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This is a guide I initially put together for friends, but am now selling online. Here it is for free. Formatting came out a bit weird, but you can also find the full Ebook PDF here: Financial Secrets of The Wealthy, RevealedMy Financial Tool Set/StackYour financial stack is pivotal to your overall strategy being successful. It forms the ingredients that make up your meal. Put good in, get good out. It will determine the benefits you get, the data with which you make decisions, and how much you pay for financial services. A best in class financial stack will set you up for success.Personal CapitalThis is the best financial account aggregator application and I’ve tried them all. It has integrations with almost every financial institution, the data is accurate and it will allow you to track expenses, debt, networth, investment performance and bills all in one place across all accounts. Personal Capital is a massive time saver and allows you to make better financial decisions because you have your entire financial life in one dashboard.TDAmeritradeTD is the best online brokerage and trading platform. It’s by far the best value. It’s one of the cheapest and has the best benefits including great educational material and phone support where a financial advisor will explain any concept you ask.Working with the best brokerage will save you lots of money and time. Issues inevitably arise, and when they do, TDA will help you solve them.My 3 Products: My taxable investing account, a Traditional IRA and a Roth IRA. All three accounts are free (not including trading commissions) and come with fantastic features and benefits.Capital OneProbably the best credit card and online banking company out there. They charge no fees and will often solve any issues that come up for free. Their cards work anywhere in the world with no foreign transaction fees and they have great support. They also offer new account bonus up to $300.Note: CapitalOne360 also offers a high yield savings account with 1.85% interest that is easier to get than the Etrade Premium Savings Account.My 4 Products: Quicksilver Visa, Quicksilver Mastercard (1.5% cashback on everything automatically credited to my account every month, no fine print.) Capital One 360 checking account (completely free) and a high yield savings account.ChaseJamie Dimon is one of the best CEOs in the world and his bank is equally great. I use Chase as my brick and mortar bank (ATMs and in person services) and for credit cards. I was recently offered a Chase Freedom Unlimited Card with no annual cost and 1.5% cashback on everything. I can also take that cash back and apply it to travel for up to 3x its value. For this reason it has become my primary credit card when in the US.My 2 Products: Chase Freedom Unlimited Card and checking/savings account.E*TRADE:Etrade comes close #2 to TD Ameritrade for online brokerage services. They have slightly lower fees, but not nearly as good of services or benefits as TD. I use Etrade as my second Investment account for tax purposes and their fantastic Premium Savings account (1.85% interest and I can withdraw up to 10 times per month!)My 2 Products: Taxable investment account and Premium Savings account .Credit Karma:The best tool to monitor your credit score for free. They also have lots of insights on how to improve your score and great offers for bank accounts and credit cards.Google Calendar:“Timing is Everything.”Anything I can’t automate, I schedule on Gcal. This includes my dollar cost averaging into my investment account, checking resolved billing issues, reevaluating investments, etc. If you don’t schedule things, you’ll probably forget to do them and miss out on the opportunity.Set yourself up for success and put things on the calendar so you make decisions based on a well-thought out plan rather than your emotions or gut feelings.Seeking Alpha:This is a fantastic free blog and app where you can track your investments and read great articles analyzing different investments.Seeking Alpha is where I learned a lot about how to invest and ultimately arrived at the strategy that works for me. As I’ll discuss more in depth below, the best investing strategy is a simple one accomplish by putting the majority of your money into IVV (the S&P 500 ETF,) but it took me years to finally realize and implement this strategy. That being said this is a great place to learn and have fun if you generally find investing interesting.How to Get a High Yield Saving AccountIntro: This is one of the best secrets that I’ve found recently and something that’s usually only available to the wealthy or the scrappy in certain parts of the market cycle. You can currently get a High Yield Savings Account that will pay you about 2% annual interest that is fully insured and completely liquid. No penalties for early withdrawal like a CD (certificate of deposit).How to Get It:Pick