100 books like The Barefoot Investor

I love helping people save money in creative ways, build wealth, and gain financial freedom. Thankfully, my Dad taught me how to budget when I was 12 years old. My accounting professor used a ski lift as a way to analyze business profitability. I could visualize that! At Citibank, I found that people were overwhelmed with their finances and Wall Street was confusing. I’m a CPA and MBA in Finance. I love writing, sharing examples, and finding straightforward ways to help people save money and build wealth. These experiences showed me how to make my money work for me. I show you how to make your money work for you!

Jai and Marlies are a husband and wife team, originally from Cairns and now based in Noosa. Jai is a mortgage broker with over 18 years’ experience, and Marlies is a former property development lawyer with a passion for education and creative projects. They have two sons, Troy and Zac, a cavoodle, Ruby, and horses, Zoe and Twisty. Together they have built more than 10 properties, started, owned and operated several businesses, including a mortgage brokerage, retail shop and cafes, a franchise company, online shop, ready-made meal business, and property developments.

Jai and Marlies are a husband and wife team, originally from Cairns and now based in Noosa. Jai is a mortgage broker with over 18 years’ experience, and Marlies is a former property development lawyer with a passion for education and creative projects. They have two sons, Troy and Zac, a cavoodle, Ruby, and horses, Zoe and Twisty. Together they have built more than 10 properties, started, owned and operated several businesses, including a mortgage brokerage, retail shop and cafes, a franchise company, online shop, ready-made meal business, and property developments.

Jai and Marlies are a husband and wife team, originally from Cairns and now based in Noosa. Jai is a mortgage broker with over 18 years’ experience, and Marlies is a former property development lawyer with a passion for education and creative projects. They have two sons, Troy and Zac, a cavoodle, Ruby, and horses, Zoe and Twisty. Together they have built more than 10 properties, started, owned and operated several businesses, including a mortgage brokerage, retail shop and cafes, a franchise company, online shop, ready-made meal business, and property developments.

Since engaging in my own personal development since 2006, and in buying my first investment property at the time; I have always had an interest in saving money and building wealth. We live in an abundant universe, and it is our birthright to have money to enjoy, and to achieve our goals. In high inflationary times, having ample amounts of cash in the bank is a source of comfort. Writing books also came from my passion for writing, and from also working in therapy, where many patients experienced financial difficulties. Regardless of the current rate of inflation, you can stay on top of it with the right tools and knowledge. 

I’m a 5x award-winning personal finance educator and money expert who specializes in helping Latinas reach financial freedom through entrepreneurship and investing. I have been fascinated by personal finance since 2016 when I realized that I hadn’t learned anything important about money after discovering personal finance podcasts. I’m a firm believer that financial literacy is the gateway to freedom, so my work involves educating women of color on how to use money to exercise their power. 

Investing in the share market appears to be a bewildering, constantly shifting, extremely noisy, and busy world – one best left to the experts. Fortunes can be made but, equally, fortunes can be lost – with devastating results for those on the receiving end. And yet there are a few, simple, timeless principles to investing in the market successfully – and, ironically, those principles – known collectively as index or passive investing – will be more successful than all the noisy, busy stuff put out by the industry. In writing our book, this is what we would like as many people as possible to know. It’s not about being smart.  

Growing up I noticed that a lot of my friends would avoid conversations about the stock market mainly because a lack of confidence or knowledge around how it works. I also saw a visible gap in financial literacy among kids that I volunteered with. The school system is doing the best they can, but we can’t rely on them to plant every seed within our kids. With the knowledge gained from friends and countless hours of research from taking classes on the stock market, I created a book that focused on teaching kids about all things stock related but also could be used as a tool of learning for all ages.  

I am economist who first started exploring retirement planning for my own personal situation. I became so captivated by the topic that I changed fields and was selected as the Professor of Retirement Income at the American College of Financial Services. I am a past curriculum director for the Retirement Management Analyst designation and past program director for the Retirement Income Certified Professional designation. More recently, I am the co-creator of the Retirement Income Style Awareness and co-host of the Retire with Style podcast. I enjoy learning and teaching about all topics related to retirement.

I’m a 5x award-winning personal finance educator and money expert who specializes in helping Latinas reach financial freedom through entrepreneurship and investing. I have been fascinated by personal finance since 2016 when I realized that I hadn’t learned anything important about money after discovering personal finance podcasts. I’m a firm believer that financial literacy is the gateway to freedom, so my work involves educating women of color on how to use money to exercise their power.