). How is it that Donald Trump was able to go from rags to riches twice?! What would it take for you to do that? Learn all there is to learn about running a business, being a leader, and leading a successful venture.

> At what age?

NOW! Bill gates was already writing software and starting Microsoft at your age (not to say you're behind or anything like that.) There is no age limit on being a CEO, and there is certainly no age limit on learning and working hard.

> What majors in college should I be looking at?

This will be up to you and what you feel you would be good at. Do you want to be a CEO just to be a CEO, perhaps some business major then? Learn from other CEO's stories and what they majored in.

> And at what colleges?

Personally there is little impact based on what school you choose. There are CEO's that never went to college, and there are CEO's that went to Yale/Princeton.

The fact is it takes maybe $200 to start an LLC and call yourself a CEO, no college degree needed. What comes after that is actually making the money! In order to do that you have to provide a good or service that people want. The more people you make happy, the more money you'll get.

Something you should know now is that starting a company, and running a company is HARD WORK. I know some owners of start-ups that had to work 60 - 90 hours a week with little to no sleep to build their business. I know others who fell into the CEO position because their daddy owned the company, and they were lazy, and thanks to their lack of action the company collapsed.

> And of course, looking to do this in a legal way.

Welcome to America :), where hard work, sacrifice and the willingness to learn and strive can and do payoff.

One last piece of advice: Don't be a jerk. When you become the CEO of a company and you are making the millions, when you someday are the hotshot, don't look down on those around you. Remember where you came from, and those that helped you along the way, and there will be those that will help you!

People will always respond better to someone who is nice than someone who is a jerk.

Here is some recommended reading once you get that library card:

• Start by Jon Acuff
  
  
• EntreLeadership by Dave Ramsey
  
  
• I will teach you to be Rich by Ramit Sethi
  
  
• The millionaire next door by Thomas Stanley
  
  
• The seven habits of highly effective people by Stephen Covey
  
  There are many more books, but that's a start.
  
  Jon Acuff went from amateur blogger to best selling author, and is a great motivational writer. His books make me want to run a marathon, and are good for motivating you.
  
  Dave Ramsey went from bankruptcy to running a 300 person business and earning in the %1 of earners in the nation with a national brand. His book is about being a leader in business and you'll need to lead if you want to be CEO. It's a hard job, and not nearly as cushy as you might think.
  
  Thomas Stanley is a researcher who studies those with a net worth over $1M and his book will show you that being rich doesn't contradict with a frugal lifestyle.
  
  The others and highly recommended in general!
  
  The fact is you'll need to grow up, turn off the TV, and look weird to your friends. How many 15 yr olds do you know reading books about how to run a company and studying up on what it takes to be a CEO, or how to start a business? I don't know many, but I do know that at 17 years old William Gates III started a joint venture with Paul Allen (their first business). They both went on to make the top 20 richest billionaires list. Bill still holds the top spot.
  
  If you want to be rich, you want to be a CEO, then work at it. Work at it now, work at it often, and work at it always. I have no doubt if you dedicate yourself you can do it. The fact of the matter is that most people reading this are tired just thinking of the work it takes to be CEO, and that's why they never will be.
  
  Best of luck on your future success, and don't forget the little people.
  
  ~ Dragon J.
  
  Edited for formatting.

• Get books on starting a business. There are plenty of them and you don't have to read them back to back. Get them as a reference and reference them often. The Small Business Start-Up Kit and Start Your Own Business, Fifth Edition are good ones.
  
• Accountants and lawyers will be very helpful to getting you guys get setup. Seek them out and bring them on board early.
  
• Form a corporation. Either an LLC or S-Corp. If someone sues your business for a million dollars and wins, they can only take what the business owns, not what you own personally (your car, your house, etc.).
  
• Create a business bank account and business credit cards. This will be critical for bookkeeping purposes and for keeping track of expenses.
  
• Are you forming a partnership with your friends? How will you work out the percentage each person owns? Will it be based off how much capital each person contributes? Be VERY careful with partnerships.. treat it as if you are marrying someone. Because that's what it is. Your business partner can drastically affect your life positively or they can destroy your life. Even if you like each other now, money can change things. Be future minded and write up an operating agreement to protect all of yourselves. What if 10 years down the line you want to quit? Or a business partner wants to move to another state and wants to quit? Who gets what? Don't leave this to chance or goodwill or you will regret it.
  
• Learn accounting software. Your accountant will likely have a say in this but it is ultimately your decision. Most accountants are familiar with Quickbooks or Quickbooks Online. There are alternatives like Xero. This will help you track your expenses and be critical to filing taxes.
  
• Get CRM software to keep track and manage your clients. ShootQ is one of the best in the wedding realm, although it can take time to learn and get it set up.
  
• Get project management software (Basecamp or Apollo). This will help everyone in the business stay up to date on to do task lists and deadlines. Apollo has time tracking software which is helpful in knowing how many hours you spend on a project. Historical data will be useful in knowing how much to charge for future projects.
  
• Be wary of taking out any loans. It's often better to bootstrap yourself off the ground.
  
• If you don't take a loan, you all may need to work side jobs to pay the bills until you are ready to go full time. Don't expect to have enough cashflow to pay full time salaries for a few years. This is just being realistic.
  
• Weddings have a low barrier to entry. Do your first or two for free to build up a portfolio. Then charge very little. If you're not charging a lot, don't create a million hour long edits for them. Charge little and promise little so you're not stuck with them. Same principle applies to commercial and corporate. Seek out the type of work that you want to do, approach businesses and offer to do it for very cheap or for free. Do a killer job so that it looks like they paid you a million bucks. This will open doors.
  
• It is very easy to get bogged down with wedding edits. Consider yourself warned. Sifting through hours of footage and piecing edits together is a lot of work. Do not underestimate it.
  
• Only market the work you want to attract. Don't post all your work on your blog.
  
• Contracts are important to look professional, and more importantly, to protect yourself. A lawyer will be helpful here. Many books on filmmaking also have sample contracts.
  
• You are essentially a start up business. Be prepared for long work weeks, very little pay, and high stress. Not everyone is cut out for being a business owner. Don't think it will be like a 9-5 job.. you don't go home and tune the business out.. it will be very much a part of your life. I'm not saying that it should take OVER your life since you should do everything you can to maintain some sort of work-life balance. If any of you are married, you will need supportive spouses who are willing to make sacrifices.
  
• Read The E-Myth. It reads like a story but will teach you very important business concepts and how to think like a businessman. This is very important as you start to grow.
  
  This just scratches the surface. It's not rocket science, but it's a lot.. it will take time. CONSTANTLY evaluate and look for things that can be improved.
  
  Source: Started a few businesses, the current one being a filmmaking one.

So first I will soapbox then tell you what I do personally. Hah, apparently this is a 10k+ essay so will split in 2.


Step 1: Pay yourself first. If you are "budgeting" for savings but end up at the end of the month with no savings you are NOT really saving. Pick your savings vehicle and set up direct deposit. Schedule so that the day your paycheck is cashed you have $500 automatically withdrawn from your account that same day to be applied to your investment directly. For you something like: Vanguard Target Retirement 2060 Fund (VTTSX).
https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/target-retirement/#/mini/overview/1691
MER of 0.18%


So go to the library and borrow and read "The wealthy barber"
http://www.amazon.ca/The-Wealthy-Barber-Successful-Financial/dp/0773762167


In the same vein read: The Richest Man in Babylon. True when written in 1926 and still true now.
http://www.ccsales.com/the_richest_man_in_babylon.pdf
Audio version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRomaM-yxYs


Step 2: Take a long, hard look at why you spend. You are trying to fill a hole thinking spending will make you happy. You are realizing that it does not. What is new and shiny now will have a new version come along in 6 months. What makes you happy? Quality time with friends and family? Experiences? Leaning new things? Looking at the end of the year at your IRA/401k balance. Looking at your house down payment savings account? Make a list of the times you were the happiest you have felt in the last year then go to step 3.


Step 3: After determining what makes you happy start saving and budgeting towards that goal. Steam has a 75% sale on YNAB right now.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/227320/


Buy it, use it. Determine what you need to LIVE, then allocate the surplus. The Richest Man in Babylon says live on 70%, pay down debt with 20%, invest 10%. I propose it is income dependent. As a single guy I think you should be able to live well on a salary of $45k/yr and save/invest the rest.


Now you don't have to be like John Wesley (http://www.missionfrontiers.org/issue/article/what-wesley-practiced-and-preached-about-money) but look at what made him happy. Giving to the poor. He lived on 28 pounds a year and "saved" the rest to apply to what was his number one mission in life.


"1731 Wesley began to limit his expenses so that he would have more money to give to the poor. He records that one year his income was 30 pounds and his living expenses 28 pounds, so he had 2 pounds to give away. The next year his income doubled, but he still managed to live on 28 pounds, so he had 32 pounds to give to the poor. In the third year, his income jumped to 90 pounds. One year his income was a little over 1400 pounds. He lived on 30 pounds and gave away nearly 1400 pounds. When he died in 1791, the only money mentioned in his will was the miscellaneous coins to be found in his pockets and dresser drawers. Most of the 30,000 pounds he had earned in his lifetime he had given away."


As income rises let your quality of life rise a proportion of the increase but let your savings/investing take the majority of the increase.


Step 4: Seriously consider volunteering at something. Can be as little as 1-2 hours per week. Pick a mission or organization that has deep personal meaning for yourself. Animal shelter. Big brother/sister. Help underprivileged kids read at your local library. Absolutely ANYTHING but pick SOMETHING. Do this for weekly for 6 months and if you do not feel rewarded and that you wasted your time over the last 6 months PM me with the phone number of your supervisor/most responsible person at the place you volunteered so I can confirm you were actually there regularly for 6 months and I will send you $100 (I'm in Canada so would have to figure out how to send you a amazon gift card or something). Requirement is you going 6 months weekly for a minimum of 1hr.


1 - you will meet amazing co-volunteers.
2 - you will see how blessed you are. Instead of comparing yourself to the Johnses at the country club you will compare yourself to the people you meet at your volunteer gig. I will pretty much guarantee that at the end of 6 months you will find other things to do with your $400/month country club membership.

First off, I recommend you read Medical Student Loans by Ben White, it will answer all your questions. Like a 4-5 hour read I think all 4th year med students should read, along with White Coat Investor as you'll never have as much free time as you do now to lean a little about finances.

The thing to know about your loans in terms of the $0 payment is that your loans have a 6 month grace period after graduation, meaning no payment is due for 6 months. (If you took time off between undergrad and medical school you may have already used this up on your undergrad loans and something you should look into.) Most residents take advantage of this and then enter IDR ~6 months into residency when the grace period ends. This doesn't give you the $0 payment for a full year though, as when you enter IDR, on the form it asks if your income has substantially changed since your most recent tax return. In this case, you are legally supposed to answer yes and submit pay stubs that would then dictate your monthly payment amount. Making $55k/year means about $300/month in payments. Some residents lie and use their 4th year tax returns with $0 income and extend the $0 payment for another year. This is not legal and something I do not recommend.

The legal way to do this is actually to consolidate all your loans the day after graduation, waive the 6 month grace period on the consolidation form, and use your M4 tax return of $0 income on the IDR form before July 1st as that way you're telling the truth. This will start your payments 6 months earlier than your fellow residents, but you'll both be paying $0. Of note, for this to work, you need to file taxes this year and you should also be aware consolidating has two down sides. 1) your new interest rate becomes a weighted average of all your loans and is then rounded up to the nearest 1/8th of a percent. 2) you can not longer attack your loans with the avalanche method as you no longer have several loans with differing interest rates, but one large loan with one interest rate. In your case there would actually be a 3rd down side which is that because you have some subsidized loans where under REPAYE the feds will cover 100% of the unmet interest by the minimum payment for the first 3 years, drops the 50% as the new loan is considered unsubsidized. This strategy is typically recommended for residents pursing PSLF and not necessarily something I would recommend you pursue. I would likely recommend the typical 6-month grace period option because of these downsides and the fact that it doesn't sound like you want to do PSLF.

There are no consequences for switching out of REPAYE in terms of the interest subsidy which I think you are alluding to, but just for completeness sake, should be aware that switching from REPAYE to another IDR plan does capitalize the unpaid interest. This is essentially true when refinancing with a private company too as they are going to pay off the loans in full, including interest, and give you a new loan for that total amount, meaning all that unpaid interest accrued during residency becomes part of the principal for the new loan.

Whether you should ride out REPAYE or refinance as an attending is really going to depend on what rate you can get in 5 years from now, how much your making, and how stable your job is. Something I would revisit then and not worry about too much now.

Hope that was helpful!

Two great books are The Millionaire Next Door and Stop Acting Rich: ...And Start Living Like A Real Millionaire

Full of great advice and stats, here is a synopsis:

• 80% of America’s millionaires are first-generation rich. This is contrary to those who would have you believe that wealth is usually inherited.<br />

• 20% of millionaires are retired
  
• 50% of millionaires own a business
  
  

1. They live well below their means. In general, millionaires are frugal. Not only do they self-identify as frugal, they actually live the life. They take extraordinary steps to save money. They don’t live lavish lifestyles. They’re willing to pay for quality, but not for image.
   
   
2. They allocate their time, energy, and money efficiently, in ways conducive to building wealth. Millionaires budget. They also plan their investments. They begin earning and investing early in life. The authors note that “there is an inverse relationship between the time spent purchasing luxury items such as cars and clothes and the time spent planning one’s financial future”. In other words, the more time someone spends buying things that look good, the less time they spend on personal finance.
   
   
3. They believe that financial independence is more important than displaying high social status. The authors spend far too much time beating home this point: usually millionaires don’t have fancy cars. They drive mundane domestic models, and they keep them for years. (There’s an entire 31-page chapter devoted to how millionaires shop for cars. It’s tedious. It may be the worst chapter I’ve ever read in any personal finance book. And the authors go on ad nauseum about the average price per pound of various vehicles. There’s even an appendix showing the average price-per-pound for the most popular models.)
   
