When you’re trying to get your finances together, “Stacked Your Super Serious Guide to Modern Money Management” cuts through all the noise. Joe Saul-Sehy and Emily Guy Birkin wrote this thing, and honestly, it’s different from most finance books. This deep dive into Stacked Your Super Serious Guide to Modern Money Management shows you what actually works when you’re building wealth.
Understanding Insurance Costs and Risk Assessment
Insurance costs a bunch of money. Why? Companies pay out massive claims, that’s why. But here’s what people get wrong – expensive insurance doesn’t mean “buy this.” It means “hey, this risk is real, figure out what you’re gonna do about it.” Cheap insurance? Probably not worth your time.
Real-World Insurance Examples: Homeowners vs. Car Insurance
Quick question. What costs you more – insuring your house or your car? Most people say car insurance. Now which one’s actually worth more money? Your house, obviously. Unless you’re driving something ridiculous.
Makes no sense right? Car’s worth less but costs more to insure. Reason is simple – cars get messed up all the time. Crashes, theft, hail storms, parking lot dings. Houses don’t move. They just sit there. So yeah, focus more energy on getting your car insurance right. Still gotta handle the home insurance properly though.
Accidental Death and Dismemberment: The Overlooked Insurance
Here’s something wild. Office people sitting at desks all day have this insurance called accidental death and dismemberment. Pays out if you lose a finger in machinery or whatever.
Think about that. You’re typing emails. What’s gonna happen, you lose your pinky hitting the shift key too hard? It’s ridiculous but people have it cause it’s cheap. Nobody questions cheap stuff. Better move? Drop it. Put that money into disability insurance instead. Costs more but actually covers things that might happen to desk workers.
Book Structure: Stacking Benjamins Made Simple
Joe organized his book in four chunks. Part one – save your first Benjamin. Part two – save more Benjamins. Part three – don’t lose your Benjamins by doing something stupid. Part four – grow your Benjamins bigger. Whole thing’s got jokes in it. Joe and Emily are funny people and the book shows it. Way better than boring finance books that put you to sleep.
The Foundation of Financial Success
People always say money’s mental. And yeah, it is. How you think about money changes how you use money. Your brain’s gotta be right before anything else works.
The Hardy Boys Meets Personal Finance: A Unique Approach
Emily and I debated for ages about putting mindset chapters in the book. The rest of it is hands-on stuff, things you can actually do, practical skills you build step by step. But let me tell you how this whole project started.
We got the idea from two books: the Hardy Boys Detective Manual and the Cub Scout Wolf Guide. Remember those? When we sat down with Penguin Random House, this was during COVID, everyone on Zoom, we literally said, “what if we took the Hardy Boys Detective Manual, mashed it up with the Cub Scout Wolf Guide, made it for grownups, and focused it on money?”
They bought it. So the book’s full of achievements you unlock as you go. Simple stuff at the start, harder challenges later on. By the end it gets pretty deep into the weeds. But the opening chapters? Pure basics, understanding your spending, knowing the income needed to support your lifestyle, and building awareness before making bigger financial decisions.
We kept wrestling with whether mindset belonged in there. Thing is, behavior matters way more than knowledge in this stuff. Back when I was doing financial planning, and even now with questions that come in, I noticed something. People don’t struggle because they can’t find information. Google exists. You can figure out how mutual funds work, what a savings account does, how to automate your savings, what insurance covers what. It’s all out there already.
What people struggle with is direction, having clear goal setting that actually guides decisions, keeps them on track, and connects daily money choices to long-term outcomes.
Why We Don’t Reach Our Financial Goals
So why do people fail with money? Not because of high fees, even though everybody fixates on that. Yeah, fees matter. And not because they picked the wrong insurance or made some small mistake.
People fail because they don’t save. Period. They don’t set anything up to run automatically. The caveman part of our brain only cares about today. Tomorrow doesn’t exist to that part of us. So we make dumb money choices without thinking about it.
Action Beats Inaction: The Workout Analogy
Working out is exactly the same. I absolutely despise it beforehand. Can’t stand the thought of it. But after? Feel amazing. Some book I read years back – no clue who wrote it – said you have to exercise before your brain wakes up enough to talk you out of it. Just jump out of bed and go. Don’t give yourself time to think. Once you’re actually moving, on the trail or whatever, you’re good. Starting is the only hard part.
Same deal with money. Just take action. Don’t overthink it. Move some money into savings. Do something.
