8 personal finance books in 8 1-line summaries

I have learned a LOT from personal finance books. Some good, some bad, all of them fairly easy to summarize! 






 The Simple Path to Wealth: Your road map to financial independence and a rich, free life by JL Collins 
Summary: Invest in VTSAX. It's a whole market index fund. It will have its ups and downs, you have to accept that, but it gradually goes up. 
I'd add: I love this book, but I must add that FZROX works just as well if you're at Fidelity. It's the same thing and has no minimum to invest and no expense ratio. 

 All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan by Elizabeth Warren 
Summary: Divide your income up into a simple 3-part budget. 50% for needs, 30% for wants, 20% savings and debt repayment. Use the USDA cost of food website to determine what portion of your food budget is "needs".
I'd add: I love how simple this budget is and it really helped me figure out tough questions... how much can I afford for a car? How much should I be saving? 

I Will Teach You to Be Rich: No Guilt. No Excuses. Just a 6-Week Program That Works by Ramit Sethi 
Summary: Conscious spending. It's like a big, whole budget version of making your shopping list before you go to the grocery store. Only get what's on the list! Picture your "rich life", and find ways to afford those things by cutting out everything that's NOT part of your rich life.
I'd add: I love this book. It's also got great chapters on how to ASK for a raise... but anyway, this book is the reason I starting buying season tickets to the local music theater. I asked myself what I'd do if I had piles of money, and some of the things on my wish list were affordable if I just focused and gave myself permission to get them.

The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy by Thomas J. Stanley
Summary: Be frugal and don't marry the wrong person.
I'd add: There's also a version of this "for women". While I roll my eyes quite a bit at anything "for women", it adds some things. Like.... REALLY, don't marry the wrong person. It also has interesting data about charities and generosity - making donations forces you to budget. You can interview people with high incomes, the ones who say they enjoy giving  money away will all have a much higher net worth. 

Meet the Frugalwoods: Achieving Financial Independence Through Simple Living by Elizabeth Willard Thames
Summary: A memoir of a young couple earning a crapton of money but they're very unhappy, so they go hard on anti-materialism until they can quit their jobs and go live in the woods.
I'd add: While I couldn't relate to every part of this book, I do like the idea of finding your zero-set budget, the lowest you can possibly live on. I'm not ready to have my husband youtube how to give me haircuts (this is a real thing in the book!) but looking for used bargains and cutting the grocery bills are excellent. This engaging story is a great way to explore the mindset shift.

The Year of Less: How I Stopped Shopping, Gave Away My Belongings, and Discovered Life is Worth More Than Anything You Can Buy in a Store by Cait Flanders  
Summary: A young single woman bans herself from shopping for a whole year. Along the way she learns a lot about waste, value, and who her real friends are.
I'd add: This is like the financial version of The Art of Tidying Up. It's very peaceful. I had a great, relaxing week reading it, you sort of achieve inner peace along with the author. 

Financial Peace: Restoring Financial Hope to You and Your Family by Dave Ramsey
Summary: Don't spend so much money on crap at the mall. Never use credit cards. Put cash in envelopes. 
I'd add: I'm not a fan. I can't believe it's a best seller to be honest, it's pretty light on advice. Every personal finance book says "don't buy crap", this one takes like half the book to say it on repeat. And I have credit cards and pay them off every month just fine. You can't track cash and envelopes are a terrible idea.

Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! by Robert T. Kiyosaki 
Summary: Start your own business, especially real estate. I think.
I'd add: This book is VERY light on practical advice, the point seems to get you into more get-rich-quick program schemes. It's also really pushing on real estate but let's face it, that's a business, and plent of people have lost money on real estate.

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