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The first step that I recommend is to do some reading first. Good first books are “Rich Dad Poor Dad” and “Your Money or Your Life. You can find pointers to the URLS using the Books tab on this site.
Its highly recommended that you find or find someone to take the personal finance journey with you. Chances are that this has already occurred. If you are thinking personal finance already you probably have discussed this with your friends, family, and colleagues.
My favorite model is to find a mentor. Someone with personal finance experience. Someone who has a rich experience in running business and managing their personal finance. This is the type of person that can bring the most value. And when a person takes on the role of mentor, it infers that role comes without cost. It comes pro bono.
There are several reasons to have someone available for personal finance issues. First you will have a sounding board or someone to bounce ideas off. Also, this person may provide difference perspectives and ideas for you. Its even better if this person is looking to improve his or her own finances. The biggest plus with having a finance buddy is that it helps to hold you accountable for achieving goals.
Note that your financial buddy does not have to be local. It can be someone you chat with on a regular basis either on the phone or the internet. It could also be your spouse. Hopefully you and your spouse are on the same page but let’s save that for another discussion.
Another way to go is to join internet groups. There are also coaches that provide financial training in group settings. There also experts that financial coaching as a business. The challenge with this last approach is the cost. But keep in mind that a good financial coach is worth their weight in gold and can bring you many times the cost of consultation in additional income and reduced costs.
Note that the financial buddies discussed above were provided in the same order of magnitude as the cost to provide the service. Books followed by friends, followed by a mentor followed by online groups followed by one-on-one coaches. One-on-one coaches may provide the most value based on their experiences and the ability to customize the approach directly to suit your needs. There may be more buy in or more dedication from the paid financial coach vs a mentor since it is the paid financial coach’s job.