I thought I knew all the things I needed to know about personal finance, until I read "I Will Teach You To Be Rich" by Ramit Sethi. Here are 7 takeaways I got from reading it.

𝟭. 𝗪𝗘𝗗𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚𝘀

Avg wedding in US cost $35k

Surprisingly, the number of guests at a wedding is a variable cost that only amounts for 25% of total costs

Look at reducing the other 75% fixed cost

Ex: Flying a photographer from another country and covering all their costs is probably cheaper that finding a local one

𝟮. 𝗛𝗦𝗔 - 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗦𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁

If you're young, healthy, and don't use insurance

- get a HSA-compatible health plan

- open an HSA account at Fidelity

- Contribute the max ($3k?) per year to it

- invest it in the market for it to growth 10% YoY

I slept on this one, so I'm doing this now.

𝟯. 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝘀

Investment fees eat earnings

A 1% investment fee over 35 years will wipe out 28% of earnings

39% if over 50 years

Get low-investment fees for your portfolio in all directions

My distrust of investment salesmen has led me to find cheap fees to begin with - it's great to see it quantified.

𝟰. 𝗧𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗮𝘇𝘆 𝟴𝟱% 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

If you are lazy like me and want close enough without spending all the hours agonizing, target date funds are the laziest way to get there and can be more useful than index funds, mutual funds, or stocks themselves.

Vanguard does this and yes I'm lazy.

𝟱. 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁𝘀 & 𝗘𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝘅𝗰𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘀

These are things you tell yourself about money b/c of what your parents & society told you that prevents you from having your own positive view with finance.

Can you figure out what you say that prevents you from moving forward with your skill with finance?

I'm the "I assumed I knew it" boat

𝟲. 𝗘𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝘂𝘀𝗲

The option is there for you to always learn, you just didn't

1) choose it

2) ignored it

3) didn't have the brain space to appreciate it

4) adopted what your parents did instead

I sure didn't appreciate any of this out of high school.

7. 𝗖𝘂𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝘃𝘀 𝗘𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲

Easy to think how can I cut costs

You will hit marginal returns and diminish your QOL

Shift to "how can I afford" it

Then shift to "how do I earn more"

Even if you know about personal finance, I highly recommend picking up this book for it's tactical, action-oriented approach.

This is the book I wish I read in college.

Whats even better is that he includes what his readers have admitted to him on every page, so you can corroborate what he has to say with how other people felt.

𝗛𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸?

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁?

𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀?