Rich on any Income:
Financial literacy for the starving student.

This is a website designed to share ideas with how to make money, save money, and invest money during your time as a student. I created it because your 20s and 30s are the best time to invest but most people rationalize not saving money because they are making little or no money during their time as students. I think that's a lousy excuse. (Click here for more about the site).

Getting by while covering tuition, housing, books, and other costs requires a lot of creativity, but it's easier than you might think. This website will walk you through various ways of making money, saving money, and investing money. The financial education that you gain during the college years may be as important as the formal education you are receiving. It's a good thing that you've decided to do something about it.

Getting Started - The most common question I am ever asked about personal finance is "How do I get started?" That question should be answered in different ways for different people but I'll tell you parts of how I got started combined with what other "experts" say about it. (Click here to learn more).

Most recent articles and book reviews:

• Book Review: Raising the Bar - Gary Erickson, 353 pgs. Author Gary Erickson describes his journey in creating the company Clifbar, a nutrition bar with a unique business model and clientele, and why he decided against selling the company (taking it public) in 2000 when there was great pressure by his business partner and others to do so. This book doesn't delve deeply into the specifics of building and running a company but uses a cycling metaphor of riding on “white roads” to describe how he feels a business should be run. (May 2008)
• Book Review: The Richest Man in Babylon - George S. Clason, 144 pgs. This book advocates sound financial principles. While it gives very few specifics on how to manage your money it does teach general concepts that, if applied, will assuredly help you on your road to riches. (May 2008)
• Book Review: How Come That Idiot's Rich and I'm Not - Robert Shemin (I listened to the audiobook). This book teaches financial principles that can lead to wealth. It has several good ideas. However, it wastes your time in getting to those good ideas. More time is spent trying to sell the Robert Shemin brand (now called “Rich Idiot”) than in giving actual advice that can lead to wealth. I'm sure this is done by Shemin in an attempt to make more money through selling more books and other products. (May 2008)
• Trading for free on UpDown.com - An article that discusses the importance of an emergency or rainy day fund, but one that you can use to take advantage of financial opportunities. (March 2008)

My Favorite Personal Finance Websites

The right column shows all the websites and blogs that might be useful to you in learning about managing your money. The column on the left shows some valuable forms where you can talk to others in a situation similar to your own. Here I outline a few of my favorite websites.

• Get Rich Slowly - Member of the money blog network. This is "Personal finance that makes cents. "
• I'll Teach you to be Rich - Written by a recent Stanford grad, this is a blog on personal finance (banking, saving, budgeting and investing) and personal entrepreneurship .
• Penny Foolish - A personal finance blog that targets individuals under the age of 30.
• The Digerati Life - Another blog coming out of Silicon Valley, this one is a blog about money, personal finance, geeks and cyberspace.
• Grad Money Matters - One of only a very few blogs online that discuss finances for college students, in this case graduate students.
• The Simple Dollar - The Simple Dollar is an exploration of personal finance from the perspective of a late-twentysomething who just realized that he needs to get a grip on his money.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for this site please email me.