The hottest Personal Finance Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Finance Topics

Eight Years Pathless & Money Reflections | #299

Boundless by Paul Millerd • 350 implied HN points • 02 Jun 25
💼 Business Personal Finance
  1. Writing has become the main source of energy and joy. Even though it took time to make money from it, the creative freedom it provides is very fulfilling.
  2. After eight years of being self-employed, the income earned is similar to when employed. Building skills and improving the relationship with money have been key to this journey.
  3. Working independently has helped develop many skills, but it sometimes misses out on the joy of collaboration. Being open to teamwork in the future could bring new satisfaction.

My Personal Investing Journey

Jay's Data Stream • 5 implied HN points • 19 Feb 26
💰 Finance Personal Finance
  1. Buy-and-hold only reliably works for broad index funds, because they spread risk across many companies; individual stocks or crypto can go to zero, so you can’t treat every asset the same.
  2. True diversification means different exposures, not just different labels — owning the S&P plus a bunch of U.S. tech bets is still concentrated; an automated, multi-asset portfolio with regular rebalancing helps you survive big drawdowns.
  3. Use clear rules and position sizing: keep a small YOLO bucket, only hold individual bets you would buy at today’s price, and pay attention to fees and fine print because small differences compound over time.

25 Things I've Learned In 25

Spilled Coffee • 44 implied HN points • 17 Dec 25
💼 Business Personal Finance
  1. Prioritize time and relationships over possessions. Spend money to buy time, create experiences, and celebrate loved ones while you still can.
  2. Invest with discipline and block the noise: have a watchlist, cut losses quickly, let winners run, and favor low-cost indexing if you can’t consistently outperform. Avoid loud social media opinions and fear-driven decisions.
  3. Act now and enjoy life instead of waiting for perfect timing: call people, ask questions, help others, and build small surprises and rituals that create lasting joy.
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Portfolio Update

Spilled Coffee • 20 implied HN points • 20 Jan 26
💰 Finance Personal Finance
  1. A top investment conviction for 2026 is being doubled down.
  2. The move specifically involves one of the 'Mag 7' stocks, meaning a major tech position is being adjusted.
  3. The full portfolio update is behind a paywall and available only to paid subscribers.

Realistic Retirement Planning

The Better Letter • 412 implied HN points • 07 Apr 23
💰 Finance Personal Finance
  1. Realistic retirement planning is crucial, especially considering the impact of debt and the average 401(k) balance.
  2. Advice on saving more and saving earlier is important, but should be realistic and consider individual circumstances.
  3. Retirement planning should acknowledge competing priorities and be approached with creativity and understanding, without judgment.

Congratulations On Your New Money Pit!

Shades of Greaves • 275 implied HN points • 13 Dec 23
💰 Finance Personal Finance
  1. Owning a 'money pit' home comes with financial responsibilities like mortgage, property taxes, and maintenance costs.
  2. Engaging in DIY home repairs can save money but may take more time and effort than expected.
  3. Despite the challenges, owning a home allows for building relationships with neighbors and sharing experiences with other homeowners.

So, you messed up.

DeFi Education • 1019 implied HN points • 01 Dec 22
🔮 Crypto Personal Finance
  1. Everyone makes mistakes, especially in investing. It's important to learn from them and manage risk so you can keep moving forward.
  2. If you're struggling financially, focus on increasing your cash flow, cutting expenses, and working hard. It's important to adapt to the tough times.
  3. Don't assume that past market conditions will come back. Prepare for the future by managing risks and being smart about your investments.

Just Own Stocks

Spilled Coffee • 52 implied HN points • 19 Nov 25
💰 Finance Personal Finance
  1. Investing in stocks is a smart long-term strategy. Even if the market feels uncertain, staying invested usually pays off over time.
  2. Many people underestimate the costs of owning a home. Homes can seem like good investments but often don't grow wealth as effectively as stocks.
  3. It's better to invest regularly in the stock market rather than trying to time when to buy or sell. Consistency is key for building wealth over the long run.

My Neighbor Pays $1,000 in Taxes on a $2M Home

Jay's Data Stream • 11 implied HN points • 21 Jan 26
💰 Finance Personal Finance
  1. Property tax rules like Prop 13 (and the partial change under Prop 19) create perverse incentives that can keep homes empty and distort the housing market, because low assessed taxes make owners reluctant to rent or sell.
  2. Buying a home is highly timing-sensitive and can be very costly when plans change — mortgage interest, taxes, transaction fees, and the lost investment opportunity can make ownership much worse than renting and investing instead.
  3. San Francisco looks bullish over the long run because supply is effectively frozen by regulations while tech/AI-driven wealth is likely to boost demand, so buying only makes sense with a 10+ year horizon.

