Money Resources

• “Your current middle-class life is an Exploding Volcano of Wastefulness, and by learning to see the truth in this statement, you will easily be able to cut your expenses in half – leaving you saving half of your income. Or two thirds, or more. Sound like a fantasy? Not to readers of this blog.   What happens when you can save more of your income? As it turns out, spending much less money than you bring in is the way to get rich. The ONLY way.”
  • https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/
• Farnoosh Torabi is a financial expert who has written books, has an award winning podcast, and whose works have been published places like the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and USA Today.  This website offers pragmatic advice that will benefit almost anyone, yet is mainly viewed by educated professionals.
  • http://farnoosh.tv/ 
• Nerdwallet is a collection of financial resources, information, and advice.  This site is a place to look for things like finding out information on different credit cards, banks, stocks, etc.
  • https://www.nerdwallet.com/
• Seth’s Blog: Up and to the Right – This short blog talks about how we measure performance, and if we only care about performance, we are continuing to sacrifice other areas of life by making performance our only unit of measurement.
  • Seth’s Blog: Up and to the Right
• James Altucher’s Blog- This blog covers a variety of topics with money being one of them.  This particular read goes through Altucher sharing 10 things that he values more than money with his reasoning for each, dabbling in things that make his life more meaningful and exciting.
  • 10 Things I Value More Than Money

Check out Mr. Money Mustache

• Living on One Dollar- “an award-winning documentary following four friends as they live on less than $1 a day for two months in rural Guatemala. “ Trailer: 2 min.  Documentary; 56 min.
  • Living on One Dollar
• The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit:  This movie is based on the novel by Sloan Wilson about a man who is confronted with the pressure to make more money, step into a new career, spend more time with family, and figure out his priorities. He attempts to balance all these things while trying to hide his memories and a decision made years earlier during World War II. Trailer: 2 min. Movie 2hr. 32min
  • The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
• The Little Prince is a story that contrasts the play, creativity, fun, and awe of childhood with the desire to grow up and embrace the “seriousness” of achievement.  This movie highlights a key component of happiness as never forgetting the simple beauty of connection that makes life meaningful. Trailer: 3 min. 
  • The Little Prince (Trailer)
• “Lives Well Lived is a feature documentary film by Sky Bergman that celebrates the incredible wit and wisdom of adults 75 to 100 years old who are living their lives to the fullest. Encompassing over 3000 years of experience, forty people share their secrets and insights to living a meaningful life.” Trailer: 2 min.
  • Lives Well Lived

Much beloved, The Little Prince is a classic among children’s books.

• Your Money: The Missing Manual: J.D. Roth – This book begins with talking about how money isn’t actually what we’re after, happiness is.  This first chapter explores ways to use money to create or contribute to happiness. This first chapter is a place to look to directly explore the relationship between money and happiness and what factors other than money do you need to buy happiness.  This book also provides a small, step by step, pragmatic view to wealth, focusing on making small improvements in a number of little areas that focusing on will eventually lead to wealth.  Some of the areas emphasized are having goals, small ways to budget and be more frugal, wise small scale investing, and defeating debt.
  • Your Money: The Missing Manual
• Conscious Capitalism: John Mackey and Raj Sisodia – This read is a beautiful insight into the behind the possibilities that meaning-focused businesses can aspire to via Capitalism.  This read advocates for a world where businesses realize and embrace the opportunity to be a beneficial force to their employees, customers, environment, and everything they touch.  This book speaks to the characteristics of what make an organization more than just a money making machine and instead embrace the highest possible form of corporate altruism, at times even being a moral beacon for governments and society to follow.  A couple core concepts contained are that any business should strive for a higher purpose, serve all people that the business touches, and can both lead and create cultures in a way that empowers and lifts up all stakeholders in their organization.
  • Conscious Capitalism

• The Soul of Money: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Life: Lynne Twist –  This book takes a bold approach to challenging many of the traditionally held views around money.  Twist does so by pointing out certain mindsets or attitudes that lead to money-stress versus fulfillment.  She shares how making and spending our money in a way that aligns with our values and beliefs provides a sense of peace around money that enables a more empowered, stress-free relationship with money.  She also talks about certain concepts such as collaboration, standing up for what we believe in, focusing our money expenditures towards our values, and believing in sufficiency as a pathway towards financial freedom. She also shares that when money is used as an expression of our values, money becomes a tool that provides us peace and joy. 
  • The Soul of Money: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Life
• Your Money or Your Life: Vicki Robin –  Robin shares that a healthy relationship with money isn’t about money, it’s about having a healthy, meaningful, productive relationship with life.  Robin advocates for calculating not just how much time, but rather “life energy” (everything that we are trading such as opportunity cost, happiness, and stress) is going into our purchases.  By taking this step and knowing what work actually costs us, we are better able to decide which work, tasks, or purchases are actually worth it. This book also sheds light on important concepts such as knowing what our own definition of “enough” is, measuring our expenditures based on how much “fulfillment” we get from purchases, and giving our money a purpose.
  • Your Money or Your Life – Vicki Robin

• The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: Robin S. Sharma – Sharma uses a giant metaphor to highlight that the purpose of life is a life of purpose.  This book also defines success as something that begins within. Sharma shares that contribution and giving to others are what the quality of our lives are all about.  Robin also shares that focusing on happiness vs. achievement is a greater path towards a meaningful life, and believes that focusing on our higher purpose is the purpose of life.
  • The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari
• Work Less, Live More: The Way to Semi-Retirement: Bob Clyatt – Clyatt uses Nobel Prize winning research to provide an alternative to the conventional waiting to 65 or older to retire; a path called “semi-retirement.”  Semi-retirement enables us to eliminate the amount of hours being spent at work by tapping into a fulfilling and meaningful life based on careful planning and reducing the things in life that we don’t need.  Clyatt also shares that even retiring can feel meaningless without a reason for wanting to retire or without a healthy body, mind, or relationships. Clyatt also shares a few practical steps to achieving semi-retirement such as collecting an amount of money that one can withdraw 4% from each year and sustain ourselves, living below our means, and  taking actionable steps towards retirement (even if not sure exactly sure what the plan is yet).
  • • Work Less, Live More: The Way to Semi-Retirement

Check out our summary of this book here.

• The Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity – Gaines shares four major tips as far as tapping into the laws or forces that govern prosperity. One of these laws focuses on tithing (or giving 10%) the the organization or place that helps one grow. This act acknowledges the importance of a higher source or meaning. She also talks about how setting goals gives us a way to catch abundance and how forgiveness enables us to believe that we are worthy of receiving the best that God, or a higher source, has for us. Gaines shares that finally finding our highest purpose and utilizing the gifts that we’ve been given allows us to add value to the world in a way that brings prosperity.
  • The Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity: Edwene Gaines
• The Wealthy Gardener – The Wealthy Gardener is a practical guide to a very traditional means of wealth: hard work, money management, having goals, and a number of other basic strategies.  The book is a life story, broken down into a number of smaller events, or teaching moments, in his life related to money. This book is overflowing with a number of miniature lessons that are each 3-7 pages.  Reading this book is akin to learning a number of the lessons that cultivate wealth directly from a millionaire. His wisdom is taught in a way that enables anyone to achieve wealth if willing to focus on a number of small areas of life, and creating the habits that accompany the mindset of a millionaire, and he does it all through the analogy of gardening.
  • The Wealthy Gardener – John Soforic

• The Choose Yourself Guide to Wealth – James Altucher – Altucher offers that instead of spending time chasing the traditional job, instead spend time pursuing continual growth, especially in the form of working to come up with new ideas.  He talks about the practice of continually growing and expanding ourselves on all fronts (physically, emotionally, spiritually, etc.). He also shares that taking life into our own hands via choosing to take control of our habits, our career, and investing in ourselves and making ourselves a priority.
  • The Choose Yourself Guide to Wealth – James Altucher
• Firms of Endearment: How World-Class Companies Profit from Passion and Purpose (2nd Edition) – Firms of Endearment offers that now we live in a world where employees and customers are looking for meaning in their work and accountability in a company.  Money at the expense of values is no longer acceptable. The FOE companies are ones that treat their employees, stakeholders, share holders, etc. in a way that values all of them and looks out for all of their best interests.  FOE’s are about adding value to the world in more ways other than just profit. This book also highlights that these companies termed “Firms of Endearment” have outperformed the market by 300 to 1000% through their true passion for people, products, and making a difference. 
  • Firms of Endearment: How World-Class Companies Profit from Passion and Purpose (2nd Edition)

• All the Money in the World: What the Happiest People Know About Wealth – Laura Vanderkam – Much of All the Money is based on empirical research and suggests that people will be happier if they buy more experiences, fewer material goods, use their money to help others, and buy many small pleasures rather than fewer large ones.This book shares that  the people who are happiest about money share these three things (outlook on money):

1. I have enough.  There are some people in this world who have more, but also plenty with less.
2. If I want more than I have now to achieve big goals, I can figure out a way to get it.
3. Every dollar is a choice.   How I earn it and spend it are up to me.
   All the Money in the World: What the Happiest People Know About Wealth – Laura Vanderkam

• The Illusion of Money – Kyle Cease – Former Comedian expresses that all of us have an inner Michael Jordan.  By that he means that if we would have put Michael Jordan in a suit and tie, and asked him to be an accountant, we might not have ever seen his brilliance or gift to the world (in the form of basketball).  He shares that if we are willing to let go of the belief that ‘money equals safety’ and start using more of our unique gifts and talents, we will each find our inner genius too. By making decisions in life that we feel 10 out of 10 about and find fulfillment in, we eventually will create a space in our life for there to be tremendous wealth, and the world also benefits as well!
  • The Illusion of Money – Kyle Cease

• Spiritual Economics- Eric Butterworth – Butterworth shares that wealth comes from focusing on having abundant and healthy thoughts and behaviors rather than chasing after money.  He also states that we’re here to become the best version of ourselves (creative, connected, abundant, giving back), and in doing these things we begin to have wealth.  Butterworth also describes a life of abundance as one full of hope, free of worry, and taking the conscious control of our own lives. This book also goes into a few other topics like being a giver and the need for practice in order to become the best versions of ourselves.
  • Spiritual Economics- Eric Butterworth
• Playing with FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early): How Far Would You Go for Financial Freedom? – Scott Rieckens – Rieckens tells his story about beginning a life in the FIRE community.  He first had to convince his wife to also buy into this more frugal lifestyle.  This book chronicles his journey as he quits his job and makes a number of drastic life changes in order to save more money.  Their family’s aim is to live a simpler and less stressful life. Through FIRE they are able to give up a number of luxuries that kept them trapped in a lifestyle of work and stress.
  • Playing with FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early): How Far Would You Go for Financial Freedom?

• What Money Can’t Buy – Sandel dives into the issue of what things morally should not be up for sale.  Sandel discusses things like paying children for grades or prisons using prisoners to make money.  In market economies, the power of money has spilled over into areas of life not intended. Sandel points out that we have now become market societies where almost everything has a price tag.
  • What Money Can’t Buy – Michael J. Sandel
• The Philosophy of Money – (Routledge Classics) – Georg Simmel – Simmel dives into the wide ranging philosophy and uses of money in modern society.  He talks about how money is one of the main tools for buying freedom. Simmel also shares that money can be used to benefit the individual and ignore the society.  When one views money from a “more is better” or intellectual mentality, they forget about the emotional aspects of those around them.
  • The Philosophy of Money – Georg Simmel

• The James Altucher Show – Ep. 498 (How to Quit the Stable Job You Hate for Something Better: Mike Bullard on His journey from Cop to Comic): A famous Canadian Comic and TV Talk Show host, talks about reinventing himself over and over to consistently do the things he loves. 1 hr. 42 min.
  • The James Altucher Show – Ep. 498 (How to Quit the Stable Job You Hate for Something Better: Mike Bullard on His journey from Cop to Comic) 
• The Good Life Project – “Happiness and Money: What the Research REALLY Shows:” “So, what is the truth? What does the research show? Can money buy you happiness? Can it buy you a good life? Is there actually real, hard science that can help us answer this age-old question?” 37 min.
  • Happiness and Money: What the Research REALLY Shows
• For a Deeper Dive into “Things” or “Stuff” we recommend this episode of Radiolab.  This episode dives deeper into how stuff impacts us, the memories they hold, and the attachment we form to our things. 1 hr. 4 min.
  • Radiolab- Ep. Things

You can also check out the Good Life Project’s Sparketype assessment.

Money Not Being the Most Important Thing

• “Make money your god, and it will plague you like the devil.” –Henry Fielding
• “He who loses money, loses much; He who loses a friend, loses much more; He who loses faith, loses all.” –Eleanor Roosevelt
• “Some money costs too much. When you bind the soul to matter, you grind the soul to dust.”    -Rudolf Steiner
• “A wise person should have money in their head, but not in their heart.” –Jonathan Swift
• “Money is not really the thing you’re after–after all, would you lock yourself in a dark, silent box forever in exchange for  becoming a billionaire?” -Peter Adeney, aka Mr. Money Mustache

Learn about the fascinating life of Rudolf Steiner.

Henry Ford understood the limits of money on well-being.

Things Money Can’t Buy

• “Money buys everything but good sense.” –Yiddish (on money)
• “For money you can have everything it is said. No, that is not true. You can buy food, but not appetite; medicine, but not health; soft beds, but not sleep; knowledge but not intelligence; glitter, but not comfort; fun, but not pleasure; acquaintances, but not friendship; servants, but not faithfulness; grey hair, but not honor; quiet days, but not peace. The shell of all things you can get for money. But not the kernel. That cannot be had for money.” –Arne Garborg
• “No wealth can ever make a bad man at peace with himself.” –Plato
• “If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability.” –Henry Ford
• “It’s good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it’s good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven’t lost the things that money can’t buy.” –George Lorimer

Wisdom to Live Life By

• “Early to bed, and early to rise, Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise,” – Benjamin Franklin
• “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.” –Mark Twain
• “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” –Steve Jobs
• “Work like you don’t need the money.  Love like you’ve never been hurt. Dance like nobody’s watching.”   – Satchel Paige
• “Better is a little with content than much with contention.” – Benjamin Franklin
• “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” –Albert Einstein