At my older brothers’ birthday party (they have the same birthday), I hit an inflection point with my personal finances. After one of my brothers received a book by Dave Ramsey, my aunt remarked that his advice can get you the basics but not much further. As a college junior, I was already interested in personal finance. Friends were already calling me Frugal Jon. I had even done research on how to invest. But at that birthday party, I asked the question that would start me down the personal finance journey that I’m on today:
“Who do you recommend?”
The Inflection Point Answer
The answer was Mr. Money Mustache. His blog was the gateway to the financial independence movement for me (like it has been for so many others). His post titled The Shockingly Simple Math Behind Early Retirement is practically required reading for anyone interested in the FI. After reading that and other posts, I was hooked. I felt an evolution occur in my frugality. Previously, I was frugal for frugality’s sake (I didn’t like spending money). But now I was frugal with a vision and a goal in mind: financial independence. I became a voracious consumer of information on how I could achieve FI down the road. Here are some of the best resources I continue to reference as I journey towards FI.
For the Listeners
Around the time I started down the rabbit hole, I was really into running. I was training for a half marathon and running at least 4 times per week. Between my workout and my drive to school, I had plenty of time for listening. While I was searching for a good finance podcast to listen to, I stumbled on the Mad Fientist and ChooseFI. ChooseFI releases new episodes weekly and covers a more robust range of topics over their 400ish episodes. It was relatively new when I started listening to it, but for new listeners they give the key episodes that they should start with. If you like to learn by listening, I definitely recommend you start with Choose FI.
For the Blog Readers
Don’t go anywhere, this is the only blog you need.
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Okay fine I’ll give you more recommendations, but only if you promise to come back. I already mentioned Mr. Money Mustache, but there’s another triple M blog that I enjoy. My Money Wizard is written by someone who at this point is about halfway to FI. I enjoy reading his monthly updates on how his journey is going. Another classic is 1500 Days, who passed the 1500 days a while ago now. For more nitty gritty math and taxes, the Mad Fientist is the gold standard. For basic investing, JL Collins’ stock series is where to go. If you’re interested in a more extreme brand of frugality(with a very interesting lifestyle), Frugalwoods is a good read.
For the Book Readers
I’ve been reading more books lately after I radically changed my social media consumption. While I think that you should always look at the library before purchasing a book, these books are worth having on hand. Disclosure, these are affiliate links. The first finance book that I recommend is The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins. It’s a great book on investing. I Will Teach You to be Rich by Ramit Sethi is good for overall finances. The Millionaire Next Door paints an interesting and counter intuitive picture on what the average millionaire in America owns and drives. The Choose FI folks wrote a book fittingly called Choose FI as well. These books can help set a good foundation of financial knowledge.
Using These Tools
The best way to use these tools is to start small and find something to get excited about. Maybe you want to figure out how to travel more or save up for a house. These tools can set you down the path that makes those possible. Having extra motivation makes it that much easier to be more frugal and get a better handle on your finances. Learning about personal finance and implementing changes takes time and patience (which I often lack). But it’s so worthwhile. You won’t find a better time to start than now! If you ever need encouragement, leave a comment or send me an email.