The Philosophy of Money

We're Gonna Get Those Bastards • 8 implied HN points • 21 Jan 26
💰 Finance Personal Finance
  1. Money is a tool to buy comfort and freedom, and having enough makes small daily worries disappear.
  2. Save and invest consistently with delayed gratification—anyone can build wealth by living below their means and starting early.
  3. Manage risk by hedging against catastrophic losses and being realistic about investing, since preserving capital can be more important than chasing higher returns.

STAY VIGILANT.

Philoinvestor • 176 implied HN points • 23 Dec 23
💰 Finance Personal Finance
  1. Focus on self-care and quality of life over just pursuing success.
  2. Reduce distractions like excessive internet use to improve focus and engagement.
  3. Structure markets around your life for better career results and quality of life.

What would you do if you had pizza money?

Tech and Tea • 263 implied HN points • 20 Feb 25
💰 Finance Personal Finance
  1. The pizza money scenario encourages people to think about their relationship with money and what they're willing to sacrifice for financial independence. It reveals whether people prioritize financial gain or their daily comfort.
  2. Responses to the pizza question vary widely, showing that some people are focused on maximizing wealth while others prefer to maintain their lifestyle. This highlights how different priorities shape our choices.
  3. The absurdity of the situation helps clarify what truly matters in life. It encourages introspection and helps people identify their values, leading to better alignment between life choices and personal goals.

A Year-End Update

Concoda • 335 implied HN points • 15 Dec 24
💰 Finance Personal Finance
  1. The year was challenging, but the blog has successfully focused on financial topics and gained more readers.
  2. Infographics created by the blog have helped explain complex monetary systems, making them more accessible to subscribers.
  3. There is excitement for what's coming next year, with plans for even more detailed content.

The Claude Financial Modeling Workshop: Build Your First Money Dashboard in 10 Minutes

The Product Channel By Sid Saladi • 13 implied HN points • 11 Jan 26
💰 Finance Personal Finance
  1. Use Claude to build interactive financial dashboards in minutes, like an emergency fund runway and a subscription audit, with sliders to test different expense and savings scenarios.
  2. Use the 4-part prompt formula—give full context, declare controllable variables (sliders), ask Claude to show its step-by-step logic, and request clear visualizations—to get accurate, usable models.
  3. Leverage the ready-made toolkit of 50 templates to create practical financial tools (lifestyle inflation detectors, debt payoff optimizers, retirement gap finders, etc.) so you can build useful models instead of just reading about them.

Challenge Orthodoxy

Who is Robert Malone • 23 implied HN points • 10 Dec 25
💰 Finance Personal Finance
  1. The subscription-based economy is spreading into almost every industry, creating recurring costs that can stop people from owning things and building equity.
  2. Very long mortgages like 50-year loans push most payments toward interest for decades, so buying can feel like renting and leaves homeowners stuck with long-term liabilities.
  3. Building wealth means reducing dependence on subscriptions and long-term high-interest loans, owning assets outright when possible, paying down debt quickly, and keeping your own backups for important data.

What I believe about money

Trying In Public • 99 implied HN points • 08 Jan 24
💰 Finance Personal Finance
  1. Money is essential and causes real emotions, impacting our lives in many ways.
  2. Being responsible with money means being accountable and meeting obligations, which might feel like a burden at times.
  3. Overcoming money problems often involves creating systems, seeking support, and taking control of one's actions to improve financial well-being.

How making memes made me a millionaire in 2 months [Finance Fridays]

Technology Made Simple • 159 implied HN points • 16 Sep 23
💰 Finance Personal Finance
  1. To be worth a million dollars, you can have a million dollars in cash, but it's rare and not always the smartest move.
  2. People can become 'millionaires' through equity, like stock compensation, where the value can fluctuate.
  3. Understanding tricks like using projections, earnings multiples, and fuzzy assets can help spot inflated valuations in the finance world.

How You Would Prepare for a Financial Collapse in The Near Term

OK Doomer • 176 implied HN points • 02 Mar 25
💰 Finance Personal Finance
  1. It's important to prepare for financial uncertainties because the economy can change quickly. Think about what you would need if you suddenly couldn't access your money.
  2. Many people can't just drop everything and move to the woods to escape problems. Most of us have jobs and families, so we need practical solutions for city life.
  3. Consider stocking up on essentials like food and water. Being ready for the unexpected can give you peace of mind in uncertain times.

Winning the Lottery

We're Gonna Get Those Bastards • 7 implied HN points • 03 Jan 26
💰 Finance Personal Finance
  1. If you win, stay anonymous and keep it quiet because public winners get inundated with scammers, lawsuits, and people asking for money.
  2. Immediately hire financial, legal, and tax advisors and focus on preserving wealth with conservative investments and real estate instead of buying flashy toys.
  3. Treat lottery tickets as a small entertainment expense or upside exposure (a rule like 0.1% of income), and remember taxes will take a large bite of any big prize.

