How to Develop the Habit of Enthusiasm
by Napoleon Hill
You can develop the habit of controlled enthusiasm by taking the following steps:
• Adopt a definite major purpose.
• Write out a clear statement of both your definite major purpose and the plan by which you hope to attain it. Include a statement of what you intend to give in return for its realization.
• Back your purpose with an enthusiastic motive and let that motive become a burning (obsessional) desire. Fan it, coax it, and let it become a dominating factor in your mind at all times.
• Go to work immediately to carry out your plan, starting right when you are.
• Follow your plan accurately and with persistence, fed by all the enthusiasm you can generate.
• If you are overtaken by temporary defeat, study your plans carefully and change them if necessary, but do not change your major purpose simply because you have met with a temporary setback.
• If the nature of your definite major purpose requires it, ally yourself with others whose aid you require, following the instructions given in the lesson on the master mind.
• Keep far away from joy-killers and pessimists and associate with those who are optimistic. Tell your plans to those who are in sympathy with you, such as members of your master mind alliance.
• Never let a day pass without devoting some time, though it be ever so little, to furthering your plans. Remember, you are developing the habit of enthusiasm, and habits call for repetition through physical action.
• Autosuggestion is a powerful factor in the development of the habit of enthusiasm, as well as in the development of any other habit. Therefore, keep yourself sold on the belief that you will obtain the object of your definite major purpose, no matter how far removed from you it may be. Your own mental attitude will determine the nature of the action your subconscious mind will take in connection with the fulfillment of your purpose.
• Keep your mind positive at all times. Enthusiasm will not mix with fear, envy, greed, jealousy, doubt, revenge, hatred, intolerance and procrastination. Enthusiasm thrives only on positive thought and action.
Your job will never be any bigger than your imagination makes it.
Remember, every person lives in two worlds: the world of his own mental attitude, which is greatly influenced by his associates and his surroundings, and the physical world in which he must struggle for a living. The physical world in which you make a living may be beyond your control, but you can, to a great extent, shape the circumstances of your immediate physical world. It can be done by the way you relate yourself to your mental world, for your mental attitude attracts to you those aspects of the physical world which harmonize with your mental attitude. Thus, pessimism will attract misery and ill fortune. But enthusiasm, properly controlled, will attract happiness and good fortune.
Source: PMA Science of Success Course. Pgs. 248, 249, & 250.
http://www.naphill.org/
Friday, May 22, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Quote of the Day!
"You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality." - Ayn Rand (1905-1982)
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Fumbling in the Dark
SOURCE: http://getrichslowly.org/blog/
Sunday, 1st March 2009 (by J.D.)
This article is about Basics, Psychology, Real-Life
I’ve had good control of my saving and spending for nearly two years now. I still make poor choices now and then, but they don’t have the consequences they would have a decade ago. A decade ago, I was in debt. Today, I am not.
That’s one of the advantages of being debt-free: when you do something dumb, the repercussions are not as severe. But I remember a time when each bad choice brought me closer to the brink.
Fumbling in the dark
During the 1990s, I had a spending problem. I was a compulsive spender. It’s not that I just bought books and comics and compact discs. I spent money on everything. I wanted everything. I had a house full of Stuff, most of which sat unused. I was filling some emotional void by buying.
Saying that makes it sound as if I were aware of the problem. I wasn’t. I had a vague idea that my spending was out of control, and carrying $20,000 in maxed-out credit cards was certainly causing me stress, but I didn’t know how to stop. Every time I paid one card down a little, I’d find some reason to buy something new. A small part of me knew that I had a problem, but I could not stop myself.
When I look back now, it seems as if I were fumbling in the dark. My wife would tell me how she was saving for retirement, and the idea seemed impossible to me. Because we’ve always kept separate finances, I would marvel that she had several thousand dollars in savings. I had nothing. I had no savings account. And my checkbook usually had less than a hundred dollars in it. (Sometimes the balance was negative!)
Although I knew I had a problem with debt, I continued to spend without thinking. Worse, sometimes I would spend with thinking. I’d be out with friends and they’d want to go for drinks or go see a movie, and I’d do it, even though I knew I couldn’t afford it. I’d do it, even though I knew my stomach would be in knots next time I saw my account statements.
