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Financial Independence Resources

February 4, 2018
Michael

Since education gives the highest ROI (return-on-investment), here are my favourite financial independence resources. It’s what shapes Foxy Monkey and what I follow to dive deeper into the fascinating world of personal finance and investing.

The list below helped me understand better how to invest to achieve my financial independence goals and how to avoid common mistakes. These books, blogs and podcasts are also very entertaining too 🙂

Books

For years I was looking for a book that explains how to invest in practical steps. Smarter Investing by Tim Hale is exactly what I needed.

The book provides an all-round education from a UK perspective. The information can be applied immediately in the real world. Things like how to assess a fund, how to diversify in equities, bonds and property depending on your goals and how to construct an all-weather portfolio.

Just buy it and refer to it again and again.

All About Asset Allocation by Rick Ferri is not a beginner’s book but an invaluable resources once you start thinking of investing more seriously.

There are no pointers on how to invest really, but Rick Ferri extensively covers all the available options along with expectations for us to start picking.

This along with Rational Expectations: Asset Allocation for Investing Adults (Bernstein) are the only books one needs to read to understand how to properly allocate their investments in shares, bonds, property etc according to their needs.

The Richest Man in Babylon is a great novel about the rich and the poor in ancient Babylon. Working hard is not enough to become rich. The book is a collection of wise parables that apply to today’s world!

It’s written in an entertaining way and reminds you of all the basics. Control your expenses, save hard, invest wisely and keep some money for yourself!

“A part of all you earn is yours to keep”.

Focus on building assets and not liabilities.

Assets are those things that appreciate in value. Buying assets will return higher income over time. Think of buying a house to rent or Easyjet shares that pay dividends to you.

Liabilities, on the other hand, depreciate over time. Think of a modern car. You win the money game by owning assets and minimizing liabilities.

Rich dad poor dad is a fascinating entry-level book.

How to Own the World by Andrew Craig explains all asset classes in simple terms for the everyday DIY investor. After reading this book you will have a good understanding of property, gold, shares and bonds.

Read how the middle class can take advantage of global investing today.

You will be surprised by the inflation tricks governments play, the importance of precious metals and lifecycle investing. After reading it, I wrote a How to own the world book review and also interviewed Andrew Craig on all things investing.

Not a personal finance book per se, but one that makes you look at yourself in the mirror and realise what you want.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck will teach you that we find happiness only when we solve problems we actually care about. It’s about caring less about small things like work arguments, and neighbour jealousy and focus on making ourselves more meaningful.

It helped me understand how happiness is generated and what problems to focus on. Read my full review here.

The Millionaire's Fastlane: Crack the code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime is such a cheesy title! MJ DeMarco hit it big when he stopped driving the limousine and built an online limousine service instead.

He focuses on teaching you the mindset of scaling your time and building a business that makes money while you sleep. Trading your time for money is not the best use of your time.

I don’t agree with everything he says, like “buy this lambo and live the high life”. Have we not already agreed that buying shit won’t make you happier? He, however, offers some good points on building a scalable business.

Sometimes his writing is arrogant and aggressive but you might like it.

In this book, William Bernstein explains all you need to know about investing from scratch. It starts with the history of the whole stock market and explains how fees and diversification can help you build a solid portfolio.

Although it comes from a US perspective, the principles are exactly the same. Avoid expensive fund managers and stockbrokers, don’t pick stocks and remove the human psychology from the equation.

The Four Pillars of Investing is a great beginner’s book.

The Complete Guide to Property Investment is probably the only book you will need to start investing in property.

Property is, without doubt, England’s favourite asset class and the Brits are obsessed with it! In fact, the buy-to-let business is considered to be a leveraged investment that can offer great returns to those who use it right.

How to spot good housing investments? How to evaluate if a property will make a profit or a loss?

Rob Dix is a great guy with humour, who I’ve met. He runs the Property Podcast which I also highly recommend.

How much to retire? Early retirement calculator.

This early retirement calculator shows you when you can retire! In other words, given your expenses and your savings rate, it shows you how much you need in invested assets to generate the income that can sustain your desired lifestyle.

Make sure you write down your annual expenses first so you know what you’re aiming for!

Years to retirement VS Savings rate. Click to enlarge.

Personal Finance Blogs I Follow

If I don’t have time to read them right away, I save the articles on an app called Pocket. Then, when I have time I already have a reading list waiting for me! Pocket allows you to read the articles offline (in the tube etc).

Don’t worry if you don’t have time to read everything. Foxy Monkey will distil the content and deliver it to you 🙂 —-> Subscribe here.