an account from one of these banks and apply.Call up your existing bank and ask them if they offer an High Yield Savings Account or to raise your interest rate.If you get declined for the account or they impose a deposit requirement, etc, negotiate. Tell them you will go to another bank, they will usually fold because they want your business. If not, there are many others to try.Comparatively speaking, this is a screaming good deal. Your normal savings account is probably paying less than .02%. This High Yield Savings Account will pay you 20x that. Compare it to investing in bonds, you only get about half a percent more interest and alot more risk (bonds are generally considered to overvalued right now due to financial stimulus efforts following 2008 financial crisis).A High Yield Savings Account is the best place to keep your cash right now and wait for the next investing opportunity (market crash). Cash is king and having cash on hand when everyone else is running scared allows you to pick up things for pennies on the dollar. This is exactly what Warren Buffet does. Be patient and wait for the opportunity, then be aggressive.How and Where to Invest Your MoneyIntro: 15 years of investing experience has taught me that the best investing strategy is simple, automated and low cost. The tool to implement this strategy is SP500 ETF (Ticker IVV).What to Do: Keep 85% of your investments in IVV and 15% cash (in a high yield savings account) to take advantage of opportunities (irrational stock market declines) when they appear. Continue to contribute to your account using DCA (Dollar Cost Averaging) every month and never sell.Explanation:IVV is a fantastic investment for many reasons: It only costs .04% of assets per year, its well diversified, it pays a decent dividend (about 1.7%, DRIP eligible), and you won't lose money over the long term as long as you don’t sell based on fear or the US as a country ceases to exist.On average, the S&P 500 outperforms the vast majority of active traders even before taking into account the costs they pay for transactions and tax consequences. The great thing about IVV is that it doesn’t matter if it goes down in price. Don’t sell it, just buy more. Warren Buffett says, when something goes down in price, you get the opportunity to pick it up a discount. On top of that, DRIP enabled investment will reinvest your dividends at the cheaper price, lowering your cost basis. See also Einstein’s thoughts on the power of compounding.Between dollar cost averaging into IVV and having your dividends automatically reinvest, the value of your portfolio is going to grow quite quickly. Don’t worry about if it goes down in value temporarily. That’s just a paper loss, it’s not real. What’s important is that your assets are growing larger even while you do nothing. That’s the value of no overhead investing and what it feels like to be wealthy.Notes on why to never sell to try and time the market: “In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighing machine.”- Benjamin Graham. This essentially means that in the short term market movement is driven by people's sentiments and emotions (impossible to predict), but in the long term is driven by fundamental value (easier to value).Remember that the vast majority of people don’t make money from the stock market because they buy when everything is glamourous and the stock market seems unstoppable and they sell when the market drops and everyone is sure this crash is the one we won’t recover from. The stock market is unpredictable, period. Even if you sell at the top and miss the crash, you’ll probably fail to call the bottom and get back in for the recovery. Market timing, just don't do it. Sit back, relax and enjoy the ride that is getting wealthy. See more on this in the “Managing Yourself” section.Make Credit Cards Pay YouIntro: Leverage credit cards for cashback on every purchase, free loans and improving your credit score so you can save/earn more money down the line.What to do: Get a Capital One Quicksilver and Chase Freedom Unlimited Card if your eligible(if not check here for others) and get the new account bonus by hitting the spending goal or setting up auto payments. User you cashback (and bonus multipliers) and free loans to increase your purchasing power.Explanation:Cash Back Credit Cards are some of the best and easiest financial hacks, but for some reason many people don’t take advantage of them. Its free money (between 1% and 5% cash back)!Beware of cards that offer “Points”. Usually these cards have perverse/complicated loyalty programs and terms that make it difficult to actually reap the benefits. Stick to cash back cards. Remember, we’re looking for maximum benefit with minimal effort.Some cards offer increased cash back if your deposit earnings into their checking/savings accounts. (ex. TD Bank)Unify existing debt onto one card to lower costs. See more in the “Eliminating