Call me a tightwad, but I like really good things that are free. If you do too, youre in the right place.<\/p>\n
Today Im going to recommend three financial books you can get free. Each one is worth a lot if you take it seriously and act on it.<\/p>\n
Ill point you to video lectures for young people (my 11-year-old grandson loves some of these), parents and teachers.<\/p>\n
Adults interested in retiring early can tap into resources that a lot of smart people find very helpful.<\/p>\n
One way or another, youve already paid for a U.S. government site filled with good information and tips that investment scammers dont really want you to learn.<\/p>\n
Finally, for some college-level insight into finance and investing, you can take a free seven-week course from a Yale professor.<\/p>\n
Free books<\/p>\n
Lets start with If You Can: How Millennials Can Get Rich Slowly by William Bernstein. Bill is one of the smartest people I know of: a retired neurologist and investment adviser whose The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio has been one of the most frequently recommended investment books for the past 20 years.<\/p>\n
If You Can is Bernsteins recommendation for an investment plan that a 7-year-old can understand, using just three mutual funds. Bernstein says its likely to outperform 90% of financial professionals in the long run.<\/p>\n
Bernstein identifies five major hurdles facing young investors and tells how to overcome them. For serious students, he includes a good reading list.<\/p>\n
The price: Free.<\/p>\n
Financial Fysics is another free book, this one available in the Apple Bookstore and written by my friend Don McDonald. These pages are filled with common sense.<\/p>\n
One of my favorite parts is his frank discussion of how to make money. There are only three ways, he says: luck, hard work and crime.<\/p>\n
Don wants us to unlearn a lesson on how the stock market works thats still taught in some schools: Choose a stock, then follow its price for a week or two to see how successful you were.<\/p>\n
That may take some of the mystery out of the market, but it leaves students with at least four awful lessons:<\/p>\n
Don says his book is for people who are ready to invest like grown-ups.<\/p>\n
The price: Free.<\/p>\n
Late last year, Richard Buck and I finished Were Talking Millions! 12 Simple Ways to Supercharge Your Retirement.<\/p>\n
This book, available without charge to anyone who wants it, outlines a dozen million-dollar decisions that every first-time investor makes then prescribes a two-fund solution that makes most of those choices for you, correctly and automatically.<\/p>\n
The book is aimed at investors in their 20s and 30s, but its two funds for life formula can beef up any portfolio.<\/p>\n
Price: Free.<\/p>\n
Get an education<\/p>\n
A university education costs a lot these days, but its amazing what you can get online. At http:\/\/www.coursera.org<\/a>, youll find more than 1,700 free courses from prestigious institutions such as Stanford, Duke, University of London, Vanderbilt, University of Chicago and many more.<\/p>\n The sites most popular investment course is Financial Markets, full of college-level material and taught by Yale economics professor Robert Shiller.<\/p>\n More than 900,000 people are enrolled in this (so dont expect a lot of personal attention). The course focuses on behavioral economics, the study of how psychology influences what we do, say, and think regarding money.<\/p>\n The course includes 127 videos, a few reading assignments and a few quizzes. Its organized into seven modules, each designed to be done in about a week.<\/p>\n Price: Free.<\/p>\n For younger folks, take my grandsons word about the video education provided by Scott Alan Turner. Hes wacky, hes funny, and kids will think he is really cool.<\/p>\n For example, heres a three-hour course thats designed for students in Grades 3 through 6 that covers topics like saving, spending, emergencies, jobs, and careers.<\/p>\n Turner also offers a class on planning for college.<\/p>\n Price: Free.<\/p>\n Lots of young investors are eager to achieve financial independence and saving and investing with the goal of retiring in their 40s and 50s.<\/p>\n The ChooseFi International Foundation offers an excellent online course called Financial Independence 101 and has local groups all over the world that meet regularly.<\/p>\n At http:\/\/www.fiology.com<\/a>, you can sign up for a free 52-lesson course, Your Guide to Financial Independence, which includes an excellent workbook and guide.<\/p>\n Price: Free.<\/p>\n The United States government has put together an impressive collection of resources and tools at http:\/\/www.investor.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n Here you can check up on a financial adviser, get help in understanding fees and scams, determine your required minimum distribution in a flash, calculate how your savings will grow, learn about 529 college savings plans. And much more.<\/p>\n Price: Free (You already paid for this.)<\/p>\n I want to also call your attention to an online treasure chest for anybody whos teaching young people about money and investing.<\/p>\n The resources available at http:\/\/www.ngpf.org<\/a> are available to the public at no charge.<\/p>\n The organization, founded and funded by Tim Ranzetta and JessicaEndlich, has one overriding goal: Establish at least one semester of personal finance instruction as a universal requirement for high school graduation and do it by 2030.<\/p>\n I interviewed Tim a while back, and you can listen to our conversation on YouTube or in this podcast.<\/p>\n Price: Free.<\/p>\n All these resources are free, but theres another cost: your time.<\/p>\n Your time is valuable. But even if you believe youre worth 10 times the minimum wage (Im not disputing that, by the way), the payoff for a good financial education can be tremendous.<\/p>\n As a special reward to readers whove made it this far, heres a freebie I can personally vouch for: a recording of a talk I gave to college students at Western Washington University in which I discuss the 12 million-dollar decisions in one of the free books I mentioned earlier.<\/p>\n Price: Free.<\/p>\n Richard Buck contributed to this article.<\/p>\n Paul Merriman and Richard Buck are the authors ofWere Talking Millions! 12 Simple Ways To Supercharge Your Retirement.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n See the rest here: <\/p>\n How to get a $1 million financial education that costs next to nothing - MarketWatch<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Call me a tightwad, but I like really good things that are free. If you do too, youre in the right place. Today Im going to recommend three financial books you can get free. Continue reading