Afterward & Acknowledgements

We’ve just covered a lot. If you read this in one sitting, you might need some Dramamine. I can also assure you that this is just the beginning of your educational journey into asset ownership, and if you pursue learning further, you will have even bigger questions. I’d like to point you in the direction of some resources that will help answer your questions. In no particular order, they are as follows:

Books:

There are thousands of personal finance and investment books out there to spend more time with. This list is ranked by the complexity of the subject matter. Start out with the easier-to-read texts at the top of the list, and then work your way down.

• The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by Jack Bogle.
• Getting Started in Stocks by Alvin Hall.
• Against The Gods by Peter L Bernstein.
• One Up on Wall Street by Peter Lynch.
• How to Make Money in Stocks by William O’Neill.
• The Little Book That Still Beats The Market by Joel Greenblatt.
• A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton G. Malkiel.
• The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham.
• Market Wizards by Jack D. Shwager.
• Too Smart for Our Own Good by Bruce I. Jacobs.

Investopedia:

This is a go-to. Based on the name, I’m sure you can infer that this is the Wikipedia of choice for individual investors, students, and finance nerds everywhere. Most of your finance questions can be answered here. I remember hearing somewhere on a podcast that there are tens of thousands of different articles on this site alone. These range in topic, from how to avoid certain investing scams, to explanations of balance sheet ratios and Capital Asset Pricing Models (CAPM). These articles are always well written, vetted by professionals for accuracy and comprehension, and are 100% free. Most times when you google an investment term or question, Google will populate the first few links with Investopedia articles. I would recommend spending time perusing these and using the hyperlinks to explore any topics that may confuse or intrigue you.

Yahoo Finance:

This is my favorite for live views of what is going on in the markets. The Yahoo Finance Desktop interface and mobile app are customizable to you. You can use it to track the performance of market indices, individual stocks, real estate, bonds, commodities and so much more. You can also create custom watchlists to monitor any of these traded assets as you wish. Finally, the site will provide you with insights into stock metrics, fund holdings, dividend and bond yields, along with charting and balance sheet/income statement graphs. Yahoo Finance also provides relatively solid news articles and links to other pieces, relative to the items you are searching for.

The Compound & The Compound and Friends:

For the longest time, I didn’t listen to podcasts. I thought it was silly to listen to people talk. We already do enough of that anyways. Ultimately, I got into podcasts on Youtube. Youtube is a great place to find answers to your financial questions but is also overrun with scammers and questionable (at best) advice from people who aren’t qualified. However, on Youtube, I stumbled across The Compound, the multi-media arm of a New York City-based RIA (Registered Investment Advisor). Through their channel, they interviewed many critical financial thinkers and ran podcasts and shows with weekly market updates. Their podcast, The Compound and Friends, airs weekly and is one of the few I listen to on a regular basis, without fail. All of their content is worth checking in with.

Social media “Influencers”:

While I generally believe that you should not be getting financial advice from people on social media, I do think that following suitable sources makes investing knowledge pop up in your timeline more often, and is often to digest. A few of the sources that I like are news pages, and a few are individual investors. The following handles are for Instagram, where I do the majority of my social media scrolling. These creators’ other social networks are easily found as well. For news pages, I like @coingrams, @garcapital, @stocksharks, and @carbonfinance. For individuals who post solid financial information with high financial literacy, I like @wall_street_trapper, @rizinternational, @earnyourleisure, and @mrsdowjones. While I am not speaking for these folks’ qualifications to give advice, I find their content worthwhile and encourage you to check them out.

Bloomberg:

This is a tough one. I’m sure you know Bloomberg – you get paywalled by it every time you click on an article link. The same thing goes for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and countless other digital news sources. Personally, I have subscribed to the paid version of many of these services. Bloomberg, in my opinion, is not only the best but also the most affordable. Being a good investor involves keeping up with what is going on, and the amount of content Bloomberg is able to shell out is nothing short of amazing. They have news articles on everything you would need to read about at any level of involvement with markets, from amateur to professional managers. I like their market price tracking, which allows you to see the performance of different assets while reading articles from their site. I also like the ease of use of their mobile app, which is a lot less clunky than some of the others. While Bloomberg may be my preferred source, it is important for anyone getting into asset ownership to seriously consider a paid news source. These sites often offer generous student discounts. Some others are The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, and Barrons.

That’s about all for sources. Without beating the shameless self-promotion horse to death, I will also mention that I have my own podcast, where I interview friends and colleagues of mine to discuss financial events, money strategies, and, most importantly, our biggest mistakes in finance. The Drawing Dead podcast can be found on Spotify. You are more than welcome to check it out there.

Moving on to acknowledgments. I will start with a very important one. We can’t choose the way God makes us, or the body into which we are born. With that in mind, I acknowledge that being born a white, cisgender male in the United States of America has, and will continue, to benefit me and contribute to my success in ways others will not get to experience.

Next, I would like to thank my two closest and dearest friends. Alex, for your humor, support, and great cooking. I appreciate you listening to me rant about all this finance mumbo jumbo on a daily basis. Your clever wit and encouragement keep me upbeat in all the tasks I undertake on a daily basis. And David, thank you for being the first set of eyes to look over this text, the first person to give me feedback on it, and the first client of Macfarlane Investors. Your confidence in me means the world. I appreciate you both so very much.

Next, I’d like to thank Alex Wessel, who I first told about my idea to write an ebook roughly two years ago. He told me “That’s a great idea, but make sure you keep it a passion project.” I had a lot going on, and like anything I do, wanted to get it done as quickly and efficiently as possible (while my motivational fire remained hot). I didn’t do that. Instead, I took my time. There were months where I didn’t write at all, and then weeks where I wrote multiple chapters. This strategy is unlike the way I normally do things, but I think it allowed me to write when my mind was clear and ready, and to make sure never to force a single letter onto the page. I kept your words in the back of my head throughout this whole process.

I would also like to thank my mother, Carmen. Throughout my life, you have always supported me in whatever endeavor I undertake. While you weren’t as actively involved in this one, your belief in me behind the scenes and always-ready-to-help attitude makes it easy for a son to feel like he can accomplish anything.

I would like to thank my father, Ross, for his encouragement as well. The name of my firm is his last name. It is his quintessential hard work, do-the-right-thing, selfless attitude that underpins the core values of my practice, and reminds me that it’s so much more than just investments. Thank you for being the role model a young man needs.

Second-to-last, it was important for me to keep this text edited and designed by people I know and want to support in their own business endeavors. My editor, Anna Justen, is a dear friend, and more importantly, a musician pursuing her own dreams the same way I am pursuing finance. Thank you for working with me despite the time difference and erratic schedules of both our work. I’m sure my grammar needed plenty of work and this editing was no easy task. For all those needing some new music to check out, I would encourage you to find Anna on Spotify.

My guy Finn Johnson did the cover art for Nonelective Finance. I will say I had no idea what I wanted it to look like, but he was able to synthesize the firm’s logo, the straightforward approach to the information I feel so strongly about, and the educational paradigm of the book into a beautiful design. What you see as an approachable, bauhaus-style cover was all Finn, created from most likely too little information on my part, and I couldn’t have been happier with his work.

Finally, perhaps a writer would be nothing without an audience to read their work. I feel unbelievably blessed to have people interested in what I have to say and an audience for my thoughts and knowledge. Without each and every one of you, this would not have been possible. Also, this stuff is complex! Props to you for sticking it through and pushing yourself to learn something new.

Thank you very much, and best of luck to you on your adventures with asset ownership.

Jarah D. Macfarlane

Macfarlane Investors, Founder.

APMA®