I’m writing a book about personal finance for English Teachers abroad. While Andrew Hallam has this topic covered pretty well in The Global Expatriate’s Guide to Investing: From Millionaire Teacher to Millionaire Expat
, his book is quite technical and not exactly easy reading for the average somewhat financially illiterate person. I’m taking a broader view of things and trying to target the absolute financial beginner.
As I’ve been writing, what I’ve discovered is this: there are a million and one rabbit holes that are extremely easy to fall into and from which it won’t be easy to escape. There are simply too many choices when it comes to investing that the average person can be quite overwhelmed. But, I’m trying to keep the following principal in mind as I write and not get stuck on all the small details:
Spend less than you earn, pay off (and avoid) debt and invest wisely for the future.
Doesn’t all personal finance basically come down to this in the end? The rest is just details. But, why don’t people follow this? Part of it is lack of knowledge and part of it is lack of motivation. I hope to help people with both of these things by providing easy to follow steps and also by showing my readers that a little sacrifice now can pay-off big in the future.