   
4. Their parents did not provide economic outpatient care. That is, most millionaires were not financially supported by their parents. The authors’ research indicates that “the more dollars adult children receive [from their parents], the fewer they accumulate, while those who are given fewer dollars accumulate more”.
   
   
5. Their adult children are economically self-sufficient. This chapter is fascinating. The authors clearly believe that giving money to adult children damages their ability to succeed.
   
   
6. They are proficient in targeting market opportunities. “Very often those who supply the affluent become wealthy themselves.” The authors discuss how one of the best ways to make money is to sell products or services to those who already have money. They list a number of occupations they feel have long-term potential in this area.
   
   
7. They chose the right occupation. “Self-employed people are four times more likely to be millionaires than those who work for others.” There is no magic list of businesses from which wealth is derived — people can be successful with any type of business. In fact, most millionaire business owners make their money in “dull-normal” industries. They build cabinets. They sell shoes. They’re dentists. They own bowling alleys. They make boxes. There’s no magic bullet.
   
   From: http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2006/12/18/book-review-the-millionaire-next-door/

Hey, I’m not gatekeeping or shaming! I’m just trying to draw attention to the opportunity you have here to do well for yourself.

Not a financial advisor, not your financial advisor, do your own research and make your own decisions. The TFSA is usually considered best utilized when it’s not just used as a “savings” account within a bank, but as an “investment” account. Banks like Tangerine have fairly easy to understand options to do that (invest your money), but if you’d like to go a step deeper down the rabbit hole, a discount brokerage (a company that can buy and sell stocks, bonds, and funds on your behalf) like Questrade is both cheaper and more powerful in what you can do with it. Here’s why you might want to consider one of those.

Your ~1.5% per year interest in a TFSA “savings” account is very secure and consistent, but you’re technically losing money against inflation, which is typically between ~2-3% per year. A significant amount of people subscribe to the idea that investing is as easy as buying a fund (such as a mutual fund or an ETF, exchange-traded fund) that holds a collection of other stocks and bonds in order to represent the entire market. That is to say: if the entire market goes up, your money increases; if the entire market goes down, your money decreases. This was an approach pioneered by a very smart man named John Bogle, which you could learn more about in r/bogleheads.

Index-based investing, as described above, has returned an average of 10% per year for the last several decades. However, this is a higher-risk investment, and if you expect to need the money inside of 5-10 years, you should consider looking in lower-risk areas, or potentially splitting your lump sum into smaller chunks to invest at different risk levels. There are a lot of really good resources on this concept, called risk-management or asset-allocation, but this is an excellent resource that I like to link.

I would also recommend you take a look at this website, which is a solid introduction into taking charge of your own financial future. The “How do I become a Couch Potato?” section would be a good start.

If you’re still interested after all that, then here’s a good dump of information to explore.

• https://www.canadianportfoliomanagerblog.com/
  
  
• r/PersonalFinanceCanada
  
  
• https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/
  
  
• r/FinancialIndependence
  
  
• https://www.amazon.ca/Wealthy-Barber-Successful-Financial-Planning/dp/0773762167/

Page 2 of 3
Now, I am not going to give you specific tips on investing in financial markets. It’s like telling a 6-year-old; “I see you learned to ride a bike, let’s go see what you can do in an Apache Helicopter.” It might be fun to watch but it really is not a good plan and anything the kid may learn would be lost on him as it crashes to the ground.

You heard the familiar adage about “Give a man fish, you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish…..yadda yadda” Instead I will list a few resources that will make your journey an educational, well informed and hopefully, very profitable one:

Step 1: (estimated time to master:2-3 days of intense reading)

First get an entry level book… you know the type, it breaks stuff down so simply, it is almost insulting…yea that type! Check your library, as although these books are fantastic for the very low level learning, once you master it, you might not refer back to this one too often,
Something like this (not a shill for any author or publisher):
https://www.amazon.com/Personal-Finance-Dummies-Eric-Tyson/dp/1118117859

Sure, it may be a bit dry and parts will seem numbingly simple but I guarantee you will learn a few new things, enhance your understanding of things you already know and begin building the most solid foundation you can. Like most things in life, the foundation will determine if your future efforts are sound or just primed for unforeseen disaster.

Step 1a: (estimated time to master:1-2 hours to learn, years of pounding it into your head)

Be able to define and clearly understand the concept of “Compound interest/growth.” I cringe at the number of people who fail to fully grasp this concept and the impact it can have your life and on the value of your portfolio. Study this concept like your life depends on it. Embrace it, love it, make it your bitch. This is the one and true monolith that stands taller than all others when it comes to taking a proper long term view of your investments. It is Wonka’s Golden Ticket. Once you think you are a Comp-Int ninja, learn it some more. Never lose sight of the goal and the primary mechanism that is going to get you to the promised land. Oh, and just to make sure you are beating this concept into your head, learn the meaning of “temporal dissonance” and how it relates to so many others failing to properly reach their goals. 30 years from now, you will thank me.

Step 2. (estimated time to master:1-2 weeks with additional web research to clarify questions and concepts)

Get another book or ten. One is good to start and should be directed more towards understanding actual beginner investment in stock markets.

https://www.amazon.com/Beginners-Guide-Investing-Money-Smart/dp/1477463992/ref=pd_sim_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1477463992&pd_rd_r=M1PDAGCEZ704BBNQ6JDR&pd_rd_w=1YX5U&pd_rd_wg=dLc5n&psc=1&refRID=M1PDAGCEZ704BBNQ6JDR

or

https://www.amazon.com/Investing-Online-Dummies-Matt-Krantz/dp/1119228352/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1484793761&sr=1-3&keywords=online+stock+trading+for+dummies

or

https://www.amazon.com/Stock-Investing-Dummies-Paul-Mladjenovic/dp/1119239281/ref=pd_sim_14_6?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1119239281&pd_rd_r=BZHS9CJZZWBRA86WN3MP&pd_rd_w=WSFFO&pd_rd_wg=rGrkD&psc=1&refRID=BZHS9CJZZWBRA86WN3MP
or find one YOU like…I am not a damn librarian.

When you are finished with this step you should be rather comfortable with most basic stock investing terms. Words like Equity, ETF, Mutual Funds, Preferred stock, Long, short will become part of your conversations at happy hour, chicks will dig you and guys will want to be like you. (I’m sorry, I just assumed your gender and orientation, please reverse that last phrase if it better suits your lifestyle). You will dream of S&P gains and have nightmares about the words: bear, correction and SEC investigation. In other words, you are now shaping up as a solid investor with years of prosperity in front of you. Alas, you are not there yet grasshopper…

(continued)

Hi everybody!

My book is now officially an ebook on sale on Amazon! Both U.S. and Canadian versions are going to be free tomorrow and friday and I would very much appreciate the community’s opinion on what I’ve written. But really any feedback would be great. Hate my cover? Let me know!

So what’s in the book? 6 chapters about everything young people need to know about money.

Personal Finance

Learn about bank accounts, credit cards, pension plans, mortgages, credit score and debt repayment.

Saving and Budgeting

Budgets should make you happy, not sad! I'll teach you to save money while enjoying your life and the things that are important to you.

Investing

Stocks, Bonds, ETF's, Real Estate, Mutual funds. It's all covered here. With examples!

Taxes

Learn how to file your own taxes and what investment accounts are best for your situation.

Guide to More Money

21 weeks of short activities that will get you more comfortable with your money. Step by step guide to making the best financial decisions for you.

Financial Independence

Can you retire at 50? What about 40 or even, 30? I'll give you a little taste of what it takes to get on that advanced money level.


Reviews on Amazon would be awesome too :) I’ll be doing up the paperback version once I’ve collected enough feedback and make any changes relating to the feedback. That will hopefully happen in a week or so? If anybody has some extra time, i would love feedback on the formatting between the two versions since i was testing out different formatting. Let me know which one is better!

U.S. Version

amazon.com/dp/B0713R5YCX

Canadian Version

amazon.ca/dp/B071YMYN2M

Thank you for reading!

a credit history means that someone lent you money and you paid it back. that's it. it's not mysterious. if you made responsible, on time payments you have a high credit score. if you were not responsible, you have a low credit score.

your credit score can be important. but don't make your credit score the most important thing in your life.

someone else asked another question here today, bragging about their 800+ credit score ... yet they spent $19,000 on a new car when the value dropped to about $15,000 the minute they drove it off the dealer's parking lot. they were so focused on the credit score as a sign of success that they didn't care that they'd thrown $4000 down the toilet with the purchase of a new car that depreciated in value so much so fast. this is a perfect example of what I mean by not making your credit score the center of your financial life.

something like 25% of Americans don't have credit cards, so it's not that unusual, really. I have 1 card that I use only for Amazon purchases, netflix and my phone payment. this gave me a good credit score, but that wasn't really my intention. it was just a side-effect. I had some trouble with online purchases and Amex has a good history of helping resolve disputes.

you can get a mortgage without a credit score, you need to find a place that does what's called "manual underwriting." this means they personally verify your job history, payments to landlord, etc, rather than simply relying on your credit score.

i guess what I'm saying is be careful and think about what you're doing. don't simply listen to your friends, who are probably broke, tell you how important and sophisticated they are by 'building their credit.' the truth is that people with high wealth, lots of money in the bank and investments, actually tend to avoid debt. see this book for more details: https://www.amazon.com/Stop-Acting-Rich-Living-Millionaire/dp/1118011570

Hey There,

This might get lost in the reply avalanche, but if nobody has mentioned "I will teach you to be rich" yet -- I'd definitely encourage you to check it out:
https://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-Be-Rich/dp/0761147489

It's one of the best personal finance books I've ever read and really think it's applicable across the spectrum of budgets. Think if you go to his website, he's got a lot of content and PDF's up for free and if you don't wanna spend the money and buy a physical copy, I'm sure you can get it from your library -- or you could do a one month free trial on audible, download the book and then make sure you cancel before your membership renews.

I found it to be an incredibly accessible and helpful book. Hope it helps!

Here is a random article I found about stock simulators.

How do you like to learn things? There are tons of books, podcasts and blogs about investing. Here are some popular ones or ones that I have read and used

• Books
  
  • The intelligent Investor
    
  • A Random Walk Down Wall Street
    
  • Your Money Your Life
    
  • The Richest Man in Babylon
    
  • I Will Teach You to be Rich
    
    
• Blogs
  
  • Stock Series
    
  • Mr Money Mustache
    
  • Mad FIentist
    
  • dozens of others, Google is your friend
    
    
• Podcasts
  
  • Money Tree Podcast -- pretty poor production quality but good general stuff.
    
  • There are tons of others, Google it.
    
    Warren Buffett famously/supposedly read every book in the financial section at the library by age 12--I think the important thing to take from that is you are still young and have tons of free time and aside from starting to invest as soon as you can (you can usually start as soon as you have earned income) you should be investing in yourself...getting good grades, figuring out what you want to do after high school, trying out businesses, learning marketable skills (e.g., coding, good writing skills, good interpersonal skills, good organizational skills, etc).
    
    Good Luck!

Save. Always and forever save as much as you can when you have the opportunity to. Keep putting money away now, each paycheck, even if for a week you can only put in $5.

There are various ways to save, obviously RRSP's are great for retirement, but there are also ways to save money that you can access if the need to do so arises. Definitely put money away separately for your children, for their education and such. Yes, there are student loans, but there could always be extra costs or fees outside of school, such as medical costs, bail, etc...

It is good to have at least 6 months worth of your expenses saved up, so that 7k is an ideal saving to have and you are already in a good position by having it. The reason to have that much saved up is so that if anything were to happen, in terms of either, or both of you, losing employment you have the finances to cover the costs during that period. Being broke is bad enough, but being broke and not being able to support ourselves, or the people that we should be providing for, is quite depressing to say the least. To reiterate you are already off to a good start with your bank savings.

The Wealthy Barber is a great book to read that provides insight into being intelligent with money, while I'm going to put an article for you to consider perusing: 4 Personal Finance Principles That Would Make Your Grandfather Proud


The Wealthy Barber

Well I was actually going edit the original post to say that I'm not qualified offer investment advice in any professional capacity (You probably want to talk to a CFA or CFP. Also you asked a very hard question Why. I'll try to answer it as best I can.

Generally transaction involving money can be broken down into four categories:

• Assets - transactions that result in something that has some value - stocks, a car or a house
  
• Expenses - transactions that are spent and nothing lasting is gained - food that you eat
  
• Income - transactions where you gain money from some work you doing - pay from your job
  
• Liabilities - transactions where you gain money temporary and later have to pay someone back - a car loan
  
  When you invest you specifically look at the assets category. Assets can be things that you expect to either gain value or lose money over time. You car for example grow less valuable over time so it's a depreciating. The other side of this is things you expect to gain value over time; for example a house. When you invest money you purchase things with that money that you expect will gain value over time. For example if you buy a coke for $0.50 knowing that later that day you can sell if for $1 you've invested in the coke.
  
  Generally when people talk about investing they are talking about the stock market. Your bank can help you get started if you want. I would recommend you read up on it a bit more before doing anything (a good starting book is The Wealthy Barber) and I wouldn't do it with any money you don't feel comfortable losing until your entirely comfortable with it.

I think that sort of forgetting about the inheritance is maybe the best thing you could have done.

most inheritance is wasted.

you knew you were over your head, so you did nothing and went about your life as normally as possible. many people wouldn't have the discipline to do what you did. they'd have bought a new BMW, flown to Cabo 8 times, etc. and now they'd have only $15k left and be kicking themselves wondering where it all went.

I think you're trying to honor your grandmother's memory, and don't want to screw it up. is so, that's the right attitude. and I think you have the right foundational skills. you also live frugally, you made wise choices with your education etc.

if you want to visit a financial adviser, I'd recommend a few things.

