Ever since I was a kid, I’ve thought that books are the most underpriced things in the world. Getting an hour of the same person’s time or attending an event that they’re speaking at would easily cost you triple digits whereas the only books that I know that are triple digits are required college textbooks.
Today is Black Friday and while many line up to spend money on more material objects to surround themselves with that’ll never compensate their internal sense of dissatisfaction, I’ve had the pleasure of finishing yet another book on personal finance.
I’ll admit. I did get a Nintendo Switch and JBL speaker today so I am not free from the allure of material add-ons. In my defense, my friend bought the Switch for me as a gift and the speaker is something I’ve had in mind for years. I tend to avoid impulse binge shopping but here are some of my impulse binge reads 😏
The Millionaire Next Door
by Thomas Stanley and William Danko
Rich Dad Poor Dad
by Robert Kiyosaki
(I personally am not a fan but it’s a common recommendation so I’ve included it here)
If You Can: How Millenials Can Get Rich Slowly
by William Bernstein
Psychology of Money
by Morgan Housel
Total Money Makeover
by Dave Ramsey
I Will Teach You to be Rich
by Ramit Sethi
The overall theme from all of these books if you don’t end up reading them is to:
Save like your life depends on it at all times because you’d be surprised how suddenly your life ends up depending on it. Don’t spend money you don’t have (aka debt) almost all of the time (sometimes the ROI on a decision is worth borrowing money to do it).
Squash your ego because it’s the source of most poor financial decisions. Humans like to pretend to make rational decisions despite being incredibly fickle and almost entirely emotional; behaving that way with money is what will keep you broke forever.
Buy a used car.
Get good health insurance.
Learn to invest in diverse assets for long term growth. Compounding is king.
Don’t compare yourself to anyone you see because you only see how much money they lost on what they bought, not how much they have. To infer how much someone has from how much they seem to have spent is nonsense.
The endless accumulation of material possessions and digits in accounts will never be enough to make you happy. Don’t fall into the trap of giving up what does make you happy to then chase money in hopes that it’ll make you happy.
Good luck!
