Frugal Wealth Building – How To Build Your Wealth Cheaply
By glblguy
2 Chronicles 1:11-12 God said to Solomon, “Since this is your heart’s desire and you have not asked for wealth, riches or honor, nor for the death of your enemies, and since you have not asked for a long life but for wisdom and knowledge to govern my people over whom I have made you king, therefore wisdom and knowledge will be given you. And I will also give you wealth, riches and honor, such as no king who was before you ever had and none after you will have.”
Are you in debt or trying to build up your assets? Do you want some financial advise but don’t want to spend an arm and a leg for a professional financial planner? There are some really good options for getting free and low-cost financial advice. Here’s a just some of the many options you can use:
Read Blogs
As a blog owner and writer, this is of course what I consider the best option. There are numerous personal finance blogs on the internet. Some are written by certified financial planners and others by people like me that aren’t professionals but have experience, opinions and passion around personal finance. To be honest, I have learned more about personal finance through reading blogs than by any other means.
Take a look at the M-Network for a good starting point. But if you go to Google’s Blog Search or Technorati and do a search on “personal finance” you will not only find my blog, but many, many others.
Call or Visit Your Bank
Many banks have financial advisers and offer these services to their account holders or potential account holders at no charge. Now, with that being said they are going to be a little preferential to their products, but depending on what kind of advice you are looking for, this can be a great resource.
Help from Your Employer
Most large employers have 401k, stock options, insurance benefits, etc. Employers will often bring in financial advisers to talk to their employees about their products and in particular on retirement planning and investing. If you work for a financial institution, you can also get free financial consulting. Another option to look into is to look at the websites for your benefits providers. They often have free tools and information on their websites along with customer service numbers you can utilize.
If your employer offers a 401k and you aren’t using it, start one now.
Utilize Web-Sites
In addition to blogs, there are also tons of finance related sites that offer articles, calculators, templates, software and forums. Some to look at include: www.fool.com, moneycentral.msn.com, money.cnn.com, and finance.yahoo.com.
Read a Book
Next to reading blogs and web-sites, reading personal finance book is my favorite way to learn. There are so many good books on personal finance, I couldn’t even begin to name them, but some of my favorites are (list below contains affiliate links):
- Total Money Make Over
by Dave Ramsey
- The Millionaire Next Door
- Debt Free Living
- The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom
- The Automatic Millionaire
Read Magazines
Another way I enjoy learning about personal finance is by reading finance magazines. While not free, subscriptions are often low in cost especially for more popular magazines like Money
Talk to Your Friends
I am continually amazed at how close mouthed people are about their money. I talk to my friends about money all the time and have learned a tremendous amount from them. Now, you have to be careful as not everyone knows what they are talking about and you will bet bad advice. Surround yourself with savers and talk to them about money. You’ll be surprised at what you learn.
Have other ideas for building wealth cheaply? Add your ideas in the comments!
August 14th, 2007 at 9:53 am
Good article. I appreciate the list of books. Most of those I haven’t read.
Just wanted to add, for those that are USAA members they offer a free basic financial health check-up. You can access it online, or call in to do it.
August 14th, 2007 at 10:26 am
Erin, I love reading books and listening to podcasts. I am working on a best with my favorite books and another on my favorite podcasts.
Good info on USAA, thanks.
August 14th, 2007 at 11:31 am
Good advice. However, I would recommend that your read books to get baseline knowledge first before talking to people who work at the banks. Many times, they do not have your best interest in mind. If you have some basic knowledge, you can at least determine if he or she is sincere about helping you.
August 14th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
I agree Pinyo. That is why I said “they are going to be a little preferential to their products”. Depending on the bank and your relationship though you can find some good people that will direct you the right way.
You advice is well deserved though. Never hurts to walk in with a little knowledge for a “smoke test”.
August 14th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
I have a 30 minute commute each way to and from work. Instead of listening to music on the radio, I like to listen to self-help CDs and I’m fortunate enough to have access to them for free from the corporate library at work. However, some titles have a long wait and the selection is limited so I’ve been researching the rental companies and plan to join booksfree.com. It works like like netflix.
Here is a (non-affiliate) link to browse some of the self-help CDs:
http://www.booksfree.com/cds/rec/cd_selfhelp.shtml
August 14th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
Rob, I do the same thing. I listen to a lot of podcasts instead. In hindsight, I can’t believe I didn’t add this one, so thanks for mentioning it. The local library has a number of audio books on CD as well. I’ll have to check out books free.
June 27th, 2008 at 5:36 am
your list of resources on this post is excellent. Dave Ramseys books is especially good, but equally the other sources and blogs you listed have some excellent advice from people who have been in difficult financial circumstances and have some excellent knowledge to share.
January 7th, 2012 at 6:25 pm
The internet is filled with all sort of opportunities. In addition to that it is also filled with resources to give you the information to succeed in any endeavor you may partake in.