• first, shop around. visit multiple people until you find someone who makes you feel comfortable.
  
  
• second, look for someone who is more a teacher and less a salesman. they shouldn't bully you, pressure you, or talk to you like you're inferior. they should use their education and expertise to give you advice and help you decide. don't do something simply because an MBA tells you. do it because you understand it and think it's a good idea.
  
  
• keep it simple. one of professor thomas stanley's findings (see below) was that most wealthy people have investment strategies of almost brutal simplicity. they don't go for the fast buck, get rich quick. they invest slowly, steadily and consistently over a period of decades. they rarely invest in anything other than mutual funds and property.
  
  
• finally, don't mention that you're sitting on half a million during the first consultation or two. you want someone who's gonna give you good advice, respect your time and goals, and take you seriously as a client, whether you've got $4000 or $4million to start investing.
  
  > She was by no means living a fancy lifestyle
  
  most millionaires are actually very frugal. you might want to go to the library and see if they have copies of Thomas J Stanley's books. he was a professor who studied finance, specifically high-wealth people. he basically found that you can either be rich (lots of cash or investments) or you can look rich (fancy lifestyle, cars, etc). many who earn high incomes are actually broke, because they're spending all their income on status items, high-end new cars, huge houses in upscale neighborhoods, boats, etc. they're so busy trying to look rich that they don't have cash left over for savings and investing. in contrast, people like your grandmother are truly wealthy specifically because they lived modestly, didn't care about impressing anyone, didn't go to the country club, and made a priority of building wealth.
  
  his first and maybe best known book was "The Millionaire Next Door." one of his findings was that there were more millionaires in blue collar/middle class areas than in upscale/white collar areas. why? because doctors and lawyers etc are under more pressure to live a fancy lifestyle. nobody expects a farmer or a plumber to drive a BMW and send their kids to private school. so if a farmer and a lawyer both earn good incomes, who's actually more likely to save and invest? That's right: the farmer. https://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Next-Door-Surprising-Americas/dp/1589795474/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1478299059&sr=8-4&keywords=thomas+j+stanley
  
  I also like his book Stop Acting Rich. https://www.amazon.com/Stop-Acting-Rich-Living-Millionaire/dp/1118011570/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478299059&sr=8-1&keywords=thomas+j+stanley
  
  and stanley's website. he died only last year. http://www.thomasjstanley.com/publications/

Unless I remember incorrectly, multiple income streams is a point made in https://www.amazon.com/Early-Retirement-Extreme-Philosophical-Independence/dp/145360121X I vaguely recall something in there mentioning combining income from a job + investments + paid hobby (maybe fixing bikes) + savings account interest... or something which was heavily lopsided haha.

​

As far as I am concerned, nearly everyone seeking early FI is working with multiple sources of income:

1. job income
   
2. investments
   
   ​
   
   For other paid activities (really, gambling?... sigh....) I have a dual opinion on them. First off, if you have enough extra time, energy, and motivation to earn income through some other stream then sure you have more income AND it has the really important benefit that even after you quit your day job you can keep doing it if you enjoy it. On the other hand, I value my free time not quite as the following, but it gives you a general idea: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/10/18/why-your-time-is-worth-way-more-than-25-per-hour/ Now, I do not fully agree with a bit of what MMM writes about, as far as I can tell he is intentionally extreme just to make the point more memorable. However, the general point about time being valuable is something I do agree with. Sure, I could pick up a part-time job, I could learn to write novels and hope to be one of the precious few earning something noticeable, or plenty of other things. None of them are worth the time I would trade doing them I personally think. That being said, I will sometimes go beyond what is reasonable to sometimes cut costs, example walking a very stupidly long distance to-from work instead of just taking the bus, however that is done because it is also fun. A different example is hand washing clothes, absolutely not worth the time put into it, but the realization that I am doing something silly like that is amusing to me...

if you want to be rich, do what rich people do: avoid debt, avoid status spending, save and invest a large percentage of your income, and be sort of a tightwad. read this book. it explains how wealthy people actually live. it's one of the best books I've ever read in my life; the culmination of the author's decades of research (he was a professor who studied financial habits). basically he found that truly wealthy people (money and investments and property) have different habits from the popular conception of "wealthy". truly wealthy people don't buy new luxury cars, Rolex watches, etc. http://www.amazon.com/Stop-Acting-Rich-Living-Millionaire/dp/1118011570

so my advice if you want to be prosperous is this:

• get rid of the car. prosperous people do not buy used cars. new cars depreciate in value. in a few years that car will be worth $10k but you'll still owe $14k on the loan. if you want to prosper, do what rich people do: buy a quality used car, and pay cash for it.
  
  
• you didn't mention savings or investment. general rule of thumb for rich people is they've consistently invested a substantial chunk of their income day in and day out for their entire working careers. 10% or more is standard.
  
  
• for example: if you invested half of that weekend fun money, it'd grow to over $400,000 in 30 years. if you also invested another half of the restaurant money, it'd push you over $500,000. double-check my numbers here: http://www.moneychimp.com/calculator/compound_interest_calculator.htm EDIT: forgot to mention that this assumes an average of 10% annual growth rate; this is very realistic as the US stock market as a whole has grown an average of about 10% a year over the last century. there are plenty of mutual funds that have this kind of track record, or slightly better.

I'd recommend reading [First National Bank of Dad] (http://www.amazon.com/First-National-Bank-Dad-Foolproof/dp/1416534253/). The author went through the same challenges (and made some of the same mistakes) you are facing. I am currently using it as the model with my kids.

Top-level, forcing savings is a bad idea, as is implying you cannot do something because of the need to save. Immature brains are not wired to process the subtlety you wish they could handle. If you follow that route, they may come to see savings as the antithesis of fun and that any money earned/received should be spent immediately, lest Dad take it away for "savings" in a bank earning sub-1% interest.

Better to prompt the desire to save. Rather than a real bank account, create your Bank of Dad that pays significant interest. By doing so, Junior will see that he can spend that $5 now or put it in "The Bank" and have $10 soon (you define what "soon" means). Help him see what that $10 could buy that $5 today could not, which helps clarify the benefit of putting that $5 away today. He may even find that between when he puts the money away and when it grows to $10, the thing he wanted to buy is no longer as interesting.

By doing all of these, you show the power of compound interest and the magic of delayed gratification. You are helping to form solid habits, ones he will hopefully continue on his own (and when the compounding interest rate is less stellar...).

As for results, my own efforts are too early to tell (ask me again in 20 years).

About Building Wealthy And Being Happy: A Practical Guide To Financial Independence:

• If you have read forums like /r/financialindependence for many years, you don't need me to become FI. However, it might be just what your family or friends need to get them started. There are some more complex topics, but the basics do need to be repeated. I think there's something new for everyone.
  
  
• There are some hilarious comics drawn by my illustrator. The book is supposed to be approachable and easy to read.
  
• This is my first time self-publishing. Formatting took years off my life. If you experience any quality control issues please let me know and I'll personally make it right.
  
  
• Please feel free to share the link with your friends and/or leave an honest review on Amazon. Reviews are the lifeblood of self-published authors! Cheers and let me know if you have any questions or anything.

I felt the same way, so I went and found a bunch. Here they are:

Start Your Business is the single greatest book on starting a business. It is a pretty comprehensive overview of all aspects. I would definitely recommend it.

Finance:

Financial Accounting is a decent text. The usefulness of financial accounting in general is quite limited for an entrepreneur though. The techniques are mainly used by outside parties to evaluate companies, whether for investing or lending. But it can be useful in that it gives a metric for how your company is doing.

Managerial Accounting is a good book. The subject matter is extremely important and should definitely be learned. Get a book on managerial accounting.

Marketing:

Marketing Management is a really good text for an overview of marketing. One of the best.

Most marketing texts are smaller and not textbooks like you're looking for. There are some detailed texts that go into complicated calculations related to marketing decisions. Go check them out. It's like marketing science or something like that.

Business Law:

Business law is not really worth going into extreme detail. So a good book is The Entrepreneur's Guide to Business Law .


Final Note: It's important to note that it makes way more sense to just get into business and learn as you go. You could spend years learning from every text possible and get nowhere.

I make about the same as you, only I've been in the situation for a year longer, and I definitely shared the same anxieties about my adult financial life as you.

Two pieces of advice: First - Read I Will Teach You To Be Rich. You can find the PDF online for free somewhere. Don't worry, it's not one of those sleazy get rich quick books. Instead it's a very level headed go-to guide to set up your financial life. It's been a huge help. Listen to the part about setting up a second savings account that automatically deducts a small amount ($50-$100) of money from every paycheck. It's an idiot-proof painless way to save.

Second, you're still young. Sometimes on this board it's easy to forget that twenty-something's with six figure savings accounts aren't exactly common in the real world. Don't forget to stay calm and try to have some fun. I went through a period of penny pinching every expense. All of my friends were buying nice clothes or going on trips to the beach while I sat in my apartment eating Ramen. As you get older the chances to ride off to the beach with friends or rage at the best music festivals become fewer and far between. Don't forget to enjoy yourself.

Just some further "food for thought" from my own experience that I felt people might find interesting.
-----

---

While the article itself is about the additional costs (childcare, etc) related to the "second earner" in a two income household (which I think E. Warren fully delineated -- and even made additional points the article did not address, things like income/financial vulnerability -- in her book, "The Two Income Trap").

But I think there is ALSO a lot of merit in looking at even the original/single/primary earner's "costs of holding Job X" in a similar fashion as well.

When I switched from a full-time commuting job (and one just a 30 minute drive away no less) to working from home, I noticed a dramatic drop in attendant expenses, to wit:

1. No longer was I piling on 20,000 to 25,000 miles per year -- some 15,000+ of which were just going to/from work (60 miles per day, 5 days per week, ~50 weeks per year = 15,000 miles). At the IRS's current (and probably understated) "cost" of 55 cents per mile that's about $8250 a year. And remember that commuting costs are coming out of your NET (after tax) earnings.
   
   
2. While the ending of that daily commute also meant the "loss" of the ability to stop at the grocer "on the way home" (and so grocery shopping becomes a specific additional trip) -- this ended up NOT being a "loss" at all, but rather the source of additional savings for at least 3 reasons:
   
   

• I could now CHOOSE the specific grocery based on best-value, rather than simply buying at the one that was the "easiest" (read "closest to my commuting route").
  
  
• Since grocery/food shopping is no longer being done when "weary" and on a "time to get home" constraint -- rather than buying a significant percentage of food as things that would be either "no-need to cook" or "quick/painless to cook" (i.e. various take-out, frozen dinners, box-mix-meals, etc.) -- I am able to be more relaxed and "selective" about it all, and can develop a real "long view" shopping list related to the quality/value of the food (which also has health & just general sense of well-being benefits).
  
  
• And of course, "fast food" for lunch has become a rarity instead of a "default" option. (When you work at home, making your own lunch is significantly easier/faster in every possible way -- when you commute, it is all too easy to "default" to some fast-food option when you either forget to pack a lunch, or are tired of the same-old cold sandwich routine. And even if only a 2x per week and tight-fisted $5 per meal, that can come to $500 or more a year -- add in "snacks" bought from vending machines, or the quick-stop on the way to/from work and you can toss another $500 or more... and again all coming out of one's NET, after tax income.)
  
  

3. Surprisingly enough, while I had expected that -- absent the ability to "stop on the way home" -- that I would get some kind of "cabin fever" and as a result would end up making a LOT of additional OTHER "trips to town". Turned out the opposite was true: as I grew accustomed to NOT driving on a daily basis, it became a habit to NOT drive places (i.e. driving begets more driving; not driving begets LESS driving) -- and I also began to "plan my trips" much more efficiently. End result was that instead of putting on an additional 5,000 to 10,000 miles per year on my vehicles (over and above the commuting mileage), instead I was able to reduce my mileage to around 3,000 miles per year. (Which not only engenders a HUGE savings on fuel, but also via the wear & tear on the vehicle -- so tires and everything else, including the vehicle itself, last a lot longer.)
   
   
4. With the change in driving patterns, and the more extensive planning of shopping trips, I became much more "aware" of the costs of "comparative shopping" (aka additional driving as a means of "bargain hunting"). Since driving across town to another store (where object X might be $2 cheaper) -- rather than being something that might "happen anyway" in the near future -- instead meant a significant change in plans and extra fuel/mileage, I began to realize how those "bargains" often were not bargains at all (especially since "while you are there" at the other store you are very likely to buy extra things you don't need).
   
   Long story short... even though I am single (so no childen, no child-care costs) I found that I was spending anywhere from $10k to $15k of my NET after tax income on basically "having a job" (that I commuted to/from daily). That meant for my income/tax situation, on a GROSS basis I needed to make (at least) an additional $20k to $25k a year -- in essence because employees cannot deduct all expenses like a business can -- I was "subsidizing" my employer by that amount to have me work "on-site" for him. I could live the exact SAME level of lifestyle, while making significantly LESS (and of course as your income drops, so do your taxes... so you functionally get to "keep" substantially more of the value of your own work/efforts).
   
   ---
   
   EDIT: Also, I would like to note for all of the "ride a bike" folks that the location of that particular employer (as well as the previous employer) was in an area with significantly higher housing costs (both rental AND/OR purchase would have more than doubled my monthly housing expenses), so "moving closer in order to bike to work" would have not only shifted the costs from driving to housing, but would have actually significantly increased my total costs as well (HUGELY with the prior employer, which was located smack dab in the middle of the highest-cost housing in my state).
   