As I spent compulsively — as I accumulated debt — I had no concept of proper money management.
I’m a smart guy. In high school, I won a national award for my “business math” skills. Were you to set me down and tell me, “If you spend more than you earn, you will continue to have debt,” I would have understood you intellectually — but I would have kept spending.
I read about budgets, but never used one. I had Quicken for my computer, and I would use it from time-to-time, but mostly I didn’t track my money. There were months at a time when I didn’t write anything in my checkbook register. I operated on a sort of voodoo finance system, where I sort of knew how much I had in the bank, but not really.
I had no idea what I was doing with my money. I had no financial goals.
The zeroth stage
Last month, I wrote about a theoretical “third stage” of personal finance, a place one reaches after mastering the basics of money management. At the time, I posited the stages of personal finance might look like this:
The first stage of personal finance is learning the basics: understanding compound interest, reducing debt, beginning to save.
The second stage is putting the basics into practice: choosing to live frugally, saving in earnest, and pursuing financial goals.
The third stage — the “what next?” stage — comes after we’ve mastered the fundamentals. It’s at this point that we begin to ask “why?” Why are we continuing to save? All of our debts are paid, so what’s the point? (There certainly is a point, but what is it?)
I’ve thought about this a lot over the past few weeks, and I’ve realized that there are at least two other stages that I didn’t include. The fourth (and final) stage is Financial Independence, as defined in Your Money or Your Life. This is the point at which you have “enough — and then some”.
But there’s also an earlier stage, one that comes before the first stage. In the system I’m trying to define here, a person enters the first stage of money management when she’s decided to take control of her life, is learning about the basic concepts, is paying down her debt and beginning to save. What comes before that?
Before that is the zeroth stage of personal finance, where a person doesn’t exercise any sort of financial skills at all. Often, he isn’t even aware that he should do so. He uses money without thinking. And, more often than not, he lives reactively, spending in response to things outside his life.
My behavior during the 1990s? That was all part of the zeroth stage.
Thinking out loud
During the month of March, I’d like to explore the notion of these stages of money management. Each Sunday I’ll write about the next stage. It’s a sort of thought experiment.
Generally my articles at Get Rich Slowly are polished and have a point, but these posts may be rambling. They’re a chance for me to think out loud, and for you to help me refine the concept of money management “stages”.
What do you think of my model? Am I missing steps? Are the stages not as clearly delineated as I would like to believe? What step are you on right now? What challenges do you face? These are the sorts of things I want to talk about this month. It should be an interesting discussion.
Even if nothing else comes of this, I’ve realized over the past few weeks that my goal in life is to help as many people as possible escape the zeroth stage of money management. If I can help more people to join me in the third stage, that would be awesome.
Sunday, 1st March 2009 (by J.D.)
This article is about Basics, Psychology, Real-Life
I’ve had good control of my saving and spending for nearly two years now. I still make poor choices now and then, but they don’t have the consequences they would have a decade ago. A decade ago, I was in debt. Today, I am not.
That’s one of the advantages of being debt-free: when you do something dumb, the repercussions are not as severe. But I remember a time when each bad choice brought me closer to the brink.
Fumbling in the dark
During the 1990s, I had a spending problem. I was a compulsive spender. It’s not that I just bought books and comics and compact discs. I spent money on everything. I wanted everything. I had a house full of Stuff, most of which sat unused. I was filling some emotional void by buying.
Saying that makes it sound as if I were aware of the problem. I wasn’t. I had a vague idea that my spending was out of control, and carrying $20,000 in maxed-out credit cards was certainly causing me stress, but I didn’t know how to stop. Every time I paid one card down a little, I’d find some reason to buy something new. A small part of me knew that I had a problem, but I could not stop myself.
When I look back now, it seems as if I were fumbling in the dark. My wife would tell me how she was saving for retirement, and the idea seemed impossible to me. Because we’ve always kept separate finances, I would marvel that she had several thousand dollars in savings. I had nothing. I had no savings account. And my checkbook usually had less than a hundred dollars in it. (Sometimes the balance was negative!)
