Money and Me: How to Make Your Finances Work Harder for You and Your Family

by Jonathan Clements

"A compelling roadmap to a financial and personal life well lived.” —William J. Bernstein, Bestselling author, The Four Pillars of Investing
"An honest guide to both financial success and how to live a meaningful life." —Nick Maggiulli, Bestselling author, Just Keep Buying and The Wealth Ladder

It's called personal finance for a reason.

How can we use our income and wealth to make ourselves happier? What drives our financial decisions? How should we think about retirement and the financial markets?

The answers to these questions vary for each of us.

Join renowned financial writer Jonathan Clements on a fascinating journey to explore the connection between money and the rest of our lives. In this thoughtful guide to personal finance, he covers a wealth of topics including effective savings and investing strategies, good financial habits, as well as insightful life lessons and sage advice for nurturing meaningful relationships and personal happiness.

Full of wisdom, humour and sentiment, Money and Me combines the articles Jonathan wrote for HumbleDollar with deeply personal anecdotes from his own life. He shares his reflections upon receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis and the subsequent financial decisions it prompted.

No matter your age or situation, you will be able to apply his wisdom to your own financial practices, and strive ever closer to the goal of financial freedom for yourself and your family.

Genres: Finance

205 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 26, 2026

About the author

Jonathan Clements is an author, translator, biographer and scriptwriter. His non-fiction works include biographies of Confucius, Marco Polo, Mao Zedong, Koxinga and Qin Shihuangdi. He also writes for NEO magazine and is the co-author of encyclopedias of anime and Japanese television dramas.

Reviews

[Sanford Chee]

Recommended by Man-On.
Author wrote this book knowing the end was near. He wrote much of this book after he was diagnosed in 2024 w/ terminal cancer (born 1963-died 2025) - read Chpt 10 Farewell friends.

1. Family
“I want to give my kids just enough so that they would feel that they could do anything, but not so much that they would feel like doing nothing.” -Warren Buffett

2. Saving & Spending
How do you mould kids growing up in affluent households to be money hungry? To have fire in the belly?

3. Mkts
The road to wealth is simple: save diligently (spend https://fund-docs.vanguard.com/F3141.pdf
"The first rule of compounding: Never interrupt it unnecessarily." -charlie Munger

4. Retirement
FIRE vs ICE (I'll con't earning)?

5. Lists
Financial literacy for kids:
1/ Be an owner
2/ Be a saver/investor
3/ Delayed gratification
4/ Rule of 72 & compounding
5/ Inner score card vs outer score card
6/ Passively owning the world vs active investing
7/ Play the long game
8/ "Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful" -Warren Buffett
9/ Independent thinking & common sense
10/ Cultivate rationality
11/ Mental models
12/ Read
13/ Rule of 72 & compounding
14/ Service, giving back & pay it forward

6. Behaviour
“Slow is fast, fast is slow.” Duan Yongping

7. Happiness
Commuting is -ve for happiness. +ve for happiness: regular meet ups w/ close friends; exercise; travel xp; moments that matter.
15 ways to be happy:
1/ Build wealth = financial independence, freedom, peace of mind
2/ Inner vs outer scorecard. Avoid envy. Big fish in small pond vs small fish in big pond?
3/ Invest in friendships. Marriage as the most impt determinant for happiness.
4/ Get religion
5/ Work on your health. Virtuous health/happiness cycle: healthier people are happier =>happier people are more likely to take care of their health.
6/ Pursue your passions.
7/ xp over things. Don't buy problems.
8/ Pay to avoid distasteful work. Spend $ to avoid chores/unhappiness.
9/ Cut your commute: ❌traffic jams ❌road works ❌train/bus delays
10/ Give back. Be generous.
11/ Make smaller purchases
12/ Plan ahead. Often the best part of a purchase/xp is the anticipation.
13/ Focus on the +ve
14/ Gratitude
15/ Minimize $ worries

Hedonic + Eudaimonic (flow) - can have both, not mutually exclusive

8. Cancer
Estate planning: joint accounts; will listing all assets & liabilities and instructions/medical & financial powers of attorney; simplify over optimize - one less thing for beneficiaries to deal w/

9. Money meets life
https://humbledollar.com/2025/01/mone...
https://humbledollar.com/2025/01/taki...
https://humbledollar.com/2025/02/mind...
https://humbledollar.com/2025/02/taki...
https://humbledollar.com/2025/02/neve...
https://humbledollar.com/2025/02/what...

10. Farewell friends 22 Sep 2025
https://humbledollar.com/forum/farewe...

[Sarah Shoemaker]

We were very lucky to have such a clear minded, pragmatic, and soulful writer/teacher. I started reading his books to improve my financial literacy, only to be taught how to live a meaningful and valuable life. I will miss this man I never met, but learned so much from. This book is such a bitter sweet goodbye letter to all of us.

[Jeff]

Great read from a great author/writer. RIP

[Jean]

JFYI https://youtu.be/xPdexuuQ3NM?si=MJeE8...

[David Miller]

Very engaging read. Makes sense it was mostly published in short for first
Great perspective of it all.