Beyond the Basics One Year Later and a Sequel
Beyond the Basics: Maximizing, Allocating, and Protecting Your Capital was published exactly one year ago today. COVID-19 forced me to cancel the multi-country book tour, Oprah interview, and Tonight Show appearance. Nevertheless, I had fun getting the word out about the book that can take your finances to the next level and received much support along the way. Here’s a brief look back and a preview of the Beyond the Basics sequel.
The book has sold well (I’ve decided that asking how many copies it sold is like asking an author his weight) and garnered many five star Amazon reviews. Thirty-one at last count. I greatly appreciate every single one of them. This one was the funniest. You can check out the rest here.
I even tried a McRib for the first time in twenty years and remembered why I hadn’t had one in two decades.
Beyond the Basics even snuck onto an Amazon best-seller list.
And me and 50 Cent shared a moment. I’m sure he told all his friends.
And I almost fell out of my chair one day when I thought that Beyond the Basics was ahead of The Intelligent Investor on a best-seller list, since that is one of the best investment books ever. Then I realized it was the Spanish edition.
So, What’s Next?
Beyond the Basics was written to help people who are serious about their finances take those finances to the next level. It shares a framework adapted from the lessons of CEO’s who were great at growing their company’s wealth. If you already knew the basics, the fundamentals, and the mistakes to avoid, but were uncertain of what comes next to increase your wealth, Beyond the Basics was for you.
Since its publication, I’ve received excellent ideas and requests for what should come next. After taking years to finish the first one, I initially cringed at the idea of a Beyond the Basics sequel. However, there’s something motivating about the assumption that more books will follow your first. A couple of the ideas started to resonate and an outline formed.
The first idea was a response to Beyond the Basics’ premise and structure. The premise being that you already knew the basics, were off to a good start, but were searching for answers about what to do next. And I tackled the premise by a three-part framework, with part one being how to earn and save your money, part two was how to grow that money through investing, and part three was how to protect that money along the way. That’s great and all, one friend asked, but what should you do if you’re getting off to a late start and want to catch up on retirement planning? He even suggested a title, “It’s F*****ng Time, Get Your A** in Gear for Retirement.”
The second idea was a request that if I wrote another book to make more time and go even further Beyond the Basics in certain areas. The first book shared a lot of general information and specifics on a broad array of topics. How about diving deeper into fewer topics?
I loved both of those ideas and connected them into a book two that is currently being written.
Working table of contents for the Beyond the Basics sequel:
- Introduction
- Get Help
- Build a Plan to Define the Gap and Save to Attack the Gap
- Investing: Learning How and Why to Love Stocks
- Special Advice Chapter: Business Owners
- Tax Planning
- Planning Priorities
- Social Security, Medicare, Long-term care
- Special Advice Chapter: Divorce
- Special Advice Chapter: Widow/Widower
- Conclusion
More details to follow…thanks for your support!
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Suggested Further Reading
Personal Finance Curriculum – looking for more resources to learn about how to manage your finances and invest? Check out the personal finance toolkit I created with books, videos, articles, blogs, and podcasts to help.
Your Wealth Management Checklist – adapted from Beyond the Basics, here’s a checklist to review your finances