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The Best Financial Books of 2021

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There are thousands of books out there about how to become better with finances, how to invest, and how to be okay with talking about money.

Listed below are books that will teach you how to go from living tightly with money to retiring debt and being worry-free. There are many books out there for those wanting to learn about finances!

Retire Before Mom and Dad: The Simple Numbers Behind a Lifetime of Financial Freedom by Rob Berger

Retire Before Mom and Dad is a book that teaches you how to improve your financial future by using psychology, finance, and self-help concepts. This is a great book for those that are just beginning to get into the world of personal finance or those that want to learn more!

Rob Berger is a litigation attorney and the founder of popular personal finance and investing website.

Rob’s goal is to help people achieve financial freedom by helping them live a life free of financial stress and worry by teaching them about wealth and living financially free. 

In Retire Before Mom and Dad, Rob writes about the difference between a Roth 401K and a Traditional 401K, the ins and outs of investing, how to retire debt-free, and how to successfully and carefully analyze long-term decisions.

His simple approach and clear writing will teach you how to become financially wise and efficient, as well as how to invest and self-help. This is a great book for those just getting started in the financial world, or those wanting to learn more!

When She Makes More by Farnoosh Torabi

In When She Makes More, Farnoosh Torabi teaches the reader how to deal with income imbalances in relationships, and how to help women manage these circumstances that can have negative impacts. 

Today, there are more women than ever working as the household’s top earners. However, they face higher risks of burning out, depressions, infidelity, and even divorce. Farnoosh uses her real-life experiences to connect the reader on a personal level.

Sold as a physical book or an audiobook, Farnoosh Torabi outlines rules to help her readers learn how to address financial imbalances that can affect relationships negatively and how to become okay with talking about these problems.

In When She Makes More, readers will learn how to deal with changes in dating and marriage in society, how to know when to let your significant other lead, and how to allow your significant other to become a stay-at-home parent without making their life too easy. 

Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together by Erin Lowry

Written for Millennials, Broke Millennial gives great insights on how to save money, handle student loan debt, negotiate a pay raise, and how to ‘adult’.

Erin gives humor and empathy a fun twist in Broke Millennials!

No one likes to think about money, especially when money is tight. In Broke Millennial, the reader will learn how to be okay with talking out loud about money and how to deal with it.

Described as refreshing and conversational, Erin relates to her audience in a way that will guide them to a path of financial wellness! 

Written for Millennials, Erin doesn’t use boring language to talk about investing and credit card debt, but rather uses analogies to relate those topics to Tinder, dating, and marriage.

Erin even talks about how to manage student loans and what to do when your dining out with friends and can’t afford to split the bill.

Written by a millennial for a millennial, this is a must-read!

How I Invest My Money by Joshua Brown and Brian Portnoy

In How I Invest My Money, you will learn about 25 experts and how they invest, spend, save, and give their own money.

Joshua Brown and Brian Portnoy will teach you there is no right or wrong way to use your money!

Joshua and Brian talked to 25 different financial experts, including financial advisors, portfolio managers, and venture capitalists, and have turned their stories into essays about their lives, families, struggles, and aspirations.

https://www.harriman-house.com/Howinvestmoney

How I Invest My Money describes how there is no right or wrong way to handle your money, but rather use these stories to teach the reader how to figure out what works best for them. 

You will read about different perspectives on bonds, stocks, funds, charity, and other means of achieving the life you have always dreamed of. How I Invest My Money will also teach your how to create and keep a healthy relationship with money and your values. 

Spend Well, Live Rich by Michelle Singletary

In Spend Well, Live Rich, Michelle Singletary teaches the reader how to support a family while living on a budget.

Michelle also teaches the reader that it’s okay to not feel bad about not spending. 

Michelle Singletary was raised by Big Mama, her grandmother who made $13,000 a year. Big Mama was the one who taught Michelle the “7 Money Mantras for a Richer Life.”

These mantras include “If it’s on your a$$, it’s not an asset,” “Sweat the small stuff,” Keep it simple,” and “Priorities lead to prosperity.” 

How to Analyze Your Financial Upbringing
Check out our article on analyzing your own financial upbringing.

In Spend Will, Live Rich, Michelle teaches the reader how to teach children the value of money, how to become comfortable talking about money in relationships, how to save money as a household, and how to look for and get the best loans for your situation. 

Summary

There are many resources to help you become comfortable with finances.

By becoming comfortable with your finances, you can have conversations about money in your relationships, learn how to save money as a household, and become okay with saying no. Start your journey to financial freedom today!

Honest Review of Titan Invest | Pros and Cons

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With so many new investment options popping up, it comes as no surprise that you’re interested in learning more about auto investing services such as Titan Invest.

After reviewing the services they offer and researching their investment strategies, we’ve got the key details about Titan Invest that you’ll need to make an informed decision about investing with their company.

Titan Invest is an auto investing company, which means that you set parameters for the types of portfolios you’re interested in as investments.

Titan Invest Review: Pros, Cons, and What We Like

Then, the company makes the specific investment decisions for you. Typically, auto-investing companies have a much lower cost associated with an initial investment, and Titan Invest is no exception. 

You can begin investing with Titan Invest for as little as $100.

Are Titan Invest’s Services Legitimate?

The short answer is yes. Titan Invest does offer legitimate services. That said, however, their strategies and fee structure may not be for everyone. 

Because of the nature of the company’s services, many users do not understand how the investing process works.

What Are the Pros of Investing with Titan Invest?

There are many pros to using Titan Invest to help you choose your investment portfolio. Some of the best benefits that Titan Invest offers include but are not limited to the following:

  • Investors can choose the risk level where they are most comfortable—conservative, moderate, or aggressive
  • Choosing a portfolio type is simple with Titan Invest because they offer a simplified menu of just three portfolio profiles
  • Getting started is incredibly affordable at just $100
  • The company employees their own professional team of investment researchers that do in-depth research on all stock options before they are added to portfolios
  • Titan Invest’s fees are relatively low 
  • They offer an easy-to-use phone app for Android and Apple users
  • Once you set up your investment preferences, you don’t have to do anything else, and you can let Titan Invest complete all of the research and adjustments for you

What Are the Cons of Investing with Titan Invest?

Every auto investment company has its downside as well, no matter how many benefits they offer. Here are some of the most important cons of choosing Titan Invest-

  • While their fees are relatively low, their rates are higher than similar companies
  • Investors have no access to financial advisors
  • Titan Invest does not offer any assistance with tax strategies to increase your earnings
  • There is no customer support phone line
  • You are trusting people you’ve never met to handle your money for you

What Strategies Does Titan Invest Use to Make You Money?

Titan Invest uses three simple portfolio profiles to make things as easy as possible for new investors.

Titan Flagship

This is the default option for new investors signing on with Titan Invest. It is comprised of 20 stocks with large caps.

Titan Offshore

This is a new portfolio type just released in the spring of 2021. It is comprised of between 15-25 international companies stock for those interested in markets outside of the US.

Titan Opportunities

This final portfolio option is focused on growth over time, like the default option. Unlike the default, however, it is comprised of 20 stocks with low to mid-caps. 

These three portfolio profiles offer investors with little to no experience in the market the opportunity to get their feet wet.

So if you aren’t confident about making decisions about stock options just yet, but you are interested in dabbling in the market to see what it’s all about, Titan Invest is a reasonably good choice to start with. 

With their incredibly low minimum investment amount of just $100, you have little to lose if it turns out that this type of investment isn’t for you.

How Does Titan Invest Compare to Other Auto Investors?

There are several companies in close competition with Titan Invest that offer similar services.

Here, we’ll compare Titan Invest with two other auto-investing companies so that you can get a better idea of how Titan Invest stacks up against other options available to you.

Identifying a company that you feel like you can trust with your financial livelihood is one of the most important financial decisions you’ll ever make.

So, take your time and read through the details of how the following companies compare to one another before you take the dive and start investing in stock portfolios.

Fee Comparisons

Titan Invest’s two main competitors are Betterment and SoFi.

  • Betterment offers a set rate of 0.25%
  • SoFi offers a default account option with a 100% free-to-use robo-investor program

With a 1% rate for accounts with a $10,000 or more balance, Titan Invest comes in just behind Betterment in terms of rates.

Account Minimums Comparisons

Titan Invest offers a very reasonable, low investment minimum of $100. However, their two main competitors have them beat here as well.

Both SoFi and Betterment offer account minimums of $0, meaning you can begin investing with any amount you wish, from a dollar up. 

Why Should You Choose Titan Invest Over These Competitors?

While Titan Invest’s two main competitors do have an edge in the categories listed above, the benefits that Betterment and SoFi offer essentially stop there.

Both Betterment and SoFi have reputations for lousy service with their free minimum account options. Their services primarily focus on their paid-for investment opportunities, which have minimums of $100,000.

So, now that you know a little more about these popular auto investing companies, you can easily see that the services offered are very similar.

The details of how your money is handled and the fee structure are all reasonable but tailored to attract clients with different preferences.

Image credit:[KAROLINA GRABOWSKA]

Gabi Insurance Review | Can You Save Money?

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Let’s face it, hunting for auto or home insurance is a pain. It’s a numbers game and it can take you weeks just to sift and sort through rates.

Who has time for that? Thankfully, we live in the information age and there are services out there that can help. Today we’re reviewing one of those services, a relative newcomer called Gabi.

So, how does it rate?

We’ll give you the scoop about what Gabi is, how it works, and how it rates against competitors so that you can decide if this is a time-saver or not worth your while. Let’s take a closer look at Gabi Insurance and the service that they provide!

What Is Gabi?

Gabi is a nifty little bit of modern technology. Licensed to broker insurance in 50 states, Gabi’s ‘gimmick’ is that instead of giving a list of places and rates, they will ask you about your needs and sift through that information to simply find you the best rate.

How Does Gabi Work?

