Financial Education Books For Spouses Going Through Divorce
It is common when going through divorce in Florida or elsewhere for one or both spouses to be lost when it comes to finances and retirement planning. One of the best things that you can do to make divorce less traumatic and to help ensure that you and your spouse’s interests are being met is to involve a Neutral Financial Professional within a Collaborative Divorce process.
It is also important to educate yourself when it comes to finances. Below are a list of books that I have personally found helpful to educate myself. Even if you are not going through divorce, you may get something from these resources.
The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
If you have medical school student loans, a high interest mortgage or home equity lines of credit, or other forms of large debt, and you just don’t know how you could possibly pay it off in any reasonable amount of time, Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover is for you. As someone who went to a very expensive law school and incurred six figures in educational debt, I found this book immensely helpful. I am a big believer in the Financial Independence (sometimes also called Financial Independence Retire Early, or “FIRE”) movement; so many influencers who have put themselves on the path to FIRE have mentioned that they started off by getting out of debt after reading this book.
The Simple Path to Wealth by J.L. Collins
J.L. Collins’ The Simple Path to Wealth is the book I wish I read when I was just starting my career. His main message is that investing does not need to be complex, the stock market will crash but it will also rebound and grow, and that you can build significant wealth over time by simply investing in a total U.S. stock market index fund and maybe also a total U.S. bond index fund (depending on your age and risk tolerance). J.L. Collins is known as the Godfather of FIRE, and he tells audiences that you can actually find most of the ideas in the book for free in their raw form in his blog’s Stock Series. I have found both the book and Stock Series helpful to explain the markets and prevent me from selling my portfolio when the market has crashed. Further, the Stock Series, which Collins updates regularly, does a good job at explaining many of the types of investment vehicles that get addressed in divorce, such as brokerage accounts, traditional and Roth 401(k)s, traditional and Roth IRAs, 403(b)s, and TSPs. Beyond educating yourself, The Simple Path to Wealth may be a great book to provide as a gift to your young adult children as the content started as a letter to J.L. Collins’ daughter, explaining to someone who didn’t want to think about investing how they could build wealth without giving it much thought.
I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi
Admittedly, the title is kind of cringeworthy, but I found the content in Ramit Sethi’s I Will Teach You to Be Rich to be helpful nonetheless. He provides very practical advice on everything from lowering interest rates you pay on credit cards, to opening high yield savings accounts, to automating saving and investing. He also believes strongly that you don’t need to live like a hermit to build wealth, and that it is important to mindfully spend money on those things that bring you happiness.
Atomic Habits by James Clear
James Clear’s Atomic Habits explores the science of habit formation and how small, incremental changes can lead you to significant improvements over time. Clear stresses that consistent, tiny improvements—what he calls “atomic habits”—can compound over time, leading to profound personal and professional transformations. His concepts mesh pretty well with the books discussed above, especially when he addresses the power of compound interest to transform small, consistent investments over a long period of time to vast amounts of wealth. Besides becoming financially healthier, this book helped me become physically healthier, as well, by influencing me to make small, consistent changes in my diet and exercise, leading to the shedding of 30+ pounds over the course of eighteen months.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
Let me first note that I am not a fan of Robert Kiyosaki’s recent work and advice. However, I think any well-rounded list of books on financial education would be incomplete without his now classic, Rich Dad, Poor Dad. This book turns a skeptical eye towards traditional financial education (or the lack thereof) and encourages an entrepreneurial spirit. He also discusses the difference between working for your money and having your money work for you.
We’re Talking Millions! 12 Simple Ways to Supercharge Your Retirement by Paul Merriman and Richard Buck
Paul Merriman, who is known for his Ultimate Buy & Hold Portfolio, teams up with Richard Buck and does a deeper dive into investing in various asset classes in We’re Talking Millions! 12 Simple Ways to Supercharge Your Retirement. This free e-book is much easier to follow than some of Merriman’s other work for those who are just learning about factor investing. Among other things, Merriman and Buck helped me understand the historical benefits of having more small cap value investments in a portfolio then is otherwise contained in a total U.S. stock market index fund. When combined with articles, videos, and podcasts available at the Merriman Financial Education Foundation (don’t be intimidated by the charts and tables), this is a good book if you have more than just a passing interest in investing.
By the way, there are great points and counterpoints to Merriman’s approach to investing in his debate with Rick Ferri, former president of the John C. Bogle Center for Financial Literacy, on the White Coat Investor podcast.
