Thread: Fixing my financial illiteracy

Originally Posted by Gregory Fleming

I was already in awe before I read that you are a ripe old 20! You are someone I'd like to cultivate an association with, I can tell. Please feel free to add to your advice at any point. May I ask you questions as they arise? I'm seriously going to make sure I understand every word on your post by the time I'm done.

I'm curious, are you pursuing your Fastlane with all this financial knowledge/investing? Kudos on your "killing". I'm envious!

I learned a lot of this when i was in high school (grade 9-12) because it was the only thing i found sanctuary in. i had no friends, because i developed severe social anxiety and depression from my very unattractive genetic skin disorder. becoming a financial money making genius was my burning desire(which i am NOT lol) to make up for my lack of confidence and self esteem. so i read every finance and investment book i could get my hands on. if you are curious, i made a killing with a stock i have been watching closely: Cemex SAB de CV (nyse:CX), i am NOT a brilliant investor but i do know how to identify special opportunities, its just like entrepreneurship, thats why a lot of people call MJ Demarco "lucky" cause he started in the tech bubble, but all he did was spot an opportunity/need/market void/market desire etc and execute well on that.

this type of knowledge is very important in running and managing any fastlane business. i have been able to quit my part time clerk job and pay my way through college DEBT FREE with my venture, although i am NOT fastlane. far from it lol. i have been blessed with a mentor who recently sold his chemical sensor and valve company for $60 million.

the books that changed my life are: awaken the giant within by anthony robbins, the philosophy of Spinoza(philosophy of the passions and emotions and freedom) and of course the millionaire fastlane haha.

good luck in financial literacy and the fastlane dude! feel free to message me i love talking about finance and entrepreneurship.

disclosure: i am long CX, please do your OWN due diligence, this is NOT investment/financial advice

I'm sure just about everyone has heard of Khan Academy by now, but for those who haven't, here are a few links.

Economics: Khan Academy, Khan Academy

Venture Capital: Khan Academy

General Finance: Khan Academy

Valuation and investing: Khan Academy

All the other finance pages can be found under "Humanities and Other" in the top menu. Good luck folks!

Originally Posted by socaldude

the philosophy of Spinoza(philosophy of the passions and emotions and freedom)

This is actually free on amazon. Amazon.com: The Philosophy of Spinoza eBook: Benedictus de Spinoza, Joseph Ratner: Kindle Store

great resource!

Originally Posted by ryantreb

This is actually free on amazon. Amazon.com: The Philosophy of Spinoza eBook: Benedictus de Spinoza, Joseph Ratner: Kindle Store

yeah all of his works are free online, they are out of copyright obviously . but if you want to study Spinoza's primary work: The Ethics, you are gonna have to to read a "guide" on his works by another author to guide you, because these are very very difficult philosophies that leaves you saying "What the F%$%K is he saying" and you wont even get past the first page. good luck! i recommend this book: The Ethics, the path to inner freedom: http://www.amazon.com/The-Ethics-Spi...1581685&sr=8-9

Originally Posted by socaldude

The Ethics, the path to inner freedom: Amazon.com: The Ethics of Spinoza (9780806505367): SPINOSA, Spinosa : Books

Apparently "The Philosophy of Spinoza" ebook on Amazon is "Not currently available". Found it on Gutenberg Project though for free as well, can be downloaded in different formats including Kindle format: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31205 Thanks for the book tip, looking forward to read it!!

Check out Ramit Sethi's book, I Will Teach You To Be Rich (currently $2.24 for the Kindle Edition) or his blog How to Be Rich - Get Simple Tips On Personal Finance. It's not about how to value a company or anything like that. And you won't get rich from reading this book but it's a good intro to personal finance and creating systems to automate your finances.

Originally Posted by sam22

Check out Ramit Sethi's book, I Will Teach You To Be Rich (currently $2.24 for the Kindle Edition) or his blog How to Be Rich - Get Simple Tips On Personal Finance. It's not about how to value a company or anything like that. And you won't get rich from reading this book but it's a good intro to personal finance and creating systems to automate your finances.

Has the author ever built a fastlane business before? When looking at the "About" section of his site, his background seems to show that all he did was study the steps to getting rich rather than implement and then teach them. Any idea what he did before he published the book or the website?

Originally Posted by Pinnacle

Has the author ever built a fastlane business before? When looking at the "About" section of his site, his background seems to show that all he did was study the steps to getting rich rather than implement and then teach them. Any idea what he did before he published the book or the website?

Yes, I'd say his blog/book is a fastlane business. He's made over $1 million (source). Having said that, his book won't teach you how to build a fastlane business. Nonetheless, I like his blog because of the top-notch content on psychology/persuasion that you won't find elsewhere (at least not for free).

I appreciate the recommendations. Keep them coming! I'm doing Khan Academy. Seems like a good place to start. Then I'll pick among the recommendations in this thread and I'm going to pay particular attention to socaldude's post on concepts I need to understand (I even got an emulator of the HP 12c).

Regarding finance: What do you guys think about Quickbooks?

I have a friend who swears by it for personal finance. I can't speak on using it in a business, though.

Have you used Freshbooks? Its a SAAS invoicing and billing business. I've heard good things about them but I have not tried them yet.

Originally Posted by Gregory Fleming

Regarding finance: What do you guys think about Quickbooks?

I use QuickBooks for my personal and business finances. Quicken is the more popular software for personal finance. I think mint.com has similar functionality for free so don't go rushing out to pay $100 and buy the new latest and greatest version.

i don't think you need fancy software for personal finance. think about how really rich people managed their money 50-60 years ago. i found that the best way is to just get a sheet of paper out and write/draw up some tables/diagrams. maybe draw myself my personal balance sheet, personal income statement, personal cash flow statement, and then do some qualitative analysis. google has some free resources that you can use to make it easier i suppose, there are a lot of free resources.

Originally Posted by socaldude

i don't think you need fancy software for personal finance. think about how really rich people managed their money 50-60 years ago. i found that the best way is to just get a sheet of paper out and write/draw up some tables/diagrams. maybe draw myself my personal balance sheet, personal income statement, personal cash flow statement, and then do some qualitative analysis. google has some free resources that you can use to make it easier i suppose, there are a lot of free resources.

The beauty of this approach is it helps you learn the fundamentals. John D. Rockefeller Sr. kept a handwritten ledger where he did his book keeping and accounting down to the penny. This example, of course, speaks to SoCal's point about how the really rich managed their money back in the day.

If you are just looking for budgeting
I swear by YNAB. They have a free month trial. It's been a life saver for me.

I actually build my own excel spreadsheets for a basic understanding of real estate valuations. It's not fancy and I still don't know how to do fancy formulas but writing it myself gave me more control as to what I want to look for when plotting numbers.

As far as books go most authors write one great book, and end up rehashing the same concept over other books. I'd be wary of any author who puts out a ton of books. Do your due diligence to see if it's worth reading more of their material.