   Plus, of course I LOVE the relaxing, laid back location of my nice, but inexpensive and paid off, rural home (in an area that OTHER people buy second/vacation homes in, and spend 3+ hours driving to on Friday evenings, and another 3+ hours driving home from on Sunday night) -- a short distance from and with rights to several lakes, plus nearby state forests with walking/biking/XC & downhill skiing, not to mention my large almost 1 acre lot with garden, fruit trees & vines, etc -- in short by I don't need to travel to a relaxing destination for my "vacations", I already LIVE there!
   
   ---
   
   EDIT2: Note also that I am NOT claiming to be "perfectly frugal" -- I do still buy things I probably don't need, take occasional "wasteful" trips to town, etc. -- just that now that I am NOT commuting every day, the "opportunities" to do so are significantly fewer (probably 1/10th or 1/20th of what they were before); and I have been able to reduce what I previously budgeted for them (and then, SURPRISE! I have often found that over a whole year I have significantly under-spent what I had budgeted... who knew that would happen?)

My advice is based on you being together forever and that there is no yours/hers. Whether there is or is not a yours/hers dynamic is up to you, of course, but many committed couples choose this route. My advice pretty much boils down to two things you should do: pay off debt and save for retirement.

The first thing you should do is pay off any high-interest-rate debt. Why is this the first thing you should do? Because a penny saved is a penny earned. A good rule of thumb is to put your money toward whatever option has the highest rate--either earned or paid. In terms of how it ultimately affects how much money you have, paying off high-interest-rate debt is like putting your money in a high-yield investment.

Let's say you have $200,000 to spend (your case). Let's also say you have $50,000 in debt with a high interest rate of 11%. Right now your net worth (assets-debt) is $150,000.

Choice A: If you put it all in the stock market, you'll earn a (inflation-adjusted) yearly average of 8%, which is the historical average. So after one year you'll earn $16,000 (200,000.08), but now you still have to pay interest on your loan of $5500 (50,000.11). So your net worth after one year is 200,000 + 16,000 - 5,500 - 50,000 = $160,500.

Choice B: Pay off your loan and invest the remainder--$150,000--in the stock market. After one year you'll earn $12,000 (150,000*.08). Your net worth after one year in this case is 150,000 + 12,000 = 162,000.

Hopefully that explains why, if you can't beat in the market the interest rate you're paying on your debt, you should just pay your debt. So yes, pay your credit card debt. Pay your student loan debt.

After that, save for retirement!!! Not exactly sure how to do that? Get this book: I Will Teach You To Be Rich. Hyperbolic title aside, it provides sound and concrete advice as to what you should do to save for retirement. As you can see, the reviews on the book are great. Let me know if you have any other questions.

/u/tuckermalc and /u/pizzzahero both have great comments. I'll add a bit. Go to /r/stoicism, read [William Irvine's book] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195374614?keywords=william%20irvine&qid=1456992251&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1), then read [Epictetus's Enchiridion] (http://www.amazon.com/Enchiridion-Dover-Thrift-Editions-Epictetus/dp/0486433595/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456992275&sr=8-1&keywords=enchiridion). follow their guidelines. Also check out /r/theXeffect. The most important thing is controlling your habits. If you're in the habit of eating healthy, getting enough sleep, going to the gym, etc. then you're set.

Now for stuff that's harder to do. Go see a therapist. Or a psychiatrist. Try to find a [therapist who can do EMDR] (http://www.emdr.com/find-a-clinician/) with you, it's a very effective technique (I saw a clinician who uses EMDR for two years, and it changed my life-- and, importantly, it's supported by strong scientific evidence, it's not quackery stuff like homeopathy or acupuncture). If you decide to go to a psychiatrist, tell them you don't want SSRIs. Look at other drugs: Wellbutrin, tricyclics, SNRIs, etc (check out selegiline in patch form, called EMSAM, as well). Seriously, go see a professional and talk to them. I have no doubt that you're wrestling with mental illness. I have been there. For me, it just felt normal. I didn't understand that other people didn't feel like I did...so it took me a long time to go get help. But it's so important to just start working through these things and getting support. That's really the most important thing you can do. It will make your life so much better. If you aren't able to get to a therapist, do Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) on yourself! [This is a brilliant program] (https://moodgym.anu.edu.au) that's widely respected. Do it over and over. Also read [Feeling Good by David Burns] (http://www.amazon.com/Feeling-Good-New-Mood-Therapy/dp/0380810336/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456992639&sr=8-1&keywords=feeling+good+david+burns). It's a book on CBT, and can help you get started. There are lots of other resources out there, but you have to begin by realizing that something is wrong.

Finally, I'll talk about college. Don't try to go to fricking Harvard or MIT. You won't get in, and those aren't even the right schools for you. There are many excellent schools out there that aren't the super super famous Ivies. Look at reputable state schools, like UMich, UMinnesota, the UC system, etc. get ["Colleges that Change Lives"] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0143122304?keywords=colleges%20that%20change%20lives&qid=1456992746&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1), the [Fiske Guide to Colleges] (http://www.amazon.com/Fiske-Guide-Colleges-2016-Edward/dp/1402260660/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456992768&sr=8-1&keywords=fiske+guide), and [Debt-Free U] (http://www.amazon.com/Debt-Free-Outstanding-Education-Scholarships-Mooching/dp/1591842980/ref=pd_sim_14_15?ie=UTF8&dpID=515MwKBIpzL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR104%2C160_&refRID=1VC3C23RJP6ZMXGG5QBA). One thing I realized after college was that I would've been happy at any of the school I looked at. People are fed such a line of BS about school, like you have to go to the top Ivies or something. No way. Find a good place at which you can function, learn as much as possible, and have a good social life. Like another person said, also look at going to a community college for a year and then transferring-- my relative did this and ended up at Harvard for grad school in the end.

Hello! Also from Ontario Canada! The best advice I can give you is.... Spend less than you make (create a budget and stick to it), pay off all your credit cards in full every month, try to keep the life style creep to a minimum, and live in a low cost of living (LCOL) area (if you can).

In terms of buying vs renting there are calculators for that and it's personal choice, but try not to buy more house than you can handle (we live in the GTA so house prices are crazy right now...) If you can live with your parents for a while, you can save a lot of money that way too (just contribute to the household!! If not in cash, at least do the dishes and laundry or something...!).

If you want to buy and do nice things, budget and save for them! Striving towards FI doesn't mean you have to live like a pauper... But be reasonable and have your ultimate goal in mind.

Some nice books to read (that are Canadian!) Would be Millionaire Teacher by Andrew Hallam and The Wealthy Barber/The Wealthy Barber Returns by David Chilton (you can just borrow from the library as an e-book or actual book!).

Since you are unionized and have a pension, I would say max out your TFSA first (check out the index fund model portfolios from Canadian Couch Potato and then your RRSP (whatever room you have left after your pension adjustment) and once you still have money left over open a marginal account (if you you are married by then,max out both those accounts for your spouse before you open any marginal accounts).

Also, read the side bar and the stickied posts. Enjoy your journey to FI. It's important to plan for the future, but you shouldn't forget to enjoy the present as well!

late to the game, but i highly recommend "The First National Bank of Dad" by David Owen

Key Points

• Give an allowance for being a member of the family (not tied to chores)
  
• The child has full ownership and do whatever they like with the money
  
• Help the money grow via very high Bank-of-Dad interest rates (5% per month)
  
  There are a lot of great pieces of wisdom in this book. Based on it, i have set allowance at $1.75 per week for 5 yr old and $2.75 for my 9 year old, increasing by a quarter each year. So far, my daughter has saved up $200... which has made me put a cap on interest payments.

But that's just the backdrop, the afterthought. It's the same perception thing the denial phase can conjure up, where you get hung up thinking about how long you'll be without...this stuff that will kill you.

Not to over-run your frontal lobes, but when the dust settles a little bit more (not a bad thing), and you can exhale...;-), start and stay with: a one-year plan. Where do you want to be, job-wise? Relationship-wise? Friendship-wise?, Happiness-wise?", etc. Then, work out how you wil accomplish these improvements to your life. Plans can be trimmed, expanded, changed all around, but if you don't have a plan, you're just letting life come at you blind. You're popping the clutch and burning out on stuff that's not worth it.

So take a little time with that one, then you're ready for your five-year. Same deal.

Tomorrow is just a promise.

Yesterday is a cancelled check.

There is only the NOW.

Try to live in the now, without judgement.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Eyes on the Sensei,

Miyamoto Musashi

His words light The Way.
__

A Haiku for you, soberingthought. Which is such* a good u/n, I may steal it for the book. Kidding.

Miyamoto Musashi wrote an awesome book - "A Book of Five Rings"

He was Samurai. One of his observations, which I think of often, is, "A man defending his eyes is not really fighting".

Faced with a foe known for his skill with an eight-foot pole, Musashi practiced with, and eventually fought with a ten-foot pole, giving him both a practical, tactical edge, but a psychological edge as well. He won. You can check it out here.

Stay in the now, keep your eyes on the prize, and, ah, on the woman front, when you're kissing the rosebud, did you ever try mild suction and humming? Five stars. As someone with two marriages and a half-handful of live-in deals, along with 40-50 other partners along the way...I can't believe I never tried it before. And don't stop just because she thinks she wants you to. First request, anyway. ^^heheheh

Peace out

Don't just focus on the investing side, focus on your overall financial situation. This includes your investments, but it also includes how you handle your short term savings, plan for trips, use credit cards, negotiate for raises, etc.

To that end, I highly recommend to the book "I Will Teach You To Be Rich" by Ramit Sethi. Ignore the silly title, it's not a get rich quick scheme--it is all about how to get your financial life in order so that you feel "rich" even if you are really just graduating from college and starting your first job.

His advice on investing is going to be similar to what most people here suggest: Index funds, keep adding money over time, rebalance every once and a while but don't sweat the market swings or try to play the market daily. But he's going to give you a lot more instruction on how to automate the rest of your finances and get to a place where you are comfortable.

Unlike many other general personal finance books, he's never going to tell you to be cheap or to go without buying things you really want. He'd rather help you optimize your savings and get a better job than try to fund your retirement by never buying Starbucks.

Your parents are ridiculous. You're smart to want to know about finances while you're still in college. I'll bet few of your classmates are doing this.

Here's a good list of resources for money stuff:

• To find out what loans you owe, request a free credit report from annualcreditreport.com. You can get a free report a year from each of the 3 credit agencies, so ideally you can get another report every 4 months. Or shell out a small fee to get a report every month. The report will list out all the debt you owe and who you owe it to. This is also a good way to make sure there's no identity theft going on and no one's taken out debt in your name.
  
  
• Check your credit score for free at CreditKarma. A good credit score means it's easier to get approved for credit cards and loans, which comes in handy when you're buying a car, getting an apartment or buying a house. Not only that but you'll pay lower interest fees which means you save a ton of money in the long term.
  
  
• I will teach you to be rich by Ramit Sethi. Still one of the best books around for understanding money, especially for college students and 20 somethings. Good resource for learning about student loans, bank accounts, credit and investing.
  
  Keep talking to your financial aid officer and don't tell your parents anything. Play dumb until you're out of their house for good. They're freaking out over losing control of you.

Hi u/sunzip

My gap year turned into 3 years - meaning I went into 1st year university at age 21.

The hardest part of that time was makingfriends my age. First-year students like to befriend other students since they speak the same language. They are in a place where everyone is: away from their parents for the first time and drinking for the first time. It’s a freedom they experience together and it’s a big part of their friendships.

Without having close friends taking a gap year with you or a program you can take with others your age -- gap years can be very lonely. Being lonely + having disposable income makes bad habits very easy to start.

My best advice: have a strategy for staying social and stick to it. Maintain existing friendships you have, go to large events in university towns, host get togethers. Anything to keep yourself social.

​

The time alone makes developing the healthy habits you’re looking for much easier. Take advantage of that. Just don’t neglect your social life.

​

For meeting people follow the advice of Owen Cook on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/user/RSDTyler

​

He’s been going to bars 5+ days a week for 14ish years learning how to be attract women. The same shit that makes you magnetic to people at the bar works in normal social interactions. His ideas are relevant for guys and girls looking to become attractive overall; but his word choice is for a male audience haha. Give him a look.

​

For “learning money management” buy the book “I Will Teach You to be Rich” (or download it illegaly)

https://www.amazon.ca/Will-Teach-You-Rich-Second/dp/1523505745/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?crid=2YZF4W2KWA3BU&keywords=i+will+teach+you+tube+rich%2C+second+edition

​

The author outlines the money management system he uses; just copy it. The key take aways from the book are

1. Automate all payments (credit cards, bills, insurance)
   
   2. Automate your saving (have a $ amount automatically withdrawn out of your chequing account weekly to an online savings account )
   
   
2. Automate your investing
   
   He details how to do it all in the book – just do it. It will put you ahead of most adults. Most people don't take saving/investing seriously until their 30s/40s.
   
   ​
   
   For “managing impulsiveness”
   
   Download the “Wim Hoff Method” app.
   
   ​
   
   Wim Hoff has hiked to the top of Mt. Everest wearing shorts, and a pair a shoes. He credits his ability to handle the cold to a breathing technique he developed in his 20s. I just started practicing this week. Super cool. If you can manage the cold, you can manage your impulses.
   
   ​
   
   All the best,
   
   SuperJesus0123

Hi,
I would suggest that you wait longer. Try to save $40-50K before buying.
My wife & I were apartment dwellers, and we bought a home some 16 years ago. We needed the space. The most important thing for you is to have enough savings to pay at least 20% of the purchase price, plus the closing costs. The next thing is to figure out what that house is going to really cost you. Always consider taxes, HOA (Homeowner's Association) fees, Water, Electricity, Heating & Cooling, etc. Also keep some money aside for unexpected things (a pipe busting in the middle of the night, etc.)
After buying my house, I found myself cash-strapped, and I ended up running up a huge debt, because I didn't consider all of the costs. If I can prevent even one person from getting in the same boat, I would be happy.
I've been out of debt; except for my mortgage, for a few years now, and I'm finally loving it again.
If you can't pay a decent down-payment, or you have a less-then-stellar credit rating, you will get a less favorable interest-rate on your mortgage, a .5% premium on a mortgage can cost you thousands of dollars over the life of the loan.
I wish we had the advise from this book when we got started: http://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-To-Rich/dp/0761147489/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1398230777&sr=1-1
I wish you the best of luck!
-Howard

Been there and it's actually fairly depressing / draining. I had about 3 - 4 hours of work per day, but needed to be there for 8 hours. Here is how to get the most out of the situation:

1: Learn about automation. I'm certain that AutoHotKey for Windows can replace 20% of all office workers in the US. You have 4 hours a day to get great at it. Do so, and make the 4 hours you used to spend on actual work take 2 hours. It'll come in handy later.

