I Will Teach You to Be Rich: No Guilt. No Excuses. No B.S. Just a 6-Week Program That Works.

by Ramit Sethi

If you want to be a passenger in life, fine—go with the flow. I’ve found it’s a lot

more fun to be the captain of my own ship, even if I go off course sometimes.

Cynics don’t want results; they want an excuse to not take action. Ironically, even if they win their own

manufactured argument, they lose overall, because they’re stuck in a prison of their mind.

Sometimes the most advanced thing you can do is the basics, consistently.

you’re booking travel or eating out, use a travel card to maximize rewards. For everything else, use a cash back card. The card I use for travel and eating out is the Chase Sapphire Reserve. For everything

else, I use an Alliant cash back card. And for business, I use a Capital One cash back business card. For extra benefits, I have an Amex Platinum card.

“Hi there. I checked my credit and noticed that I have a 750 credit score, which is pretty good. I’ve been a customer of yours for the last four years, so I’m wondering what special promotions and offers you have for me . . . I’m thinking of fee waivers and special offers that you use for customer retention.”

Trip-cancellation insurance: If you book tickets for a vacation and then get sick and can’t travel, your airline will charge you hefty fees to rebook your ticket. Just call your credit card and ask for the trip-cancellation insurance to kick in, and they’ll cover those change fees—usually between $3,000 to $10,000 per trip.

The most hopeless of all. This person is effectively saying, “I have no control over my finances” and “Life happens to me” rather than acknowledging their own agency. Once someone says this, it’s very difficult for them to ever change.

Most of all, a plan gives you control.

You can access your report and score at myfico.com.

Schwab Bank Investor Checking with Schwab One Brokerage Account

You invest $3,000 pre-tax in an HSA. Here’s the beautiful part: You don’t pay taxes on the money when you earn it—and you don’t pay taxes on the investment earnings! After twenty years, you’ll have $137,286. Incredible!

If you withdraw funds for non-qualified medical expenses before you’re 65, you’ll be charged a penalty. If you use your HSA funds for non-qualified medical expenses after age 65, it’s taxable.

“Looking back at the past few years of my life and at my bank account, I would gladly give away a hefty chunk of it and work longer if it meant I could have experienced more of the world and found more passions. I built my savings, but I never built my life.”

Buying a house. If you’re thinking about buying a house in a few years, log on to zillow.com and check home prices in your area. Let’s just say the average house in

your neighborhood costs $300,000 and you want to do a traditional 20 percent down payment. That’s $60,000, so if you want to buy a house in five years, you should be saving $1,000/month.

There are certain keywords that are major red flags when it comes to investing, including “whole life insurance,” “annuities,” and “primerica.” Any one of those words

means, at best, you’re almost certainly overpaying and at worst, you’re being scammed.

fiduciary

If you’re determined to get professional help, begin your search at the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (napfa.org).

I’m looking for a fee-only financial planner, and I found you on napfa.org. A little bit about me: I have about $10,000 in total assets—$3,000 in a Roth IRA (uninvested), $3,000 in a 401(k), and $4,000 in cash. I’m looking for investments that will maximize long-term returns while minimizing costs. If you think you can help me, I’d like to meet for half an hour and ask you some specific questions. I’d also like to hear how you’ve worked with similar people with similar goals. Would next Friday, 2/6, at 2 p.m. work?

Morgan Housel writes one of the most interesting blogs on psychology and money out there. Read his posts to understand why you do what you do (and why the herd does what it does). collaborativefund.com/blog Dan Solin, author of a number of great investing books, writes a terrific newsletter where he names names and calls out the BS of the investing industry. Here are a few topics he’s tackled: “Cracks in the Robo-Advisor Facade,” “Active Fund Managers Are Losers,” and “Find the Courage to Be ‘Different.’ ” danielsolin.com

your money was actually producing more money than your salary.

Stocks and Bonds Have Many Flavors

managers use fancy analysis and data, and they trade frequently. Ironically, this results in lots of taxes and trading fees, which, when combined with the expense ratio, makes it virtually impossible for the average fund investor to beat—or even match—the market over time.

allocating your money in the following way:

recommend the free financial dashboard at personalcapital.com to help guide your rebalancing.

dividing expenses based on income

also highly recommend using Fighting Chance (fightingchance.com),