Although I knew I had a problem with debt, I continued to spend without thinking. Worse, sometimes I would spend with thinking. I’d be out with friends and they’d want to go for drinks or go see a movie, and I’d do it, even though I knew I couldn’t afford it. I’d do it, even though I knew my stomach would be in knots next time I saw my account statements.
As I spent compulsively — as I accumulated debt — I had no concept of proper money management.
I’m a smart guy. In high school, I won a national award for my “business math” skills. Were you to set me down and tell me, “If you spend more than you earn, you will continue to have debt,” I would have understood you intellectually — but I would have kept spending.
I read about budgets, but never used one. I had Quicken for my computer, and I would use it from time-to-time, but mostly I didn’t track my money. There were months at a time when I didn’t write anything in my checkbook register. I operated on a sort of voodoo finance system, where I sort of knew how much I had in the bank, but not really.
I had no idea what I was doing with my money. I had no financial goals.
The zeroth stage
Last month, I wrote about a theoretical “third stage” of personal finance, a place one reaches after mastering the basics of money management. At the time, I posited the stages of personal finance might look like this:
The first stage of personal finance is learning the basics: understanding compound interest, reducing debt, beginning to save.
The second stage is putting the basics into practice: choosing to live frugally, saving in earnest, and pursuing financial goals.
The third stage — the “what next?” stage — comes after we’ve mastered the fundamentals. It’s at this point that we begin to ask “why?” Why are we continuing to save? All of our debts are paid, so what’s the point? (There certainly is a point, but what is it?)
I’ve thought about this a lot over the past few weeks, and I’ve realized that there are at least two other stages that I didn’t include. The fourth (and final) stage is Financial Independence, as defined in Your Money or Your Life. This is the point at which you have “enough — and then some”.
But there’s also an earlier stage, one that comes before the first stage. In the system I’m trying to define here, a person enters the first stage of money management when she’s decided to take control of her life, is learning about the basic concepts, is paying down her debt and beginning to save. What comes before that?
Before that is the zeroth stage of personal finance, where a person doesn’t exercise any sort of financial skills at all. Often, he isn’t even aware that he should do so. He uses money without thinking. And, more often than not, he lives reactively, spending in response to things outside his life.
My behavior during the 1990s? That was all part of the zeroth stage.
Thinking out loud
During the month of March, I’d like to explore the notion of these stages of money management. Each Sunday I’ll write about the next stage. It’s a sort of thought experiment.
Generally my articles at Get Rich Slowly are polished and have a point, but these posts may be rambling. They’re a chance for me to think out loud, and for you to help me refine the concept of money management “stages”.
What do you think of my model? Am I missing steps? Are the stages not as clearly delineated as I would like to believe? What step are you on right now? What challenges do you face? These are the sorts of things I want to talk about this month. It should be an interesting discussion.
Even if nothing else comes of this, I’ve realized over the past few weeks that my goal in life is to help as many people as possible escape the zeroth stage of money management. If I can help more people to join me in the third stage, that would be awesome.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Reading list...part one:
Building a Personal Finance Library: 25 of the Best Books About Money
Wednesday, 7th March 2007 (by J.D.)
Source: http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2007/03/07/building-a-personal-finance-library-25-of-the-best-books-about-money/
Basic Personal Finance
These books offer a wide view, discussing many aspects of money. They offer advice about saving, investing, and getting out of debt. They don’t go into much detail about any one subject, but they provide motivation to get started. And that’s what’s most important.
The Millionaire Next Door by Stanley and Danko
The authors interview and survey a pool of millionaires, attempting to find common connections among them. They discover that millionaires live below their means. They budget. They let their adult children make it on their own. This book introduces several key concepts, including degrees of wealth accumulation. It’s a bit tedious in spots, at least in the audio version. This is one of just a few books to cover both sides of the wealth equation: saving money and earning money. [My review.]
Your Money or Your Life by Dominguez and Robin
A classic, and one of the foundation books for the simplicity movement. The authors play off the concept “time is money” in a very literal sense. They encourage readers to sort out priorities, to cut expenses, and then to seek passive income in pursuit of financial independence. A little New Age-y in spots. An excellent book. [Frykitty reviewed this book last year.]