Investing’s the weird exception though. Once you buy your index funds and the market starts acting crazy, the right move is doing absolutely nothing. Just sit tight. This makes people lose their minds because we’re wired to fix problems, not ignore them. But leaving it alone usually wins. Getting your head straight about all this is really what helps you build wealth.
Investment Policy Statements: Your Financial Machine
One tool that really helps with all this is something called an investment policy statement. That’s what the pros use. They write down their plan – which index funds they’re buying, how they’re splitting things up, what percentage goes where, and what conditions would actually make them change course.
Here’s what that saves you from. Something terrible happens in Ukraine. Markets start freaking out. Your first instinct is panic mode – “I need to do something, I need to protect my money, I need to move things around now.”
Wait. Your brain’s gonna scream all that stuff at you. That’s normal. But professionals don’t jump at every scary headline. They’ve built a machine. When you think your machine’s broken or not working right, you spend time tweaking the machine itself. Making it better bit by bit.
You don’t react to every news story. You improve your system. Then when you read the paper and see the market dropped or something awful happened somewhere, you check your machine. And you realize – nothing’s broken. The machine’s fine. An investment policy statement keeps you from sabotaging yourself when your emotions try to take over.
The Birth of an Idea: Powell’s Bookstore Inspiration
Scout handbooks and Hardy Boys were huge for me as a kid. I’ve still got my Cub Scout handbook from the 70s sitting on my shelf right now.
The lightbulb moment for this book happened at Powell’s in Portland. Ever been? That place takes up an entire city block. I love wandering through random sections that have nothing to do with what I normally read. Your brain makes these weird connections when you do that, and suddenly you get hit with ideas you’d never find otherwise.
I was in the kids section and spotted the Hardy Boys Detective Manual on the shelf. Now, I’d already written a book at that point. Took me ten years. And it was terrible. Just awful. It didn’t sound anything like how we actually talk about money.
Seeing that Hardy Boys book shot me back to fourth grade. My dad would back out of the driveway on a rainy day, and my brother and I would be out there studying the tire tracks as if we were tracking down some criminal. Mom would touch a doorknob and we’d be right there with tape, lifting fingerprints. You never know where Mom’s been, right?
Then later – I was living in Detroit at this point – we flew home to visit and my mom had stuff spread out on the kitchen table. I was 50 years old and she was finally cleaning out the attic, giving me back all my old things. The father-son fourth-place bowling trophy. My Cub Scout Wolf Guide. All of it.
Looking at that stuff got me thinking about how we learn.
Making Hard Things Fun
Money stuff is genuinely hard. The ideas themselves? Pretty straightforward. But getting yourself to actually do the work? That’s where people struggle.
Gamification changes everything though. Turn something tough into a game and suddenly you’re not terrified of messing up. Instead of focusing on failure, you’re chasing achievements. Unlocking levels.
I talk to fintech people constantly who build apps that gamify finances. Some do it brilliantly. Robinhood took it too far – they’d shoot confetti across your screen when you bought stocks, even crappy ones. Actually got sued for making investing feel too much of a game.
But when you use gamification the right way, it works incredibly well. The Cub Scouts figured this out decades before any app existed. Build in achievements, make progress visible, keep people engaged. Simple concept, massive impact.
Do You Need a Financial Advisor?
People ask us all the time—it’s even printed on the back of the book—“do I really need a financial advisor?” Should you hire a CFP, someone who’s legally bound to put your interests first?
Look, I’m a fan of having advisors. Not just money advisors either. All kinds. But there’s this whole internet thing where someone asks about financial advisors and a hundred people pile on saying, “you don’t need that, just do it yourself.”
Wrong question. Wrong answer too.
Sure, you could do it yourself. Read some books, learn the basics, handle your own finances. Totally possible. But being capable of something and actually doing it well are two different things. Smart people mess up their money constantly, especially when they don’t have a solid emergency cushion in place to protect them when life throws surprises.
Surrounding Yourself with Smart People
I keep advisors around because they make me better at what I do. That’s the goal – get smarter people in your corner whenever you can. I’ll pay extra for coaches who actually improve how I operate.
Mary Barra at General Motors is a good example. I’m from Detroit so I watch what happens with GM. They’re not dominating the car world or anything. But Mary’s kept them in the game during this whole electric vehicle transition. They’re competitive with the tech stuff.
Does she just hand projects to her team and disappear? “Hey everybody, go build some cars, I’ll see you in six months”? No way. That’s quitting, not leading.
