By day, John Robertson is a science communicator.

If that sounds like the opening panel of a comic book to you, you’re not wrong. John’s got a superpower, and it’s his unique ability to take big, complex, sometimes messy ideas and make them simple. Here’s the extraordinary part: he does it without reducing those ideas to useless generalizations.

When John writes about a concept (in this case, The Value of Simple: A Practical Guide to Taking the Complexity Out of Investing), he includes all the complex mess that makes personal finance so...well, so personal. He does this with such skill and clarity that you come away knowing what to do about it...a rarity in the world of personal finance writing.

But wait! There’s more! Not only did John write a book about:

• Why you should be investing

• What you should be focusing on

• Why simple index investing is worth pursuing

• How to avoid analysis paralysis and create a good enough personal investment policy and

• How to execute it as simply as possible and maintain it over time

He also created an interactive course - Practical Index Investing for Canadians - to walk you through every step.

Who should read it?

Anyone who has money to invest should read this book, even if you never, ever intend to manage a penny of your own portfolio. It’s a quick read that will enhance your understanding of why you’re investing in the first place. It will also give you baseline knowledge of the value your investment manager has to provide to be worth their fees.

If you only have time to read one chapter:

Taming the Need to Tinker, hands down. I’ve met a lot of would-be index investors in my career, and almost every single one of them needs to tattoo this chapter on both forearms.

If you only have time to read one paragraph:

“Control what you can - keep fees low, save a decent amount of your income, start early, don’t panic - and be prepared to be surprised and make adjustments on the rest. Get started in approximately the right direction, try to keep moving in the right direction in an iterative process of small course corrections, and try not to fear the uncertainty. The future will - at best - only look approximately like how we imagine it will. That uncertainty is just a fact of life.”

The Cone of Probability, page 56 (first edition)

If you only have time to read one sentence:

“Part of setting up an easy-to-follow plan is to make your own life easy and stress-free, but equally important is that the easier a plan is to follow, the more likely it is that you will actually follow it.”

Step 2: Determine Your Risk Tolerance and Asset Allocation, page 73 (first edition)

I’ve got a kind of dense, philosophical reading list for you this month, just in time for that Second New Year feeling that September always brings. Don’t miss the Top Three (below), but if you have more time be sure to check out Dan Bortolotti’s bond performance time machine and this reflection from Jennifer Chan on how the process of paying off debt can change us forever.Also, be sure to visit the National Pharamacare Online Consultation survey before comments close on September 28th. Your opinion matters!

Now Is the Perfect Time to Ask Yourself: How Am I Doing?

From Jacquette Timmons

I believe when stress surfaces it is an invitation to pause and ask yourself, ‘What is the stress trying to get me to pay attention to?’

Follow up: What Happens When You Expect the Wrong Thing

Read the full article here.

The Future of Financial Advice Must Be More Diverse

From Nick Richtsmeier

The assumptions of the eurocentric, male and gentrified Wall Street, which spawned the wealth management industry, are sundry and deep. What we know is that simply saying, “How do we hire and promote more women/people of color/millennials/Gen Xers?” is not making rich progress. I suggest strongly that it’s because we’re too often unwilling to address the unwittingly uniform views of success, the linear and assumed paths to affluence, and the tired inheritances of our industrial heritage.

Read the full article here.

The Psychology of Money

From Morgan Housel

This is a long but essential read. Break it up over a couple of days so you can really absorb it. Number 12 is key.Read the full article here.

You can read this month's entire list below:

The Most Likely Bookend to a Long, Strong Cycle | Tom Bradley

What to do when the grinding market pullback starts:

First, plan for your portfolio to not come back right away...

What Risks Are Worth Taking | Bob French

For most investors (and most of the financial industry) dealing with risk is a lot like making sausage. People want what it gets them, the investment returns, but they don’t want to deal with the process and the uncertainty that risk implies.

Rocket Men Precision | Ben Carlson

Some fields allow practitioners the ability to work with an extreme level of precision, even in the face of uncertainty. Finance is not one of those fields.

Living With Debt | Jennifer Chan

Eventually, as we cross the finish line and become debt-free, all that will remain is a more resilient, positive, and confident version of ourselves—who we were always meant to be.

National Pharmacare Online Consultation | Let's Talk Health

The deadline to comment on National Pharmacare (and read other people’s comments) is September 28th.

Bonds Behaving Badly | Dan Bortolotti

Take a ride in Dan’s time machine to July 2017 when everyone knew rates were rising and clever folks shortened their bond duration...what happened after BoC rates went up?

Have you ever experienced a period of time where anything that could go sideways did? Did it feel like nothing you planned to do turned out the way you thought it should? Did it feel like you were too busy to catch a breath, never mind catch up on the vitally important stuff...and that everything was vitally important and behind schedule?

I’m here to tell you that this is a universal experience and one that I have been through recently, and expect to go through again...frequently.