Debt” section.Don’t abuse your credit card. It can all go south quickly. Remember that credit card companies are a business. If you don’t have the discipline to have a $10k limit, start with $1k. Focus on developing the discipline to spend within your means.If you have bad credit, you may not be eligible for some of these offers. Refer to the “Raising Your Credit Score” section below on how to improve your credit score so you can get one.Using 401ks & IRAs to Grow Investments and Lower TaxesBackground: Tax advantaged retirement accounts are a fantastic way to build assets very quickly that most people don’t take full of advantage. This is a life changing mistake that will forever make you poorer and less free.What to do: Figure out the difference between your monthly expenses and your monthly after tax income. Divide that in half and set it as your monthly 401k contribution (the other half goes into your regular investment account and/or premium savings account). Next, pick the ETF or fund that tracks the SP500 (this will be one of the lowest cost options). Finally sit back and watch the money pile up.Deciding between a Roth and Traditional 401k: If you’re making less than $80K per year, go for the Roth. If you’re making more, go for the Traditional and double your benefits by investing pre tax dollars and saving thousands of dollars in tax by reducing your taxable income.Note: At minimum, contribute the full amount your employer will match.Super Hack: The triple win on your Traditional 401k involves doing something called a 401k to Roth Conversion which, if you have no income for the year, allows you to convert a pretax traditional 401k account balance (up to $54,300) to a post tax Roth IRA, tax free. This can save you between $8k and $11k in taxes if you have no other income that year.. Note that if you exceed the $54,300 limit, you’ll be bumped into the next tax bracket and pay 15% tax or about $8k in taxes.How to do it: Quit your job at the end of December.Roll up to $54,300 over from your traditional 401k to a Traditional IRA at TD Ameritrade.Roll your Traditional IRA balance into a Roth IRA (also at TD Ameritrade).Make sure you don’t have any income for this tax year.Travel for a year or work on a passion project enjoying the fact that Uncle Sam is paying you about $11k for doing it.Note: You can also use this strategy to pay “less” tax by waiting to do this during a low income year if you’re not keen on quitting your job. (I’ve quit my job twice to travel the world and have used this strategy).How to Raise Your Credit Score and Save BigBackground: Your credit score affects you in more ways than you probably know. It affects your ability to rent a place, how much you pay for a mortgage, student or auto loan, whether you get awesome credit card benefits or even sometimes getting a job. The difference between a bad credit score and a good one is tens of thousands of dollars. If you have a bad credit score, no worries. It is pretty simple to improve it quickly and start benefiting. A good credit score equals opportunity and money in your pocket.Your credit score is essentially your financial history which tells companies, who are going to loan you money, how likely it is that you will pay them back. If you have a bad financial history, then they will charge you more to lend you money because you are higher risk. The opposite is true if you have a good financial history.What to Do to Raise your Credit Score:Most important: If you have existing debt, focus on consolidating it then eliminating it. Many credit cards will give you a free balance transfer and a year of no interest loans. See the “Eliminating Debt” section.Check your Credit Karma account to make sure you don’t have any errors, missed payments or outstanding collections you forgot about. Settle all outstanding issues.Obtain enough of a credit card limit so that your average monthly expenses runs at between 10%-20% of your total limit. This is called your credit utilization ratio.Your total credit limit can be obtained on 1 credit card or several.How to raise your limit? Call your credit card company and ask for a limit increase.Try not to exceed 4 credit cards.Set up automatic statement balance payments to establish a history of paying your bills on time and automate the work.If you have a upcoming big purchase like a car, a computer, or a bike in my case, pay for it with installments even if you have the cash to buy it outright. This will add to your good payment history.Tax and Cost Minimization StrategiesIntro: Taxes and costs have large impacts over time. If you save money on a tax liability or by choosing a lower cost option, you've essentially earned the same amount of money. The average american pay 4 months worth of wages in tax! Imagine how significant it would be if you cut that to even 3.5 or 3 months.Strategies:Use low-cost ETFs, avoid mutual funds and professional managers when possible. These