One of the biggest challenges in personal finance is simply not knowing where to begin. This Guide will help you answer the question of what to do and where to begin for yourself.

Oh by the way, I should introduce myself (unless we've already met...). I'm Dave. I'm a financial planner and founder of Turning Point. You can read more about me here! But enough about me - this Guide is all about you!

Before we get going, bookmark this page!

I add new information all the time, and things in the financial world have a tendency of frequently changing. Don't blame me, call your congressperson!

If you've shared your email with me, I'll occasionally let you know what important elements of this Guide have been updated. And If you haven't shared your email with me and want to stay in the loop, by all means: please subscribe to my newsletter.

I know... all this money and finance stuff tends to be overwhelming. And me throwing a lengthy table of contents at you probably isn't helping matters. 

I've tried my best to make this guide user friendly and non-overwhelming. But... it may still get overwhelming at times. Finances get overwhelming for everyone at times (including financial planners!) So you're in good company. 🙂

Finance Quick Start Guide

To help you get started, I've put together a simple eight-step Finance Quick Start Guide. It links back to the different areas of this more comprehensive guide, so you can come back here when you're ready to go into greater detail. Often getting started is the biggest challenge. My Quick Start Guide is the perfect place for your to begin.

Unless you've got a wicked case of insomnia. Then by all means, read away. 🥱

Even for me (a finance guy who LOVES learning about this stuff), I find most personal finance books hard to get through. It's just all too much and, honestly, too dry. I've tried to make this guide as entertaining as possible, but I suspect there are some areas where I've failed miserably. 🙈 Sorry about that. 

In any event, here are my suggestions for how to use this Guide. 

First, read about establishing a solid foundation above. Maybe you're already done that. If so, great! If you're raring to go, you can immediately start putting that foundation in place.

But if you're looking to do a bit more learning first, no worries. That's probably how I'd approach it as well. I like to really understand things before jumping into action. And sometimes that slows me down, but I digress...

To keep learning, I would briefly review each section outlined on the Table of Contents above. Don't dive into all the detail, just read some of the summary information. Understand just a bit of what's addressed in each section. 

From there, I'd suggest focusing on one topic at a time and then leaving the rest for later. (Have you bookmarked this page yet? You have? Ok, good.)

Over time as you learn more, and are ready to start implementing, focus on making balanced progress in each area, just a little bit at a time. And read the additional detail when you need it: when you're making a decision, when you're hunting for more information or when you're implementing a certain aspect of your plan.

There is certainly no lack of personal financial advice out there. So why did I choose to add to the body of work?

Well, I have some problems with a lot of the personal finance content out there. First, lots of it is frankly terrible. And trying to determine what's good advice and what's garbage is difficult. Understanding financial advice is difficult enough as it is. You shouldn't have to first figure out if the advice is even worth understanding in the first place.

Second, the overwhelming amount of information out there is poorly organized and really not at all prioritized. It's all too easy to get into the weeds of the estate tax unlimited marital deduction before you know if that's something you even need to worry about. (Hint: unless you're a multi-millionaire, it isn't.)

And third, I haven't found much of any personal finance advice geared specifically toward therapists in private practice. What a glaring omission! The nerve of some people. 😤

The goal of this guide is to provide you financial guidance that will enable you to make your life better. I really believe all the education and guidance in these pages is thoughtful and solid. And I've done my best to prioritize and organize it in a way that isn't overwhelming... or at least is as non-overwhelming as I could make it. 

I've included a lot of my own thoughts, and I've also included links to resources put out by other experts, including other financial planners. There is a lot of poor financial guidance out there, AND there are also a lot of wonderful people offering really great advice. I want to introduce you to as many of the quality folks out there as I can. 

I’ve tried to be thoughtful about including answers to the most important financial questions on the minds of therapists. And yet this guide is certainly incomplete. I already have several topics I'd like to write about in further detail. 

I'll be adding additional content over time, which is why you should bookmark this page and come back every now and again. (You have booked marked the page, right?) And if you've been kind enough to share your email address with me, I'll let you know when there are updates. (And if you want to sign up for updates, please do!)

If you read something here and it leaves you wanting, let me know how I can make it better! And if there is something entirely absent and you'd like to learn about it, please let me know that as well! You can give me a shout here.

I’m sure Dave Ramsey and Suze Orman are nice people deep down... but wow can they be a drag! So serious all the time... kinda shouty 🙉 ... not to mention all the shame and judgment. Major buzz kill.

No shame or judgment here tho! Well, ok, you are welcome to bring any shame or self-judgment you might be holding. But I won’t bring any judgment and will do my best not to add any shame.

And I will add that your shame and all the rest of your emotions are welcome! My role as a financial planner is not to resolve those emotional items head on (that’s the work of financial therapists). But I do make space for and normalize that these emotions show up when working with money! And why wouldn’t they? Money touches every aspect of our life, so emotions are bound to turn up sooner or later!

If you find this Guide useful, I'd be super grateful if you shared it with colleagues in the mental health community (or anyone else for that matter). 

Just copy the link to this page and shoot off an email - or post it on social. You could even use carrier pigeon - I'm not picky. 🕊

And if you DON'T find this Guide useful, I'd love to hear why and make it better. Contact me here!

Stay in the know!

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