Every once in awhile, I'll have a conversation with friends about finances, and they'll complain about how much work it is to manage money, and I'll go home and order them this book. It's an easy $10 gift, and they've all told me it changed the way they approach finances. Good stuff. Cannot recommend it enough.
For a better personal finance book, try "I will teach you to be rich", despite the clickbait title: http://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-To-Rich/dp/0761147489
Its full of very basic fundamental advice. It doesn't go into depth into securities options, but emphasizes practical "set and forget" tactics.
TLDR; invest early, invest often, keep a good credit score, stock market is great for returns over the long run (index funds/mutual funds), keep a savings account, automate your investing. Also, did you know your credit card offers perks like extended warranties on purchases (at no cost)?
His New York Times best selling book "I Will Teach You To Be Rich" is one of the best personal finance books I've read. It is especially useful for young people with a high income potential like many of us on Hacker News.
I got a lot more mileage than I thought I would out of books like I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi(http://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-Be-Rich/dp/0761147489/r...). It rubs some people the wrong way, but it has some really good points about automating finances, and just handling companies via some social engineering.
Some of the things I think a bunch of people working day jobs are the insane benefits their companies offer. Make sure both your and your significant other are maximizing their 401k benefit(at least to kick in the employee matching and more if you can afford it).
The savings accounts should just keep compounding on each other. Possibly toss some other money into a Roth or into the stock market. Also have a rainy day/emergency fund for when the roof leaks and other unforeseen circumstances.
If you have a side project, that money should be coming out of your personal spending money. It should be thought of as your hobby and not impede on the family as a whole(this is for day jobbers).
Obviously finances get a bit rougher if there is no day job and it is just startups, it gets more difficult. One of the plans I had envisioned was to have an account setup and once it reached a certain percentage of drainage(aka burn rate for funded companies) that was agreed upon in the family, then there would be a meeting to discuss hanging it up and looking for a new day job to refill the fund to try again.
If you luck out and get funded and/or someone buys a project, that money should go first to replenish the project fund and then go into emergency, savings, and a little left over to celebrate(vacation, new back door, etc).
My book: http://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-Be-Rich/dp/0761147489
My blog: http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com
Let me know if you guys have questions about monetizing content, book sales, or the psychology of getting people online to pay. There is so much interesting stuff I've learned over the last few years.
http://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-Be-Rich/dp/0761147489
(As a disclaimer, I own a copy of said book, and I think it's good.)
