Saturday Reading with Our Financial Path

Good morning everyone, and happy Saturday! After my rant last week about how all personal finance basics books are the same, I decided to take a break this week from doing my own book reviews. If I’m getting to the point where reading another book triggers a rant, it must be time to regroup and seek out new resources.

Luckily my friend Our Financial Path happened to stop by my e-mail inbox that same week, and I asked if he was willing to share with all of you his favorite books and other media related to personal finance/investing. He said “Yes!”, so today I’m bringing you his recommendations on personal finance books, websites, and podcasts you should check out.

So without further ado, lets learn more about Our Financial Path, his saving and investment strategy, and his top book (and other media) recommendations. Take it away Mr. Xyz!

Tell us about yourself!

Hi, I am Xyz from Our Financial Path. I and my (now) wife live in Canada and are planning to reach financial independence within the next decade. We just got married this year and we are working hard towards our goal together.

For us, financial independence means freedom. We want the freedom to live our lives how we want, where we want, and at the speeds we want. I currently work in Finance and do enjoy it, but it is certainly not something I would choose to do until 65 years old.

Chief Mom Officer is primarily a personal finance blog – tell us about your saving and investment strategy

My goal is to retire or at least retire from the 9 to 5 and probably continue doing a bunch of projects by my 35th birthday. To do so, I save over 50% of my income and invest automatically a set asset allocation. The key is to automate everything. I max out my retirement account (such as 401k) and save as much as I can in tax-advantaged accounts (such as Roth) automatically at every pay and then plan with that is left. Tax-advantaged accounts are a bit different in Canada but this strategy also applies in the US; Invest first, Spend what’s left.

Personal finance was always a hobby for me, I was reading finance books in high school and always was a saver more than I was a spender. Once I started working on a trading floor, I started playing around with individual stocks (note the word playing here). I made a 30% return in my first year but looking back at it, I can say with certainty that I
still, to this day, have no idea how ended up making a profit. I attribute all of it to luck.

After a lot of research, I can now see how one could make a profit (and maybe even beat the market) with individual stocks but it takes a lot of time. Tons of time. Reading through fillings, following the price movements, following the news and insider activity… and the list goes on.

That was simply not something I wanted to spend my time on and after discovering jlcollinsnh Stock Series, I concurred that the chances are just not on your side. I fell in love with the idea of passive investing and we are now only invested in Vanguard index funds. We invest for the long-term and do not play the markets. You can see our exact holdings here.

What are the top three financial books you’d recommend, and why?

The number one book I could recommend to anyone starting to invest or anyone not quite sure about what they are doing with their money is The Simple Path to Wealth by J L Collins. This is a wonderful book detailing his stock series includes all the information freely available online but presents it in a clear, concise way and it is always more pleasant to read on paperbacks. This is an easy read for someone who never invested a dime in his or her life and might be afraid of the markets.

Another book I would recommend is The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing. It clearly explains the beauties and intricacies of index investing. It puts a lot of things in perspective and is easy to understand.

CMO Note – I actually did a review of The Bogleheads Guide to Investing several months ago. Excitingly, I actually got a personal e-mail from one of the authors (Mel Lindauer) thanking me for the review, and for helping to spread the message of passive index fund investing!

The third book I would recommend is Early Retirement Extreme by Jacob Lund Fisker. This is not an investment book but rather about financial independence and the mindset of early retirement. It lays out eye-opening concepts that will challenge your consumer choices, views on the American Dream, and views on work.

Say that you’re talking to someone who’s not into books, but still looking to learn more about how to manage their money and financial freedom. What are the top five websites or other resources you’d refer them to?

My number one resource for anyone starting out is jlcollinsnh Stock Series. If you are not sure where to start, that’s the place to start.

If you are living paycheck to paycheck and think that you will need to work until you are 70 because of the government, the high cost of living, taxes, (…insert excuse here) then I would say to get to check out the shockingly simple math behind early retirement from Mr. Money Mustache. It was a real eye-opener for me.

CMO note – I have actually had multiple people mention this specific article as inspiring their financial independence journey. So if you haven’t already read it, be sure to check it out.

For anyone that is not into all the numbers but still wants to turn their financial life around, I recommend listening to The Stacking Benjamins Show podcast. It is very lightweight and friendly financial topics in an easy format.

Furthermore, I really like to get inspired by the Mad FIentist podcast. He interviews people that achieved early retirement and always has greatly interesting discussions about the lifestyle, investments, and frugality.

And of course, a great source of knowledge and entertainment is our own blog, Our Financial Path. I and my wife write about our travel stories, investing and savings strategies, and share our journey towards financial freedom.

Thank you for the interview Liz and we hope to see you soon!

CMO Here Again

Thanks again to Our Financial Path for stopping by and sharing your recommendations! As an avid reader, I’m always looking for new book, blog, and website suggestions from my peers in the personal finance space. Since I also have a 45 minute commute, new podcast ideas are also welcome. I have a list of my current favorites over on my favorites page, but I’m always looking to add to the list.

Have you read any of these recommended books or sites – if so, what did you think? Let me know in the comments! And if there are any other bloggers out there that would like to share their favorite recommendations on the site, drop me a note at liz@chiefmomofficer.org. I’d love to hear more from the PF community and share top recommendations for other avid readers like myself.

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