RATING: 7/10
A great primer on personal finance, getting on debt, investing, and automating your finances by Ramit.
Notes:
The single most important factor to getting rich is getting started, not being the smartest person in the room.
Frankly, your goal probably isn’t to become a financial expert. It’s to live your life and let money serve you. So instead of saying, “How much money do I need to make?” you’ll say, “What do I want to do with my life—and how can I use money to do it?” And instead of being driven by fear, you’ll be guided by what history has shown us about investing and growth.
I’ll keep it simple: Too many books try to cover everything about money, leaving you holding a book that you “should” read but don’t because it’s overwhelming. I want you to know enough to get started setting up automated accounts and investing, even with just $50.
How many of our parents are millionaires? Not many. And if we follow the same ordinary route they did, we’ll end up ordinary, too.
investment isn’t about being sexy—it’s about making money, and when you look at investment literature, buy-and-hold investing wins over the long term, every time. Forget what that money TV station or finance magazine says about the stock-of-the-month. Do some analysis, make your decision, and then reevaluate your investment every six months or so. It’s not as sexy as those guys in red coats shouting and waving their hands on TV, but as an individual investor, you’ll get far greater returns.
Spend extravagantly on the things you love, and cut costs mercilessly on the things you don’t.
Look, it’s easy to want the best of everything: We want to go out all the time, live in a great apartment, buy new clothes, drive a new car, and travel any time we want. The truth is, you have to prioritize.
One of the key differences between rich people and everyone else is that rich people plan before they need to plan.