The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
Ramsey is an anti-credit zealot. He made a $4 million fortune by his mid-twenties, and then lost it to bankruptcy. Now he runs a personal finance empire. He takes a lot of criticism for his support of the Debt Snowball, which he describes in detail here, but the thing is: his methods work. If you are struggling with debt, there is no better starting place than this book. Ramsey’s advice is permeated with his Christianity, but you can get a lot out of this book even if you’re not religious.
The Wealthy Barber by David Chilton
This book offers good, general personal finance advice in the guise of a novel. Several friends meet once a month at the barber shop where the titular character dispenses wisdom on saving, investing, buying a house, and so on. The advice here is excellent, often backed by clear examples. The book’s conversational tone may appeal to some who might otherwise be turned off by personal finance. [My review.]
The Richest Man in Babylon by George Clason
Clason offers personal finance wisdom in the form of parables. These nuggets of wisdom were originally distributed as pamphlets at banks and insurance companies during the 1920s. The most popular were collected into book form. This is the grand-daddy of personal finance (Benjamin Franklin is the great-granddaddy), and many of modern admonitions — “Pay yourself first”, “Invest for the future”, “Learn the power of compound interest” — can be found here.
Frugality
Saving money is a key skill to develop if you hope to get rich. (Read The Millionaire Next Door if you don’t believe me.) Here are four books that can help you learn to cut corners, to save money in ways that may not have occurred to you.
How to Live Well Without Owning a Car by Chris Balish
Balish begins by explaining why you’re better off not owning a car — financially, ecologically, and socially. He spends the rest of the book describing how to survive without one. He offers tips for mass transit, walking, bicycling, and more. This book has a narrow focus. But if you’re in its target audience, it’s worth a read.
Miserly Moms by Jonni McCoy
Don’t judge a book by its cover. Sometimes it’s the most unassuming of books that offers the best advice, that can actively help you on your quest to get rich slowly. Miserly Moms is ostensibly a guide for stay-at-home mothers, but is actually filled with useful tips for anyone who is concerned with frugality (especially parents with young children). [My review.]
The Joy of Simple Living by Jeff Davidson
This book is packed with tips. Davidson covers a wide range of topics, and for each he offers several ways to save money. If this book were a weblog, it would feature digg-able entry after digg-able entry. A great resource for anyone wanting to cut down the clutter of life.
Wealth on Minimal Wage by James Steamer
If you’re a young adult just starting in life, this book is a fine choice. It offers hundreds of ideas on how to avoid debt, maximize your wages, save on insurance and utilities, and generally live a frugal lifestyle. A bit out of date, and maybe a little radical, but filled with good advice. (I’ve had a copy out from the public library for six months. It’s been battered and worn by previous patrons — a sure sign of a good book.)
Another highly-regarded book on frugality is The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn. I’ve never read it, but it’s near the top of my list of books to borrow from the library.
Investing
This set of books deals specifically with investing. The four books I keep at hand are user-friendly. They’re not technical, but offer a good introduction to the topic.
The Automatic Millioinaire by David Bach
There’s more to David Bach than “the latté factor”. The system he recommends here is excellent. If you’ve been meaning to open an IRA, but have never actually done so, then read this book! He’ll explain how to set it up so that it’s painless. (Ad: Buy Stocks for $4 at ShareBuilder.)
The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need by Andrew Tobias
Andrew Tobias is an entertaining writer. His jocular, conversational tone will keep you interested as he describes mutual funds, bonds, and treasury bills. There’s a good section on how to handle a windfall (lottery, inheritance). This is an excellent introduction to the subject of investing.
The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing by Larimore, Lindauer, and LeBoeuf
You want expet investment advice? You can’t beat the info found here. These devotees of Vanugard founder John Bogle are big on slow, sure investments like indexed mutual funds. They tap their decades of experience to teach about diversification, inflation, and asset allocation. It’s not nearly as boring as it sounds. Highly recommended.
Yes, You Can…Achieve Financial Independence by James Stowers
Despite the odd title, this is a solid book on investment from one of the richest men in America. It does cover some basic personal finance information, but mostly gives tips on how to invest. I haven’t read the entire book, but I often use it as reference when preparing entries here. It’s a sort of bridge between overviews like Tobias and more technical books like Graham or Malkiel.