2: Perfect your finance automation, since credit card sites and such don't LOOK like screwing around, you likely won't have any trouble. Get auto deposit set up, figure out your benefits and maximize them. 401k match? Automatically max it. Direct deposit, auto-pay on your credit cards, etc. Reduce the number of things you ever have to worry about again. Ramit Sethi's book will walk you through this shit and costs like $10.

3: Now you have even more free time at work, and you SHOULD be increasing your nest egg because once everything is automated it's really hard to fuck it up. You've now got 6 hours a day to explore new jobs, learn new skills, start a side business, or research something until you're an expert.

OK, so not everyone wants to do step 3. If you aren't over-supervised, you can plan vacations, your meals and groceries, activities for after work, etc.

Im also a recent grad and have been learning a ton about all this recently. Getting paid once per month put me off at first, but is is a great way to help budgeting.

I would recommend reading this book. Might be the best 10 bucks I ever spent. Quick read and great intro in to managing your personal finances. http://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-To-Rich/dp/0761147489

it's difficult with kids - how old are they? There's an emotional development that may or may not have happened to facilitate based on the answer to that question.

You might want to start here: The Opposite of Spoiled it's a great book on teaching money responsibility.

From the description:

>In the spirit of Wendy Mogel’s The Blessing of a Skinned Knee and Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman’s Nurture Shock, New York Times “Your Money” columnist Ron Lieber delivers a taboo-shattering manifesto that explains how talking openly to children about money can help parents raise modest, patient, grounded young adults who are financially wise beyond their years.

>For Ron Lieber, a personal finance columnist and father, good parenting means talking about money with our kids. Children are hyper-aware of money, and they have scores of questions about its nuances. But when parents shy away from the topic, they lose a tremendous opportunity—not just to model the basic financial behaviors that are increasingly important for young adults but also to imprint lessons about what the family truly values.

Our daughter is too young to apply most of this, but it was a really great read and I wish it had been around when I was a kid. I feel like with this type of groundwork, it more easily answers the question " mom/dad are we poor? Our hour house is so empty and I went to sally's house and she's got tons of toys and games and her dad has....."

Preface: if you're not matching your company's 401(k), do that first thing Monday morning.

You're making three critical errors: (1) you're spending too much on housing; (2) you're not saving enough; (3) and you're succumbing to emotional appeal rather than logic.

With regard to the first point: you're spending way too much on housing. A very general general rule is to spend about 30% of your after-tax income on housing/rent and another 20-30% on fixed costs (utilities, car payment, etc). The remaining 30-40% goes to investments (Roth IRA, 401k), additional savings (5-10%), and then guilt free spending money.

Right now, you are spending 64% on your income on housing. Not just fixed costs, but housing. Moreover, including this amount, you are spending 95.8% of your income on fixed costs. That means you only have 4.2% of income to save (or buy a car).

Put it another way (since you read r/personalfinance). What would you think if somebody came on here and posted: "Humble beginnings, make $45k a year living with my parents, and I'm buying my dad a Porsche because that's his dream! But how do I save for an apartment?"

Your eyebrows would obviously be raised.

Now, here's why overspending on housing and fixed costs is a problem (and goes to my second point): you are suffering HUGE losses by not starting to invest NOW. For instance, if you started a Roth right now and contributed the max, and retired at 65, your Roth would be worth $1.263 million. If you waited until you were 30, it would be worth $814 thousand. In other words, by waiting six years, you're losing six years of compound interest. That's a $400k loss.

Lastly, I hope you're not looking at building a house as an investment. A house is a purchase. You cannot assume it will appreciate in value. It is a purchase that will cost a lot of money over time (property taxes, maintenance, transaction costs if you sell it, etc.). And, does your dad have the income to do all that, or will you be his supplier all his life?

Bottom Line: The fact that you're making $70,000 per year and think you need to take out a loan to afford car speaks volumes to your lack of finance knowledge. You need to own that and educate yourself on the basics (I'd recommend this: http://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-To-Rich/dp/0761147489).

What I'd do:

(1) Match your employer's 401(k)

(2) Start a Roth IRA

(3) Open an investment account to start saving for your own house, as well as being able to take care of your parents when they retire

(4) Start improving your credit to make sure you get a low interest rate on your car loan

(5) Buy a car and stop mooching off your friends

(6) Cut back on sending $2,000 to your dad to build a house.

(7) Stop going to restaurants five times a week and use that money to pay for car insurance and gas.

PS: I know I can't understand your emotional desire to build a house for your dad. But I speak from this personally: my mom moved into her "dream house" out in the country eight years ago. It was a $145k mortgage. Eight years later and she's re-financed it twice. The balance is $140k. She just never understood how much it was going to cost to maintain the house on her own. She's never going to pay that mortgage off. And almost 60% of her income goes toward paying her mortgage. It's locked her up financially. Only difference between her and you is that you have years to correct your mistake, and my mom is fucked.

22 years old and 140-160k per year? Well done!

I'd start by reading as many personal finance books as you can. The wealthy barber returns(I think Tangerine or some bank is offering it for free as a pdf right now), the millionaire teacher is another great one. They'll get you started on the basics.

As others mentioned www.canadiancouchpotato.com is excellent. It's a set and forget kind of investment, with your savings you should be able to build a solid retirement portfolio in a a decade or so, depending on how your expenses and income change over the years. Personally for me MMM has some great advice buried in fanatical frugalism. It's a bit much at times, but there's good advice.

As far as your money in a chequing account, I'd invest every dime you won't need for many many years. Have a decent amount of cash on hand for emergencies(6months of expenses is usually enough) but you can keep that in a high interest savings account or somewhere liquid.

Military sounds good - I for one am a 2D artist and that fulfills all my needs. Of course, to each his own and you'll have to find yours. Some men love fishing, travelling the country etc. But I've found that the most meaningful things are creative: writing, music, building stuff, public speaking even making Youtube videos.

Also check out Aaron Clarey - https://www.youtube.com/user/AaronClarey/videos and https://www.amazon.com/Bachelor-Pad-Economics-Aaron-Clarey-ebook/dp/B00HMQZREO To me at least he's been an amazing influence. Good luck!

> I've always liked the idea of offering them a physical bank with a ridiculous interest rate so that they can see interest with their own eyes

This is the premise behind The First National Bank of Dad, which David Owen wrote a book about, but which you can learn about for free via a podcast:

> David Owen, author of The First National Bank of Dad, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about how to educate our children about money and finance. Owen explains how he created his own savings accounts for his kids that gave them an incentive to save and other ways to teach them about postponing gratification, investing, keeping money in perspective and other life lessons. The conversation closes with a discussion of the value of reading to your kids.

> http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2012/05/owen_on_parenti.html

> Why is he MMM’s so called “arch rival” and how do they differ in philosophy?

He's called MMM's "arch rival" because of this early (2011) blog post / book review by MMM himself about Ramit Sethi's (the guy being interviewed) book titled I Will Teach You To Be Rich. You can read the blog post on your own, but the short of it is that Ramit suggests a less frugal lifestyle than MMM. Ramit famously says you shouldn't worry about buying a latte because in the grand scheme of things a single $4 coffee isn't going to adjust your FI/Retirement goals that much. MMM takes the complete opposite approach, and suggests eliminating that latte if you can, and particularly if it doesn't bring any value to your life. MMM would say "why are you being a consumer sucka and paying a coffee shop a ridiculous amount of money for a coffee you can brew so much better at home!!!" while Ramit takes the "eh, don't sweat it bro" approach.

IMO, I think both MMM and Ramit have valid points. I think in moderation both are helpful - eliminate the crap you can, but don't sweat the tiny things or the things that bring you joy. Like don't get yourself all sad because you broke down one day and bought a cup of coffee - just try to avoid doing that daily if you can, and if you actually really like buying that cup of coffee then good for you, enjoy it!

I think this podcast is worth a listen, but it's helpful to have seen that early MMM blog post prior. His criticizisms of this sub and others like it is spot on too (as pointed out by another commenter).

Hi, I found solid, readable, nicely structured and simple advice in Ramit Sethis Book "I will teach you to be rich", available here, for example: amazon .

The good thing is that he concentrates on a few pieces of important puzzle parts, driving the importance of some core issues home without getting into lots of details which could ultimately distract somebody from implementing the important parts.

The most important chapters are about

• How to use Credit Cards properly (mostly to build credit, something I don't really get because I am not an american probably)
  
• How to save for old age
  
• How to make a budget you can actually use and work with
  
  ... and a few other things, like negotiation, how to handle debt etc.
  
  It's really a good book which concentrates on the important stuff, and also a kind of checklist where you can implement one chapter after the other until you are done.
  

I suggest you start by not asking for stock tips on Reddit, or anywhere else for that matter. If you don't have your own very good reasons to invest in a specific stock, you should not be investing in individual stocks at all. Investing is a game of risk vs reward, of the mathematical properties of diversified portfolios, and of mastering one's own behaviour. It isn't about getting the scoop on the next winner, nor is it really even possible for retail investors to have an information advantage over the rest of the market.

In my opinion, literally everything you need to know about being a successful long-term investor can be found in the friendly, fun and Canadian book Millionaire Teacher.

1. Set up a self-directed RRSP (SDRSP) account with TD Discount Brokerage.
   
2. Set up automatic withdrawals from your chequing account to your RRSP account using a TD systematic investment plan (SIP).
   
3. Set up a balanced investment portfolio. My preference was the Canadian Couch Potato Global Couch Potato - Option 2.
   
   At $120,000/year pre-tax, you should be saving a significant portion of your income. I'd suggest reading:
   
   

• I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi. It's about automatic savings and conscious spending. It's aimed at a US audience, but the lessons apply.
  
• The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley. It discusses millionaires: who they are, how they look, and how they think.
  
  Edit: It really depends on what your financial goals are, and the time horizon on each. My advice would be to save and invest much of what you make today.
  
  

1. Time value of money is on your side. Don't wait.
   
2. At $120,000/year, you're approaching the highest marginal tax rate. Contributing to your RRSP now will make the most use of the tax deferral.
   
3. Setting up an automatic savings or investing program now will help prevent the urge to splurge on things you may not need. Such is the nature of having free cash on hand.

Sounds like you're trapped by your house rather than your job, to be honest. And "trapped" is the wrong word as it's a decision you've made and something you've decided to prioritise. Which is okay! I like being a homeowner!
But you can choose to live differently too, you know; I'm not one to advocate escapist bullshit like running off to southeast asia or whatever, as I work a job I don't love too and would obviously rather work less. But I get paid rather a lot so that allows me to dwell on the positives rather than the negatives. And I have an exit plan which provides the that control and calm we all need, psychologically.

Pick your cliche - Mindset is everything; What you focus on becomes your reality; The grass is always greener. They are all basically true.

Anyway, suggest you read over the FAQ and sidebar links at /r/financialindependance (don't just jump into the threads read the curated stuff first). Or buy the excellent Building Wealth and Being Happy by /u/grahamcpa

Either will provide food for thought and may allow you to plan something that will make you happier either short or long term, rather than wishing your life away.

Hiya,
Congrats on deciding to embark on this path to financial literacy--not many your age do :D

I can point you to some valuable resources.
wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_score_(United_States)) explains the apprx factors that weigh into your credit score.
The credit card section of our FAQ has a brief explanation about them.

For student loans, the national student loan data systemtracks all your info on your (government?) loans. I'd take ownership of this if I were you and get your mom to give you copies of the contracts and the fafsa account she made in your name.

If you dare to go beyond learning about just credit and student loans, the book "I will teach you to be rich" gives pointers on opening that first bank accnt and credit card, explains various ways to save for retirement, and briefly explains bonds, stocks, and mutual funds. The recommended books in our faq are also nice

I Will Teach You To Be Rich - It has an awful cheesy salesman title, but has the best practicable and action focused steps to become financially sound. I reference it all the time, 10 years later, and recommend this first.

If you want to be leanfire, follow the steps included and just increase your savings and investing rates with what you feel comfortable.

Hate to break it to you, but lesson number 1 is going to be that you shouldn't be paying >$5000 for a class in personal finance (especially when it all fits on an index card!).

Save $4990 and buy this book instead. Incidentally, the guy who wrote it tried teaching personal finance classes at Stanford and nobody came. Everybody thinks they want to learn about this stuff, but nobody actually wants to go sit in a classroom to learn it.

Book's pretty good, and less dry than most "personal finance" stuff...a lot of the basic financial advice is already covered in Harold's index card, but he has pretty good material on negotiation, automation, and how to prepare yourself financially without miserly budgeting and worrying about whether or not you can afford a $3 starbucks drink.

I'm not sure how /r/investing feels about this particular book, but being that I was new to how the more complex aspects of managing your money work, it helped me get an idea of what what trajectory I should follow and the steps to take.

I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi was an easy, funny, and overall great read. It's aimed at people who know very little about managing their finances and/or investing.

If you want to get an idea for the format of the book, he does a lot of videos online about the same content in the book. You can find them here. They're all very easy to consume and understand and the book follows this same format for the most part.

Hi everyone! I just published my first book! It's called How to Adult: Money. It's a book about personal finance topics (mortgages, credit cards, saving, budgeting, investing, taxes, etc.) for young adults.

It's free today and tomorrow on amazon. so grab your copy and leave some feedback! :)

There are two versions:

U.S. Version: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0713R5YCX

Canadian Version: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B071YMYN2M

thanks!

P/s. if anybody has some extra time on their hands, can you download both and tell me which formatting you like better? I've formatted the two books differently because i have no idea which is better.

• Your Money or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence: Revised and Updated for the 21st Century
  
  
• Early Retirement Extreme: A philosophical and practical guide to financial independence
  
  
• Rich Dad Poor Dad: What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!
  
  
• The Richest Man in Babylon: The Success Secrets of the Ancients--the Most Inspiring Book on Wealth Ever Written
  
  
• The Wealthy Barber, Updated 3rd Edition: Everyone's Commonsense Guide to Becoming Financially Independent
  
  
• The Automatic Millionaire, Expanded and Updated: A Powerful One-Step Plan to Live and Finish Rich
  
  
• Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy
  
  
• I Will Teach You To Be Rich
  
  
• The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness
  
  Ich habe jedes dieser Bücher gelesen und kann es empfehlen. Ich würde jedes davon wieder kaufen und wieder lesen.
  
  
• The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing <-- Steht noch auf meiner Lese-Liste

I've had a lot of back-and-forth with /u/GraemeCPA on his book about FIRE, and I recently learned that it was out on Amazon. I haven't grabbed it yet, but Graeme has been a great contributor to the sub, and I wanted to make sure that people realized that this was out there.

I plan on checking it out and seeing if we can add it as a resource on the sidebar.

Building Wealth And Being Happy: A Practical Guide To Financial Independence

On What to Read


Here are some suggestions on books and websites:


The Millionaire Next Door by Stanley and Danko - https://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Next-Door-Surprising-Americas/dp/1589795474


If You Can by William Bernstein - http://efficientfrontier.com/ef/0adhoc/2books.htm


Free version is here - https://www.dropbox.com/s/5tj8480ji58j00f/If%20You%20Can.pdf?dl=0


The Investor's Manifesto. Preparing for Prosperity, Armageddon, and Everything in Between by William Bernstein - https://www.amazon.com/Investors-Manifesto-Prosperity-Armageddon-Everything/dp/1118073762


The Bogleheads Guide to Investing - https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/1118921283


The Coffeehouse Investor - https://www.amazon.com/Coffeehouse-Investor-Wealth-Ignore-Street/dp/0976585707


The Bogleheads' Guide to Retirement Planning - https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Retirement-Planning/dp/0470455578


The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio by William Bernstein - https://www.amazon.com/Four-Pillars-Investing-Building-Portfolio/dp/0071747052/


Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey - https://www.amazon.com/Total-Money-Makeover-Classic-Financial/dp/1595555277


Personal Finance for Dummies by Eric Tyson - https://www.amazon.com/Personal-Finance-Dummies-Eric-Tyson/dp/1118117859


Investing for Dummies by Eric Tyson - https://www.amazon.com/Investing-Dummies-Eric-Tyson/dp/1119320690/


The Millionaire Real Estate Investor per red-sfplus’s post (can confirm this is excellent) - https://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Real-Estate-Investor/dp/0071446370/


For all the M.Ds on here and HNW individuals, you might want to check out https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/ and his blog – found it to be very useful.


https://www.irs.gov/ or your government’s tax page. If you’ve been reading, you know that millionaires know more than your average bear about the tax code.


https://www.reddit.com/r/TheRedPill/comments/7vohb3/money/


https://www.reddit.com/r/TheRedPill/comments/3hzcvn/financial_advice_from_a_financier/


https://www.artofmanliness.com/2017/09/22/4-money-tips-4-personal-finance-legends/


Personal Finance Flowchart from their wiki - https://i.imgur.com/lSoUQr2.png


Additional Lists of Books:


https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Books:_recommendations_and_reviews


https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/books-4/


Subreddits


https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/


https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/ - I would highly encourage you to spend a half hour browsing their wiki - https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/index and investing advice - https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/investing


https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/


https://www.reddit.com/r/SecurityAnalysis/


https://www.reddit.com/r/finance/


https://www.reddit.com/r/portfolios/


https://www.reddit.com/r/Bogleheads/


MRP References


https://www.reddit.com/r/marriedredpill/comments/40whjy/finally_talked_to_my_wife_about_our_finances_it/


https://www.reddit.com/r/marriedredpill/comments/67nxdu/finances_with_a_sahm/


https://www.reddit.com/r/marriedredpill/comments/488pa0/60_dod_week_6_finances/ (original)


https://www.reddit.com/r/marriedredpill/comments/6a6712/60_dod_week_6_finances/ (year 2)


https://www.reddit.com/r/marriedredpill/comments/3xw015/how_to_prepare_for_a_talk_about_finances/


https://www.reddit.com/r/marriedredpill/comments/30z704/taking_back_the_finances/


https://www.reddit.com/r/marriedredpill/comments/2uzukg/married_redpill_finances_and_money/


https://www.reddit.com/r/marriedredpill/comments/3637q5/some_thoughts_on_mrp_and_finances/


https://www.reddit.com/r/askMRP/comments/8dwaqt/best_practices_for_finances_within_marriage/


https://www.reddit.com/r/marriedredpill/comments/588e5o/gain_control_of_the_treasury/


Final Thoughts


There are already a lot of high net worth individuals on these subs (if you don’t believe me, look at the OYS for the past few months). This should be a review for most folks. The key points stay the same – have a plan, get out of the hole you are in, have a budget, do the right moves for wealth accumulation. Lead your family in your finances. Own it.


What are YOU doing to own your finances? Give some examples below.

Everyone's situation is going to be different. For most people RePAYE will be a bit better choice than PAYE because of the 50% interest subsidy. I recommend Ben White's book. All the information in it can be found for free online but the book is a nice convenient package to digest it all. It only takes a few hours to read through.

Also use nslds and the Medloan calculator, as well as the calculators at doctoredmoney to figure out the best payment plan for you.

Being someone that day-dreams about sailing most of the year through but has yet to get a whole lot of nautical miles under my belt, I can kinda feel for you in the position you're in. My best advice to you, though, is two-fold. The first is sail as much as you can on other, more experienced sailors' boats. Or try sailing dinghies for a season and hone your chops on some small craft.

My other advice is to read your ass off. Read websites, forums and threads on sailing, watch movies/documentaries/instructionals etc, and explore your library's sailing section. This thread isn't exclusive to learning how to circumnavigate, but check out the top suggestions I made - namely the two books by the Hiscocks. Also check out Voyaging on a Small Income by Annie Hill - pretty much the authority on low-cost cruising from what I've read. And you're in luck because two years ago when I bought it I don't think it was in print...

I can try and dig up more good books for you if you like, though at the moment I'm going to turn in. There are so many great books about sailing covering so many topics. As anxious as you are to start sailing I suggest you take the time to read as much as you can and then put that knowledge to practice before heading out.

Also, as a primer on what not to do, check out Desperate Voyage.

I believe you will find comfort in two books. The first is The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi, the greatest of all Japan's Samurai.

The other is Many Lives, Many Masters. This is a PDF, so read online or print it.

These books have nothing in common - save for the greater understanding of the self that will come from the reading.

Good Luck!

This reddit discussion from around a year ago is somewhat informative. It's all about credit unions in Toronto.

I like some of the credit unions that discussion talks about, but the closest one to me is a Meridian branch. I looked at their rates, and it looks like I'd still be paying around $9.00 a month for a similar account.

It's not a lot of money, but I'm on a mission to stop paying for banking. Mostly because I liked reading Ramit Sethi's I Will Teach You To Be Rich and he emphasized choices like that a great deal.

I agree, I'd like to see more about disposable income.

Interested readers may want to check out, among other things, a book called The Two Income Trap

When both parents work and have kids to raise, you have additional costs, such as a second reliable car and day care / after school care. These can add up to put a big dent in that second income. Of course, there are variables, if both parents have really good jobs it makes it easier, or if you have a nearby relative to provide day care; but if one goes to work "to help pay the bills" and it is offset by $1,000 a month for day care it doesn't help as much.

You mentioned that you're married. My wife & I read Smart Couples Finish Rich when we were first married and found it very helpful. It's a good overview of all the major financial topics for a couple (financial planning, retirement, insurance, buying a home, etc). It doesn't go too deeply into any of them, so it's a pretty easy read. We read that book first then a couple of books that go into more detail on individual topics where we felt we needed more detail.

The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing was one of those other books and it was very helpful when setting up our retirement savings, investing, and planning for the future.

Finally, I found that I Will Teach You Too Be Rich by Ramit Sethi was also very good. It's aimed at people in their 20's & 30's so the style & tone of the book is very different from other finance books. It focuses on money management skills & systems. It also covers topics like negotiation that most other books don't mention very much.

I've read about half of these. Pretty dry reading. I would recommend the following:

The Wealthy Barber

I Will Teach You to be Rich

Bogleheads' Guide to Investing

All About Asset Allocation

The basic point of all of the books above and in the article is that you aren't going to beat the pros in investing, in fact the pros can't even keep up the same record from year to year. Index funds are the way to go. Other books above go over what the asset allocation looks like and also goes over insurance and other things to make your finances sound.


As an aside, I never could stick with a budget until using the software YNAB and now that I'm doing a monthly budget I am seeing massive benefits.

I'd recommend I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi. A touch cheesy, but a lot of good info in there about personal finance. I especially likes how he talks about automating your budget so that you don't have to spend a lot of time tending it.

Anything by Dave Ramsey is a good start too. And finally, I'd recommend the program YNAB for budgeting.

I like to help out. I learned through the school of hard knocks and had to find out for myself how to get ahead. I'm retired early 50s. Just lived frugally, saved, was creative, had roommates (on another floor with a separate kitchen and living space).

You sound like you are on your way living below your means.

A couple of good books by Eric Tyson that I found useful:
https://www.amazon.com/Personal-Finance-Dummies-Eric-Tyson/dp/1118117859
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_15?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=home+buying+for+dummies+2017&sprefix=home+buying+for%2Cstripbooks%2C194&crid=IAOQ9V6DU20Y

This book covers this topic along these lines but in much more detail:

https://www.amazon.com/First-National-Bank-Dad-Foolproof/dp/1416534253/

I've found it to be super useful. The part about paying kids way higher interest because of their time horizon and inexperience is especially important for my kids.

Based on your investment choices... I would also recommend the two Boglehead's Guides. There is one to investments and one for retirement. Both will take you from having a "lack of knowledge in this realm" to no longer needing advice from so-called financial advisers.

If you're really following their advice, you also wont buy the books, but you will check them out at a library. Personally I bought them because they were pretty cheap anyways and I love having them to lend to friends whenever the subject of retirement or investing comes up.

Investing!


Retirement Planning!

The best advice I can think of:

1. Continue to read /r/personalfinance /r/financialindependence /r/frugal and http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/
   
   
2. Read I Will Teach you to be Rich. This book is the easiest intro to finance book I've found for 18-25 year olds. It will get you halfway to where you need to be.
   
   
3. Read The Bogleheads Guide to Investing. This is the best book for people who are serious about learning how to become wealthy and have some discipline/aren't terrified of finance.
   
   Follow this advice and you will have a secure financial future.

I haven't personally read it, but I saw this book get recommended frequently on subs like /r/personalfinance and from what I've heard about the book it does sound pretty solid:

I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi

Bonus: The author is a fellow ABCD.

don't do anything until you're comfortable with it an understand it. if all you understand is a simple savings account, stick with that. don't let anybody pressure into doing anything.

the best advice I could give you is to read a copy of Thomas Stanley's book Stop Acting Rich. He was a professor who studied high-wealth people. lots of great advice on how to live well below your means, manage the money wisely, and not waste the money trying to impress people. The absolute worst thing you could probably do is start living the high life, buying high-end cars, joining the country club, etc. it's easy to imagine someone squandering ten million dollars that way and regretting it the rest of their life.

https://www.amazon.com/Stop-Acting-Rich-Living-Millionaire/dp/1118011570

This is a convenient myth. Far more relies upon circumstance and luck, than just responsible money management. In fact, some of THE BEST MONEY MANAGERS I know are persons of low wages or income, because they have no choice. I look around me at people over the $68K threshold, and we don't have to be as careful with our money, and, guess what? We're not! (and I am not just speaking for myself).

An excellent deep research of this in very readable form is "The Two Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Mothers and Fathers Are Going Broke" by Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi (http://www.amazon.ca/The-Two-Income-Trap-Middle-Class/dp/0465090826/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333117838&sr=8-1). Elizabeth is Special Advisor to the US President for Consumer Financial Protection.

The analysis here is as true for Canada as the US, more true since the economic downturn than when it was written in 2004.

They're all a ripoff and the industry is filled with ignorant conmen. Most "financial planners" are quite literally just salesmen. They're selling you peace of mind at a high cost. They're trained and strongly encouraged to push products with high commission for them that make little economic sense for you.

Have you read the wiki over on /r/personalfinance? https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics

Between that and something like a bogleheads book (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470455578 for example) you should be able to get the information you need.

If you're sure you want to work with a financial planner you might look into fee-based financial advisers, you can search for those here:
http://www.napfa.org/

A cursory search on the fee-based adviser website linked above didn't turn up any CFP (certified financial planner) who was also CPA (certified public accountant) in the DC limits.

Good luck

Here's the conventional wisdom on what to choose from:

http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Prioritizing_investments

>+ Company plan (401k, 403b, etc.) up to the company match

Company match is a free guaranteed return. Usually this is quite generous.

>+ Health Savings Account, if eligible.

This is only if you have a high deductible health plan. That's an official IRS definition and your plan must specifically say it's a qualifying plan. Having high deductibles isn't enough.

