Top 5 Personal Finance Resources (2024)

Hello dear,

It’s so nice to see you again!

I have to say, your reaction last week blew my mind. I am so, so happy you liked my letter.

Even hurting my elbow during Jiu Jitsu was no big deal. For the past week, whenever I felt pain all did was read your reaction and boom, instant dopamine rush. The pain would run away like it robbed a bank. Who needs Ibuprofen when I have your lovely messages and tweets?

Ok, now back to personal finance. This is a very important subject and we are going to learn a lot together.

For today’s topic, I want to address an important rule I have. It goes as follows:

I ONLY WRITE ABOUT STUFF I’VE DONE OR OTHERS HAVE DONE.

Pay attention to how a lot of advice out there involves theorizing. Theoretical advice tends to forget an important detail, human psychology.

For example, there’s no point in me telling you to stay away from pizza while shoving broccoli down your throat. If I don’t do it (or if I don’t know someone who does it, which I don’t) chances are neither will you.

So, no theorizing.

However, you might say “What do you mean you write about what others do? Shouldn’t I read their work instead then?? Grrr!”

… I mean sure why not.

Hold on, torches and pitchforks down. Let me explain:

No person in their right mind can claim everything they do is 100% their idea (for more on this topic, check out Austin Kleon’s “Steal Like An Artist”). In fact, we all take bits and pieces here and there from others.

“There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations.” — Mark Twain

What you’ll find here is the result of reading thousands of pages of advice, taking countless notes, and fitting it all into a convenient series of 52 letters for you to sit back and enjoy. For free.

To explain the image at the beginning of the article; I’m not the guy playing the instruments. I’m the guy DJ’ing on the shoulders of giants.

And you’re more than welcome to my party! Bring all your friends, some red cups, and your drug of choice. Allow me to guide you with my best set while you all dance, laugh, and smile the night away. Does that sound good?

Good.

Having said that, I know you might be curious in exploring the work of those I’ve studied (which I highly recommend you do).

Not now, but in a moment you’ll find a list of my favorite, top five personal finance resources. If you ignore every other resource out there and stick to these five, you’ll do just fine.

Note: I’ll spare you the list of everything I’ve read. Not only would it be a waste of our precious time but a lot of it is specific to different topics (real estate, spreadsheets, points and miles, minimalism, yada yada yada we’ll get there).

Note_2: This is my first time playing with links, so I might have messed up. But I’ve come to understand that if you buy the books through these links Amazon will thank me in the form of gift cards. You don’t have to, but if you do, thank you!

Without further ado (drum roll please):

1. Mr. Money Mustache (Blog: as of today 472 posts)

Mr. Money Mustache (“MMM” or “triple M”) retired at age 30 and teaches us all how we could do it in 10 years (which a lot of his readers have). He also lives an amazing life with his wife and 10-year-old son on $25k a year on average. How you ask? Well join the cult and check his blog!

2. Early Retirement Extreme — Jacob Lund Fisker (Book: 240 pages)

Jacob also retired at age 30. But unlike MMM, Jacob is a spartan who teaches us how to retire in 5 years. He lives on $7k A YEAR! How? Well in his own words he says he’s frugal “the way your grandparents were frugal”. Which means two generations ago he’d be considered normal: He never eats at restaurants, he builds his own furniture, he buys clothes once a year, and much more. I’ve only read a few of his blog posts, but the book is an amazing trip into the brilliant philosophical mind of Jacob.

3. The Simple Path to Wealth — J L Collins (Book: 286 pages)

I first came across J L Collins in his amazing stock series (my favorite resource on investing). His simple way of explaining complex subjects and love for the expression “F- you money” make this book a must read. In fact, if you’re only going to read one book about investing let it be this one.

4. Money, Master the Game — Tony Robbins (Book: 689 pages)

This large book written by a larger than life character is an amazing resource for several reasons. First, there’s Tony’s talent for boiling things down to a simple step-by-step anyone can follow. Second, there’s his uncanny ability to make you feel like you’re Napoleon and the world is Western Europe. And third, the end of the book has 12 amazing interviews with the smartest brains in finance today. If you haven’t heard the names Ray Dalio, Mary Callahan Erdoes, Carl Icahn or T. Boone Pickens, buy this book.

5. Financial Independence Podcast — Mad Fientist (Podcast: as of today 31 episodes)

I’ll tell you a little secret. Once upon a time I considered the idea of creating an amazing financial independence podcast. I’d talk about everything you need to know and interview the brightest minds. That was until I realized the popular finance blogger, Mad Fientist, is doing just that! And it’s amazing. Seriously. I highly recommend you listen to every episode (each between 30 and 40min).

That’s it!

One thing I like about this list, everyone writes or talks about things they or others do (did I mention I don’t like theorizing?).

I’ve already read and listened to everything here. Which means you don’t have to. We’ll discuss it all in the 52 letters of this series.

However, if you end up checking out any of these resources and like what you see (or have any questions), feel free to reach out!

Bonus (June 29th, 2019 update): If you want a resource that helps you reach your specific financial goals, I’m working on an app that does that! Check out Gurgeh 🙂

Honestly, I hope this letter becomes your personal finance map. And I hope you’ll check out at least one of these five resources.

Your old problem of not knowing where to start learning about personal finance is now gone.

See you next week (follow the series here to be notified).

Be well.

R

Thanks for reading! 😊If you enjoyed it, test how many times can you hit 👏 in 5 seconds. It’s great cardio for your fingers AND will help other people see the story.You can follow me on Twitter at @richardreeze to find out whenever others just like it come out.📚 Do you like books? If so you might enjoy my latest obsession: 
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