First, a note on affiliations: Certain services and products here are affiliate links. What does that mean? When you purchase this product or service I’ve recommended, you pay nothing extra. However, I get a small, tiny-baby kickback for sending you to these companies. I only promote services and products that I use and already full-heartedly endorse. You guys know me. I don’t sell anything here. In exchange for my countless hours and words of free content, perhaps you’ll consider using one of these affiliate links for a product or service that interests you, again, at no additional cost to you. Cheers!
Spending and Net Worth Tracking: We are old school and we made our own spreadsheets. I think it’s the way to go; you can’t compulsively check everything on an app. I think that’s good for your psychology. Subscribe to this website and you get our FREE template.
Vanguard: Vanguard is our investing platform of choice. They offer low-cost index funds that will change your life. I get nothing in return for pointing you to Vanguard. They are simply perhaps the world’s best company.
Bluehost Web Hosting: This is the platform that hosts this site. It’s cheap, it’s simple, and it works. Plus, they have fantastic phone-based customer service. Who does that anymore?!
Health Savings Account: We use Lively and they deserve major brownie points for making something like healthcare and investing easy. No-fee investing with all our favorite Vanguard index funds.
Travel Rewards Credit Cards: If I could only have one rewards credit card, it would be my Chase Sapphire Preferred. Chase simply offers great sign-on bonuses and low fees. We’ve used this card to travel the world for free or cheap. This is our card for flights and the occasional hotel.
For flex spending cards, where points can be applied for anything that qualifies as travel, we’ve held the Capital One Venture Card since 2010. It’s a boss. We use this card to retroactively reimburse ourselves for Airbnb’s, rental cars, and other miscellaneous travel spending.
I’d recommend them in this order: Chase, then Capital One. Get them both if you can.
Books
The Simple Path to Wealth, By JL Collins: This book is THE book if you need an easily digestible source for the basics of saving, investing, and buying your freedom. Seriously…this book is a must-read for the human race.
The Intelligent Investor, By Benjamin Graham: If you are more serious about the fundamentals of investing and want to understand the differences between passive and active investing, this was the book that started it all for me:
Other great books (click the image to purchase or learn more):
Random Stuff That’s Useful
AeroPress Coffee and Espresso Maker. This thing is not only the best, but is also the most affordable coffee solution I’ve found. And I’ve tried everything. Pro tip: You can get 2-3 uses out of every filter. Just rinse and leave out to dry.
