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First to a Million: A Teenager’s Guide to Achieving Early Financial Freedom
Change the way you look at money before you turn twenty.
Most teenagers are only told about one financial path: Work until you're old and then retire. But what if you want to spend your adult life traveling, creating, or bettering the world instead of working all day, every day?
Financial independence (FI) is the only way to win the resource you can’t rewind: TIME. Time for yourself, time for your family and friends, and time for your dreams. Gain the freedom to define your own future by building a strong financial base—which means saving more, spending less, and starting to invest as soon as possible.
First to a Million explores the many advantages of FI while explaining the secrets of investing, living frugally, and maintaining an entrepreneurship mindset. Treating your finances differently than the average teenager will put you miles ahead of your peers, and with time (and compound interest) on your side, you can win the game before it even starts!
Inside the Book, You’ll Learn:
• Why the typical “American Dream” pathway is not for everyone
• How a FI Freak can take control of their financial future
• The four mechanisms of early FI (Spoiler: they’re ridiculously simple!)
• How to make more money as a teen with creative jobs and side hustles
• How to be frugal and live richly with a life full of happiness and flexibility
• The difference between income and wealth, real and false assets, and good and bad debt
• Personal finance basics—like tracking income and expenses, building a credit score from the ground up, and calculating your net worth
• Investing basics—like earning passive income, understanding the power of compound interest, and how index funds and real estate can build your wealth
Most teenagers are only told about one financial path: Work until you're old and then retire. But what if you want to spend your adult life traveling, creating, or bettering the world instead of working all day, every day?
Financial independence (FI) is the only way to win the resource you can’t rewind: TIME. Time for yourself, time for your family and friends, and time for your dreams. Gain the freedom to define your own future by building a strong financial base—which means saving more, spending less, and starting to invest as soon as possible.
First to a Million explores the many advantages of FI while explaining the secrets of investing, living frugally, and maintaining an entrepreneurship mindset. Treating your finances differently than the average teenager will put you miles ahead of your peers, and with time (and compound interest) on your side, you can win the game before it even starts!
Inside the Book, You’ll Learn:
• Why the typical “American Dream” pathway is not for everyone
• How a FI Freak can take control of their financial future
• The four mechanisms of early FI (Spoiler: they’re ridiculously simple!)
• How to make more money as a teen with creative jobs and side hustles
• How to be frugal and live richly with a life full of happiness and flexibility
• The difference between income and wealth, real and false assets, and good and bad debt
• Personal finance basics—like tracking income and expenses, building a credit score from the ground up, and calculating your net worth
• Investing basics—like earning passive income, understanding the power of compound interest, and how index funds and real estate can build your wealth
Kindle Edition
Published December 14, 2021
38 people are currently reading
370 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
March 14, 2022
I’m 38. This book taught me a lot. Though it is geared for teenagers, it would be foolish for someone to pass this book by because they are older than that. I started reading finance books in order to make every dollar I earn stretch as far as possible. I wish I had known a lot of this info sooner. Now, I primarily read these books to help mentor teens, and in due season, my own children.
There is a graph on page 85 that is wrong. I reached out to the author, who confirmed that the graph is wrong. Other than this error, the book was typo free. Highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a primer on financial lingo.
There is a graph on page 85 that is wrong. I reached out to the author, who confirmed that the graph is wrong. Other than this error, the book was typo free. Highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a primer on financial lingo.
September 8, 2025
Pretty good intro for a teen/young adult. Slight bias towards real estate investing.
October 10, 2023
A nice solid introduction to the FI movement. It's laid out well and will be a great resource for teens/young adults. Asking the reader to frequently post on social media to promote the book is off-putting.
October 6, 2023
Overall a decent book and I do think teenagers need to be taught more about personal finance…but I have a few issues.
1) When listing all of the expenses associated with having a car, you can’t list both the purchase price of the car and annual depreciation for the car. Depreciation is just spreading out the purchase price over time (either by the actual value loss in the vehicle or by a set depreciation schedule). By listing both, the author is double counting that expense.
2) I really dislike the notion that your house is a “false asset”. He isn’t the first author to do this (and I do feel calling it a false asset is at least better than Kiyosaki calling it a liability). I understand what the author is saying, but I feel it downplays the value of a owning your residence too much.
The idea behind this book is to get more money to Steps 3&4 (Save and invest) by increasing Step 1 (income) and decreasing Step 2 (expenses). Owning your own house should do that just like owning a rental property unless you have purchased a more expensive house than you need.
If you buy a rental property and rent it to someone else, you increase Step 1 (income) by the difference between the amount you charge in rent and the taxes, maintenance, insurance, interest, etc.
If you are living in your purchased home, you decrease Step 2 (expenses) by the difference between the amount you would pay to live elsewhere (market rate rent for equivalent housing) and the amount you pay for taxes, maintenance, insurance, interest, etc.
