Anyone interested in idiot's guide to basic personal finances?

Thinking about posting an idiot's guide to personal finances that most people may commonly face but don't have the time/desire to look at in depth. It's not meant to be professional advice, but more of stupid simple hand rules that might not be the absolute best thing, but if you have no idea what to do, you can't go too wrong with it. This is meant to be as absolutely short as possible that you could read it in 10 minutes and at least make a few decent decisions until if/when you learn more about it.

I just went through over the last year a complete revamp of my finances, so I thought some of the stuff I've learned might help others.

Stuff like:

How to pay off debts

How 401k/IRAs work

How to select funds for 401k/IRAs

Emergency funds

Common tax questions

Insurance

Financial advisors

Anyone interested?

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Comments

dynamik

Sounds good. Plus your blog is way overdue for an update.

Although, I feel like I was an inspiration for some of those. Are you logging IM conversations?

HeroPsycho

Doesn't appear anyone is interested, so I'll pass.

eMeS

The only book on this topic most people will ever need:

Amazon.com: The Wealthy Barber, Updated 3rd Edition: Everyone's Commonsense Guide to Becoming Financially Independent (0086874513112): David Chilton: Books

MS

UnixGuy

I am interested...I'm horrible in managing my expenses !!

GT-Rob

Since the members of TE are experts in everything, why not a healthy discussion on money

First off, stupid question, but is a 401k like an RRSP for Canada? Meaning whatever money you put into it you are not taxed on (ie if you made 50k, out 10k into it, you are only taxed on the 40k you made)?

If so, how much do people generally put in theirs (if they have one)? I know most people recommend 10% or so of their income, but how much to people, at a younger age, actually put in theirs each year?

I feel like I am not putting enough in (probably closer to 3%), but whenever I ask people my age about it they usually don't have one at all, or are not contributing to it. 10% seems like so much money that is basically locked away.

Plantwiz

HeroPsycho wrote: »

Doesn't appear anyone is interested, so I'll pass.

Well, since Dave Ramsey already has quite a market on personal finance and helping people who are struggling with finances as well as those who think they have a handle, not a lot of reason to reinvent the wheel. IMO

Doesn't mean to stop your project, but there is already very sound 15+ year information out there in a well packaged program and books. He does offer a ton of 'free' information already on his site as well as is always giving away products on his show...it would be difficult to do it 'for' profit, but you could do it I suspect as a ministry.

stlsmoore

I spent the last 2 years becoming debt free with about 2 more years to go. I had about 3k in credit card debit, 10k in car loans, and about 45k in student loans. I'm finally down to only 37k left on the student loan besides that I'm debt free. Can't wait to be financially free from debts!

Forsaken_GA

+1 for Dave Ramsey

I read Total Money Makeover, it changed my outlook on how I handle my finances entirely, and I just cleared my last debt last month. I'm in a much better position now than I was.