Financial Literacy 101 by Dave Levine

Financial Literacy 101: Core Principles of Personal Finance, Career Planning, and Investing They Never Taught You by Dave Levine

Part I: Building Your Money Machine (Chapters 1-3)
Imagine this scenario: while your friends are losing money on get-rich-quick schemes and treating the stock market like a casino, you’re about to learn a powerful lesson: real investing is the opposite of gambling.

In the casino racket, the longer you play, the more you lose. It’s mathematically guaranteed. But when you invest properly by applying genuine, historically backed principles, the longer you stay invested, the more you earn. Additionally, you’ll discover how to spot the difference between a risky gamble and a solid investment that can appreciate and grow larger for decades, particularly if you start at a young age.

But investing is only powerful if you have money to invest. That’s why you’ll need to master the art of managing your income and savings, then grow them throughout your life.

Instead of letting money randomly flow in and out of your life without intention or purpose, after reading this book, you’ll redirect your money into categories: some for spending today, some for emergencies, and some for creating long-term wealth. Think of personal finance like building pipes and channels to send your money into the right places instead of letting your cash be spent randomly, wondering where all your money has gone at the end of the week or month.
In this book, you’ll also explore a comprehensive menu of investment options beyond stocks, including real estate, crypto assets, and bonds. You’ll understand the real pros and cons of each option, not just the hype. You’ll have an understanding of where to put your money based on your goals instead of the hot advice some digital influencer is pushing this week.

Part II: Understand How Money and Careers Work (Chapters 4-5)
You’ve mastered the fundamentals of long-term investing in Part I, but compounding growth takes decades to build real wealth. While that future wealth is crucial, young people also need income today. And here’s the key: the more you earn now, the more you can invest for those future decades.

Before diving into Part III’s practical strategies for earning money through work, you need to understand the economic playing field you’re entering.

In Part II, you’ll discover:
How the economy actually functions—not as a zero-sum game where someone must lose for you to win, but as an infinite game where value creation makes everyone better off.
Why we work (hint: you’re part of humanity’s greatest team project) and how prices act as invisible signals that coordinate millions of people without anyone being in charge.
Why profits aren’t shameful but proof that you’ve created something people value.
How to stop asking “What job should I get?” from a limited menu and instead ask game-changing questions like “What problems will I solve?” and “What will I become an expert at?”
How to think five years into the future to spot emerging opportunities, especially with AI and robots, positioning yourself in growing fields.

This section equips you with the mental models to see opportunities others miss, understand why the economy rewards problem-solvers, and recognize that your future isn’t about taking from a fixed pie—it’s about baking new ones.

Part III: Your Path to Career Success (Chapters 6-9)
Understanding how money and the economy work is powerful, but it’s time to learn how to actually make money and thrive in the economy. In Part III, you’ll have the opportunity to engage with the five-step path that virtually everyone follows to build a successful career:
Learn Skills ? Work ? Manage ? Own ? Scale.
Whether you dream of a simple but fulfilling job or starting the next billion-dollar company, these steps help you build your personal financial roadmap.

In this section, you’ll:
Discover how to learn faster than any college could teach you—directly from the world’s best experts using AI, YouTube, and methods that cost almost nothing.
Find out when that expensive college degree is worth the time and money and when a $500 certification beats a $100,000 education.
Learn the keys to landing your first job, making the most of your promotions, and knowing when it’s time to jump to a better opportunity.
And if the entrepreneurial bug bites, you’ll get the unfiltered truth about starting your own business.

This isn’t theory: this is the real playbook for building a career that matters to you and others.
Part IV: Design Your Complete Life (Chapters 10-11)
Even if you invest wisely, build a great career, and even get rich, you could still become unhappy.
Not ideal, right?

That’s because money is just one leg of a three-legged stool. Without health and relationships, the whole thing topples over. Part IV is about building a life that’s not just financially successful but worth living.

You’ll learn why putting off friendships and fitness “until you’re successful” is a trap that leaves people wealthy but alone, sick, and depressed.
You’ll discover how wealth, health, and relationships don’t compete for your time—they multiply each other’s power.

You’ll master the BASE method (Brainstorm, Analyze, Strategize, Execute), a simple but game-changing system that turns all this knowledge into real action.
Because knowing what to do and taking action are very different, and that’s a life lesson worth learning now rather than later.

The best part?
By the end of this book, you won’t just understand money. You’ll understand how to design a complete life where work has meaning, your body has energy, and you’re surrounded by people who matter.

That’s where real wealth lies: at the intersection of success, where proven processes help you achieve your financial, career, and personal goals.