May 23 2019

Review: Everyday Millionaires

If you are a member of the over-fifty club like I am, you are probably pre-occupied with figuring out how much longer you will need to work for a living before you can reasonably retire and do whatever you want with your life. After reading the book, Retire Inspired (affiliate) by Chris Hogan, I began to think about retirement in a completely different way. Chris says that retirement is not an age, it is a financial number. I love that! I have also listened to all of his podcasts and was looking forward to his most recent release that came out in January, Everyday Millionaires (affiliate) by Chris Hogan. After hearing the commercials for the new book on his podcast  a bunch of times I decided I could spare the $20 and buy the book, especially since it came with so many cool bonus freebies and was less than I would likely have paid if I had waited and bought it from any bookstore, and then I wouldn’t have gotten all the bonus things with it. So I caved and bought the book.

I loaned the hardcover out to my sister so she could read it too and thought perhaps we’d have a book club type discussion about it, but I delayed getting started reading the ebook or listening to the audiobook mostly due to technical issues and not taking the time to figure out how to get them loaded onto my phone so I could get started reading. My sister read some of it but I think she got sidetracked and has yet to get back to it. I finally got the audiobook loaded and ready to listen to before a road trip in early April but then next thing I knew, the trip was over and I never started the book. Procrastination is nobody’s friend!

I finally got around to starting and before I knew it I was finished. Whoever said “Begun is half done” was so right! The book was a lot like listening to his podcasts with loads of stories from everyday millionaires. It was really cool to hear how normal people like you and I saved and invested and stayed debt free long enough to become net-worth millionaires. Reading this book really gives me hope that us normal working class people can become millionaires too if we stay focused. I really enjoyed Everyday Millionaires, but I honestly liked his first book, Retire Inspired so much more. I felt like my thinking was adjusted more after reading Retire Inspired than this book. But both books are well worth reading. Best $20 I ever spent and now I have a hardcopy I can loan out once I get it back.

Here are some books by Dave Ramsey that, while a little older, are still super valid and worth reading also.

Have you read these or any other awesome financial books that you would recommend? Please share them in the comments below.

This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience. 
Please see this site's Policy & Disclosure Page for more info.
Category: Book Review, Goals, Money Saving, Review | Comments Off on Review: Everyday Millionaires
May 16 2019

What Matters Most

When it comes to organizing, one of the most important things we can ever make the effort to organize is our lives. Get your ducks in a row. Get your sh*t together. However you say it, you need to actually DO it. I recently had the privilege of listening to my library’s copy of the audiobook, What Matters Most by Chanel Reynolds (affiliate link). None of us is getting any younger. We all think we are too young to need a will. I know I thought this back in the early nineties when our kids were still babies. We loved our kids, so we did it anyway. We went to a lawyer and had our wills drawn up, the whole nine yards. It was such a relief. It wasn’t terribly painful or even all that expensive when you consider the peace of mind it gave us. But here we are some twenty-five-ish years later with the same wills, never giving them a thought. When your life changes and your family grows up, things like our last wishes need to change too. We need to update them to reflect the life stage we are in now, the assets we have the people in our lives. All of these things change with time and as we age.

I don’t want to spoil the book, but I will say that this book is written by someone who went through the worst and lived to tell about it and use it to help others learn from her mistakes or oversights. She even includes a 31-page checklist that you can use to get your own sh*t together before you find you needed to but never got around to it.

There is a website called Cake that helps you through the process and gets you started.

If, like me, you still have work to do in the Get Your Shit Together department, you really SHOULD read this book. This book was published 3/19/2019, so it is likely to be the most current book on the subject. Do you have to read the book? Of course not, but it is an excellent book, so why wouldn’t you read it. Ms. Reynolds has shared the most painful part of her life with us (when she was too young to have to deal with this sort of thing) in order to show us how important this is. You could just click on all the links, download the checklist and work your way through it, but it won’t seem as imperative to get this stuff done if you don’t read the book. If there is ANYone in your life that depends on you or that you depend on, just do it. Do it for them, do it for yourself, but you need to do it.

Each of the links on this page leads to an awesome resource to help you through this process. By sharing them with all of you in this post, I can no longer use the excuse of having forgotten or lost them. With any luck, I will have spurred at least one person to get their sh*t together because I took the time to share this subject with you here.

Feel free to check back in with me and keep at me until I can honestly say everything is in order and up to date. Hold me accountable, please! I have mentioned to Hubby that we REALLY need to update these legal papers, and sooner rather than later. Maybe we need to make a list of all the things we have been putting off that we need to do during a typical business day and then make the appointments and take that day off work together and just get it all done. Our reward for a day of doing stuff that sounds like something less than fun could be dinner and a movie afterward.