How to build wealth with little risk

A Bit Gamey • 6 implied HN points • 18 Jan 26
💼 Business Personal Finance
  1. Make lots of small, low-downside bets so failures are survivable but winners can run; structure optionality instead of gambling everything.
  2. Enter proven markets by copying what works and then improve on execution; cheap entry and fast learning beat trying to be original from day one.
  3. Protect wins by controlling costs and building simple moats, then be patient and let low fees and long-term compounding do the heavy lifting.

L'argent de l'Atelier

L'Atelier Galita • 79 implied HN points • 25 Jan 24
💼 Business Personal Finance
  1. Money allows for professionalization and aligns interests and motivations.
  2. Having a financial cushion through savings brings peace of mind and security in times of crisis.
  3. Introducing money into the equation helps focus on meaningful achievements over vanity metrics.

Big Banks and Credit Unions- An overview[Finance Fridays]

Technology Made Simple • 119 implied HN points • 26 May 23
💰 Finance Personal Finance
  1. Banks are for-profit while credit unions are non-profit. Credit union customers have more ownership and transparency in decision-making.
  2. Credit unions usually offer higher interest rates on savings and have lower fees compared to banks.
  3. Credit unions tend to be more flexible in customer service and product offerings, while banks typically have more branches and services.

Depreciation explained

Concepts of Finance 🧠 • 219 implied HN points • 30 Mar 23
💰 Finance Personal Finance
  1. Depreciation is when things lose their value over time, like cars and electronics. This impacts how much you could sell them for later.
  2. For businesses, depreciation helps account for the decrease in value of their assets, matching costs with how much money those assets help make over time.
  3. Knowing how quickly something depreciates can guide your buying decisions. Some items, like luxury goods, hold their value better than others.

Your payslip - explained

Concepts of Finance 🧠 • 179 implied HN points • 24 May 23
💰 Finance Personal Finance
  1. Many people struggle to understand their payslip, which is a common document. Knowing how to read it can reduce anxiety about money matters.
  2. A payslip contains important information like your gross pay, deductions, and net pay. Gross pay is what you earn before deductions, and net pay is what you take home.
  3. Payslips often include abbreviation codes for pay and deductions. It's helpful to know these terms to fully understand your earnings and any deductions from your pay.

The Audacity of it

We're Gonna Get Those Bastards • 6 implied HN points • 28 Dec 25
💰 Finance Personal Finance
  1. Successful people can still fear greater success and often set small, safe goals because they doubt they deserve more.
  2. Big opportunities can trigger paralyzing anxiety where performance depends as much on mental makeup and faith as on technical skill.
  3. Despite the fear, choosing audacity—taking bold actions, enjoying life’s perks, and trusting a higher power—helps you handle uncertainty and keep moving forward.

Walking In Memphis

Behavioral Value Investor • 148 implied HN points • 31 Dec 24
💰 Finance Personal Finance
  1. When people are in pain or facing difficulties, it's easy to think that things will never get better. It's important to remember that these tough times are usually temporary.
  2. Using past pains can help us grow and improve, especially in things like investing. Instead of giving up, we should learn from our experiences and stick to our tried-and-true methods.
  3. The future is often different from what we've recently experienced. Just like healing in life, financial markets also recover over time, so we should stay hopeful even when things seem bleak.

Don't be the Bryan Johnson of money.

Neckar’s Notes • 123 implied HN points • 29 Jan 25
💰 Finance Personal Finance
  1. Measuring money can be misleading. When focusing just on a number, like net worth, it can become unimportant and lose its meaning.
  2. Like health, money can dominate your thoughts when you don't have it. But when you do, it often fades to the background.
  3. Don't obsess over extreme methods to gain wealth or health. A simple, balanced approach can be more effective and sustainable.

Networked Conviction 001

Investing 101 • 4 implied HN points • 12 Jan 26
💰 Finance Personal Finance
  1. Publishing weekly builds a habit and keeps you focused on consistency instead of chasing perfection.
  2. Having paying readers creates accountability and pushes the writer to produce more serious, unfiltered research and thinking.
  3. The newsletter serves three purposes: portfolio updates, Requests For Startups, and generating investing ideas, lessons, and frameworks.

My Investing Philosophy

Spilled Coffee • 124 implied HN points • 29 Jan 25
💰 Finance Personal Finance
  1. Reading investment books helped shape my investing strategy over time. It's important to learn from different sources and experiences.
  2. I consistently invest in an S&P 500 index fund every month. This approach has helped me stay focused on long-term growth without getting caught up in market fluctuations.
  3. Having a high conviction strategy means holding onto a few strong stocks instead of constantly buying and selling. Patience has often led to better investment outcomes for me.