November is Financial Literacy Month. That usually brings plenty of conversation about budgeting, saving, investing, interest rates and retirement planning. All important things.
But financial literacy is something bigger.
It is about developing knowledge and habits that allow us to make better decisions with money, so money can ultimately support the life we want to live.
Over the years, the Advice First team has read many books about money, investing, and financial planning. Some have been quite technical. Others were good reads but left a little lasting impression.
And then there are a few that have stayed with us.
So, for Financial Literacy Month, we thought we would share some of our favourite financial books, along with one idea from each that we think is worth remembering.
Let's start with a Canadian classic:
The Wealthy Barber by David Chilton
For many Canadians, The Wealthy Barber was one of their first introductions to personal finance. It was certainly one of the books that helped make financial planning understandable to ordinary Canadians. What I have always appreciated about the book is its simplicity.
You don't need to understand complicated investment strategies or spend your life watching financial markets to make good financial decisions. One of the central lessons is something most of us have heard before:
Pay yourself first.
Before everything you earn gets absorbed by groceries, mortgages, cars, vacations and everyday life, intentionally set something aside for your future.
Simple advice. But simple doesn't necessarily mean easy. In fact, one of the things I have observed over the years is that financial success often has less to do with knowing the latest investment ideas and more to do with developing a handful of good habits and sticking with them.
Save consistently.
Live within your means.
Avoid unnecessary debt.
Invest for the long term.
Give compounding time to work.
None of those ideas are particularly exciting. But they work. And perhaps that is an important lesson.
Today, we have access to more financial information than David Chilton could have imagined when The Wealthy Barber was first published. We can check our investment accounts from our phones. We can watch markets move in real time. We have financial news around the clock and social media feeds filled with people telling us what we should buy, sell or worry about next.
And yet, having more information doesn't necessarily mean we make better decisions. Sometimes it just creates more noise.
Good financial planning has always been about separating what is important from what is merely interesting. And much of what is important hasn't really changed.
Spend less than you earn.
Save intentionally.
Invest patiently.
Prepare for the unexpected.
And don't let today's headlines distract you from tomorrow's goals.
As much as The Wealthy Barber is a book about money, I think its bigger lesson is about behaviour.
Wealth is rarely created by one brilliant financial decision. It is usually built slowly through hundreds of relatively ordinary decisions made consistently over many years. There is an important life lesson in that too. Money is a tool. The objective isn't simply to accumulate as much of it as possible. The real question is what that money allows us to do.
That's where financial planning becomes much more interesting.
Because the conversation shifts from: "How much money can I accumulate?" to: "What do I want this money to make possible?"
The Wealthy Barber gives us a wonderfully simple starting point. Develop good habits. Start early. Be consistent. Allow time to do the work. Then make sure you're building wealth for a reason.
After all, the goal isn't just a better financial life. It's a better life.
