Resources

This is the best finance book I have ever read, which is more about our minds than it is about money.

Morgan Housel is an incredible writer.  This book thoughtfully covers the most important lessons about how to approach the entire subject of money – what it’s good for, what it’s not good for, and everything in between.

It’s full of wisdom,  shares new angles on old problems and great stories which perfectly encapsulate the problems we all face when trying to navigate the strange world of finance.

I’ve been a fan of Mark Manson’s writing for a while now.  He’s an entertaining blogger and great at dishing out important (sometimes unexpected) life lessons.

This book is a combination of mindset, how to improve your life and figuring out what really matters vs what is likely to lead to misery (a.k.a what to give a f*ck about).

It’s a great read, and I’ve come back to it multiple times.

A great book detailing the common traits among real-life millionaires.

Breaks down the findings of a multi-decade study, showing that the average ‘wealthy’ person doesn’t live in a fancy suburb or drive an ultra-expensive car.

Instead, they have solid financial habits and live a good life while prioritising saving, investing and building other income streams.

The data also implied that Scottish millionaires are extra frugal, which gave me a good chuckle (since I was born there).

This book by Aussie investor Peter Thornhill really helped me understand how the sharemarket works as a newbie.

His style of investing – focusing on the income from shares – instantly made sense to me and I could finally see that shares are all about businesses and cashflow.

Peter’s overarching message is to ignore the noise (gyrating share prices) and focus on the income stream generated by companies over time.

Technology has taken over our lives and it’s starting to affect our mental health, capacity to think, and our ability to be happy.

Digital Minimalism helps shine a light on how apps and new tech is designed to be like a slot machine for your mind (addictive).  The book shows how to use technology in a much smarter, more thoughtful way.

It also shares how to live a balanced life, the importance of unplugging for our sanity, and finding meaningful pursuits outside of technology.  The FIRE movement and Mr Money Mustache also rate a mention in there!

This is honestly one of my favourite books.  It’s a collection of parables which are set in ancient Babylon.

The way it’s written and the stories used makes it feel like you are truly receiving ancient wisdom about wealth.

Now, I’ll admit, you won’t come away with any new investment strategies (the book was written by George Clason almost 100 years ago), but it’s a really enjoyable read and one I highly recommend.  The PDF version is freely available for download.

A great book, with a lot of important messages for long term investors, written by the creator of the world’s first index fund, the late Jack bogle.

Bogle preaches the effectiveness of owning the whole stock market rather than trying to pick winners, keeping costs low, investing regularly, and staying the course.

More than anything, this book will teach you the importance of not trying to be too smart and the magic in keeping things simple.  One to come back to every few years for a reminder of what’s important when investing.

You’ve probably already read this one (hasn’t everyone?), but I’ll put it here anyway.

Barefoot does a great job of mapping out how to manage money effectively using his famous buckets strategy.

A great place to start if you’re new to personal finance and want a simple roadmap to follow.

Even if you think you know a bit, you’ll probably still learn something from this book.

Get the spreadsheet and charts I use to keep a running estimate of our annual dividend income for every time I buy shares.

Also included in the chart pack is one for your ‘dividend history’ so you can build up a record of your progress each year to see how far you’ve come!

There’s also charts for asset allocation, share portfolio + charity donations.

Extremely simple and easy to use FI calculator, which I found at the end of my journey.  Must have played out a few hundred scenarios on this thing.

Just plug in your income and spending, and this calculator will tell you how long until you can retire. Have a play around with the numbers and see what a difference boosting your savings rate can make.

Like me, you might find it a bit addictive!

Very handy calculator to map out when you’ll reach financial independence, created by investing platform Pearler.

The cool part is, it’s designed to include superannuation, so you can include that in your calculations to figure out how much you might need inside vs outside super.

Test different passive income targets to see when you can hit FI or even semi-retire.

An incredibly useful calculator to figure out how safe it is to live off your share portfolio based on historic cycles.

Unlike others, this calculator also incorporates life expectancy into it, to give greater perspective of whether you’re more likely to end up ‘rich, broke or dead’.

You can also play around with all sorts of different ‘flexibility’ scenarios to see how strong your situation is and how long your money will last in retirement.

I wrote about this topic in detail here.

See how fast you can pay your mortgage off with this simple calculator.

Enter your loan balance and then play around with how much extra you want to contribute to play out different scenarios.

You can time it so your house is paid off by the time you hit FI.  Or, maybe you just pay off the mortgage and then move into a cruise state of semi-retirement.  It’s up to you!

A great list of personal finance resources on ASIC’s Moneysmart website.

They have a huge list of guides and calculators on everything from budgeting and investments, to superannuation, insurance, home loans, and a list of scam warnings to watch out for.

I also really like this compound interest calculator from MoneyGeek.