Should You Invest in Commodities? Here’s the Tea (and the Oil and the Gold…)

Does thinking about your personal finances make your palms start to sweat? If so, you’re not alone. The sheer amount of information out there about managing your finances is overwhelming, especially for people in their 20s or 30s who are just starting their financial journeys. Ramit Sethi is a self-taught expert in personal finance whose goal is to help you cut through the noise of conflicting and overly technical financial advice, get past your own hang-ups around money, and take small steps toward a “rich life”—whatever that looks like for you.

In this summary, you’ll learn how to use credit cards wisely, choose the right bank accounts and investment accounts, plan out your spending, and ultimately create a financial system that grows your money automatically.

Many people feel helpless when it comes to managing their money. They’re consumed by debt or worry that they'll never be financially secure.

In The Barefoot Investor, Scott Pape offers guidance and a 10-step plan for how to manage your money so that you eliminate debt and build wealth. Though the plan is written for an Australian audience, the basic principles are universally applicable. Starting with establishing regular date nights with your significant other to discuss finances, then covering reducing debt and buying a home, the steps in this book will help you make informed money decisions.

Economics is the study of how we allocate resources—food, clothing, money, time, effort, and knowledge. Economists begin this study by examining incentives: the driving forces behind our decisions. By understanding how we respond to incentives and the psychological instincts that steer us, we can better understand how market forces work and how governments and firms can use incentives to foster a healthy economy.

In Naked Economics, bestselling author Charles Wheelan strips away the complexity from some of the most powerful theories in economics, allowing readers with little or no background in the subject to understand many of the field’s fundamental concepts. He concentrates on the logical pieces of how and why people behave in certain ways, how markets function, and how governments can design incentive systems that encourage healthy economies.

A massive bestseller now in its 13th edition, Burton Malkiel’s A Random Walk Down Wall Street provides a comprehensive and entertaining introduction to the world of finance. Malkiel leverages his experience as an academic economist and former Wall Street portfolio manager to explain for the lay reader the intricacies of security analysis, asset valuation, and investment theory. He also offers a wealth of practical investment principles that will be useful for novice and seasoned investors alike.

Does thinking about your personal finances make your palms start to sweat? If so, you’re not alone. The sheer amount of information out there about managing your finances is overwhelming, especially for people in their 20s or 30s who are just starting their financial journeys. Ramit Sethi is a self-taught expert in personal finance whose goal is to help you cut through the noise of conflicting and overly technical financial advice, get past your own hang-ups around money, and take small steps toward a “rich life”—whatever that looks like for you.

In this summary, you’ll learn how to use credit cards wisely, choose the right bank accounts and investment accounts, plan out your spending, and ultimately create a financial system that grows your money automatically.

Gold prices have risen to unprecedented levels in recent months, driven by factors including monetary policy, geopolitical tensions, and shifting reserve strategies. But is this asset all it's cracked up to be? Gold is seen as a safe haven during economic and political uncertainty, and analysts say current prices could continue to rise. However, it’s historically underperformed stocks in the long term.

The world’s greatest investor Warren Buffett read this book when he was 19 years old, and he still calls this “by far the best book about investing ever written.” The Intelligent Investor covers timeless ideas of how the market behaves, how investment is different from speculation, and how to identify profitable investments.

Learn whether you’re a defensive or an aggressive investor, why most trading strategies don’t work, and how to maintain control of your psychology in any type of market condition.

Have you ever wondered how the economy works - how millions of individuals can buy and sell goods and services without a master coordinator? Have you wondered why we use money, rather than bartering our services with each other? Why do some nations prosper, while others stay poor despite vast natural resources?

Basic Economics by Stanford economist Thomas Sowell is an incredibly useful, broad introduction to economics. Containing no math, it instead communicates intuitive principles that will help you understand how market transactions work and the effect of policies on the economy. Understand how prices for goods are set, why rent control has bad side effects, and the purpose of brand names.

Gas, oil, and coal prices have soared in recent months as energy demands have increased with the post-lockdown recovery while supply remains tight. National stockpiles are unusually low heading into the winter months, and oil and gas producers are reluctant to increase production for fear that a glut of fuel on the market will depress prices. While some argue that more investment in fossil fuels is needed, others note that high fossil fuel prices will likely drive investment toward renewables, as governments seek to pry control of the world’s energy supply from a small handful of nations.