Two other classics on investing are The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham and A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel. I have both, but have read neither. They’re both quite technical.
Success
Wealth is about more than money. These books will help you become a well-rounded person, will help you develop skills that will indirectly aid your personal finances.
50 Success Classics by Tom Butler-Bowdon
Butler-Bowdon selected fifty important books from success literature. For each, he created digest versions, summarizing each volume in only a few pages, distilling its key points. He also provided biographical information on each author, and attempted to explain why each book is relevant, placing it in a larger context. This is a wonderful way to find other books to read. [My review.]
Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker
There’s a little personal finance advice here (all of it solid), but mostly this book is about changing the way you think about money and about yourself. I found Secrets inspirational. It’s a good choice for somebody with big goals, or somebody trying to overcome negative thinking. [My review.]
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
One of the classic success books. Carnegie uses anecdote after anecdote to illustrate the best way to make the most of human relations. It all boils down to this: “To win others to your way of thinking, put yourself in their shoes.” The devil is in the details, though, and Carnegie’s simple prose does a fine job of pointing the way. You can find this book cheap at almost any used book store. [My review.]
Getting Things Done by David Allen
Little needs to be said about this book — it’s a geek classic. Allen describes his formalized system for creating greater efficiency. Though I’ve found it difficult to maintain the precise system for long, I use elements of it all the time. If you have trouble procrastinating or staying organized, this book is for you. [My review.]
Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi
I’ve been meaning to review this book for weeks. I have a love/hate relationship with it. Parts of it are fantastic — you can learn how to relate to people, how to establish contacts and maintain connections, how to create a social network. But parts of it are creepy — networking for the sake of networking puts me off. The endless name-dropping gets old fast. Worth reading if you have contact with a wide group of people.
One book that’s not in my library is What Color is Your Parachute? This is a classic on changing careers. I’m locked into Get Rich Slowly and the family box factory, but if I were job hunting, I would pick up a copy of this book without hesitation.
Kids and Money
Many parents are unprepared to teach their children about money. You needn’t be one of them. These books suggest methods for getting kids to understand how money works.
What Color is Your Piggy Bank? by Adelia Cellini Linecker
This slim volume is a great choice for kids from 10-14 who are beginning to show an interest in entrepreneurship. Linecker covers the world of jobs, setting up shop, and how to manage money. I hope to provide a complete review of the book in the next few weeks.
You Call the Shots by Cameron Johnson
This is a new book from a young entrepreneur. It’s in my “to-read” stack. I ordered it based on high praise from Flexo at Consumerism Commentary, who wrote: “This book should be required reading for any young adult showing an interest in entrepreneurship.”
Living Simply with Children by Marie Sherlock
Sherlock offers tips for how to raise children that aren’t part of the consumerist culture. She encourages strong family ties as a counter to the relentless purchase to acquire “stuff”. There’s some great advice here.
Final Thoughts
I encourage you to get them free from your public library. I acquired most of the books in my personal finance library for cheap from garage sales and thrift stores.
Wednesday, 7th March 2007 (by J.D.)
Source: http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2007/03/07/building-a-personal-finance-library-25-of-the-best-books-about-money/
Basic Personal Finance
These books offer a wide view, discussing many aspects of money. They offer advice about saving, investing, and getting out of debt. They don’t go into much detail about any one subject, but they provide motivation to get started. And that’s what’s most important.
The Millionaire Next Door by Stanley and Danko
The authors interview and survey a pool of millionaires, attempting to find common connections among them. They discover that millionaires live below their means. They budget. They let their adult children make it on their own. This book introduces several key concepts, including degrees of wealth accumulation. It’s a bit tedious in spots, at least in the audio version. This is one of just a few books to cover both sides of the wealth equation: saving money and earning money. [My review.]
Your Money or Your Life by Dominguez and Robin
A classic, and one of the foundation books for the simplicity movement. The authors play off the concept “time is money” in a very literal sense. They encourage readers to sort out priorities, to cut expenses, and then to seek passive income in pursuit of financial independence. A little New Age-y in spots. An excellent book. [Frykitty reviewed this book last year.]