>+ Roth IRA or deductible traditional IRA up to maximum contribution limit, depending on personal circumstances and eligibility.

If you think your taxes at retirement will be higher than now (remember that taxes are now at all-time lows) then go with the Roth plan. If you think your taxes at retirement will be lower than now (possible if your current income is high enough that you're a couple tax brackets up) then go with the Traditional IRA.

You can switch back and forth from year to year as circumstances change. It's helpful to have both taxable and non-taxable income available during retirement so one can stay in appropriately low tax brackets.

>+ Company plan up to maximum contribution limit

These are rare, but sure, it might offer some benefits over taxable accounts.

>+ Taxable investing

These are nice because they can be used pre-retirement if necessary. Plan for long-term investing and you can also get decent tax rates.

This is the book with details:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Bogleheads-Guide-Retirement-Planning/dp/0470919019

What it really sounds like is that you need a whole mindset change. I would recommend starting off getting some education (either college or self-taught) and develop confident mindset. You've taken the first step with seeing that you have a issue and asking for help.

There's a few books I can recommend: Think and Grow Rich, I Will Teach you to be Rich, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind.

Even if money isn't your goal, these books help you discover what you should be focusing life on.

Now it's all about doing it.

Secure a comfortable source of income, live within your means and you’ll have disposable income you can spend on whatever you want. I always recommend this book to people that are interested in personal finance and budgeting for the future. First few chapters are a great read.

> Since then I've dumped my financial advisor who was taking a 2.5% fee on top of the 2% MER mutual fund she had me in

I don't even know what to say, I'm so happy you've managed to get out from this. This is just insane.

> I'd discovered that there isn't a lot of specific advice on how to get started for Canadians as most information is US based and the Canadian information that exists is too vague for a beginner.

I recognize this is an old post but there doesn't seem to be a lot of action on r/fican. But I wanted to mention that, in fact, the three books generally mentioned in PFC (among other books in this list) are enough to get a person started:

• The Wealthy Barber Returns (still free to download)
  
  
• Millionaire Teacher
  
  
• The Value of Simple
  
  The last book in particular is instructive on how to go about getting started. Additional technical questions are generally answered in the CCP blog and Justin Bender’s blog. The recent ultimate CCP guide also brings a lot of the information together. Congrats again!

Never help someone more than they are willing to help themselves. Since he likes to read, give him a good book to read. One that sounds gimicky like he's used to but that actually gives good advice on saving and investing through out your life instead of get rich quick.

Example: I will teach you to be rich

It is on the reading list but I highly recommend I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

It is geared for someone in their 20s although it can be applied at any age. It's broken down into six weeks where he goes over your credit and banking accounts and then guides you into starting an investment account and setting up a budget. An updated edition of this book is coming out in May but the advice in the book is still sound and relevant.

Edit: Found one more book on that list that seems perfect. Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties.

I also really liked Suze Orman's The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke but it came out in 2005 so some of the content is outdated. This is one of the few books I have seen that really targets the issues young people face with money.

The trouble with a bank account is that the interest is so paltry. An idea I got from The First National Bank of Dad is to act as a bank for your kids and to pay them an exorbitant interest rate (like 5% monthly). Then they have a real incentive to save and can experience the fun of watching money meaningfully grow. You can reduce the interest rate as they get older and start to accumulate adult-like amounts of money.

The book that got me started was I Will Teach You to be Rich

It's run like a 6-week personal finance course and is wonderful. Thanks to that book I found Vanguard, understood why passive-investing is investing correctly. Investing is only a small part of the book as it covers banking, loans, credit cards and lots more. However, it's very information dense and easily understandable.

what you are experiencing is very real. it is discussed in

https://www.amazon.com/Bachelor-Pad-Economics-Aaron-Clarey-ebook/dp/B00HMQZREO

I really good book I'm reading, advertised by tom leykis and I know some readers here have talked about it.

Living the single life is fun AF, but we are in the minority and it is really easy to isolate yourself from normal people. Painful and sad. You can go tell your best friend who's married all about the excitement you're having any given day. and he'll think it's cool, and might be jealous, but you have to keep making new friends to try and keep up with you. which is increasingly difficult at advancing ages.

I still wouldn't trade it for married life unless I actually found a unicorn... which really, isn't gon happen

One thing that I would recommend is that you at least attain a remedial understanding of money. After "finding a good financial advisor", it's still important to be able to understand what they're talking about - not to mention detect if they know what they're talking about/are trying to scam you.

Find some financial literacy books, read one or two. I just googled it so I don't know if it's good, but there is a Personal Finance for Dummies book. This will also help you know what questions to ask. And if anyone that's telling you what to do with your money ever makes you feel like you're asking too many questions, run away and find someone else.

If reading isn't your thing, you might try taking a class at a community college or find some other community resource. When I was in Oregon I was involved with the Oregon Society of CPA's and we had a financial literacy group that put on talks at local libraries and things like that.

There's a common saying that if you read 3 books on a topic, you will know more about it than ~ 99% of people. I recommend starting with I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi. Despite its corny name, this is a fantastic intro to personal finance for beginners. A more advanced and in-depth book would be something like Wealth by Virtue which I plan to read soon because people have been singing praises about this book. There's a million books out there about stuff like this and if you just read a few, you will be lightyears ahead of everyone else.

Often non profits help the world. I read social startup success and https://www.amazon.com/Start-Your-Own-Business-Fifth/dp/1599183870/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1540837976&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=how+to+start+your+business+the+only+book&dpPl=1&dpID=51gHiS5TjtL&ref=plSrch

Pick a niche you want to change in the world. If you're into doing this we can learn better together. Msg me

Penny stocks are all companies he's never heard of, and paper trading isn't fun.

To engage him, you want him to have real skin in the game and to be able to buy shares of companies he recognizes -- McDonalds, Apple, Google, etc.

The best way to do both is explained in the book The First National Bank of Dad.

You act as the market. Your son uses his allowance money to "buy" stock from you treating pennies as dollars. For example, McDonalds is trading today at $120 per share so your son would give you $1.20 for a share of McDonalds. You both track the stock, and when he wants to sell you pay him the appropriate value of his share.

Two words: Index funds

Vanguard is the leader in providing reputable index funds with outrageously low fees. A lot of mutual funds will charge an expense ratio of 0.5% to 2%, which doesn't sound like a lot, but adds up big time in the long run. Vanguard's index fund expense ratios can be as low as 0.05% Considering that the bulk of managed mutual funds don't regularly beat the market, the index fund seems like the best bet for the everyday investor.

Set up an IRA, or an employee sponsored 401k, and begin putting in an affordable amount every month (dollar-cost averaging). Don't worry if the market is up or down, it all balances out in the end (timing the market is impossible for the average investor, and in the long run doesn't matter much anyways). Read up on bogleheads, check out r/investing, don't try to time the market, and remember that dollar-cost averaging is your friend.

Boglehead's has a book specifically for retirement planning. This might be a good place to start if they are English speaking. If they are not English speaking, it will be up to you to educate yourself and then educate them. You can't force the knowledge on them, but you need to keep in mind that if they don't have enough money in retirement, they will likely be relying on you to support them. Maybe sitting down and talking to them about your concerns would be a good way to get them concerned as well.

Hey bit late on this one, but for some inspiration I found the guys over at /r/financialindependence/ have excellent ideas on reducing expenses and an anti-capitalist way of life. The Early Retirement Extreme book is an eye-opening read!

Here's an edited version of my comment from that thread:

Only accept paid internships unless it's a really good learning opportunity. If you want to do grad school in a STEM field, make sure you're doing research in a professor's lab no later than the summer before your junior year and preferably earlier.

More general advice:

Read this collection of links on efficient study habits and check out Anki.

Read the FAQs in /r/fitness and /r/xxfitness.

Read the FAQ in /r/sex and the Sex for Noobs section of their official blog (start from the earliest articles and read from there).

Check out /r/malefashionadvice and /r/frugalmalefashion, too. /r/femalefashionadvice and /r/TheGirlSurvivalGuide.

Use this guy's strategy for applying to scholarships. He's got a great personal finance book, too.

Learn to cook. Get a crock pot and a cast iron skillet.

Don't pay off the house! The way inflation is going it is much better to pay your mortgage with future watered down dollars and you get to write off the interest in the mean time.

Go here http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=1&sid=e7eb3112918c466c56250d9de7993c31 and they will help you figure it out.

2% is criminal unless you are about to retire you could get 5% in bonds and be completely safe. I made 24% last year just buying the market and my Fiance's finance guy got her 12% (due to fees). Paying people for financial management seems like a waste to me when you can educate yourself a bit and not pay fees.

Main things to understand are diversifiable risk, expenses ratio, stock/bond ratio, asset allocation, rebalancing, tax loss harvesting, and tax efficiency. If you knew about these things last year you would have made 24% instead of 2% because all I did was buy the market and add a little extra exposure to small and foreign companies.

This book might help http://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Retirement-Planning/dp/0470919019/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1302800416&sr=1-2

Thank you. I highly recommend reading "I Will Teach You to be Rich" for any young college student. Although the title is a bit optimistic, this book contains some of the best advice on the basics of personal finance that I've seen.

If you like to read I have read a few books that have quickly made me realize that most people do not need a financial adviser.

Here are my top 3:

A simple path to wealth: https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Path-Wealth-financial-independence/dp/1533667926/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1511905350&sr=8-1&keywords=the+simple+path+to+wealth

I will teach you to be Rich: https://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-Be-Rich/dp/0761147489/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1511905370&sr=1-1&keywords=I+will+teach+you+to+be+rich

The little book to common sense investing: https://www.amazon.com/Little-Book-Common-Sense-Investing/dp/1119404509/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1511905385&sr=1-1&keywords=the+little+book+to+common+sense+investing

i suggest to anyone who has all their money go to one checking account please read a personal finance book, i love recommending this book, or at least his website. i spent way too many years with one checking account saying one day ill do something about it.

and all the other advice is great as well. index funds should have lower expenses and its always a good time to get an ira started.

Which is based on the book Early Retirement Extreme by Jacob Fisker. A really great read. He has a whole section with the derivation of this early retirement formula with the assumptions and the graphs, it's pretty neat.

35% I started at 10% My quality of life it great. I still have money for cycling gear and vacations. I just have to plan for them better and do some price shopping. I'll save up money to purchase something rather than digging into my savings account with is meant for only emergencies. My going out money is added into my groceries and eating budget and when it gets low at the end of the month I have and decide whether ramen for the rest of the month is worth going out again. It sounds boring but I'd rather control where my money is going than have my money control where I'm going. There are some great ideas from Ramit about setting priorities and the latte factor.

Your deviant art has some pretty cool stuff!

Sorry, it is "The Book of Five Rings" It is written by a 17th century swordsman and is philosophical and educational about sword play in his time period.

It is actually a pretty popular book for Japanese business men. It is like Art of War, there are a lot of philosophies that you can translate to the corporate world.

I think I will Teach You to be Rich by Ramit Sethi is written for the older teens/younger twenties crowd. He's a little nerdy but funny and gives solid advice. I buy it for all my younger cousins when they have asked me for personal finance advice and they've all liked it.

https://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-Be-Rich/dp/0761147489/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1521661332&sr=8-1&keywords=i+will+teach+you+to+be+rich

Thanks! Yes, both kids get allowances. We set something up similar to this:

https://www.amazon.com/First-National-Bank-Dad-Foolproof/dp/1416534253

Even the 4yo gets it. He gets excited when he gets his interest. The other day at Target he picked up some BS toy and I said “you’ll have to spend your savings to buy that” and he put it back down.

(It’s not always that easy)

> I ask this because even redpill guys say ridiculous things like "feminism isn't a bad idea just poorly practiced..."

Ironically, men have been the biggest benefactors of the sexual revolution and feminism since the 60's. Easy access to cheap sex is available to any man who wants to spend any time at all learning to how to manipulate women into taking their clothes off. By making the cost of obtaining sex fall to an all-time low, without serious investment and commitment, any incentives or social controls put upon men to have to take women seriously, have been washed away.

Even people like Elizabeth Warren have admitted that the drive to get women into the workplace isn't what many of them imagine it to be. And it hasn't left many families all that better off, contra the protestations of every feminist group out there, neither many women generally speaking.

You could give this a try, it's pretty good: https://www.amazon.com/Opposite-Spoiled-Raising-Grounded-Generous/dp/0062247026

On the nature versus nurture front, I wish someone had told me what an all encompassing powerful force nature actually is during the newborn time...

And seriously consider taking a junior or community college class in personal finance.

Also: there's good books on personal finance that are highly recommended.

1. Personal Finance for Dummies by Eric Tyson
   
2. The Road to Wealth by Suze Orman
   
3. Making the Most of Your Money by Jane Bryant Quinn
   
   Find out when Suze Orman's show is on your local PBS station and watch the fuck out of that show. She cares a great deal about the little guy and knows the typical traps that novices fall into.

Take this with a grain of salt, but I'm almost done with Aaron Clarey's Bachelor Pad Economics. He has a small YouTube Channel and some may say he is a little red-pilled out, but he also gives some solid advice on how to not fuck up your financial future, as well as living a minimalist lifestyle. His responses are also very candid and it's quite entertaining.

A couple good books are:

Millionaire Teacher - https://www.amazon.ca/Millionaire-Teacher-Wealth-Should-Learned/dp/1119356296/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1524493829&sr=8-1&keywords=millionaire+teacher

The Wealthy Barber Returns - https://www.amazon.ca/Wealthy-Barber-Returns-David-Chilton/dp/0968394744/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1524493829&sr=8-2&keywords=millionaire+teacher

Online, there is some great investing advice at www.canadiancouchpotato.com and you can even check out r/personalfiancecanada

Notice how a lot of these are about finances? Learn how to take care of your money now and your 60 year old self will thank you later. I recommend the book I Will Teach You To Be Rich. Also, nothing is more valuable than a good work ethic.