Both of these strategies allow the same exact amount of additional money to pass through steps 1&2 and get to steps 3&4. (plus potentially some additional tax benefits associated with a primary residence for owning a property you live in).
The only way this isn’t true is when you have purchased a more expensive house than you need. If you have the option to live at home with parents, then you don’t need to purchase a house at all. If you have the option to rent at a lower price than the cost of buying the house you are looking at, then you don’t need that particular house as you have a better option. If you are in a position where house hacking is possible, that can be a great option as well. But if you bought the appropriate residence for your needs, it definitely isn’t a false asset as it increases the amount of money remaining for Steps 3&4 vs the available alternative. It is only a “false asset” in the author’s sense of the term when you purchase a house that exceeds your needs.
1) When listing all of the expenses associated with having a car, you can’t list both the purchase price of the car and annual depreciation for the car. Depreciation is just spreading out the purchase price over time (either by the actual value loss in the vehicle or by a set depreciation schedule). By listing both, the author is double counting that expense.
2) I really dislike the notion that your house is a “false asset”. He isn’t the first author to do this (and I do feel calling it a false asset is at least better than Kiyosaki calling it a liability). I understand what the author is saying, but I feel it downplays the value of a owning your residence too much.
The idea behind this book is to get more money to Steps 3&4 (Save and invest) by increasing Step 1 (income) and decreasing Step 2 (expenses). Owning your own house should do that just like owning a rental property unless you have purchased a more expensive house than you need.
If you buy a rental property and rent it to someone else, you increase Step 1 (income) by the difference between the amount you charge in rent and the taxes, maintenance, insurance, interest, etc.
If you are living in your purchased home, you decrease Step 2 (expenses) by the difference between the amount you would pay to live elsewhere (market rate rent for equivalent housing) and the amount you pay for taxes, maintenance, insurance, interest, etc.
Both of these strategies allow the same exact amount of additional money to pass through steps 1&2 and get to steps 3&4. (plus potentially some additional tax benefits associated with a primary residence for owning a property you live in).
The only way this isn’t true is when you have purchased a more expensive house than you need. If you have the option to live at home with parents, then you don’t need to purchase a house at all. If you have the option to rent at a lower price than the cost of buying the house you are looking at, then you don’t need that particular house as you have a better option. If you are in a position where house hacking is possible, that can be a great option as well. But if you bought the appropriate residence for your needs, it definitely isn’t a false asset as it increases the amount of money remaining for Steps 3&4 vs the available alternative. It is only a “false asset” in the author’s sense of the term when you purchase a house that exceeds your needs.
October 24, 2022
Hmm. It's hard to rate this one. There's a lot of really good talk about finance, and a easy to read breezy tone that respects the teen reader but also wants to convey the stuff Sheeks learned that helped him a lot. I agree with so much of the advice, so of course it sounds smart :-). Earn more, spend less, invest wisely.
I'm a bit uncomfortable with the cult like aspects of the FI movement -- the calls to post your progress and tag them, the reassurance that other people may not respect your independence or will envy it, and the easy first steps followed by a huge leap.
1. Earn money! (some advice, clearly stuff that a teen could do)
2. Save money! (spend less) (more advice, also stuff that a teen could do)
3. Save money -- invest (a bit tougher, but solid advice about savings and stock markets)
4. Buy a house with a mortgage and become a landlord! (wait a second -- this is next order level of toughness, and getting it wrong would be really bad. Not everyone who can do steps 1-3 will do well at this.....)
I'm a bit uncomfortable with the cult like aspects of the FI movement -- the calls to post your progress and tag them, the reassurance that other people may not respect your independence or will envy it, and the easy first steps followed by a huge leap.
1. Earn money! (some advice, clearly stuff that a teen could do)
2. Save money! (spend less) (more advice, also stuff that a teen could do)
3. Save money -- invest (a bit tougher, but solid advice about savings and stock markets)
4. Buy a house with a mortgage and become a landlord! (wait a second -- this is next order level of toughness, and getting it wrong would be really bad. Not everyone who can do steps 1-3 will do well at this.....)
February 20, 2024
I am a 15-year-old who started reading this book because I was interested in learning about finances, business, and entrepreneurship. I saw somebody saying that this book was a good book for teenagers to read if they wanted to learn about financial freedom. Since this was something I was interested in I picked it up with the only expectation that I would learn something. All the topics in this book such as assets, expenses, and taxes, I was familiar with because I am also taking a business course online. I think that this book was very digestible for teenagers, however, I do think it is a really good introduction for any group to start learning. I enjoyed it when he taught about learning to rent houses to others, which teaches about passive income. This was especially important to me because I want to make passive income through many sources, so it gives me the ability to travel and enjoy life. Some of the future books I will read are going to be about the stock market to open up another one of the many ways I will make money. I think anybody should read this book if they are looking for an introduction to finances, even if you are not a teenager. However, since the material is a lot more digestible and put in easy terms, I would recommend all teenagers to read this book because this applies to anybody, even if you want to become a doctor. If you would like to learn about things that open up multiple income streams and learn how to manage it through savings this is a really good book for you. The only reason this book isn't a 5-star is because before I read this book I saw the reviews, and some of them said that the graphs were off, or some of the things he was teaching were slightly off. Nonetheless, this book overall has a really good message to spread towards teenagers considering this is not something that all schools teach.