Here’s something to think about from Glennon Doyle:

A reporter just asked me: With the onslaught of bad news: how do you not quit?I said: Oh, I do quit! Quitting is my favorite! Everyday I quit! Everyday - at some point - I put it all away and melt into my people and my couch and food and gratitude and - joy! - and I forget it all.Then I go to sleep and wake up and begin again. Begin and quit everyday! No problem!!!

This is my gift to you this month (and, frankly, it’s my gift to myself every month):

Quit.

Quit struggling against the overload when your plans go sideways. Quit so you can begin again tomorrow. Work with today’s reality instead of the outdated projections and to-do lists that stopped applying when yesterday threw you a curveball.

You may actually find after you do some temporary, constructive, healthy quitting that not everything is in shambles to the degree you thought. All you need to do is the next right thing, day after day, to get back on track. Either way, there’s no shame in correcting your course...or in charting a whole new one.

If you’re feeling stuck, and unsure whether this is the right time to quit, please reach out. I know exactly how it feels, believe me.

There’s nothing I like better in the summer than pairing up a good book, the great outdoors, and a cool drink.

And let me be clear: I don’t sit around reading about money all day. That way lies madness (believe me). I want to read All The Things, and want you to do the same. So here are a few good books about money and your relationship to it to round out your summer reading list as a complement to all that delicious fiction* you’re going to read in the lazy days of August:

Personal Finance 101

The Value of Simple, John Robertson

Even if you never plan on managing your own portfolio, read this book. You’ll come away with a better understanding of why you’re investing, what to expect, and why simple is almost always better than complex. Plus, Robertson has developed a self-guided course that expands on The Value of Simple called Practical Index Investing for Canadians. (Read my full review of The Value of Simple here.)

Your Relationship with Money

Worry Free Money, Shannon Lee Simmons

Although there are powerful tools and calculators included in this book, the first quarter identifies and dismantles the reasons money and spending are so entwined with our feelings of inadequacy, belonging, and success. (Read my full review of Worry Free Money here.)

Daring Greatly, Brene Brown

We know for a fact that the root of most people’s worries about money come from deep feelings of shame and scarcity. This book has nothing and everything to do with your relationship with money, and if you’ve never read any Brene Brown it’s going to be a life-changer. (Read my full review of Daring Greatly here.)

*What I’m Reading (Not About Money)

The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell

I'd describe it as "Jesuits in space," which isn't anything I'd normally pick up on my own, but turns out it's the most craftsmanlike narrative I've ever read. Every word is perfectly placed, and the story turns out so contrary to what the plot makes you think is going on that it's deeply engaging to the very last page.

Green Grass, Running Water, Thomas King

It's dark and hilarious and heartbreaking, and you have to read it.

I don’t know about you, but the solid build up of backward progress (on what feels like all fronts) has left me feeling a little indifferent to reading personal finance stuff, as if nothing’s wrong with the world and all we need to worry about is our net worth or whatever.

But I’m still reading, still searching for voices and perspectives different from the mainstream (with varying degrees of success), still looking for wisdom and hope. If you’re with me, here are four things to read before you go do the next right thing:

It’s Time To Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

From Jennifer Taylor Chan

What’s more hopeful than using your resources in ways that don’t just benefit you, but make the change you want to see in the world?

While I’d like to consider myself a principled person, I’ll admit that I often neglect to think about how spending and managing my money could be in more in line with my values. For the longest time I parked my money in a major bank, bought cheap clothes at places like H&M and Forever 21, and made financial decisions that saved me the most money.But, as you know, what's convenient or lucrative doesn't always coincide with your principles. And betraying your principles for the sake of money is hardly a way to live.

Read the full article here.

Happily Misbehaving

From Adam M. Grossman

It’s not your bottom line that matters most. It’s how you use it and how it makes you feel.

People often struggle with financial decisions when the ‘right’ answer from a numerical standpoint doesn’t feel like the right answer from an emotional standpoint...Just because they seem like purely financial decisions doesn’t mean that they need to be decided on a purely quantitative basis...if a certain financial choice will bring you happiness—and it won’t greatly hurt you—then I wouldn’t be concerned. Your financial assets should bring you happiness and peace of mind.

Read the full article here.

The Best Advice You Can Ever Give

From Gustavo RazzettiI’m a professional advice giver, and I can testify to this:

Staying silent is more effective than providing unsolicited advice. It’s switching your role from hero to helper; to focus on listening and understanding what’s going through the other person’s mind.It’s better to be a good listener than to give advice no one will follow.

Read the full article here.

Your Financial Planning To-Do List

From Christine Benz

If you want to manage your resources so you can be generous with them, there’s no better way to do so than through financial planning. Here’s a 14-step process from Morningstar, complete with worksheets and tools if you want to tackle it yourself.Read the full article here.