Frugal Fill’s Top Personal Finance Resources: Books, Sites, Apps, Services
The themes behind this blog about Personal Finance and DIY are highly motivated by self-betterment. While self-improvement is something you can focus on no matter what your purpose in life, I want to share with you some of my personal favorite resources on frugal living and financial independence. I’ve been educated and inspired by these key contributors to my lifestyle for years. Some are 100% free internet resources in true Frugal Fill fashion. Others may cost you a few extra dollars but hey, investing in yourself should be part of your budget anyway.
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Books
I haven’t been much of a book reader since elementary school when we would get ice cream coupons for reading 25 books in a year. Maybe that was frugal living foreshadowing? Perhaps. But when I started to get deeply interested in personal finance in my mid 20’s, I was afraid that all of the internet was only out there to get me to buy their e-book, take their “masters course”, and leave me high and dry. So, I turned to Amazon book reviews. I definitely wasted a lot of time reading some vague and uninspiring fire starters, but in the process came across some books that I would even share with family and recommend.
“Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!” by Robert T. Kiyosaki. I know, I know, this book is outdated and overplayed. And the author is quite looney now, but in all reality, this material is timeless. The storyline, whether fictional or not, provides the basic background of financial literacy that every child should be exposed to. While there aren’t many actionable steps to take verbatim, it does promote the right mindset and general direction to start on your journey to financial freedom.
“I Will Teach You to Be Rich, Second Edition: No Guilt. No Excuses. No BS. Just a 6-Week Program That Works” by Ramit Sethi. Here is a much more modern and more actionable version of the previous book recommendation. Ramit speaks in a manner that appeals more to a younger generation with more personable examples. This book also focuses on my mantra of bringing value to your life. There’s no need to struggle or go without in all aspects. Drink Starbucks but drive an old beater car. As of 2024 his YouTube channel has grown into another significant resource!
“How to Win Friends & Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. Another timeless classic in mindset and bringing value to your life. Pick your battles, understand where others are coming from, increase productivity in professional relationships and happiness in personal relationships. Human nature is very well documented and understood and this book is a peek into how to take advantage of that knowledge to help yourself succeed in all facets.
And last but not least “The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing” by Taylor Larimore, Mel Lindauer, Michael LeBoeuf, John C. Bogle. Somewhat more dry reading than my previous recommendations, but still entertaining if this sort of thing excites you (you’ve made it this far in this article, so I think it does). This guide lays out the most basic steps that anyone can take to immediately start investing in their future, no matter your risk tolerance. This book also led me off into the depths of the Bogglehead forums with great resources on many topics including lazy portfolios that are perfect for any beginner.
Websites
The first (and most important) website resource is the “Fire Flow Chart” (updated to version 4.3 dated October 2023) posted by u/happyasianpanda on the subreddit r/financialindependence. If you’ve ever wanted to optimize your income allocation, look no further. This is more like a bible to us than just a pretty flow chart. This is a simple single document that I can keep coming back to time and time again to see if I’m being honest with myself and following “the plan” to a T. As I’ve mentioned before, there’s always room for improvement. A quick walk down this chart has revealed a new optimization for me at every stage of my financial independence journey, and a path forward. Check back often for any updates to the chart, or your own life events to reevaluate your plan.
The next couple websites are actually YouTube channels. Starting my most entertaining personal finance subscription – Graham Stephan. At the time of writing this article, he’s amassed over 3 million subscribers by simply researching and restating the latest trends and news in personal finance in an easy to digest format. Some of his flashy thumbnails and click-baity titles may be a little off-putting but let’s face it, they help him in his endless pursuit to master the YouTube algorithm. Contrary to some flashy appearances, it’s clear that this guy has lived the frugal life possibly to the far too extremes and is now just reaching a point to enable bringing more value back into his life. Most notably known for his coverage of real estate topics, he also covers topics across a wide array of categories including crypto, the stock market, retirement funds, credit cards/score, frugal living, and latest financial news.
My next favorite YouTube channel is Our Rich Journey. While they also have a blog, the YT is where I keep up with them the most. While their wealth is also highly real estate investment built, they share a sincere look into frugal living like no other. It’s not luck and a few good buys that brought them out of the rat race and into early retirement. They have the full story and experience to back up their frugal mindsets and inspire those of us at any stage of the same process. Christina and Amon also show you that having two kids in a higher cost of living area of the US with normal people jobs are no excuse to putting your nose to the grindstone and making your dreams come true. They are currently living in Portugal to save on living expenses, pretty extreme, but also a great cultural experience while enabling their continued early retirement.
Apps and Services
Lastly, I’ll share with you some of the better apps and services that I’ve used and would recommend to friends and family alike.
The very first step to any sort of frugal lifestyle is to? You guessed it, create a budget! I literally used to track my expenses by keeping receipts in a stack and “balancing my checkbook” by going through online transaction history and summing it up by category each month in an excel spreadsheet. This was fine when all I had was a debit card and a few bar tabs a week plus rent once a month. Then real life started, and it became clear that I needed a better solution: enter the Mint app. Some will complain that it’s too simple and doesn’t do anything well outside of budgeting. While this may be true, I only use it for budgeting and it knocks that out of the park. Once you have your categories honed in, paychecks added and dated correctly, there’s no simpler FREE service out there to tell you exactly where your hard earned money is going month over month.
To take budgeting a step further, the next app and service I tried was Personal Capital (Now Empower as of February 2023) <-(referral link, add a qualified investment account on their service and get $20!) While the budgeting portion is lack-luster, the net worth calculation is phenomenal. They quickly input all your assets and liabilities automatically to a user-friendly dashboard. There are also some neat retirement planner tools to play with to get a second opinion on your FIRE number and drawdown strategy, but that’s another dedicated article. They will spam you on the page with some well intentioned adds that are easily ignored or taken as good reason to research their suggestions more.
The last service I’ll recommend on this post is the use of Vanguard as your primary investment account brokerage. Okay, maybe I was highly influenced by the bogleheads book mentioned earlier, but I’ve tested around and still prefer Vanguard compared to Fidelity, Wells Fargo, M1 Finance, and Robinhood. This opinion is based on ease of use, clear display of what the buttons I’m clicking on actually do, low cost trading and funds, and general comfort in having a well-established stable name holding my future in their hands. I do encourage you to try other platforms as I still do as well, and feel free to share your feedback!
Recap
So there you have it folks. I’m just getting started here and I’ve already shared all my secrets to success. Why? My main goal is to “create a value filled life” and I’m getting value by helping others navigate the topics I’m most interested in. Also through my DIY experience I’ve learned that success in any job is highly dependent on having the right training and tools for the job. So here’s a head start for you! Consider following along on my email list or social media to get notified of future posts to inspire your own frugal lifestyle.