July 20, 2024
I read the digital version and bought a hard copy for our kids to read. I think there is a lot of great foundational advice about finances and a great way of explaining the why behind needing to be financially independent, but this is a little heavy on the whole you don't need to go to college perspective. In Florida, with bright futures availability, I personally think college is a fantastic opportunity for the kids that would/should excel at it and it's kind of an expectation for our kids, but I do know it's not for everyone. I loved all the real estate talk as one day I'd love to have more properties and maybe it's an avenue for our kids to explore if reading this sparks their interest. I'm glad it also covers principles like not going into credit card debit, the power in compound interest, opportunity cost, etc. I look forward to talking with the kids once they read about things that spoke to them and parts that maybe we don't agree with.
May 30, 2023
We are trying to set up our kids to have the knowledge they need for their futures and this book was a great addition for knowledge.
Learning skills that will set them up for success and going into deals of things that us as adults were never taught in school or out of.
I will be recommending this book to all my friends with teens to help them excel in their future financial independence endeavors- and maybe the parents will learn a thing or two to implement in their financial life.
The American Dream of 9-5 until 65 is done! Teaching the youth to invest/save and live a happy fulfilling life with passive income instead of only active income!
This book isn’t only for teens, any adult would benefit from learning from this book.
Learning skills that will set them up for success and going into deals of things that us as adults were never taught in school or out of.
I will be recommending this book to all my friends with teens to help them excel in their future financial independence endeavors- and maybe the parents will learn a thing or two to implement in their financial life.
The American Dream of 9-5 until 65 is done! Teaching the youth to invest/save and live a happy fulfilling life with passive income instead of only active income!
This book isn’t only for teens, any adult would benefit from learning from this book.
May 9, 2022
I had minimal financial education when growing up and had to learn many of the lessons in this book on my own and too late. I wanted this to be different for my kids. I read this book every night with my 13-year-old daughter and then discussed it with her. She quickly grasped the concepts and incorporated the vocabulary: "Dad, that is a good idea for a side hustle." Or, "Dad, I'm going to house hack when I grow up." I highly recommend this book for teenagers and adults alike. Keep a copy handy because you'll be reading it again and again.
June 30, 2022
Top notch. Absolutely critical, and a book I wish I would’ve read as a teenager - it’s a great roadmap to early financial freedom. I will be sharing with my younger family members and mentees. Nice job Dan!
May 6, 2022
This book had good tips, but you can only follow some of the things in this book if you like to gamble with money.
October 7, 2022
Good tips, will read again.
December 3, 2022
Should be required reading for every 10th grader in America.
January 9, 2023
insane im a billionare thatks to this
April 9, 2023
Aimed at teenagers, but felt like he was pandering (Freak Speak). Also, felt very aspirational and not really grounded in reality.
August 13, 2023
Great book - every teenager and the parent should read this book. Written for teenagers, this book covers all of the key topics to reach financial Independence.
February 14, 2024
Nice book!
December 16, 2022
Worth a read yes! The earlier in life you read it the better. Don’t be a sucker, instead learn your value of things and discover what makes you happy. Then achieve happiness while you strive for financial independence, freedom (of time). It’s never too late to start either. That’s what this book is about and it can help you get started.
I do wish the author talked about retirement investments more though because they can be powerful wealth generators especially for those who do not go the real estate investing route. Though now I may look into that more because this book encourages you to take some calculated risks and has faith in you (so gives you the confidence) that you can learn what you need to in order to achieve your goals.
If you know me ask me in person about FI / FIRE and I’m happy to share what I’ve learned so far.
I do wish the author talked about retirement investments more though because they can be powerful wealth generators especially for those who do not go the real estate investing route. Though now I may look into that more because this book encourages you to take some calculated risks and has faith in you (so gives you the confidence) that you can learn what you need to in order to achieve your goals.
If you know me ask me in person about FI / FIRE and I’m happy to share what I’ve learned so far.
November 3, 2025
As a parent, I thought this book was really interesting. I like how it is focused on teens and it has a clear path (one of many available) for teens to get their first million. While I am not sure real estate investing is a possibility for all walks of life (why I gave only 4 stars - I think many inner city kids would have troubles with this), Dan includes a great overview of how to use real estate investing as a tool to get to financial independence along with great resources. I love the community that he has built and how he has made it a safe haven for teens and young adults to express their thoughts and askj questions.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews