Investing Blog Roundup: My Money Journey

A quick note: the 2023 editions of both Taxes Made Simple and Investing Made Simple are now available. If you know anybody who is in the early stages of their personal finance journey who might benefit from the books, I’d encourage you to order a copy for them.

On another book-related note, I recently read Jonathan Clements’ new compilation work, My Money Journey: How 30 people found financial freedom – and you can too. It’s exactly what it sounds like: 30 different people sharing their respective personal finance journeys.

Some of the writers are financial professionals. Some are not. Most have reached financial independence, while some are still on the way there.

The thing that struck me about the book (and likely the thing that makes it most unique and valuable) is that it is messy. To be clear, neither the writing nor editing is messy; they’re both excellent. Rather, I refer to the subject matter itself — because it’s very candid stories from people about their financial journeys. And most people make mistakes along the way.

The authors discuss what they’ve done well and not so well. Interestingly, in several cases, those two things are the same, with the writer’s super high savings rate leading to:

Significant assets and financial freedom, as well as
Doubt as to whether the sacrifices were ultimately worth it or whether a somewhat slower path to financial independence (and spending more along the way) would have been preferable.

If you’re somebody who learns by stories, this is a great book. It likely also makes a good general personal finance-related gift, as it’s very approachable. And if you’re a personal finance hobbyist, as I know many of you are, you’ll probably find it entertaining.