Who Not How by Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy
Though mainly geared towards executives, business owners, and other entrepreneurs, Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy’s Who Not How is applicable to anyone looking to make the best use of your time and money. The core message is that you should focus mainly on the things that interest you and/or that you are good at, and find people who are good at and interested in doing everything else. In other words, instead of asking how to do something, Sullivan and Hardy suggest you should instead ask who can help you or who can do it for you so you can focus on the things important to you.
Beyond getting me to find good people and build my law firm, this book resonated with me and my support of Interdisciplinary Collaborative Divorce. In this refreshing out-of-court approach to family law, each person has their own separate lawyer to provide them with independent legal advice, and we lawyers draft creative agreements in a way that a judge is likely to accept. We retain a Neutral Financial Professional to efficiently help ensure you and your spouse both have the financial information and options to make informed decisions that make sense for your family and future. And we retain a Neutral Facilitator, who specializes in communications, childhood development, and/or family dynamics, to help you and your spouse focus on the future rather than the arguments of the past, craft a developmentally appropriate parenting plan tailored to your children, if any, and serve as a team leader to get your divorce over with as quickly and efficiently as possible. In other words, in Interdisciplinary Collaborative Divorce, you find the people who are best and most efficient at their particular jobs to help you, all in a private and confidential setting.
The Gap and the Gain by Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy
Another entry by Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy, The Gap and the Gain focuses on a mindset shift that helps individuals achieve greater happiness and success. The book contrasts two mental frameworks: the “Gap,” where you focus on what’s missing or how far you are from your ideals, and the “Gain,” where you reflect on the progress you’ve already made and celebrate small wins. By focusing on the Gain, you can cultivate a positive mindset, build confidence, and maintain motivation. When I have gone through challenging times and have not met my goals, financial or otherwise, I have found that ruminating on that failure just is not helpful; instead, by focusing on how far I have come when I set the goal, I can feel good about it and determine the adjustments I need to make to achieve my next goals. For clients, divorce can be such a challenging time, including a financially challenging time. By shifting the focus from what could have been to the successes you have already achieved, and then focusing on what you hope to do next, you can avoid a negative downward spiral that will impact your financial future.
10x Is Easier than 2x by Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy
In yet another book by Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy (yes, as an entrepreneur myself, I am a big fan of their work), 10x Is Easier Than 2x challenges you to think bigger and aim for massive goals rather than small, incremental ones. They argue that striving for 10x growth forces you to focus on what truly matters, eliminating distractions and making radical changes, whereas aiming for 2x often leads to simply working harder within your current framework. By aiming higher, you’re pushed to innovate, think differently, and prioritize your unique strengths. The book encourages you to adopt a mindset of abundance and creativity, making it easier to achieve exponential growth rather than just incremental improvements.
When you are going through a divorce, you, by necessity, have to change the way you are doing things. You may go from a two parent household to a one parent household, find that you now have alimony and child support obligations that put a strain on your finances, or determine that you need to work outside of the home for the first time in years. In each of these scenarios, Sullivan and Hardy would say that it is important to examine all of your assumptions about what you can and cannot accomplish, and not to let your assumptions hold you back.
Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
Mike Michalowicz’s Profit First introduces a cash management system that prioritizes paying yourself first and organizing business finances in a way that you can understand. The concept of paying yourself first is explored by other authors on this list, and usually means making sure to earmark a certain amount of money every paycheck for your savings or investing needs. This book takes that concept and applies it to a business. Michalowicz urges you to ensure you are setting aside money for profit (after all, at the end of the day, a business is there to make you money), but also to mindfully set aside funds for upcoming expenses such as payroll, taxes, and operations. Though I have not implemented the author’s entire system, I have implemented certain concepts from it that have helped me plan for the future and make sure my firm has the resources to grow in the way that I want it to. If you are a business owner, I think you will find this book helpful.
Conclusion
Well, there you have it: My list of books on financial education. I am always interested in learning more and hearing the books that you find helpful. And, by the way, I’m a Collaborative Divorce Lawyer, too (as if that wasn’t clear), and if you are in Florida facing divorce or family law issues, I welcome you to contact us and learn a different approach to restructuring your family.
Adam B. Cordover is co-author of an American Bar Association book on Building a Successful Collaborative Family Law Practice. He is a member of the Board of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals and recipient of the inaugural Visionary Award of the Florida Academy of Collaborative Professionals. Adam represents clients throughout the State of Florida, and he has offices in Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Sarasota.