The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
Ramsey is an anti-credit zealot. He made a $4 million fortune by his mid-twenties, and then lost it to bankruptcy. Now he runs a personal finance empire. He takes a lot of criticism for his support of the Debt Snowball, which he describes in detail here, but the thing is: his methods work. If you are struggling with debt, there is no better starting place than this book. Ramsey’s advice is permeated with his Christianity, but you can get a lot out of this book even if you’re not religious.
The Wealthy Barber by David Chilton
This book offers good, general personal finance advice in the guise of a novel. Several friends meet once a month at the barber shop where the titular character dispenses wisdom on saving, investing, buying a house, and so on. The advice here is excellent, often backed by clear examples. The book’s conversational tone may appeal to some who might otherwise be turned off by personal finance. [My review.]
The Richest Man in Babylon by George Clason
Clason offers personal finance wisdom in the form of parables. These nuggets of wisdom were originally distributed as pamphlets at banks and insurance companies during the 1920s. The most popular were collected into book form. This is the grand-daddy of personal finance (Benjamin Franklin is the great-granddaddy), and many of modern admonitions — “Pay yourself first”, “Invest for the future”, “Learn the power of compound interest” — can be found here.
Frugality
Saving money is a key skill to develop if you hope to get rich. (Read The Millionaire Next Door if you don’t believe me.) Here are four books that can help you learn to cut corners, to save money in ways that may not have occurred to you.
How to Live Well Without Owning a Car by Chris Balish
Balish begins by explaining why you’re better off not owning a car — financially, ecologically, and socially. He spends the rest of the book describing how to survive without one. He offers tips for mass transit, walking, bicycling, and more. This book has a narrow focus. But if you’re in its target audience, it’s worth a read.
Miserly Moms by Jonni McCoy
Don’t judge a book by its cover. Sometimes it’s the most unassuming of books that offers the best advice, that can actively help you on your quest to get rich slowly. Miserly Moms is ostensibly a guide for stay-at-home mothers, but is actually filled with useful tips for anyone who is concerned with frugality (especially parents with young children). [My review.]
The Joy of Simple Living by Jeff Davidson
This book is packed with tips. Davidson covers a wide range of topics, and for each he offers several ways to save money. If this book were a weblog, it would feature digg-able entry after digg-able entry. A great resource for anyone wanting to cut down the clutter of life.
Wealth on Minimal Wage by James Steamer
If you’re a young adult just starting in life, this book is a fine choice. It offers hundreds of ideas on how to avoid debt, maximize your wages, save on insurance and utilities, and generally live a frugal lifestyle. A bit out of date, and maybe a little radical, but filled with good advice. (I’ve had a copy out from the public library for six months. It’s been battered and worn by previous patrons — a sure sign of a good book.)
Another highly-regarded book on frugality is The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn. I’ve never read it, but it’s near the top of my list of books to borrow from the library.
Investing
This set of books deals specifically with investing. The four books I keep at hand are user-friendly. They’re not technical, but offer a good introduction to the topic.
The Automatic Millioinaire by David Bach
There’s more to David Bach than “the latté factor”. The system he recommends here is excellent. If you’ve been meaning to open an IRA, but have never actually done so, then read this book! He’ll explain how to set it up so that it’s painless. (Ad: Buy Stocks for $4 at ShareBuilder.)
The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need by Andrew Tobias
Andrew Tobias is an entertaining writer. His jocular, conversational tone will keep you interested as he describes mutual funds, bonds, and treasury bills. There’s a good section on how to handle a windfall (lottery, inheritance). This is an excellent introduction to the subject of investing.
The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing by Larimore, Lindauer, and LeBoeuf
You want expet investment advice? You can’t beat the info found here. These devotees of Vanugard founder John Bogle are big on slow, sure investments like indexed mutual funds. They tap their decades of experience to teach about diversification, inflation, and asset allocation. It’s not nearly as boring as it sounds. Highly recommended.
Yes, You Can…Achieve Financial Independence by James Stowers
Despite the odd title, this is a solid book on investment from one of the richest men in America. It does cover some basic personal finance information, but mostly gives tips on how to invest. I haven’t read the entire book, but I often use it as reference when preparing entries here. It’s a sort of bridge between overviews like Tobias and more technical books like Graham or Malkiel.
