If you’re running a book club or teaching STACKED in your curriculum, these questions will help you successfully integrate the materials from this award-winning book into your curriculum. These chapters/achievements are especially good to teach if you are going to jump around the book.
ACHIEVEMENT ONE: ONE MAGICAL IDEA TO RULE THEM ALL
- Share your timeline
- Explain how timelining your goal was better than just listing your goals out
- Imagine you can’t achieve all of your goals on the timeline. Which goals would take priority over the others? Would that change your timeline on lesser goals?
- How does a timeline affect your budget?
- Do you imagine yourself investing for your goals? Did you realize some of your investments are in the wrong spot based on how close/far away they are on the timeline? Explain why.
ACHIEVEMENT SIX: WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE INVESTING
- What was unexpected about investing in this chapter?
- What stood out to you?
- Explain the difference between a stock and a mutual fund.
- Explain the difference between a mutual fund and an exchange traded fund.
- Why should someone invest in the stock market instead of just putting it into savings?
ACHIEVEMENT EIGHT: THE CONDOM BROKE AND OTHER RISK MANAGEMENT HORROR STORIES
- Why delineate between “risk management” and buying insurance? What’s the difference?
- Share a story where you managed risk without buying insurance.
- What is the true “return” on your emergency fund?
- How do you determine which insurnaces are most necessary?
- What is an insurance you own right now that you’re reconsidering?
- What’s an insurance you’re now thinking about buying? Why?
ACHIEVEMENT NINE: ESTATE PLANNING – THE FINAL FRONTIER
- What part of your estate plan is missing?
- Are you surprised that you need an estate plan?
- Find a story of someone who didn’t have an estate plan and share the story of what happened afterward to the group.
ACHIEVEMENT TEN: FIGHTING FEAR AND CREATING A BENJAMIN-STACKING MINDSET
- Which type does the book say you are? Do you agree with the assessment? Why/why not?
- What’s something you’ve done which would verify/overrule this assessment?
- What does this assessment of your currennt mindset mean you’ll have to look out for in the future?
- What strengths does this mindset give you over others?
ACHIEVEMENT FOURTEEN: HIRING ADVISORS WHO WON’T BLEED YOU DRY
- What is the argument people use against hiring advisors that is, according to Emily and Joe, the “wrong argument”?
- Think of the smartest people you know. Who are their advisors? How did they learn about life/their craft/money? What can you do to emulate them?
- What advisors do you have in your life now? Make a “board of advisors” based on who you go to for decisions currently. Who is on it? Do they know they’re on it? Should they be fired?
- What do you look for in good advice?
- Is a good advisor also a friend?