Books

The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness Dave Ramsey’s ‘Financial Peace’ changed my life, but I like The Total Money Makeover even better. Dave focuses on ‘Baby Steps’ to get out of debt and into financial freedom. The first time I read it, it spoke to me and made perfect sense. This is an easy, quick read, and super motivating if you’re tired of debt and interest payments, and want to stop worrying about money. Dave’s big on budgets, which I love, but a lot of people don’t. The idea of a budget isn’t to punish yourself, but to know where your money is going, and to give your money direction instead of letting it fly out the window every paycheck. Of course Dave 101 says you should not buy this, but get it from the library.

 

How To Retire Early: Your Guide to Getting Rich Slowly and Retiring on Less I first read this book just after Greg and I were married, but didn’t really take any of it to heart. I found it again on Amazon last year and made the $5 Kindle investment to give it another go. The opening sentence in the introduction is: “At the age of 28 my wife and I had just $16.88 to our name.” I mean, if that’s not motivational, I don’t know what is. These are real people who didn’t own a home, and had student and car loans, and still managed to go from $16.88 to retired in fifteen years. I have this book on my Kindle and my phone so I can get in a quick read whenever I need a little motivation, or if I have a question about their investment strategy.

 

The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns Want to invest but don’t know where to start? Let John Bogle lead you down the right path. This book reiterates the same point again and again, but manages to stay motivational.

 

 

The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing If ‘The Little Book of Common Sense Investing’ is a bit over your head, give this one a try. It’s written by dedicated ‘Bogleheads’, or people that religiously follow John Bogle’s investment plan for their own lives. It’s written in layman’s terms and covers much more than just how to get started investing.

 

 

The Simple Path to Wealth: Your road map to financial independence and a rich, free life JL Collins started his blog, and consequently this book, as a way to teach his young daughter about money and finances, things “she was not yet quite ready to hear”. It is chock-full of common sense, and his investing approach is one of the easiest I’ve ever heard of- throw everything you’ve got into Vanguard’s Total Stock Market Index Fund, then reallocate some to Vanguard’s Total Bond Market Index Fund when you feel like getting more conservative, and forget about everything else. It doesn’t get much simpler than that.

 

Early Retirement Extreme: A Philosophical and Practical Guide to Financial Independence It’s right there in the title; this dude lives on around $7k/year. He has a lot of interesting ideas, and shares many of my passions, which are really just massive annoyances regarding our wasteful, consumer-driven society. It will make you think twice about every purchase you make, and if you adopt any one of his practices the book will most likely pay for itself.

 

Rick Steves Europe Through the Back Door: The Travel Skills Handbook Rick Steves guides easily pay for themselves with the money we’ve saved following his advice. We love the Kindle versions, and Rick’s self-guided walks.

 

 

 

Podcasts

Money Tree Investing: I ate this up when I was first learning about investing. I like the panel discussions where you get (sometimes extremely) different opinions from a group of financial experts.

Mad Fientist: Brandon interviews others pursuing, or who have already reached, financial independence to discuss their strategies.

Fire Drill: J. and Gwen interview others millennials who have dropped out of the rat race to pursue their passions, or are pursuing financial independence. This podcast is my favorite because these girls interview real people living their dreams.

Afford Anything: Paula is a real-estate investor and passive income specialist.

 

Blogs

Mad Fientist: A financially independent tax guru who dumbs down complicated financial strategies for my simple brain.

Millennial Boss: J of Fire Drill Podcast.

Fiery Millennials: Gwen of Fire Drill Podcast.

Mr. Money Mustache: Some say he’s the pioneer of FI (financial independence). He’s quirky, opinionated, and environmentally friendly- right up my alley.

Millennial Money Man: This former teacher quit his job to pursue his blogging passion. He is a true inspiration.

 

Tools

PlayerFM – Free app. Download and listen to podcasts anytime.

Amazon Echo – This is our favorite splurge. Last Christmas we got each other the gift of Music Unlimited and I swear, we will never go back. It’s $3.99/mo, but we’ll make that with JobSpotter no problem.