Getting advisors isn’t about dumping your problems on someone else. It’s about having people who make you sharper. If your advisor just takes over and you have no idea what’s happening with your money – yeah, dump them. That’s not helping, that’s you giving up control.
You run the show. Keep smart people nearby. But you’re still reading the reports, still learning, still involved. Mary knows cars inside and out. She just keeps other smart people around her too.
Real question isn’t whether you’re capable. It’s how fast you want to move forward. Want to speed things up? Get good people helping you. Doesn’t matter if it’s health stuff, money stuff, business stuff. Books work the same way – learning from people who’ve figured things out gives you access to wisdom anytime.
Book Recommendations: Steal Like an Artist
Two books really shifted things for me. Starting with the non-money one.
Super small book. Doesn’t look much when you pick it up. “Steal Like an Artist” by Austin Kleon. It’s about bringing creativity into whatever you do. Taking stuff you love and remixing it into something that’s totally yours. Works no matter what field you’re in.
This book we’ve been discussing? Borrowed heavily from Hardy Boys and Cub Scouts. Same approach with Stacking Benjamins. Not drilling people with financial lectures. Just making it less intimidating. Cars scare people. Money scares people. So make it fun instead.
We stuck a hidden track at the end of episodes. Grabbed that from Major Nelson’s Xbox production. Pull ideas from everywhere and adapt them.
But – and Austin hammers this point home – just copying someone’s work straight up? That’s garbage. No creativity there. No satisfaction either. Real creativity means transforming something, crediting your inspiration, but making the end result so different it’s genuinely yours.
Great little book. Flip it open anywhere and something on that page will spark an idea.
Seven Habits: A Timeless Classic Revisited
Second book has a lot more to do with money. I never thought this was a big book for me when I first read it in the 90s. I was underwhelmed. Most everybody’s heard of “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey. And you know what? When I first read that I was thinking, yeah okay, these seem pretty basic.
I reference this book all the time now. Constantly. And you know what’s funny? “Sharpen the saw” – continually do it. You’re able to do better tomorrow than you did yesterday. Roman Mars said something at a conference in Fort Worth that I firmly believe: “I’m embarrassed by the work I made a year ago and I hope I’m embarrassed by what I’m making today a year from now.” Always trying to sharpen the saw and improve.
But the second thing that has a lot more to do with my book is “begin with the end in mind.” We think so much about what’s the right investment, what’s the right thing to do, what path should I go down with my money. We don’t start off with your money. If you start off with your goals by doing that timeline exercise and then you work backward, instead of trying to know everything about everything, you can focus in just on those things that matter to you and your values and your goals. Then you can go deep on those few things and not worry about anything else.
Reading Habits and Managing ADD
The bad news is that I read a lot from my job. Because of the nature of our work, the interviews we do where they’re 15 to 20 minutes long, I find myself reading the first three chapters of a ton of books. So I have to do that. But when I really want to dive into a topic, I found two things.
Number one, I have ADD something fierce. It was undiagnosed for a long time. But when my kids were diagnosed, they put me through the testing process as well. And boy oh boy, I have ADD everywhere. But as my coaches have told me since then, I’ve had it for so long that I’ve built these systems that work against it.
I have found that my calendar rules the world. If I book the time in my calendar, then I block everything out. And by the way, it’s so easy to get distracted. I was at breakfast this morning reading something from the Harvard Business Review about teams and it continually gave me ideas. I had to continually remind myself. I do this every time I read, which is twice a week.
I also try to set the same time so it becomes a ritual. I read early in the morning after my workout. So I go and I do my workout and then I read immediately. I try to do creative stuff in the morning. I just talked to a woman, Dr. Amy Shaw, and she talked about the circadian rhythm and how especially for men, testosterone levels mean we have a lot of creativity in the morning. I’ve got a ton of creativity then.
So I try to position my day where I’ll do these creative things in the beginning of the day, followed by journaling where I take all the ideas from the book. I make sure whatever I read that I get down any ideas of things that I might want to implement or think about later. That’s what I do twice a week. I try to carve out not as much time as I’d want, but I try to make sure I get 30 minutes of stuff that I enjoy.
The Power of Giving: Lessons from Cirque du Soleil
A book that I’m reading now is “Balancing Acts” by Daniel Lamarre. Daniel Lamarre – you won’t know that name but you’ll know this – he was the longtime CEO of Cirque du Soleil. It is a wonderful book about creativity and about how even if you think you don’t need creativity, you know what my best lesson is?
Best lesson I’ve gotten out of this book yet: he talks about how he was giving and he helped the creator of Cirque du Soleil with some things early in his career. Later on, when Cirque du Soleil was huge and Daniel was struggling, the Cirque du Soleil creator came back and helped him. He said you find these people in the world and they’re takers. They take and take and take and take.
And he said this: “You don’t have to be a natural giver, but even if you’re a taker, I’ll tell you – you’ll get to take a heck of a lot more if you become a giver.” It sounds counterintuitive but it’s true.
Calendar Management: The Key to Productivity
Totally true. He goes, “In your brain you can be as tacky as you want.” That reminded me – I do the same thing when it comes to anything I want to get done, reading or otherwise. To me it’s all about blocking time out for it in my calendar. As long as I do that, 99 times out of 100 that time is protected. What I scheduled for that time actually happens. Sort of the Michael Hyatt mantra: what gets scheduled gets done. That for me is the key for sure.
I don’t even go to a to-do list anymore. If I need to do something, that goes directly on my calendar.
Final Thoughts on Stacked Your Super Serious Guide to Modern Money Management
The book is called “Stacked Your Super Serious Guide to Modern Money Management” by Joe Saul-Sehy and his co-author Emily Guy Birken. If you’re anywhere around the country, Joe’s on a 40 city tour. You can find all the cities at stackingbenjamins.com. Whether in Austin, Texas or anywhere else, there’s likely a stop coming near you.
Joe shared a lot of great resources – apps and books, all available online. Over the coming weeks, there’s been a revolution in how note-taking works. It’s increased the likelihood of actually acting upon what you read and makes sure you’re able to connect things you read today with things you read tomorrow. That in itself generates consistently new and exciting ideas.
Some amazing guests are coming up: Whitney Johnson, Jordan Raynor, Mark Miller making his second appearance. Next time, the two men who wrote one of the favorite productivity books ever called “The 12-Week Year” – Brian Moran and Michael Lennington – will discuss their brand new book “Uncommon Accountability.”
Remember that leaders read and readers lead.
Frequently Asked Questions About Stacking Benjamins
Who is behind “Stacking Benjamins”?
Joe Saul-Sehy and Emily Guy Birken are behind “Stacking Benjamins.” Joe hosts the Stacking Benjamins podcast and co-authored the book with Emily, bringing practical financial advice with humor and real-world examples that make money management accessible to everyone.
What is the best financial book of all time?
While many consider “The Intelligent Investor” by Benjamin Graham or “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki as top contenders, “Stacking Benjamins” offers a modern, practical approach. The best financial book depends on your learning style and where you are in your financial journey.
What does “stacking benjamins” mean?
“Stacking Benjamins” means building wealth or accumulating money, with “Benjamin” referring to $100 bills that feature Benjamin Franklin’s portrait. The phrase represents the systematic process of saving and growing your money over time.
Is “Stacking Benjamins” entertaining?
Yes, “Stacking Benjamins” is genuinely entertaining. Joe and Emily inject humor throughout the book, making complex financial concepts enjoyable rather than boring. It’s way better than typical finance books that put you to sleep.
What topics does “Stacking Benjamins” cover?
“Stacking Benjamins” covers insurance decisions, investment strategies, mindset and behavior with money, saving automation, retirement planning, and building wealth. The book is divided into four parts: saving your first Benjamin, building more, protecting what you have, and growing your wealth bigger.
Who is the owner of Joe’s jeans?
Joe’s Jeans is owned by Sequential Brands Group, a brand management company. This question seems unrelated to Joe Saul-Sehy and “Stacking Benjamins,” which focuses on personal finance rather than fashion.
What is the 70/20/10 rule money?
The 70/20/10 rule suggests spending 70% of your income on living expenses, putting 20% toward savings and investments, and using 10% for debt repayment or donations. It’s a simple budgeting framework that helps balance current needs with future financial security.
What is the #1 most sold book?
The Bible is the #1 most sold book of all time with over 5 billion copies sold. In terms of secular books, “Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes and “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens are among the top sellers in history.
What are the 4 C’s of financial management?
The 4 C’s of financial management are Cash flow (managing money in and out), Capital (building wealth and assets), Collateral (assets that secure loans), and Conditions (economic factors affecting finances). These principles help create a solid foundation for managing personal or business finances effectively.
