Personal finance starts with good financial hygeine. Avoid credit card debt, don't lend strangers money, make more than you spend. There are many great online sources for learning about monitoring your credit, shopping for mortgages, and sticking to a budget.
My favorite personal finance resources
Once you understand the basics of financial hygeine you quickly realize most of the personal finance dilemmas that have nothing to do with investing are about psychology.
For that check out:
- My endorsement of Ramit Sethi (Link)
- Khe Hy on Goals vs Rules (Link)
This wiki begins where financial hygiene ends.
There will be principles that are backward compatible with sound financial hygiene. But if you are investing in stocks and paying 18% to American Express you are like a first-time weight lifter. You are clueless. The good news is the improvements will never come as fast as they do in the beginning.
Thinking about investing requires understanding why you don't borrow money at 18%