My advice:

• Study a practical subject that is (a) interesting to you and (b) will give you skills in the job market.
  
  
• Browse this website to get a realistic idea of the starting wages in various jobs: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm
  
  
• Consider trade school or technical training. You can earn a very good wage in a high demand job, with less than 2 years of education. Welder, computer tech, nurse's assistant, dental hygienist, and many other good-paying jobs don't require a college degree.
  
  
  
  
• Beware anything that college counselors say to you. I don't mean to imply that they're all liars. But some of them are liars. And it's rare to find a counselor who'll be honest and say, "Our school might not be a good fit for you," or "You ought to consider other majors."
  
  
• Don't choose a college on the basis of reputation. In most careers, where you earn a degree simply doesn't matter. Brilliant people graduate from cheap state schools. Idiots graduate from the Ivy League. The Wall Street Journal, for example, did a story on how some of America's top CEOs went to cheap state schools, not the Ivy League or other elite schools. What's more important is your personal traits and dedication.
  
  
• Avoid student loans. I recommend that you read this book: http://www.amazon.com/Debt-Free-Outstanding-Education-Scholarships-Mooching/dp/1591842980
  
  
• Browse this website, which ranks American colleges on the quality of their undergraduate education requirements. < http://whatwilltheylearn.com/ > The website was created by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni because a lot of big business were noticing a major problem with young college graduates from so-called 'elite' schools: the students often couldn't read, write or think very well, yet they believed they were brilliant because they'd graduated from a 'top' school. Investigation found that a lot of colleges simply aren't educating their undergrads very well. For example, they gave Yale an 'F' grade, because you can graduate from that school without taking a basic writing/composition course; without taking a history or economics course, or a real science course with a lab unit. In contrast, they gave my school (Utah Valley University) a 'B' because undergrads have to take 3 science courses, at least 1 with a lab! And my school costs only $5k per year, rather than Yale's $40k.

I used to sell annuities as a broker, yes this is the main reason. You are better off investing in a Roth IRA or some other retirement account first, then - if possible when you retire - obtain a variable annuity with a principle/income protection (just in case the market crashes, but you get more dough when it goes up, than fixed).

Long story short, read Bogleheads Guide to Investing or Bogleheads Guide to Retirement; sources:

The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118921283/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_d006Bb505YNH1

The Bogleheads' Guide to Retirement Planning https://www.amazon.com/dp/0470919019/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_z006Bb4QAZKBM

These two books are more than enough to give anyone the knowledge in terms of investing and retirement planning. Or just hit me up with questions, please note that I haven’t been licensed in almost a decade, because I had chosen not to renew my series 6 and 63. Anyway, I hope my post helps.

Edit: damn autocorrect.

Solid list. Far & away best book I've read is: I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi I'm 25 & this is perfect for recent grads or anyone needing a personal financial plan.

This one

I got it when it was free, haven't finished it yet. /u/GraemeCPA'/ writing is pretty good.

JL Collins is great, I for one highly agree with his position on real estate.

OP might also enjoy Graeme Falco's book. Graeme is Canadian and a frequent contributor over at /r/financialindependence. I have yet to read it, but I have hear much good about it.

https://www.amazon.ca/Building-Wealth-Being-Happy-Independence-ebook/dp/B01MXRXM1A

A great book:

http://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-To-Rich/dp/0761147489

Kinda spammy looking title, but a beautiful resource for people who don't know the first thing about finance and want to get started in investing. A 10 year old could pick it up and set up personal finance.

Good question. The post important thing is starting early- due to the much discussed benefit of compound interest.

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2006/05/23/how-compound-interest-favors-the-young/

Many people suggest saving 10-20% of gross income for retirement. It is important to contribute the maximum amount when someone else contributes/matches what you invest.

Three general rules of investing.

1. Invest regularly
   
2. Go for investments with low fees
   
3. Diversify
   
   My favorite beginners book for investing is-
   
   http://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Retirement-Planning/dp/0470455578

It was written many decades ago, and the actual investment advice was very much tied to the times, but the philosophy is still valid, it is entitled “Your money or your Life” . https://www.amazon.com/Your-Money-Life-Transforming-Relationship/dp/0143115766

MMM (Mr Money Mustache) blog and forum are somewhat international, but English speaking based. The blog is a great resource for understanding the math behind savings rates and time to retirement https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/

This guy is a little too out there for me, but Jacob Lund Fisker. Aka “early retirement extreme” or ERE, is a Scandinavian guy who lives by extreme frugality https://www.amazon.com/Early-Retirement-Extreme-Philosophical-Independence/dp/145360121X
He has his own website and forum too

I really like the book "I Will Teach You To Be Rich" by Ramit Sethi. It's an entertaining read and he covers everything from making a budget to investing. Link

if you're into reading books, i recommend this one here.

https://www.amazon.ca/Millionaire-Teacher-Wealth-Should-Learned/dp/1119356296/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3MP5SSBTU215V&keywords=millionaire+teacher&qid=1555169396&s=gateway&sprefix=million%2Caps%2C164&sr=8-1

Andrew Hallam explains it in the most simplest form from A to Z.

cheers! :)

I will teach you to be rich is easily the most approachable and easy to read financial book I have ever read. https://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-Rich-Second/dp/1523505745/ref=sr_1_3?crid=13GHQW9SCDOCS&keywords=i+will+teach+you+to+be+rich&qid=1573442363&sprefix=i+will+teda%2Caps%2C-1&sr=8-3

If you're new to personal finance and in you're 20's, I highly recommend I Will Teach You to be Rich by Ramit Sethi, it will help you with almost all of your questions above and give you perspective on a lot of things in your financial life looking forward.

I thought this book was a great introduction to such things, with real practical advice: http://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-Be-Rich/dp/0761147489

And to address your concrete question: IRA simply stands for "Investment Retirement Account," which is any account that you're using to save for retirement. You're probably thinking "Roth IRA" when you say IRA.

The difference between a Roth IRA and a 401(K) is when they are taxed. Simply put, with a 401(K), you put money in the account before taxes, and you don't pay taxes on that money until you withdraw it - then you pay taxes on the money you withdraw.

A Roth IRA, on the other hand, you fund with after-tax money, so there's no tax deduction as you make contributions, BUT you don't pay taxes when you withdraw the earnings, so it's free money.

Smart savers will have both types of account, as there are advantages and disadvantages to both (think about employer contribution matching, for example).

Here are some books to read...
I Will Teach You to Be Rich - Ramit Sethi

or...The Millionaire Next Door

I recommend an online savings account and throw away the ATM card for it. This makes it easy to add money to. Also, if you ever think about taking money out, it will take you 48 hours to get the cash so it will really make you think about doing it.

A great read I'm currently on is I will teach you to be rich by Ramit Sethi

https://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-Be-Rich/dp/0761147489

I found a copy of an ebook from my library so you could check out yours too!

I thought this book was a good read.

The Opposite of Spoiled: Raising Kids Who Are Grounded, Generous, and Smart About Money

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062247026

I got this book a few months ago and it has changed the way I use money, for sure. I highly recommend it. It's designed for people in their 20s and 30s, which is nice for a book on finance.

First, create a budget. Make sure you are spending less money each month than you are earning. If this isn't possible, you should prioritize finding a job that pays more, or find a way to cut down expenses.

What really helped me was paying off my debt in the order of smallest debt to largest debt. This is known as the debt snowball.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Ramit Sethi's I Will Teach You To Be Rich is a good introduction to money for folks in their early 20s. I think he suggests putting the money in no-load index funds.

His blog of the same name is a fun read. Ramit also posts on reddit from time-to-time.

Ramit: I used your referral for that Amazon link. I expect a commission. ;)

MMM forums. Here.

But honestly as someone else pointed out, once you have the plan, the basics down, there isn't much to say.

I spend too much time on this 'stuff' when you could easily write out all you need to know on the back of an envelope.

I enjoyed ERE's book, https://www.amazon.com/Early-Retirement-Extreme-Philosophical-Independence/dp/145360121X/

Not OP, but I am assuming he is referring to Jacob Fisker's book.

I'm actually reading it now and have about 30 pages left. In general, I love a lot of the principles in the book. To many, the cost savings measures might seem too extreme as Fisker is definitely on the lean lean side of FIRE. That being said, I think he makes great arguments for just about every topic he touches on, I'm not sure I'd be so receptive to the ideas in the book if I had started my FI journey with it though.

One of our subscribers, /u/graemecpa, has just finished a personal finance book. He was running a giveaway yesterday, but due to an apparent glitch in the RemindMe bot, many people missed the giveaway deadline.

So he's extended the promotion to today. Here's the link:Building Wealth And Being Happy: A Practical Guide To Financial Independence

One book I highly suggest reading and tabbing (for future reference) is Personal Finance for Dummies by Eric Tyson.

This book is easy to read, and helps you understand important concepts you'll experience in the future such as insurance, retirement planning, and budgeting.

Another thing I recommend is brushing up on your student loans and figuring out the inner workings of them so when you begin to pay them off, you know what to expect. From personal experience, people don't delve deep enough into their loans until they are in the red.

Here's the ones I like:

• All Your Worth by Elizabeth Warren
  
• The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke by Suze Orman
  
• Personal Finance for Dummies by Eric Tyson
  
  However, I highly recommend not buying them but borrowing them from the library and just taking notes on what you find interesting. Otherwise, it is $15 per book that you will read only once.

To add to the reading list, I enjoyed reading 'The First National Bank of Dad' teaching kids a safe way to invest, and how to work allowance. In regards to what others have said, just being there and living by example is way more important.

How about this? I see that you like books and have heard that it's a great read.

Khan Academy has a great series on personal finances. I highly recommend watching some of the intro videos.

Also pick up this book, I Will Teach You To Be Rich and read it over summer break.

US Link for those that are interested: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0713R5YCX/

RemindMe! 1 Day "Free PF ebook!"

Have you read the Annie Hill book on voyaging? Full of tons of practical advice and encouragement honed from her experiences (both success and failure) over several decades of voyaging on a boat. A 'must read' book for anyone preparing to go voyaging.

The statistic, in better context: There are 65 employed, unmarried men for every 100 employed, unmarried women in the United States.

But why? Perhaps because unmarried men don't need income as badly as married men. Bachelors can be survive and thrive by living a minimalistic lifestyle, which provides significantly more time for leisure and places less necessity on holding steady employment. This lifestyle, which is well documented and pushed in Captain Capitalism's Bachelor Pad Economics, is simply infeasible when a married man needs a higher and more steady income to sustain his wife and children.

Additionally, I would assume these numbers are significantly different if you compare employed, married men and women in the United States. Likely flipped on its head as women are far more likely to exit the workplace after marriage.

I would strongly recommend picking up a copy of this book. There's a lot of good advice in it for someone in your current situation.

I highly recommend Ramit Sethi's I Will Teach You to be Rich. Just prioritize saving what you decide you need first, blow the rest on whatever makes you happy.

You pay for your electricity service, they still burn coal.

This idea is good, but it is very difficult or expensive to implement, if not impossible in some sectors (e.g. clothes, sex toys, furniture, jewelery, office supplies and other small stuff)

I think you can live a "service based life" today by using second hand clothing/ebay/craigslist and looking at your suff as borrowed, always having in mind at what price you can sell the items. The difference in purchase price and sell price over the period you owned a thing is your "service cost".

You can find a good explanation in the book Early Retirement Extreme.

I recommend reading this book: http://www.amazon.com/Debt-Free-Outstanding-Education-Scholarships-Mooching/dp/1591842980 He makes a lot of really good points about choosing and paying for university! Also a very quick read.

Don't judge it by the cover.

Spend $10 on a copy of I Will Teach You to Be Rich. The title is mostly a joke, but it offers very good, practical advice for anyone but particularly those in their early twenties.

Investing in your education, given that you study something that will help you get a job, has one of the best returns on investment (ROI) that you can find anywhere. That said, going into debt for an education is a Really Bad Idea. Do you really want to start life after college, looking for a job with $60,000 of debt hanging over your head? Instead, consider going this route. Attend your local community college (junior college) for two years while living at home. Most community colleges have automatic transfer agreements with your state universities. After two years transfer to the state university. If it's close enough, stay living at home. During this entire time, work a full-time job at $10/$12 an hour and pay for your education as you go along. It is doable. If you insist on going into debt so you can go to college and live in a dorm, you just went into debt for the college party experience, not for an education. If that's what you want to do, at least don't lie to yourself that you're going into debt for an education. You're going into debt so you can party.

The education that you receive from a community college or from your local state university will be the same quality as a more expensive university. Effectively, it will not affect your ability to get a job and earn money with your degree.

Consider reading the book Debt Free U: How I Paid for An Outstanding College Education Without Loans, Scholarships, or Mooching Off My Parents by Zac Bissonnette.

I could recommend this book to teach you to manage money. Especially retirement at an early age. You could get it free though in pdf or audio.

http://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-To-Rich/dp/0761147489

I Will Teach You to be Rich. Totally 1000% worth the read. Should be required reading in high school.
Get it [here] (http://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-To-Rich/dp/0761147489/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398202681&sr=8-1&keywords=i+will+teach+you+to+be+rich)

I think this book would be invaluable

https://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-Be-Rich/dp/0761147489/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1485217701&sr=1-1&keywords=i+will+teach+you+to+be+rich

And the guys web site

http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com

And this

https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/core-finance/stock-and-bonds

And this

https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/core-finance

If you master this information at your age you will have compiled the basics that many people twice your age have no working knowledge of. I buy a copy of I will teach you to be rich for every 18 year old kid any of my friends have.

Bachelor Pad Economics. Worth the minimal cost to get. It as an absolutely red pill way to look after your finances. Discusses the recommended case of not getting married, but also discusses how to handle your finances if you decide to do so. I read it and highly recommend it.