This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience. 
Please see this site's Policy & Disclosure Page for more info.
Category: Book Review, Depth Year, Goals, Organizing, Planning, Review | Comments Off on What Matters Most
September 27 2018

Review: Invested

A couple of months ago, Hubby got a free ebook with his subscription to the Wall Street Journal and the book he chose was Invested: how Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger taught me to master my mind, my emotions, and my money (with a little help from my dad) (2018) by Danielle Town and her father, Phil Town. He was really enjoying reading it and shared some of the things he was learning as he read it. I looked it up on my local library’s website and discovered it actually sounded like something I might also enjoy reading, so I requested the paper copy and the audiobook and waited for them to show up in my account. It didn’t take me long to catch up to him because while he was stopping at the end of each chapter to complete the homework exercises, I was thinking about them but moving forward with the book. I had also gotten copies of Phil Town’s books Rule #1 (2006) and Payback Time (2010) and had read through Rule #1 also.

If you are a total newbie to the investing world, like me, you will love Invested. I really appreciated Danielle’s willingness to share her reluctance to take charge of investing her own money. She also shared her extreme dislike of all things numbers. I found I related to her style of writing much more than Hubby did. He found Phil’s style more to his liking, so maybe it is just a guy thing. If you want to learn how to get started investing for absolute scratch, this is the book for you. It explains how to find great companies that share your values and how to determine their value and what price to buy them at so they are “on sale”. This is called value or values investing and is generally considered to be the style of investing that Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger have used since the 1960s to amass their fortunes.

This book is an excellent read and has given me the confidence to tackle investing on my own. I highly recommend reading or listening to it if you are considering taking over managing your own retirement accounts. The book is meant to be read over the course of a year and is broken down into months with homework assigned each month to help you build the confidence to begin investing your own money. Don’t worry about having real money to invest because at first, you will be practicing by using paper money or paper trading until you get confident enough with your ability to use real money.

If you plan to purchase any of the books mentioned in this post, please consider using the affiliate links provided below by clicking on the book covers. It won’t cost you any extra, I could potentially earn a penny or two and that would really help me out.

This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience. 
Please see this site's Policy & Disclosure Page for more info.
Category: Book Review, Learning, Reading | Comments Off on Review: Invested
June 28 2018

Book Review: Vlog Like A Boss

Vlog Like A Boss Cover

I don’t often review the books I read. I read a lot and that would get old fast. When I do, it is because I want to have a record of it out there to help others find a great read. This is no different. Right now, I don’t vlog, though the idea is in the back of my mind that it could happen someday.

This is an excellent book. I’m not sure I will ever feel comfortable putting myself in front of the camera, but I read it thinking it would give me ideas on how to improve my blog. So many good ideas!

I loved the voice of Amy throughout the book. It was like watching her in video form in my head as I read her book. I highly recommend reading this book if you are considering starting a vlog or YouTube channel. At the very least, go to YouTube and subscribe to the Amy Landino channel.

If you plan to pick up a copy of this book, I would love it if you used the affiliate link below.

This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience.
Please see this site’s Policy & Disclosure Page for more info.

Vlog Like a Boss: How to Kill It Online with Video Blogging

Category: Book Review, Reading, Review | Comments Off on Book Review: Vlog Like A Boss
March 1 2018

Book Review: Holding the Fort

I was very excited to be able to read and review this book. It arrived in my mailbox in good shape but I was disappointed to realize someone had previously opened the package. How did I know? It came open way too easy for one of those rubber cement sealed bubble wrap envelopes. The book was in good shape and will make a great addition to my library.

I enjoyed reading this story. To me, it was a great story about taking control of your life and grabbing for the second chance when it was offered. It is also about overcoming stereotypes and a bad reputation to go on to new things no one would have thought possible of you. The historical wrapper in which this story was told is great too. It is always wonderful to be transported back in time and try to imagine how you would fair in the same situation. If you are looking for a great book to read, I highly recommend you grab this one.

Being as this is the first book in The Fort Reno Series, now the question becomes, when will the next book be released?

If you are interested in buying this book, please consider using the affiliate link below. It won’t cost you more and I might make a few cents because you did.

Holding the Fort (The Fort Reno Series)

I was sent this book by the publisher to review.
I will always give honest reviews on my blog.
My opinion cannot be bought.

(This book arrived in my mailbox Monday, 12/11/17)

Category: Book Review, Reading, Review | Comments Off on Book Review: Holding the Fort