are both low cost and tax efficient.Investment costs have a significant impact over time. Try not to pay more than .005% on any of your investments. My average cost ratio is less than .002%.Look out for hidden fees like account management fees, transaction fees, etc. Financial institutions are required to clearly disclose all fees. This info can usually be found in the prospectus of the fund or account.Don’t pay for credit cards, they should be paying you!Simply tracking expensesLots of research shows that simply tracking your expenses lowers your expenses significantly. Set up Personal Capital and the budgeting widget on your smartphone.Rolling over your 401(k) when you switch jobs401ks have much higher fees (as much as 10x-20x) than a IRA, which is essentially the same thing. When you leave a company, rollover your 401k to your personal IRA at TD Ameritrade.Avoid Churning Assets: If its an investment, every time you sell its a taxable event. Avoid. If we’re talking about physical assets, other than real estate, they usually lose value quickly so you leave money on the table every time you “upgrade.”Tax Loss HarvestingWhat it is: “realizing a loss” so you can deduct it off your investment gains (unlimited tax savings) and/or up to $3000 of your taxable income (around $600 savings depending on your tax bracket).What to do: If you have a stock where you have a paper loss of $5000, sell it to realize it, then you can deduct it on your taxes. If you still want to own that stock because you think it will go back, wait 31 days then buy it back to avoid a “Wash Sale.”ProTip: If your using ETFs (as you should), you can sell your ETF, realize the loss for tax benefits then immediately buy back a similar ETF to stay invested incase it shoots up sooner than 31 days.Tax Gains HarvestingWhat it is: This is a strategy for artificially harvesting gains and raising your cost basis in years were you have low income to reduce or eliminate capital gains tax.How to do it: reference “Using 401(k)s and IRAs“ section.Hold onto your long-term gains until you have a low income or no income year (maybe you want to take a year off to travel or work on a personal project).In that year, sell investments that have embedded capital gains of up to $54,300 in order to pay no tax. You can either keep the proceeds and you’re free tax refund or you can immediately re-buy the stocker ETF to stay invested. The choice is yours.Enjoy your free $10k from the government and do something awesome.Good Reference Article:0% Capital Gains Tax RateHow Capital Gains WorksItemized deductions:This tax benefit is less applicable for most people since the itemized deduction was raised in 2018, however you should still take a look if you exceed the standard deduction. This will be particularly beneficial to entrepreneurs or side hustlers.Managing Liquidity, Overhead & Risk/ReturnIntro: This is the basis which which I evaluate my investments. Stocks and ETFs are inherently high liquidity and have low overhead. I like this set up because I want access to my money should I need it for an emergency or an opportunity and because I don’t want to have a second job managing my investments.What to Do: Follow the investment instructions listed in “How and Where to Invest Your Money” if you want a good mix of high liquidity, low overhead and a good risk/return profile. This means DCAing into IVV.Notes on Investing in real estate versus the stock market.It’s currently very trendy to invest in real estate and much less so to invest in the stock market. I think this is one of the after effects of the last financial crisis in 2008 2009. Generally trendy investments turn out bad.There’s no such thing as an asset that’s worth buying at any price. Currently, real estate is highly overvalued in my opinion. Anytime that lots of people who have little financial savviness are telling you that they are investing in an asset, it probably means that market is in bubble territory. Think bitcoin(note this is an extreme example, but just trying to make a point).I prefer the stock market (ETFs) because I like being footloose and having the flexibility to switch jobs, take a long vacation and in general do whatever I want. Investing in the stock market allows you to do that because there is very little overhead. You don’t have to do anything. When you invest in real estate, you have maintenance, potential bad tenants and any other unforeseen costs and time sucks that come from taking care of a physical asset.If you have a ton of cash, it’s good to diversify and keep money in multiple asset classes. If you have less than $500k in assets, it's probably best to keep your money in the stock market (at least now).Purchase Limitations: Depending on your net worth, buying a house might take up most, if not all, of your savings. That’s a highly concentrated portfolio and the opposite of diversification. The stock market let’s you invest exactly as