We’ve scoured the web to come up with the best tools and books to help you “engineer your finances”.
Retirement Calculators
Free retirement calculators and web-based savings calculators.
Investment and Budgeting Tools
These are very helpful tools you may find useful.
- USAA Bank
- Vertex 42s debt reduction calculator
- Investment tools by Personal Capital
- Budget templates by Budgets are Sexy
- Net worth and budget spreadsheets from Thousandaire
- Mint.com
Credit Score Check
Best credit score inquiry around that are absolutely free.
Personal Finance Forums
These communities are very friendly and helpful with personal finance tips and advice.
Downloadable Software
Less known but very solid free software.
Personal Finance books worth reading
A few of my favorite personal finance books.
The Intelligent Investor – The intelligent investor is a famous and widely acclaimed seminal work on value investing. The reason we are including here are is that value investors have a 2% return advantage over non-value investors. Learning how to get that investing edge is the purpose of this book. The chapters on how to select securities, what information to evaluate and its introduction to basic value investing concepts makes the work easy, accessible and informative. For small investors, this is a must read. Find out how and why.
Think and Grow Rich – Think and Grow Rich is a classic work published in 1937 by Napoleon Hill. Hill was famously interviewing Andrew Carnegie when Carnegie urged him to write a book on how the rich got that way. Hill spent the twenty years engaged in this task. The result was Think and Grow Rich. In it, Hill argues the power of faith, extreme planning, “specialized knowledge” and persistence result in wealth. This book continues to be a personal finance favorite that sold almost over 100 million copies worldwide. Click here to get a copy.
The Millionaire Next Door – This book is a contemporary personal finance classic. What makes the Millionaire Next Door different is data. The authors used marketing data to research profiles of Americas wealthy. What they found is millionaires were skilled professionals or owned boring businesses, frugal, drove plain automobiles, and took smart financial risks. If you want to learn how to become rich, then this book is a must read. Find out more.
The Total Money Makeover – According to Dave Ramsey, personal finance is 80% behavior and 20% knowledge. Writing from a Christian perspective, Ramsey says that anyone can use the debt snowball method (paying off the lowest debt balance first) to become financially free. This book has helped hundreds of thousands live financially healthy lives and eliminate debt. Click here for more information.
The Automatic Millionaire – This is written by a personal financial planner named David Bach. Bach has 11 books on the New York Times best seller list. The Automatic Millionaire is the first and best of his work. In it, Bach says you should pay yourself first by automating your finances, reduce the “latte factor” (small recurring expenses), then harvesting the power of compound interest. Read this book and learn how to optimize your finances. Click here to get a copy.
The 4-hour Workweek – This controversial book is your best guide to cutting your work hours into mere minutes without sacrificing your effectiveness as an individual. The author, Timothy Ferriss, says the way to get a 4 hour work week is to outsource, follow the 80/20 rule, and define your objectives. This is must read if you want to improve your personal productivity. Go here to read the reviews.
Rich Habits – Rich habits is an underappreciated but nonetheless excellent book. Motivated by watching his father’s warehouse business burn to the ground, the author looked at his accounting practice’s clients to determine what made some rich and successful and others not. What Corley found was that the rich eat healthy food, avoid gambling, exercise aerobically, read for education and are goal focused. This book is remarkable as it bridges the gap between daily activity and personal success. Click here to get a copy.
The Richest Man in Babylon – Sometimes old advice is the best advice. George Clason’s The Richest Man in Babylon was written by George Classon in 1926. The book illustrates lessons in business and personal finance through a collection of narratives set in ancient Babylon. The lessons are simple and applicable today; save 10% of your income, control expenses, earn interest, own your own home, buy insurance, educate yourself and work towards your goals. Click here to find out.
Rich Dad Poor Dad – Robert Kiyosaki is a little like a caffeine addiction. Some exposure to his work gives you a boost, too much of him can negatively impact your thinking. The one book of is you should read is Rich Dad Poor Dad. It illustrates a core truth about wealth in America as told through a semi-fictional narrative about his two dads – the rich get that way by investing in income producing assets. If you want to clear the wool from your eyes about wealth in America, get this book. Click here to check it out on Amazon.