Understanding Money

This book, Understanding Money, is the first in my five part series on personal finance. The goal of this book is to begin to get you thinking about your attitudes and beliefs regarding the basics of personal finance: Money, earning, spending, saving, and investing. In thinking about these topics, you will begin to understand how your beliefs shape your financial behaviors for better or worse. This book is the foundation for all the information and discussion contained in the remaining four books on personal finance topics that you are almost sure to face in your life. Continue your journey through all five books and you'll be certain to Never Make an Uninformed Financial Decision Again. My name is Hayden Burrus. I am a Registered Investment Adviser and founder of Forward Financial Planners, LLC. Each week for several years I have educated and informed readers of TypeZFinance.com on personal finance topics with the goal of enabling readers to manage their finances intelligently without the assistance of a financial adviser. That's right, I am a financial adviser (actually I call myself a Financial Coach) encouraging people to fire their financial adviser! For decades I have been researching financial products and services offered to individuals. During that time I concluded that virtually all of the offers from financial advisers are grossly overpriced compared to do-it-yourself options available to those investors willing to make a modest time investment understanding personal finance. I've met advisers who have stated "I've never met anyone that doesn't need more life insurance." I've met advisers who recommend widely discredited investments that underperform and have expenses 10x as large as the do-it-yourself options. I've met advisers who hide from their clients the fact that they are being paid to recommend financial products. I'VE HAD ENOUGH and I want to help free investors from predatory financial advisers. The second book is titled Starting to Make Money. The goal of this book is to get you thinking about everyday money issues that everyone faces. I talk about car loans, everyday spending and saving decisions and money issues affecting your social life. This book takes the personal finance foundation developed in book one and applies it to the real world. After reading this book you'll be comfortable effectively managing your personal budget. You'll be generating positive cash flow in your life and will be starting down a path that will lead to traditional investing and wealth building. The third book is titled An Adult Relationship with Money. This book is where most personal finance books start. To me, starting with this book is kind of like starting to build a house on the third floor. There's no way you can be successful in managing your taxes, investments, loans, and financial advisers until you have the foundation contained in the first two books. This is the book most similar to traditional personal finance books. The fourth book is titled Now You Have Money. This book discusses financial issues and decisions you'll face if you follow the guidance in the first three books. It discusses retirement investing, annuities, and other issues related to managing a six or seven figure net work. If you're not in that wealth category yet, you will be soon enough. Just follow the guidance from the first three books. It's great to be ahead of the game and have the piece of mind knowing how to handle your future wealth before you actually have it. The fifth and final book is titled Extra Credit - Money for Fun. This book is the final step of the personal finance journey. Among other things it discusses personal finance issues around being set for life and keeping yourself educated about personal finance. If you're not set for life yet, don't fret.Just follow the guidance in the first four books and be patient. NEVER MAKE AN UNINFORMED FINANCIAL DECISION AGAIN!