My knowledge of personal finances, including savings and investing, is completely non-existent (most of my money is in a savings account getting less than minimal interest).
What are some good resources to start my knowledge base? Any books or websites you can recommend that would give me a solid knowledge base? Any good general advice? TIA
Hello Ushdadude,
There are an absolute ton of books on investing. And depending on the ones you read first it can really effect the type of investment decisions you make for a long time. From whether you decide to use an advisor (not for me but I did it in the beginning), decide to buy individual stocks, or be a passive investor and buy ETFs or index funds. Or even just sticking with fixed income only. I went through a ton of books when I first started out years ago and fortunately I stumbled upon
Four Pillars of Investing which led me to other books of similar philosophy.
I think first off you need to understand that most people have a strong opinion about which method is best. And sometimes those opinions are self serving. Like for instance, financial planners that sell mutual funds.
Keep stashing away your cash the way you are and spend a few more months gathering the basics. Don't just read a book on how to trade stocks on margin or just about index investing (although that wins hands down - in my opinion). Read a few about each technique and then you can make a better choice about what fits you best. I strongly recommend starting out with books simply about personal finance...
Your Money or Your Life comes to mind easily. It covers the most important basics like living well below your means. Don't get stuck on formulas or typical 40 years to retirement advice. That is, if you follow generic advice like 'save 20% of your income for retirement' and 'stay out of debt' it will take you decades to get to retirement. Though that said, you'll be doing better than a giant portion of the North American population if you do it that way.
If you keep an open mind and decide to push your envelope you can be financially independent (or reach your goal if that's not it) in a surprisingly short period of time.
Although I'm where I want to be right now ... It would have been great if mrmoneymustache.com was around in my 20s. Will he was, but not his blog. I highly recommend you check it out, especially the earlier posts. You don't need to be nearly as extreme as some of the ideas recommended there but there are some seriously awesome posts that can kick start your financial journey (the Shockingly Simple Math post for instance). As previously mentioned, the bogleheads forum is great as well.
Hopefully you find all the reading engrossing!
B
