The Richest Man in Babylon
What’s inside
Money lessons told through Babylonian parables: saving regularly, managing spending, and understanding how money can work over time.
COMMUNITY NONPROFIT / Financial literacy
We All We Got Foundation
Community resources Michigan
W.A.W.G LEARNING LIBRARY / MIThe steps to
The steps to
financial freedom.
Choose a structure, understand the paperwork, learn how common trusts work, and match your funding search to the way your organization actually operates.
Start with your structure01Choose02Form03License04Fund05Maintain06Understand trusts
PAUL’S COLLECTION / WE ALL WE GOTFinancial literacy.
Financial literacy.
One book at a time.
25
Books on money, investing, business, and the habits behind them. Read at your own pace, or listen while you build.
Explore the reading path25 of 25 books
The Psychology of Money
What’s inside
Short stories about the emotions, expectations, and personal experiences behind money decisions. Explore patience, uncertainty, and the meaning of enough.
Rich Dad Poor Dad
What’s inside
A contrasting view of money, work, and ownership. Use the book to question spending habits and compare its definitions of assets and liabilities with standard accounting.
Your Money or Your Life
What’s inside
A framework for connecting spending with the time and energy it takes to earn money. Reflect on tracking expenses and defining a satisfying life.
The Total Money Makeover
What’s inside
Dave Ramsey’s approach to emergency savings and debt repayment. Compare the debt snowball with alternatives and consider which tradeoffs fit your circumstances.
I Will Teach You To Be Rich
What’s inside
A practical look at automating bills, saving, and investing while spending intentionally. Treat suggested percentages as a framework, not a universal rule.
The Automatic Millionaire
What’s inside
An introduction to automatic saving and consistent financial habits. Investment examples depend on assumptions and are not promises of future returns.
The Intelligent Investor
What’s inside
Benjamin Graham’s approach to value investing, market fluctuations, and a margin of safety. Investing involves risk, including the loss of principal.
The Little Book of Common Sense Investing
What’s inside
John Bogle’s case for broad diversification and lower investment costs. Learn how fees affect results without assuming any investment will outperform.
The Millionaire Next Door
What’s inside
A study of wealth accumulation, spending habits, and the difference between visible consumption and financial resources. Consider the context and limits of its findings.
Die With Zero
What’s inside
A perspective on balancing saving with meaningful experiences and giving. Evaluate the ideas alongside longevity, dependents, and financial uncertainty.
Principles for Navigating Big Debt Crises
What’s inside
Ray Dalio’s framework for understanding debt cycles and economic crises. Explore the model as one interpretation of history, not a prediction.
The E-Myth Revisited
What’s inside
Why working in a business differs from building systems for a business. Explore documented processes, clear roles, and reducing dependence on one person.
The Lean Startup
What’s inside
A method for testing business assumptions through small experiments and customer feedback. Learn about minimum viable products and measuring useful outcomes.
Zero to One
What’s inside
A founder’s perspective on creating something different rather than copying what already exists. Consider innovation, competition, and the limits of startup advice.
Good to Great
What’s inside
A study of organizational leadership, disciplined decisions, and long-term business performance. Reflect on its research rather than treating it as a guaranteed formula.
Profit First
What’s inside
A cash-management approach that allocates business income into separate purposes. Discuss implementation with a qualified accountant before changing your bookkeeping.
$100M Offers
What’s inside
Ideas for shaping offers around customer needs, value, and pricing. The title describes the author’s framing, not an earnings promise.
The Hard Thing About Hard Things
What’s inside
A founder’s account of difficult leadership decisions, uncertainty, and running a company through setbacks. Focus on judgment rather than easy answers.
Shoe Dog
What’s inside
Phil Knight’s memoir of building Nike. Explore persistence, partnerships, cash-flow pressure, and the difference between a success story and a repeatable plan.
Think and Grow Rich
What’s inside
A historical self-help book about goals, persistence, and collaboration. Read its success claims critically; mindset alone does not guarantee wealth.
Atomic Habits
What’s inside
A framework for small, repeatable habits and the environments that support them. Apply the ideas to consistent learning and practical routines.