much as you want to.How to value a real estate asset vs. an investmentStocks vs. Real EstateHow to Value Real EstateHow to Value ETFsWhen it comes to purchasing an asset, you want to adopt a contrarian mentality. “When there is blood in the street, buy.” If you want to buy a property for an investment, build a cash hoard. Then when it seems like the world is going to end. BUY. This takes courage and conviction, but this is an essential characteristic of the wealthy and how you make life changing money.Other things to keep in mind. If you are renting the house out then it is essentially a business, which means that you can deduct the cost of maintaining it. This could mean big savings on your taxes. As a kid, I was taught by my dad to rent where you live and live where you rent .Save Big With Insurance Rather Than Being Bled Dry By ItIntro: Generally speaking, insurance is a bad deal if you’re young, healthy and working. You don’t need expensive health insurance or a robust life insurance policy. You only want Insurance to cover you if something catastrophic happens. Normal health costs, you’ll want to pay out of pocket, which won't be an issue if you’ve followed the guidance listed in this plan. If you need insurance to cover small, occasional health costs of a few hundred dollars, you have not set up your financial plan correctly.What to do: Get the best value monthly plan (usually the cheapest) with the highest deductible and start contributing to a HSA (Health Savings Account).Explanation: Health savings accounts allows you to contribute pretax earnings into an account which you can then use towards medical costs. This money can also be invested like in a IRA. This strategy has several benefits.Lower monthly costs for insurance.Pay health insurance cost with pretax money (depending on your tax rate that means you get around 30% discount).You don’t have to deal with the hassle that is the insurance reimbursement process(time optimization).Pro Tip: Only use physicians that are “In Plan.”Managing Yourself: Emotions and AttitudeIntro: The ability to manage your emotions and attitude is one of the most important qualities that wealthy people possess. They don’t allow emotions to dictate their decisions. Data shows that the S&P 500 historically speaking has returned about 7 to 9%, but the average investor only gets about 3 to 4%. This is in large part because most people sell when they are scared (usually a market low) and buy when they are confident (usually a market high). You need to invest with conviction and have an attitude of willingness to learn.What to do:Use this financial plan or create your own and follow it. Occasionally adjusting and updating it after careful deliberation and research. Simply having a financial plan makes a huge impact even if it's not a perfect one.Adopt a contrarian mentality to your investing mindset. Buy when others sell, etc.Remember that asset prices fluctuate. They just do. Don’t worry about daily or even yearly fluctuations. If you have a sound financial plan and set up, you will make lots of money over the long term.Being wealthy is about having this plan set up, not that your net worth and investment portfolio goes up in value every day. Wealth isn’t created overnight with one good stock pick. It’s created over time by executing a well thought out financial plan. The mentality and benefits of being wealthy can be felt almost immediately after setting up the steps listed in this guide.Explanation: Again, remember Bitcoin. This is a great lesson for all. Don’t let the fear of missing out override your financial plan.Using and Eliminating DebtIntro: Debt is a fantastic tool if you have the discipline to use it correctly. It can allow you to bring a desired purchase forward and it can also allow you to multiply your earnings if applied to investment. However, abused or used incorrectly, it can lead to financial ruin.What to Do:If you have more than $10k in debt, look into debt forgiveness. It can’t hurt to ask and you’d be surprised some of the government subsidies that are there to help you out. Beware of scammers.Centralize your debt in one place with a free balance transfer and no interest for 1 year. Pay off your debt as soon as possible by forgoing purchases.Most debt interest rates are much higher than what you could earn by investing in the stock market or real estate, so you’ll almost always want to pay off your debt* before building a financial portfolio. Once you’ve eliminated your debt, start putting the rest of this financial plan into place.Use credit cards and set up automatic monthly statement balance payments. Enjoy your free monthly loan while building better credit.Use a housing mortgage to leverage buying an asset 5x more in value (20% down payment, 80% loan). This allows you to benefit from the gains of the entire asset value while only having invested 20% of total value.Note that mortgage interest rates are