Summer’s a quiet time for financial planners. Lots of clients worry about money in January after setting New Year’s resolutions, or in April when taxes are due. For now, everyone’s going on vacation!
But summer is a great time to learn about personal finance. You’ve got time to fill on long flights, after all! And when you head into the winter and start thinking about what goals you’d like to set in 2018, you’ll have all your new knowledge to fall back on.
These blogs and podcasts that will get you thinking about saving, budgeting, retirement, investing, career planning, mortgages, and even the state of the financial services industry.
Blogs
- I’m a fan of my friend Paula Pant’s blog, Afford Anything. Her philosophy is that “you can afford anything, but not everything.” It’s a realistic way to look at finite resources (like your money, time, and focus) that helps guide you in setting your financial goals. Plus, she shares tons of details about her real estate investments — if that’s an area of interest for you, this blog is a great resource.
- Mary Beth Storjohann is a fee-only financial planner who writes the Workable Wealth blog. She offers clear, non-judgmental advice. I’m also a fan of her book, Work Your Wealth.
- MoneyNing covers a ton of financial topics in an easy-to-understand, straightforward way. Go for the insightful commentary, stay for the useful money tips.
- Lifehacker is one of the better ways you can go down the internet rabbit hole, and their Two Cents blog is an insightful look into personal finance — everything from banking to credit to handling when friends make more money than you.
- Financial Best Life is a great blog for millennials in transition, whether you’re buying your first home, rethinking your career, or just trying to get your finances on track. The author, Lauren Bowling, also wrote a book called The Millennial Homeowner: A Guide to Successfully Navigating Your First Home Purchase. It’ll walk you through everything you should think about as you deal with mortgage brokers, home inspectors, and more.
- Rockstar Finance an overview of all the personal finance sites and blogs out there. Its founder, J. Money, writes the blog Budgets are Sexy and has the best budgeting spreadsheets in all the land.
- The money and career section of The Art of Manliness has really great posts on finance, networking, productivity, and more.
Podcasts
- Afford Anything is the companion podcast to Paula Pant’s blog. She dives deep into money conversations with guests and answers listener questions.
- Bad With Money With Gaby Dunn is a hilarious, swear word-laden look into what it’s like to get your sh*t in order when you have no idea how to even begin. Gaby explores everything from her own psychological blockers to success, to companies that underpay their employees, to expensive life cycle events like weddings and death.
- True to its name, Motley Fool Answers, well, answers all your questions about personal finance and investing with lots of humor.
- NPR’s Planet Money and Freakonomics Radio explore economic concepts in a way that’s so much more compelling than your college Econ 101 lecture.
- How I Built This, also on NPR, tells the stories of entrepreneurs from well-known companies like Instacart and Warby Parker.
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