Projects

I’ve been writing about personal finance since 2006. The bulk of that material — more than a million words! — is freely available here at Get Rich Slowly. But I’ve also tackled a few larger projects during that time. This page points to those projects (in reverse-chronological order).

How to Achieve Financial Independence and Retire Early (2021)

In 2019, I received an email I thought was spam. Somebody from The Great Courses was asking if I wanted to work with them to create an audio-only course on financial independence. Hell yes! I’ve been a huge fan of The Great Courses since 2003. I listen to their courses constantly.

During 2019 and 2020, I spent several months writing a course on financial independence and early retirement. This project gave me an opportunity to refine my financial philosophy even further. It also challenged me to compress this information into the required 40,000 words (or five hours of audio — ten 30-minute lectures).

The course was released in February 2021. How to Achieve Financial Independence and Retire Early is the best available introduction to the world of financial independence and early retirement. The supporting website for the course is public-facing.

The Get Rich Slowly YouTube Channel (2020 to Present)

I’m a writer. I find that the best way for me to convey my ideas is through the written word. A lot of people, however, prefer to learn through video. I’ve been reluctant to pursue video — a whole new set of skills to learn! — but begrudgingly admit this is the way of the future.

Since the summer of 2020, I’ve been posting occasional low-key, unproduced video essays to YouTube at the Get Rich Slowly channel. I hope to create more polished content in the future.

Here’s my latest video:

Apex Money (2019 to Present)

On 01 July 2019, I started Apex Money with my buddy Jim Wang (from Wallet Hacks). Every weekday, Jim and I share some of our favorite recent stories about money — and more! We consider this project a lark. It’s something we do for fun in an effort to highlight some of the most entertaining and useful articles and videos about personal finance and personal development.

Our audience at Apex Money is small but both passionate and loyal.

The Money Boss Manifesto (2016)

After I sold Get Rich Slowly, I retired. I moved on with my life. Then, during the summer of 2015, I realized I missed writing about money. I launched a new website — Money Boss — that gave me a chance to explore the subject once more.

The Money Boss Manifesto was a free downloadable eBook that I created to give new readers an introduction to my financial philosophy. It was also my first attempt to tackle the new hot topic of “financial independence”.

The info in The Money Boss Manifesto is useful still today. And the book remains free to download.

The Unconventional Guide to Mastering Your Money (2014)

My buddy Chris Guillebeau proposed a project to me during the summer of 2013: How would I like to create a money course for his series of Unconventional Guides? At the time, I considered myself retired, but this sounded like a fine way to distill everything I’d ever learned about money and share it in a single package.

The Unconventional Guide to Mastering Your Money comprised a book-length eBook, eighteen audio interviews with money experts, a series of 52 weekly emails, and a variety of supplementary material. The course is no longer available.

“Your Money” Column for Entrepreneur Magazine (2011-2014)

I was sick in bed during a tour of Paris when Entrepreneur magazine contacted me to see if I could give them a 500-word piece by the next morning. If I did so, they’d give me a monthly column on personal finance. I managed to get the job done, and for the next four years I wrote the magazine’s “Your Money” column.

Writing for Entrepreneur was challenging yet rewarding. It was tough to compress solid, actionable info into 500 words each month — and to target that info at small-business owners. But I still believe that working with editors for four years was the best thing I ever did to improve my writing.

For many years, my columns were freely available at the Entrepreneur website. They now live behind a paywall. (For two years during this period, I also wrote a weekly online-only column for Time magazine.)

Your Money: The Missing Manual (2010)

In 2009, O’Reilly Media approached me about writing a book. I’d been a fan of the O’Reilly “animal” programming manuals for years, so when they told me they were experimenting with a line of “missing manuals” for Real Life, I jumped at the chance to contribute.

Your Money: The Missing Manual was my first attempt to systemize my thoughts on personal finance. I didn’t want to simply re-purpose the material here at Get Rich Slowly; I wanted to start from scratch. And I wanted to provide as many tips and tools as possible. My aim was to write the book about money that I wished I’d had when I was younger.

I’m proud of what I produced in Your Money: The Missing Manual, but I recognize that (a) the book lacks an overall theme; (b) I included a lot of links to websites, and many of those links no longer work; and (c) the content has become dated during the 12+ years since publication. At some point, I’d love to create a second edition.

Updated: 17 June 2022