I am obsessed with the film Everything Everywhere All at Once. From the moment I saw the trailer, I knew the movie was meant for me. I was right. The film's bizarre blend of action, philosophy, science fiction, taxes, and juvenile humor feels specifically targeted to me and my brain.

For those unfamiliar, here's a quick plot synopsis.

Evelyn and Waymond Wang own a laundromat. Their business is failing, their marriage is fracturing, and so is their relationship with Joy, their daughter. During a meeting with the IRS, Evelyn is visited by a version of her husband from a parallel universe. He says that the multiverse — all of the many parallel universes — is under attack from an evil being named Jobu Tupaki, and Evelyn is the only one who can save it. The rest of the film is about Evelyn overcoming her skepticism and discovering her true power (and Waymond's).

A few weeks ago, I shared a monster list of ways to make more money. These weren't cheesy chores or slimy scams, but legitimate ways a person could earn extra income if they needed. Most of the suggestions were drawn from GRS reader stories, from my friends' lives, or from my own experience. They're ways real people make real money when times are tough.

After I posted the list, though, I had a few people send e-mail or leave comments asking, "Why bother?" They wanted to know why I constantly harp on boosting your income.

It's been nearly three years since I preached my complete "cash-flow" sermon. Today I'm going to preach it again. This will be review for long-time readers (or for folks who've read Your Money: The Missing Manual). For everyone else, one of the core tenets of the Get Rich Slowly philosophy is this simple truth: To build wealth, you've got to spend less than you earn. It all boils down to cash flow.

Some reader stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success or failure. These stories feature folks with all levels of financial maturity and income.

Mark Ferguson has been a Realtor since 2001 after graduating from the University of Colorado with a business finance degree. He runs a real estate team of 10 that sells over 200 homes a year, fix and flips 10 to 15 homes a year and owns 11 rental properties. Mark also runs www.investfourmore.com, a blog that discusses Mark's fix and flips, rental properties, becoming a real estate agent and everything real estate related.

Many television shows portray fix and flipping as a very profitable business that can easily be done in your spare time. Sure there are usually a few contractor problems, but in the end the house sells for a lot of money and the owners make a killing. In reality, you can make money fix and flipping homes, but it takes a lot of hard work and a lot of flipping to make a lot of money. It is also very easy to lose a lot of money if you do not account for all the costs or overestimate the value of your flip.

I shared a list of my favorite books about money once before, but that was over two years ago. I've read dozens of books since then (and thumbed through dozens more). Here is a revised list of 25 great books about money.

These are all books that I found entertaining or influential. There are still many "big name" books that I haven't read, such as "A Random Walk Down Wall Street" and "The Intelligent Investor," and I've left off some perennial favorites such as "The Richest Man in Babylon" and "The Wealthy Barber."

Yesterday afternoon, I shared a biking vs. driving calculator that tries to show how much you could save if you gave up your car in favor of other forms of transportation. Whenever I post a story about biking more and driving less, some readers feel judged. They worry that those of us who drive less think we're somehow better than they are.

Yesterday, for instance, Elaine wrote:

I must say that articles like these bruise my ego a bit. I WANT to do everything possible to minimize my impact on my financial health and the health of the environment, so it bothers me somewhat to continually hear about biking, when it's just not realistic to my life.

We all face times when we suddenly, necessarily have to become experts on a topic we'd previously given little consideration. Some, like pregnancy, accompany positive changes in our lives. Others, like dealing with funeral planning and estate issues, are entirely the opposite. Yet, there's a pretty good chance you'll have to deal with these issues eventually, one way or another.

I want to share what I'm learning as my family deals with estate issues — wills and trusts — to give you a preview of what to expect. I'll add the usual disclaimer on a piece like this: I am not an estate attorney. That's kind of the point — I'm just a person, one who knows a bit about personal finance, who has gotten thrown into the estate-settling process and has found myself frequently surprised and confounded.

My Dad's Passing

My father died in March in Florida. He lived to be 79, an impressive accomplishment after surviving lung cancer 30 years earlier. In some ways, his passing was slow — although he survived cancer and avoided recurrences, he had lingering health issues that made him more reliant on oxygen tanks in the last years of his life. Still, he was surprised by the news in early March that he was terminal.

Today I'm going to rant.

I get a lot of requests from reporters who want quotes for their stories about personal finance. That's fine. I'm happy to help when possible. What bugs me, though, is that nearly every single reporter pitches her story with the same caveat: "I need tips about saving, but I don't want the same old stuff. I need new, unique ways to save money."

sigh

When people send me email, they usually have very specific questions about their very specific circumstances. "What should I do about my ailing parents?" "Should I fund my kids' college first or put money aside for retirement?" "How should I save for a down payment?"

Recently, though, a Money Boss reader named Mark sent me a simple hypothetical question. Here's the entirety of his email:

If you had $10,000,000 (in cash) at the age of 60, would you say that you would never have to worry about money again?

In June 2008, a Get Rich Slowly reader dropped me a line to see if I'd like to have lunch. "My name is Chris," he said. "My wife Jolie and I will be visiting Portland next week. Do you have time to meet?"

"Sure," I replied. I was just beginning to meet colleagues and readers for lunch, a habit that has since become the best part of this job. "Let's meet at my favorite Thai place, Pok Pok."

I didn't know anything about Chris and Jolie when we met, but over noodles and rice, I grew to like them both. They told me about their adventures in Africa. Jolie gave me advice on how to recover from a running injury. Chris told me about his world travel and his new blog, The Art of Non-Conformity.

Every year at about this time, I start getting questions by email and social media — and even in Real Life: "Do you have any personal finance or money-related gift ideas?"

I know how tempting it can be to choose gifts that encourage smart financial choices. You look at the poor decisions your brother or sister have made, and you feel like you could help. If only they would read this one book that helped you so much!

I get it. I've felt the same way. After all, my financial turnaround is a direct result of reading two books that were gifted to me by friends: Your Money or Your Life and Dave Ramsey's The Total Money Makeover. Continue reading...