You will never be a millionaire until you learn more about money. It sounds so basic, but if it is so basic, why aren’t more people taking time to learn about money?

From the time we are born, we begin our learning journey. We learn to breathe air. We learn to eat. As our lives progress, we move on to more complicated lessons. The most critical part of our education is learning to read. You cannot succeed in school or life without learning to read.

You must put in the effort to succeed with money and, just as with reading, you will get better over time.

Think back to when you were in school. Were you an A student? I was a B student. If you are like me, then you realize you could have made better grades if you would have worked a little bit harder. Much like school, the harder you work and the more you learn about money, the better grade you will get. In this case however, your “money grade” becomes how much wealth you will create.

When it comes to your life and money, would you prefer to score an A, B, C, D or F on your money grade? Personally, I prefer to score an A, so I’ve kept learning more about money. The choice is yours. All you have to do is keep at it.

Learning to Work Smarter vs. Harder

From my earliest days in the workforce, a saying has stayed with me. I first heard it from my older, more seasoned co-workers on one of my college jobs. You could say it was wisdom from the sages. “Boy, don’t you know you’re supposed to work smarter, not harder?”

While I personally prefer to work smarter and harder, as a young man moving up in life, I’ve found this marvelous quote to impact me significantly. As my career and life have progressed, I learned to pause and consider “is there a better and easier way to do this?”

Back in the day, cutting grass used to be a real chore. First came the scythe: a hand-held blade used to cut grass. In the 1800s, the lawn mower was invented and people began cutting their yards “smarter.” You may have seen one of the first lawn mowers. They were two-wheeled push machines with gear-driven spinning blades between the wheels. As you pushed the machine, the wheels turned the gears and the blade spun, cutting your grass.

In the early 1900s, the lawn mower evolved again and got “smarter” with a power upgrade. In 1919, the first powered lawn mowers were produced. People began working smarter, not harder, while cutting grass. What used to take hours and hours could now be done in minutes with a fraction of the effort.

Most of us go through life working very hard for our money. In fact, some people find themselves working 60 hours or more per week. This is unhealthy and bad for your family. Why would anyone want to work 60-plus hours a week? Some people do it to support their family. Others do it to live a desired lifestyle. The overachievers do it to get ahead. And some just don’t have a choice—their job requires it.

It’s okay to work hard, but what we miss is getting smart about our money. We fail to learn how to “work smarter” when it comes to putting our money to work for us. As a result, we fail to save. We fail to invest. We fail to become millionaires.

Without getting smarter, we’re doomed to live out a repeating financial struggle, living paycheck to paycheck, the epitome of “not working smarter with your money.”

Getting smarter with your money gives you options, options to build a better quality of life and get your life back. If you want to become a millionaire, you must learn to be smarter with your money and to put your money to work for you.

Growing your financial knowledge is another key foundation piece to improving your finances.

Once the light came on for me at 25, I knew I had to make a change. My parents obviously knew little about money. If you had asked them “what are you doing to become a millionaire?” a puzzled look would have appeared on their faces. My aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents would have done the same. At the time, no one in my life could help me. I did the only thing I knew to do. I learned on my own.

At Books-A-Million, my favorite bookstore, I headed straight to the magazine rack, where I picked up Kiplinger’s Fund Magazine, Smart Money and a few others. My goals were to learn what to do to multiply my money. At the time, the stock market was the only option I was familiar with, so that’s where I started. Over the years, I’ve found many different teachers and techniques in the personal finance sphere. Each teacher, writer or speaker comes with their own biases. It’s important to learn from multiple sources to avoid financial tunnel-vision.

My goal is to introduce you to the world of finance and direct you to resources to continue building your financial knowledge muscles. This will equip you to become a millionaire and change your future. The rest will be up to you.

Let’s start with a Basic Financial Track, a list of the basic money topics you need to learn about to be successful with money. Think of it as your primary money education list. Learning this basic information will equip you well beyond the average person.

Take a moment to give yourself a grade for your knowledge in each of these areas. Score yourself with an A, B, C, D or F based on how much you think you know about each topic. Don’t overthink it. Go with your first impression.

Income, Making Money
Jobs and Career
Spending Money
Saving Money
Debt
Your Credit Score, FICO
Credit Cards
Car Loans and Leases
Mortgages
Retirement Planning
401(k)s
IRAs
Pensions
Investing
Mutual Funds
College Planning
529s
Life Insurance
Whole Life
Term Life
Health Insurance

As you master this list, feel confident that your money grade on each topic will improve. Over time, you will become an A student and the results will show up in your wallet and personal net worth.

If you scored poorly on some of the topics, be careful not to be too critical of yourself or feel shame for not knowing more. Everyone begins at the starting line. Some people just start learning earlier.

Now, let’s look at an Advanced Financial Track. You will notice a few more topics have been added. It is important to focus on mastering the basics before trying to master the advanced financial topics. I’m providing you with an advanced learning list to help you see how to continue your learning once you are ready.

Don’t become overwhelmed by the topics on the advanced list. They are merely there to act as a guide for your future. Guess what? You can become a millionaire if you simply stick to the Basic Financial Track. But compared to the Basic Financial Track, think of the Advanced Financial Track as “secondary or college” financial education.

Now that we have our Basic and Advanced Financial Tracks, we need to start your learning.

10 Millionaire Books to Read:

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

Unshakeable by Tony Robbins

Automatic Millionaire by David Bach

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker

The Wealth Choice by Dr. Dennis Kimbro

The Conscious Millionaire by J.V. Crum III

I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi

The Blessed Life by Robert Morris

Permission to Prosper by Ray Edwards

The Millionaire Choice by Tony Bradshaw

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