This is where things get interesting. You can give Gabi information about your current insurance plan and from there, it compares it to more than 40 top providers that are part of its network. Many of these are major players in the insurance industry, so you don’t have to worry that you’re being ‘pawned’ on a potentially unreliable ‘underdog’ provider.

https://www.bbb.org/us/ca/san-francisco/profile/auto-insurance/gabicom-1116-876760

If your current plan is the best rate, Gabi will tell you this, and if you don’t have a plan at all yet then you can simply answer a series of questions and Gabi will find you a provider within seconds. Oh, did we mention that Gabi also scans your driving record?

It’s impressive technology and we have a feeling that they’re on to something here.

Gabi also lets you enter in more variables in your search, such as student or senior-level coverage, and can help in finding discounts for purchasing coverage for multiple vehicles.

As far as homeowners insurance, Gabi helps to make sure that you aren’t missing out on potential rate-changers, such as previous claim-free years or owning a top-of-the-line home security system.

Everything gets factored in so that you can instantly get the lowest rate possible without having to read through 30+ projections and listings.

It’s basically like having an independent insurance agent at your beck and call, who can do the work of days in mere seconds or minutes.

Doe Gabi Include Major Providers?

We’d mentioned that several major providers are covered. Here are a few examples of members of Gabi’s network of providers to give you an idea:

  • Allstate
  • Nationwide
  • Geico
  • Progressive
  • Travellers
  • Mercury Insurance

Does It Cost To Use Gabi?

Gabi is a free-to-use, deriving their capital from the insurance companies that they are referring you to, rather than you paying anything. All you need to do is go to their website and you can use the tool completely free of charge.

What Makes Gabi Different from the Competition?

One very important distinction that Gabi makes is that they are not an aggregator. An aggregator makes a commission redirecting you to another provider and also makes money from selling your personal data.

Gabi is not an aggregator, but a broker, and as such, they sell you the policy directly and they provide you with service throughout the life of the policy that you’ve selected. This is a notable difference, as it were, as most of the ‘referral’ companies out there are contributing to the huge amount of spam that you are getting daily.

It’s refreshing to be able to use a service without the worry of that, so we are giving Gabi a thumbs-up on this aspect.

They also take things a step further, as their money-saving proprietary AI continues to search for savings throughout the lifetime of your policy. This way, you may take advantage of lower rates with other providers as they come available.

This takes out the need to constantly review your insurance out of worry and as such, saves you even more time in the long run.

The Breakdown: How Does Gabi Rate in Actual Use

The actual experience is very streamlined. You upload your current provider information, Gabi searches this and your driving record, and you are presented with quotes. When you select a quote you are given a chance to purchase said insurance but you will still need to cancel your old policy.

You will also need to find out your current provider’s refund policy if you already have insurance. While most providers will give you a prorated refund, you’ll still need to calculate the difference to determine if you are still saving. Aside from automating this portion of the experience, Gabi seems quite useful.

What We Liked About Gabi

We liked a lot of things about Gabi and we’ll sum them up below:

  • Savings – Comparing rates through competitors’ searches, the information appears good so you can indeed save money. Gabi reportedly saves customers about $800 on average and we’re inclined to believe that. The tool seems to work as advertised.
  • Ease of use – It’s nice being able to use your existing policy, as most of us have spent a good amount of time selecting exactly the right coverage in the first place. This option means that you don’t have to worry about losing any coverage that you already have by accident and that gives a little peace of mind.
  • Wide coverage range and major providers – With 40+ providers and a wide range of different coverage types that you can purchase, Gabi should fit the needs of just about anyone who needs auto or home insurance.
  • Quote bundles are available – Gabi lets you do searches for home and auto insurance bundles, which can save you money and make it easier to manage your coverage. This is a nice option that not all providers give you.
  • Privacy – It’s a breath of fresh air not having your personal information blasted all over the internet and that’s not something that you see every day with this kind of service.

Where We Felt Gabi Could Use Some Improvement

Every service has its caveats and here is where we felt that Gabi could use some improvements:

  • While they have a lot of providers, we would like if their network was expanded to include more than their current 40+ as there are likely still some deals out there being missed.
  • The quote that you are given still has to be reviewed by the actual insurance company, so there could be changes. This is something to consider before canceling your old policy.
  • Gabi doesn’t read .pdf files very well and so if you upload a .pdf of your policy then you will have to wait for them to report back. This can take up to 2 days, so we were a little disappointed there.

The Final Verdict

All in all, we have to say that we were impressed with Gabi’s innovative business model. You essentially get the services of a dedicated independent agent with everything being done at the speed of a machine. While we hope they expand their network a bit, our testing indicated that the savings were indeed significant.

Consider our verdict a solid thumbs-up for Gabi and we’re looking forward to seeing what they do in the future. In the meantime, you don’t have to take our word for it.

Feel free to give them a test so that you can see it for yourself. As Gabi does not sell your information, you won’t be added to any mailing lists and the service is free to use.

We think that you might be pleasantly surprised!

Image by:[Samad Murghal]