How to Improve Your Knowledge of US Finance

Because the US economy is in such as an uncertain state, it is crucial to stay informed of our financial situation. But if you have a liberal arts background (like I do) or you didn’t grow up talking about the Dow Jones, Futures, or the NASDAQ, then you might be a bit in the dark when trying to understand some of the financial situations that we are facing. So here are some ways that helped me learn more about finance.

1. Read the Wall Street Journal – The WSJ goes into detail about financial situations, such as the sub-prime mortgage, better than other magazines such as the NYTimes. You’d be surprised at how well the WSJ explains certain situations for those of us who don’t have MBA’s from Wharton – at least not yet.

2. Reference WikiInvest – When you start reading the WSJ, you’ll probably come upon jargon that you’ve heard of, such as the Dow Jones, but don’t fully understand. Take the time to look up what these expressions mean, how they got started, and what they show. If the reference is not available in WikiInvest (because it’s a relatively new website), see Wikipedia.

3. Read Finance Books – One book that I just finished called Boone is an autobiography about T. Boone Pickens that gives a glimpse into how finance, take over, and wall street can be very exciting stuff; it also talks a lot about entrepreneurship. Another book, which I haven’t read yet but plan on soon, is Greenspan’s book “The Age of Turbulance”. Alan Greenspan was chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve of the United States from 1987 to 2006 – so basically he was running the Federal Reserve from Reagan to Bush, which is pretty unbelievable. I hear it’s a great book and I’m looking forward to reading it.

Personal Finance

Since I just finished my consulting gig with Mindsite, a website specializing in personal mental health diagnosis, I am taking a couple of days to reorganize my life (it’s also obviously a New Year’s resolution). One of my first stops was personal finance – not because I’m bad at but because it’s obviously so important. I’ve tried expensr.com, an online site to catalog your spending, but I found it to be rather redundant from my credit card sheet. So instead of relying on an online database, I’ve decided to build my own Excel spread sheet (one things I’ve noticed is that it’s better to build your own system, even if it resembles one of the online databases, so that you know exactly how it works – and you improve on your Excel skills).

If you’re looking for more tips on life management, a great blog (and one of the most popular) is Lifehacker - it’s a great site if you want to improve upon your email, time management, goals, life management, etc.