The Simple Dollar How One Man Wiped Out His Debts and Achieved the Life of His Dreams

by Hamm, Trent A.

• ISBN13: 9780137054251
• ISBN10: 0137054254
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-06-09
• Publisher: Ft Pr

Summary

The Simple Dollarmay be the most compelling personal finance story you ever read: in fact, it may change your life. Trent Hamm's story will resonate with tens of millions of Americans: he found himself drowning in consumer debt, working in a job he couldn't stand - and figured out how to escape that debt and build the fulfilling career he'd always dreamt about, at the very same time. Hamm built one of the nation's leading personal finance web sites to share his experiences: a site that now attracts more than 600,000 visitors per month. Now, that site, The Simple Dollar, is a book: one that's packed with practical tips, tools, and lessons anyone can use to transform their financial lives for the better.The Simple Dollarisn't just another personal finance book: it's profoundly motivating, empowering, practical, and fully grounded in the realities Americans face right now. Trent Hamm draws on lessons from fields ranging from behavioral psychology to epistemology, showing how to rewrite the rules of life you were handed, and create healthier relationships with money - and with those around you. You'll learn how to figure out what really matters, and stop wasting money on things that don't matter. Every bit as important, you'll learn how to build the kind of personal community that can serve as a strong foundation for true happiness and fulfillment, even as the gale force winds of economic change blow around you.

Author Biography

Trent Hamm transformed his life, escaping both massive consumer debt and work he couldn’t stand. He began sharing the lessons he learned through his website, The Simple Dollar (www.thesimpledollar.com), which has quickly grown into one of the nation’s most

popular personal finance sites, attracting more than 600,000 visitors every month.

 

He is the author of 365 Ways to Live Cheap: Your Everyday Guide to Saving Money, and writes articlesthat are regularly syndicated to hundreds of small newspapersand newsletters.

 

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. xiii
Prison Made of Plastic	p. 1
Get Everyone on Board	p. 3
Reduce Your Interest Rates	p. 5
A Plan for Debt Repayment	p. 7
Get a Rope	p. 8
Snowflaking	p. 10
Five Steps for Today	p. 12
What's Missing?
What Do We Really Need?	p. 17
Five Steps Toward Happiness	p. 19
A Visit from the Black Swan	p. 23
Our Lives Are More Random Than We Think	p. 24
Unprepared for the Good	p. 26
Unprepared for the Bad	p. 27
Sources of Personal Risk	p. 29
Maximizing Luck	p. 32
The Need for Reliability	p. 33
Preparing Yourself	p. 34
The Power of Goals in a Random World	p. 37
The Changing Value of Long-Term Goals	p. 39
The Power of Self-Reliance	p. 42
The Key: Short-Term Goals	p. 44
Five Steps Toward Your Dreams	p. 46
Running to Stand Still	p. 49
The Changing Nature of Income	p. 50
Your True Hourly Wage	p. 52
The Things We Sacrifice	p. 53
Your Future Self Isn't Reliable	p. 54
The Power of Today	p. 55
Five Steps for Breaking Out	p. 56
With or Without You	p. 59
The Broadening of Community	p. 61
The "Tragedy of the Commons"	p. 63
The Value of a Relationship	p. 65
Social Intelligence	p. 67
Getting Started	p. 70
Minding the Gap	p. 73
Spending Less Than You Earn	p. 74
Mind the Gap	p. 75
Wants and Needs	p. 76
The Frugalist and the Capitalist	p. 78
Budgeting	p. 79
Five Steps Toward Minding the Gap	p. 80
Frugality as Framework	p. 83
The Difference Between Frugal and Cheap	p. 84
Frugality as a Framework for Freedom	p. 85
What's Essential?	p. 87
The Peak-End Rule and Life Experiences	p. 90
Overvaluing Routine Experiences	p. 91
Frugality and Food	p. 94
Trimming Your Utility Bills	p. 101
Housing and Transportation	p. 102
Get Clever with Your Entertainment	p. 105
The Five Fundamental Rules of Frugality	p. 107
Cultivating People and Opportunities	p. 111
Negative Relationships	p. 112
Positive Relationships	p. 115
From a Negative to a Positive: Cultivating Opportunities	p. 117
Five Ways to Maximize Your Positive Relationships	p. 119
The New Career Rules	p. 123
Where Is Your Loyalty?	p. 124
A Community of Peers	p. 125
The Power Shift	p. 227
Learning, Growing, and Synthesizing	p. 128
Passion	p. 129
Deliberate Practice	p. 130
Transferable Skills	p. 131
Finding (and Being) a Mentor	p. 134
Five Steps on a Journey of a Thousand Miles	p. 135
Life Design-Building Something New	p. 139
Building a Solid Foundation	p. 141
The Rules of Your Life	p. 144
Rules Are Made to Be Broken	p. 146
Shoot the Moon	p. 147
Five Steps to Designing a New Life	p. 151
Managing the Gap	p. 155
Avoiding Lifestyle Inflation	p. 156
The Crossover Point	p. 159
Protecting What You Have	p. 162
Five Methods for Maintaining the Gap	p. 164
The Personal-Financial Boundary	p. 167
Communication	p. 169
Honesty	p. 172
Time	p. 174
Friends, Family, and Lending Money	p. 175
Five Steps to Getting Your Relationships on Track	p. 177
Recasting Retirement	p. 179
Retirement Rarely Equates to Idleness	p. 180
What's Your Next Act?	p. 181
Recasting Retirement Savings	p. 182
Retirement Savings Versus College Savings	p. 184
Revisiting the Crossover Point	p. 186
Five New Steps Toward "Retirement"	p. 187
The New Path to Adulthood	p. 189
Setting Your Child Apart-Money Lessons	p. 190
Setting Your Child Apart-A Growth Mindset	p. 192
Setting Your Child Apart-Self-Reliance	p. 195
Setting Your Child Apart-Self-Learning	p. 197
Setting Your Child Apart-Unique Experiences	p. 198
Setting Your Child Apart-Educational Priorities	p. 200
Five Little Steps	p. 201
The Power of Giving	p. 203
Giving Is Part of Participating in a Community	p. 206
Doing It Different	p. 207
Five Ways to Get Started	p. 211
Holding You Back	p. 213
What We Say Versus What We Do	p. 214
Passive Barriers	p. 215
Clutter	p. 218
Focus	p. 220
Choosing to Be Happy	p. 221
Five Ways to Overcome Your Barriers	p. 222
Original of the Species	p. 225
Experiences Trump Things	p. 226
Insanity: Doing the Same Thing and Expecting Different Results	p. 227
Success Is About Differentiation	p. 228
Stop Caring What Other People Think	p. 229
"Live Like No One Else So You Can Live Like No One Else"	p. 231
Five Steps for Going Your Own Way	p. 232
11 O'Clock Tick Tock	p. 235
The Single Most Important Part of Personal Finance Is Truly Knowing Yourself	p. 236
The Second Most Important Part of Personal Finance Is Setting Clear, Concrete Goals	p. 236
The World Is More Random Than You Think It Is	p. 237
The Most Valuable Resource in the World Isn't Money, It's Time	p. 237
The More Supportive People You Have in Your Life, the Better Off You Are	p. 238
The Fewer Unsupportive People You Have in Your Life, the Better Off You Are	p. 239
Blaming Others for Your Problems Is a Dead-End Road	p. 239
The More Time You Spend Improving and Educating Yourself, the Better Your Personal and Financial Life Will Be	p. 240
Karma Always Comes Around	p. 241
There Are Very Few Aspects of Your Life That Cannot Be Changed	p. 241
Index	p. 243
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