The 4-Hour Workweek
What’s inside
Ideas about prioritization, delegation, and experimenting with how work is organized. Lifestyle and income examples are not typical or guaranteed outcomes.
The Alchemist
What’s inside
A novel about pursuing a personal calling and learning from the journey. Use it as a reflection on purpose rather than financial instruction.
The Art of Money Getting
What’s inside
P. T. Barnum’s historical observations on work, spending, and business. Read the advice in its nineteenth-century context and compare it with modern guidance.
A path through the collection.
A suggested 14-week sequence from your shared library—not a deadline. Start where you are and adjust the pace to your life.
- 01Weeks 1–3
Fix the money leaks
Start with everyday money habits, spending awareness, and the different approaches to saving and debt.
See the foundations books
- The Richest Man in Babylon — George S. Clason
- The Psychology of Money — Morgan Housel
- Rich Dad Poor Dad — Robert Kiyosaki
- Your Money or Your Life — Vicki Robin
- The Total Money Makeover — Dave Ramsey
- I Will Teach You To Be Rich — Ramit Sethi
- The Automatic Millionaire — David Bach
- 02Weeks 4–5
Build repeatable habits
Connect your goals with routines, focus, and a clear sense of purpose.
See the mindset books
- Think and Grow Rich — Napoleon Hill
- Atomic Habits — James Clear
- The 4-Hour Workweek — Tim Ferriss
- The Alchemist — Paulo Coelho
- The Art of Money Getting — P.T. Barnum
- 03Weeks 6–10
Build the business systems
Explore customer needs, documented processes, leadership, and cash-flow management.
See the business books
- The E-Myth Revisited — Michael Gerber
- The Lean Startup — Eric Ries
- Zero to One — Peter Thiel
- Good to Great — Jim Collins
- Profit First — Mike Michalowicz
- $100M Offers — Alex Hormozi
- The Hard Thing About Hard Things — Ben Horowitz
- Shoe Dog — Phil Knight
- 04Weeks 11–14
Understand investing
Study risk, diversification, costs, and the balance between future resources and life today.
See the investing books
- The Intelligent Investor — Benjamin Graham
- The Little Book of Common Sense Investing — John Bogle
- The Millionaire Next Door — Thomas Stanley
- Die With Zero — Bill Perkins
- Principles for Navigating Big Debt Crises — Ray Dalio
This collection is for learning and discussion, not personalized financial, legal, or tax advice. Authors’ views can differ, and historical examples may not fit current circumstances. No book, habit, or investment guarantees income or wealth.
YOUR STATE DESK
Rules change by state, county, and city.
This guide shows common requirements. Select your state, then verify fees, forms, renewals, and licenses with the responsible agency.
STEP 01 / CHOOSE YOUR LANE
Start with the legal structure.
The right structure depends on ownership, risk, taxes, governance, and how money enters the organization—not only which form is easiest to file.
BUSINESS STRUCTURE
Limited liability company (LLC)
Often fits
One or more owners seeking flexible management and liability separation.
Paperwork to organize
- Articles or certificate of organization
- Operating agreement, even for one owner
- EIN confirmation letter
- Beneficial ownership reporting review under current FinCEN rules
- Annual or periodic state reports
Licenses to verify
- State and local business registrations
- Sales tax, payroll, and unemployment accounts as applicable
- Professional, occupational, health, zoning, or building permits
- Foreign qualification before doing business in another state
Funding paths to research
- Owner contributions
- Business credit and responsible term loans
- SBA-backed lending through participating lenders
- CDFI and local economic-development programs
- Grants only when the business and project meet stated eligibility
Build in the right order.
Most funding applications expect formation, banking, records, and licenses to already be in place.
- 02
Form and identify
Check the name, file with the state when required, obtain an EIN directly from the IRS, and create governing documents.
- 03
Separate the money
Open a dedicated account, adopt bookkeeping practices, document owner or board decisions, and save every confirmation.
- 04
License the activity
Use the SBA license guide as a starting point, then check state, county, city, zoning, and industry regulators.
- 05
Become funding-ready
Prepare a realistic budget, use-of-funds statement, ownership or board roster, financial records, and proof of good standing.
