Financial Foundation
Core and Advanced Concepts for Financial Success

Ever since I can remember, I have loved learning about financial planning and investing. I have been doing it for over 20 years and have been very fortunate to implement or explore all the concepts introduced in this book with great success. As a result, I have had many friends and colleagues reach out to me to ask how they should proceed with financial planning or optimize their taxes based on their financial situation. I’m always happy to help anyone interested, as I think that financial planning is a core skill that everyone needs, and one that allows people to work towards their goals and passions. There is more to financial planning than just budgeting, and I wanted to put together a resource that people could use as a guide for their financial journey. There are a lot of resources available that go into great depth, but I wanted to create a book that provided a foundation on numerous topics that are key to financial planning, investing, and tax optimization. If you consider yourself a financial genius, you will not find anything revolutionary in this book. It is intended for people looking for insights into concepts/ideas they have never heard of or lack context around. Being aware of these concepts will make you more prepared and able to “look around the bend” along your financial journey. I hope this book offers you insight and has a material impact on your life. Thank you for reading!

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Resources to go deeper on concepts in book

The links below will allow you to go deeper on the topics that I cover in my book. I will occasionally update the links on this page, so check back to see if there is anything new.

Budgeting

Below are some simple budget templates that you can use to get started and that won't cost you money. There are a lot of other budget solutions out there, but I recommend starting simple and getting a feel for the process before you add something more complex. Your budget and finances is sensitive data so be mindful of where you store it and who you share it with.

Apple Numbers has a Simple Budget and Personal Budget template that you can select when creating a new numbers document. Start by opening numbers, click New and then scroll down to the Personal Finance category in Templates.
Google Sheets has a Annual budget and Monthly budget template that you can select when creating a new spreadsheet. Start by going to https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets

Banking options

There are a lot of banking options available, but make sure you choose one that will gives you the best return and most flexibility. Make sure that the bank account is FDIC insured (FDIC.gov) otherwise it will increase your chance of loss if something happens to the business.

Retirement

Learn more about social security benefit (ssa.gov) and how to plan for retirement (ssa.gov).
See the contribution limits for the current tax year on the IRS website (irs.gov).
Learn more about backdoor Roth IRAs (Investopedia.com).
Learn more about mega backdoor Roth IRAs (Investopedia.com).

Health Insurance

Learn more about health insurance (healthcare.gov)

Brokerages

Here are some brokerages that you can create accounts with and trade securities. I'm not endorsing one over another, but just listing brokerages that I'm aware of and in some cases have used.

Funds

Learn more about expense ratios (Investopedia.com)
Learn more about ETFs (Investopedia.com)
Learn more about Headge Funds (Investopedia.com)

Trading

Strategies

Bogleheads is a community that focuses on investing and personal finance. It gets its name from John C. Bogle who was the founder of The Vanguard Group, which popularized the index fund.