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Favourite books
Retirement Income for Life: Most investment books teach you how to accumulate money. This one is all about designing an optimal decumulation strategy. Vettesse walks us through five “Enhancements” that turn a financially hazardous retirement into a happy and secure one. Well-written, evidence-based, and geared toward self-directed investors, this book helps solve a lot of the issues that DIY retirees face.
The Psychology of Money: A new book by one of my absolute favourite finance writers, Morgan Housel. How so much wisdom is packed into one person, I will never know. And he is a master communicator too, making me want to re-read paragraphs, not because I didn’t understand, but because they were that good. To be good with money we have to understand ourselves. This book lets us do that.
Stocks for the Long Run: A classic. Packed full of data and wisdom, this books makes an iron-clad case for being a buy and hold stock market investor. Just one of many fascinating and useful gems: everyone thinks that stocks are more volatile than bonds, but in the long run, the opposite is true. Mind. Blown.
Personal Finance for Canadians (for Dummies): Before investing comes personal finance. It’s important to read a book like this so you know you have all the basics covered. Understanding the essentials makes picking up more complex concepts easier and drastically improves our success as DIY investors.
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: This is a book about something more important than investing: life. In spite of the abrasive title, it is profound, exceedingly well-written, and inspiring. It’s a no-holds-barred roadmap for becoming unapologetically you. Once you’re clear about that, a lot of things snap into focus, including personal finance.
The Strategic Dividend Investor: I own two copies of this book: one to lend out, and a back-up because I never want to be without it. It was one of the first books about dividend investing I ever read and I still refer back to it. Concise and powerful, The Strategic Dividend Investor taught me to focus on dividends not stock price.
A Random Walk was the very first book I read about investing and I feel SO fortunate that it was. It set me straight on all kinds of investing voodoo myths like timing the market and picking hot stocks with bulletproof research and arguments. If you find yourself tempted to dabble in active management, read this book.
Your Money and Your Brain: Jason Zweig is one of the smartest most thoughtful experts in the realm of money and he writes with a combination of surgical precision and guru-like insight. Totally compelling. I loved this book.
Devil Take the Hindmost: When it comes to navigating the craziness of the stock market, nothing beats stories from the past when things were even crazier. From the South Sea Bubble to tulip mania to Sir Isaac Newton going broke, the stock market has always been a theater of speculative insanity.
Thinking Fast and Slow: You’ve heard about this book. You’re interested in how the human mind works (and, much of the time, doesn’t). Buy this book. Just be prepared to go slow. There is SO MUCH in here that will challenge the way you think about yourself, your opinions, and your confidence in coming up with rational solutions to common problems. This book quite literally changed the way I think about everything.
Favourite blogs
Favourite podcasts
Animal Spirits – Ben Carlson and Michael Batnick engage in friendly, well-informed banter about markets, money, and their personal lives
The MapleMoney Show – Lots of Canadian content delivered in short (~30min) interview format. Tom is a likable and engaging host.
Build Wealth Canada – Self-proclaimed “top personal finance podcast in Canada”, Kornel consistently puts out high-quality interviews.
Explore FI Canada – The Money Mechanic and Chrissy give a voice to Canadians on the path to, and enjoying FI (financial independence).
beyondMD – Dr. Yatin Chadha takes deep dives into financial topics relevant to physicians and other professionals
Invest Like the Best – Patrick O’Shaughnessy is a really smart guy interviewing really smart people in the industry. Very high quality stuff.
Favourite resources
Networthify – Find out how long it will take you to become financially independent
FIRECalc – Find out how likely your money will last your retirement
Income Tax Calculator – Find out how much tax you will pay with any mix of regular income, capital gains, and dividends
Investment Calculator – Use the different tabs to find out your final balance, how much you need to save, what rate of return you need or how long you’ll need to save for
Personal Enhanced Retirement Calculator (PERC) – Estimate how much income you can draw from all of your financial assets in retirement.