significantly lower than stock margin rates as government policies are in place to encourage housing ownership. This can be a fantastic tool for becoming wealthy.I do not advocate buying stocks on margin. In my opinion, it is too risky and the risk/reward profile often doesn’t make sense taking into account margin rates. Just as leverage can multiply your earnings if the asset is appreciating in value, so it can also multiply your losses if it is depreciating in value.Tax Benefits of Debt: Note that many types of interest are tax deductible, which is a huge benefit. The government will essentially pay you to borrow money. Credit card interest is not tax deductible.How to Make Big Money from Employee Stock ProgramsIntro: Companies will often offer stock incentives in addition to your salary. The best way to make money from this is to understand what you’re getting.What to Do:Figure out what type of Employee Stock Program your company offers.Figure out how much they are offering you. Ask for the amount of shares outstanding, the strike price, current valuation, etc. Note the number of shares alone is irrelevant if your company is not public.Use your company’s Employee Stock Program as a negotiating point.The reason that I advocate negotiating for more shares is because anytime you are negotiating it’s good to have several points to give-and-take on. If you negotiate just for higher salary and they say no, where do you go from there? The answer is you ask for more equity in addition to other things. In order to do this effectively, you must understand what you are negotiating.Find out if you are eligible for an 83B election, which allows you to pay the tax on the current value of the shares rather than the appreciated value when you sell (which you hope will be 100X what you got them for). Taking the 83 B election will save you thousands of dollars in taxes if your company has a successful exit or IPO.Further Explanation: I’ve worked in tech startups for years now and it continues to amaze me how financially illiterate people are, in general, and specifically when it comes to their company stock plan. Again, the number of shares you have (taken alone) is irrelevant. There is no standard amount of shares outstanding, so if someone tells you they have 10,000 shares, that means nothing unless the company is public. Make sure that you understand what you’re getting so you don’t get taken advantage of. The difference could be tens of thousands of dollars in earnings and potential tax consequencesMaximize Enjoyment by Optimizing ExpensesGeneral Advice:Most wealthy people don’t make frivolous purchases. I’m not advocating a life of financial abstinence; simply that you should think about the cost/benefit before purchasing the “thing.” Will it actually make you better off and more happy? Being wealthy is not about buying everything that you want, it’s about the freedom from money dictating how you live your life on a regular basis.Wealth can last through generations and become a legacy if it is managed wisely. Think about how the Patriarch who started his own business managed his money vs. some of the recent pro athletes who went from poor to havings hundreds of millions of dollars to poor again in a few years. Wealth is not an amount or destination, it is an indefinite mindset.Financial Advisors, Don’t Do It or Choose WiselyThe Background that Formed my Opinion: My first job out of university was a Financial Wholesaler. We sold financial products to financial advisors who then sold them to their clients. What I learned through this process is that most Financial Advisors are not actually Financial Advisors, they are sales people who don’t understand the products they sell. They charge as much as 2.5% or more of total assets per year (try calculating the total cost, funds costs plus advisory costs, etc.). This is a huge amount of money ($2.5k for every $100k you have invested and even larger when you think about The compounding effect over 30 years. These high costs put you at a huge disadvantage right off the bat even assuming that your Financial Advisor is a total financial wiz. If the SP500 averages 7% per year, this means he will have to outperform by 2.5% every year just to match what the SP500 does. Data shows that no one can do this consistently.It's a much better idea to become your own financial advisor and learn now to take advantage of opportunities that come your way.Note: Financial Planners and Tax Advisors can offer good value in certain cases, but again, being financially literate allows you to effectively evaluate their proposals.People Who’ve Influenced Me:Peter Thiel- One of the greatest thinkers of our time.Warren Buffett- The greatest investor of all time.Jamie Dimon- Passionate, effective business leader and an American Patriot.Elon Musk- Probably the most important man alive.Jeff Bezos- An incredible businessman that has mastered the work/life balance.