We believe that you are never too old to stop learning.

We wanted to write this post to recommend the books that started the whole journey for us. Without these books we never would have started our journey to Financial Independence and would have spent thousands on fees for actively managed funds (read about that here).

Millionaire Teacher – Andrew Hallam

Andrew Hallam

Whilst lying, slightly hungover, on a sailing boat off the coast of Greece I made a decision which would change my life forever and begun reading The Millionaire School Teacher written by the entertaining Andrew Hallam.

At the time of reading this book I had already started to invest modestly in Managed Mutual Funds and had invested in a couple of stocks which I had proudly picked myself based off some basic research and recommendations from some family members. By the time I had finished this book, I had fundamentally reconsidered my objectives for my portfolio and my investing strategy.

Andrew Hallam very clearly and entertainingly explains the extraordinary affects of compound interest and how by starting early, making smart investment choices and by investing as much as you can afford, you can truly transform the trajectory of your life.

The most significant take outs of this book are the following;
– Carefully look into your expenses and ensure that you spend significantly less than you earn
– Cars are not investments but rather lose a large proportion of their valuation each year
– Always ‘pay yourself’ first and transfer money straight after payday to avoid ended up with no money to invest at the end of the month
– Pay off high interest debt as quickly as possible
– By ‘holding the whole market’, index funds always delivery the average market return and in the process beat over >90% of actively managed funds at a significantly lower cost
– Seemingly small differences in fees should not be ignored as they compound over time to make a significant difference to the portfolio performance and size
– Celebrate market crashes by doubling down rather than fleeing from the market

This book opened up my eyes into what I value in life. Do I value the materialist objectives which I spend my life saving for or do I value my time and the >40 hours per week I spend at work each week. Rather unsurprisingly, I picked the latter! Consequently, I reevaluated my spending, significantly upped my investment level and switched from stock picking/ mutual funds into passive Vanguard index funds all because of the knowledge and insights gained from this book! Now, almost 24 months later, the results are unquestionable!

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The Simple Path To Wealth – J L Collins

J L Collins

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Is there a book that changed your life? Let us know what book and why in the comments.

Check out some of our book reviews down below.