- 06
Stay in good standing
Calendar annual reports, tax returns, license renewals, charitable registrations, insurance reviews, and recordkeeping.
FINANCIAL LITERACY / TRUST FUNDS
Know what each trust is built to do.
A trust is a legal arrangement: a grantor puts property under a trustee’s control for beneficiaries. These categories can overlap—a living trust may be revocable or irrevocable—so start with the goal, not only the name.
01GrantorCreates and funds the trust
02TrusteeManages property under its rules
03BeneficiaryReceives money, property, or support
Revocable living trust
- What it is for
- Manage property during your lifetime and pass it to named beneficiaries without putting those assets through probate.
- What you do
- Create and sign the trust, name a successor trustee, and retitle the intended property into the trust. Keep beneficiary choices and the asset list current.
Irrevocable trust
- What it is for
- Transfer property under terms that are generally difficult to change, often for estate, tax, benefit-planning, or asset-protection goals.
- What you do
- Work with an estate-planning attorney to choose a trustee, define distribution rules, transfer specific property, and understand any gift-tax reporting.
Testamentary trust
- What it is for
- Hold and manage an inheritance after death, often for children or other beneficiaries who should not receive everything at once.
- What you do
- Put the trust instructions in a valid will, name a trustee, choose when and why money may be distributed, and keep the will updated.
Special needs trust
- What it is for
- Support a person with a disability while helping preserve eligibility for means-tested public benefits.
- What you do
- Use a qualified attorney to select the correct first-party or third-party structure, appoint a capable trustee, and coordinate distributions with benefit rules.
Spendthrift trust
- What it is for
- Let a trustee control distributions when a beneficiary may need protection from overspending or certain creditor claims.
- What you do
- Set clear distribution standards and choose an independent trustee who can apply them consistently and keep records.
Charitable remainder trust
- What it is for
- Provide income to you or another noncharitable beneficiary for a period, with the remainder going to charity.
- What you do
- Choose a qualified charity and trustee, contribute appropriate property, select a payout method, and obtain tax and valuation advice before funding.
Charitable lead trust
- What it is for
- Pay a charity for a set period, then transfer the remaining property to family members or other beneficiaries.
- What you do
- Set the charitable payment and term with legal and tax counsel, name the later beneficiaries, fund the trust, and complete required tax reporting.
Life insurance trust (ILIT)
- What it is for
- Own a life insurance policy and manage the death benefit for beneficiaries, sometimes keeping proceeds outside the insured person’s taxable estate.
- What you do
- Create the trust before the intended policy transfer or purchase, name a trustee, follow premium-notice procedures, and keep trust and policy records.
Generation-skipping trust
- What it is for
- Preserve and distribute property for grandchildren or later generations under long-term rules.
- What you do
- Define each generation’s access, appoint trustees, allocate any generation-skipping transfer tax exemption correctly, and maintain tax records.
Asset-protection trust
- What it is for
- Place property under specialized restrictions intended to limit some future creditor claims.
- What you do
- Use counsel in a state that permits the chosen structure, transfer property before any claim arises, follow trustee rules, and document legitimate planning purposes.
Pet trust
- What it is for
- Set aside money and instructions for an animal’s care if the owner dies or becomes unable to provide it.
- What you do
- Name a caregiver and trustee, describe care standards, fund a realistic budget, identify the animals covered, and say where unused funds go.
Land or title-holding trust
- What it is for
- Hold title to real estate for privacy, management, or coordinated ownership, where state law recognizes the arrangement.
- What you do
- Confirm local law and lender requirements, sign a trust agreement, transfer the deed correctly, insure the property, and document who controls decisions.
OFFICIAL STARTING POINTS
Verify before you file or pay.
Government pages are the source of truth. Avoid services that imitate agencies or promise guaranteed approval or funding.
Michigan governmentState agencies, registrations, and local linksIRS EIN applicationApply directly; the IRS does not charge for an EINSBA licenses and permits guideStart the federal, state, and local license searchIRS tax-exempt application guidanceCompare exemption applications and eligibilityIRS nonprofit annual filingsReview ongoing federal filing responsibilities
Educational guidance, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Requirements depend on location, industry, ownership, and activities. Funding is competitive and never guaranteed.