Personal Finance is more than just investing
Actually by definition (there are multiple definitions of the same thing), Personal Finance is a term that covers managing your money, saving, and investing. Think of a blanket term that encompasses budgeting, banking, insurance, mortgages, investing, retirement, tax, and estate planning. Then what impacts how you approach all of those above are your individual goals and a plan that fit within your personal budget constraints (think limited W2 paychecks and kids). That’s a lot to take in and a lot of information that swirls around us everyday. The problem is that personal finance terms and strategies don’t always line up with everyones personal situation.
There are plenty of workable blueprints like using an FHA loan to buy a house, but when you throw in someone’s personal situation that is unique (lower W2 with 2 kids and child support) the blueprint isn’t really helpful anymore. Partly because for someone that doesn’t have the next step, it’s kind of a dead end – Like where do I go next? The other part is that next bit of information (if they find it) is completely irrelevant or so out of left field that it’s tough to action. Think a multi-millionaire yelling at you through an instagram reel that it’s easy to make your first million if you just by 15 houses.
theinvestingcircle.com is more than just investing
When I first had the idea of theinvestingcircle.com it was to create a platform where everyone could find information on everything personal finance that was transparent and real. I’m talking about the losses and the wins for every day people. I also wanted to make sure people sharing their story could create a passive form of income (which is why there is an author revenue pot). After running the site for a little while and bringing on a few authors, I saw the tagline that was going to drive our message (and the stick figure to help out) – We were the Personal Finance site that made cents (play on words there). The site covers all things Personal Finance and made cents for authors and sense for readers!
The “Personal Finance” Community is so supportive
Since I started the site I’ve had the opportunity to attend my first FinCon where I was introduced to so many creators that were willing to help, share, and educate the community. I’m going to share those resources below so that you can support them, use them as resources and even check out some of the content on theinvestingcircle.com if they’re authors. Not all of the sites or creators below are authors on theinvestingcircle.com – they’re just great humans who have a knack for sharing their story and tips.
Stock Market & Trading:
– Austin Bouley, The Founder of the 10% Credit Spread Channel: I met Austin at FinCon as well and we stayed connected after the confernece. He’s also developed trading software he sells here.
– Alinea-Invest: Fortunate to have done some User-Generated Content for Alinea and talked with both Founders. They shared content with us and have built a strong app with massive growth.
– Nick Neral: The reason I got started in stock options after years of being told no it’s too risky. He took the risk first and showed me how easy it was to get started with options.
– SeekingAlpha.com: One of my favorite sites for up to date stock market info for all of my portfolio.
– Robinhood: My favorite app to utilize when looking at real time data for options.
– Vanguard: My favorite brokerage for simple long term investing in ETFs and long term stocks.
Real Estate Investing:
– The Purpose of Money founded by Acquania Escarne: I met Acquania at FinCon and she had an amazing story. She owns thepurposeofmoney.com and recently completed a big raise for a hotel! You can find her on Instagram or her site.
– The Young Retiree by 33: A friend I met in Florida thanks to Biggerpockets.com. It started with a coffee and evolved into following The YRB33 to his early retirement with his Short Term Rentals and experience in startups. He is now the founder of DTFGolf.
– Biggerpockets.com: Where I got my start in learning about Real Estate Investing. It was unbelievably helpful to get things going.
Credit Cards & Travel Hacks:
– Lee Huffman ( owner of BaldThoughts and WeTravelThere): – I met Lee at FinCon 2023 in New Orleans. We stayed connected and I was able to even jump on his travel podcast WeTravelThere. He stayed connected with me on Instagram and has shared info on parenting (I’m a ways off from that), travel, and most recently credit card hacks that will pay for my honeymoon.
Starting a Business:
– Bryan Jenkins: An old friend who has been successful in starting multiple businesses. The current owner of Candid Coffee and exploring ventures everyday. He’s written on theinvestingcircle.com.
– SBARay: I haven’t written about it yet, but I am on the lookout for a good business to purchase through an SBA Loan. Finding resources in this space can be tough (Greg Desalvo with BossGI is great to work with) but SBA Ray is all over YouTube and Twitter.
Cryptocurrency:
– Brock Mangus: One of my oldest friends and the guy who introduced Crypto to me back in 2017. He’s still investing and has written articles on theinvestingcircle.com about Crypto. Big believer in “Not Your Keys Not Your Crypto.”
– CryptoCasey: One of the must humble people I’ve met in the Cryptoverse. Casey posts extremely well thought out twitter posts, YouTube videos, and provides insight on her site.
– PlanB: The guy who created the stock to flow model. While he doesn’t post as frequently as some YouTubers, he’s got a popular twitter and YouTube.
– AllThingsWeb3 (Mandela Amoussou): A newer author to theinvestingcircle.com that writes crypto content on seekingalpha.com. He’s one of the few I’ve seen post on there about crypto and it’s always well written.
– Coinbase: One of my favorite exchanges I use to move things around in Crypto. There are also others, but this is one of my favorites.
Wealth Advising:
– Nate Hoskin of Hoskin Capital: Nate is a new type of financial advisor who is familiar with social media and the importance of building wealth not just managing it. Our interview is here.
– Frank Garcia of Frankly Finances: Currently my wealth advisor and one of the few I’ve found that is here to do unique advising packages and not just take a cut of your portfolio for a percent!
Managing Retirement & General Finance:
– John Boitnott: John is an entrepreneur I found on another site writing some excellent pieces. He believed in the ethos of theinvestingcircle.com and started sharing his content. He’s got some excellent work around managing retirement at different ages.
– Jack Raines or Young Money or the guy with the hat in his default: I saw one of Jack’s posts from someone who shared it on LinkedIn and after laughing through the post I realized I actually learned something. He took a dry subject, made it hilarious, and taught people something. While traveling the world he earned the writing experience to now write for himself at Young Money and Sherwood Media (Robinhood).
That’s just the beginning
The Personal Finance community is extremely large and things are always changing. While the standard stuff will probably remain the same for a little while longer (think stocks and real estate), there is a lot of change happening so we always have to stay up to date with what’s going on. That’s why this community is so important – to make sure all the relevant information for everyone is being shared while also providing some income to everyone writing. If you have some great resources as well and want to share your story sign up to be an author at the top of the site.
