As a Personal Finance blogger, I love the diversity of view-points and topics that are around us and some of the content is really great. It helps me understand some of the big trends and make better decisions on my own journey to Financial Independence.

I’ve selected for you 5 great articles & 1 Podcasts that made me smarter this month.

Summer is finally here in Houston. It’s hot!

This means temperatures above 100F, more BBQs and more pool parties. Best BBQ of the month goes to the Slowly Sipping Coffee with whom we spent a great afternoon a few weeks back. Thanks again guys, it was awesome meeting up! Can’t wait to do this again.

#RothIRAChallenge

Later in July, I took the #RothIRAChallenge at NorthernExpenditure.

A few years back, my wife and I were both working in Supply Chain, managing very large budgets for our company (think 100+M$ each). We’ve applied these best practices to our personal finances and it works amazingly well.

See how it can work for you on my Roth IRA Challenge post. It’s one of my favorite write ups this year, check it out.

FI/RE Challenge

Also July’s the month of my challenge to the Personal Finance community to share What got them FIRE’d up. Plenty of people don’t have their finances under control because they haven’t found a goal worth saving for.

What if those who have already found their goals could explain what was the trigger? What gave them the initial motivation to get their finances in order and have a long term financial goal?

How awesome would it be if someone could relate to one of these stories, make these goals their own and FIRE 🙂 

Check out the post’s comments, there are some great stories. Mr SSC and NorthernExpenditure also share with us what triggered their path to Financial Independence!

Want to participate and help someone else get on the FIRE journey?

Write a post about what got you FIRE’d up and send me the link, I’ll add it to the list!

July’s also been a great month with some great posts here on the blog. If you’ve missed this month’s articles, you can catch up with the list below.

• What got you FIRE’d up?
• How I joined the board of my HOA to protect my investment
• The #1 reason we should all prepare for retirement now
• Roth IRA Challenge – Guest Post at NorthernExpenditure

Now grab a cup of coffee and read on my selection of the 5 most informative articles (and podcast) of July!

Media, Social Norms and the Problem with “Average” – Our Next Life

“Average” sounds a whole lot like a C, which is a passing grade. But how much does the “average” American have saved for retirement? That would be a whopping $10,000. Having $10,000 saved for retirement is not passing, it’s not even “barely failing.” It’s holy-crap-millions-of-people-are-in-trouble-and-we-need-to-do-something-about-it-NOW. Read More…

How to Access Retirement Funds Early – Mad Fientist

What I haven’t done yet is write a comprehensive post about all the ways you can access the money in retirement accounts prior to standard retirement age and determine which method is best for early retirees.

Today, I plan to fill in that missing piece of the puzzle so grab a drink, get comfortable, and prepare to be blinded by some fience… Read More…

I Quit My Job to Be a Landlord – No Nonsense Landlord

That’s right, I quit my job to be a landlord.  Are you prepared to give up your job and be financially independent?

So here is what went through my mind in deciding the day, how the time went by, and what I gave up. Read More…

Our Experience Revealing Early Retirement Plans to Family, Accidentally – Distilled Dollar via The Green Swan

When it comes to discussing retirement plans, I typically shy away. After all, money is one those taboo topics that rarely is brought up. As a CPA, I probably find myself in an above average number of conversations relating to money, but I was still completely shocked when our early retirement plans ended up being openly discussed with my girlfriend’s parents. Read More…

How To Live Like The Top 1% Without Being Rich – Financial Samurai

We’ve discussed what it takes to be in the top 1% in net worth by age. Unfortunately, the very definition of top 1% means that 99% of us won’t get there.

This post is about how to replicate a top one percent lifestyle while not being in the top one percent. Who doesn’t love a short cut, especially if it can lead to a better lifestyle? Read more...

Podcast with 1500 Days – So Money with Farnoosh

Mr. and Mrs. 1500 are soon-to-be early retirees at age 43. They’re documenting their journey to financial independence on their blog, 1500 Days with the goal of having a portfolio of $1M by February 2017. This is… you guessed it… 1500 days from the birth of the blog on January 1, 2013. Listen to podcast

There is so much great content available online and offline, if you have read / watched / listened to some great content this month, please share in the comments below!

-Nick