Two other classics on investing are The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham and A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel. I have both, but have read neither. They’re both quite technical.
Success
Wealth is about more than money. These books will help you become a well-rounded person, will help you develop skills that will indirectly aid your personal finances.
50 Success Classics by Tom Butler-Bowdon
Butler-Bowdon selected fifty important books from success literature. For each, he created digest versions, summarizing each volume in only a few pages, distilling its key points. He also provided biographical information on each author, and attempted to explain why each book is relevant, placing it in a larger context. This is a wonderful way to find other books to read. [My review.]
Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker
There’s a little personal finance advice here (all of it solid), but mostly this book is about changing the way you think about money and about yourself. I found Secrets inspirational. It’s a good choice for somebody with big goals, or somebody trying to overcome negative thinking. [My review.]
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
One of the classic success books. Carnegie uses anecdote after anecdote to illustrate the best way to make the most of human relations. It all boils down to this: “To win others to your way of thinking, put yourself in their shoes.” The devil is in the details, though, and Carnegie’s simple prose does a fine job of pointing the way. You can find this book cheap at almost any used book store. [My review.]
Getting Things Done by David Allen
Little needs to be said about this book — it’s a geek classic. Allen describes his formalized system for creating greater efficiency. Though I’ve found it difficult to maintain the precise system for long, I use elements of it all the time. If you have trouble procrastinating or staying organized, this book is for you. [My review.]
Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi
I’ve been meaning to review this book for weeks. I have a love/hate relationship with it. Parts of it are fantastic — you can learn how to relate to people, how to establish contacts and maintain connections, how to create a social network. But parts of it are creepy — networking for the sake of networking puts me off. The endless name-dropping gets old fast. Worth reading if you have contact with a wide group of people.
One book that’s not in my library is What Color is Your Parachute? This is a classic on changing careers. I’m locked into Get Rich Slowly and the family box factory, but if I were job hunting, I would pick up a copy of this book without hesitation.
Kids and Money
Many parents are unprepared to teach their children about money. You needn’t be one of them. These books suggest methods for getting kids to understand how money works.
What Color is Your Piggy Bank? by Adelia Cellini Linecker
This slim volume is a great choice for kids from 10-14 who are beginning to show an interest in entrepreneurship. Linecker covers the world of jobs, setting up shop, and how to manage money. I hope to provide a complete review of the book in the next few weeks.
You Call the Shots by Cameron Johnson
This is a new book from a young entrepreneur. It’s in my “to-read” stack. I ordered it based on high praise from Flexo at Consumerism Commentary, who wrote: “This book should be required reading for any young adult showing an interest in entrepreneurship.”
Living Simply with Children by Marie Sherlock
Sherlock offers tips for how to raise children that aren’t part of the consumerist culture. She encourages strong family ties as a counter to the relentless purchase to acquire “stuff”. There’s some great advice here.
Final Thoughts
I encourage you to get them free from your public library. I acquired most of the books in my personal finance library for cheap from garage sales and thrift stores.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
a bun dance
NOUN:
1.
an extremely plentiful or oversufficient quantity or supply: an abundance of grain.
2.
overflowing fullness: abundance of the heart.
3.
affluence; wealth: the enjoyment of abundance.
4.
Physics, Chemistry. the number of atoms of one isotope of an element divided by the total number of atoms in a mixture of the isotopes.
SYNONYMS: affluence, ampleness, bounty, copiousness, fortune, myriad, opulence, plentitude, plenty, plethora, profusion, prosperity, prosperousness, riches, thriving, wealth
1.
an extremely plentiful or oversufficient quantity or supply: an abundance of grain.
2.
overflowing fullness: abundance of the heart.
3.
affluence; wealth: the enjoyment of abundance.
4.
Physics, Chemistry. the number of atoms of one isotope of an element divided by the total number of atoms in a mixture of the isotopes.
SYNONYMS: affluence, ampleness, bounty, copiousness, fortune, myriad, opulence, plentitude, plenty, plethora, profusion, prosperity, prosperousness, riches, thriving, wealth
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