The Top 5 Personal Finance Experts to Follow

Trying to reach your financial goals might seem like an intimidating task. But the good news is that you don’t have to do it alone. There are many successful people out there who are kind enough to share the steps they took to become financially free. Here are five accomplished individuals who are experts when it comes to saving money, paying down debt and creating sustainable wealth.

Dave Ramsey is an American multimillionaire entrepreneur and radio host who has built a strong reputation for eliminating debt. Having filed for personal bankruptcy protection just two years after becoming a millionaire at age 26, Ramsey learned the hard way that being in debt inhibits a person’s ability to create wealth. Since then, he has never borrowed money and often boasts about the fact that he has no credit score.

As the host of "The Dave Ramsey Show," the third-largest radio program in the United States for 2018, Ramsey teaches more than 13 million daily listeners how to quickly get out of debt. He is an Evangelical Christian and, as such, uses Bible-based principles to teach people how to succeed with money. In each episode of his show, Ramsey responds to a wide range of money-related questions that are asked by callers. These questions may include how to properly invest an unexpected inheritance and the best way to pay off several credit card balances. Ramsey has written a number of New York Times bestselling personal finance books over the years, including "The Total Money Makeover" and "Dave Ramsey’s Complete Guide to Money."

(See also, How Dave Ramsey Made His Fortune.)

A sought-after speaker and financial advisor, Chris Hogan is known as America's trusted voice on retirement planning. As a "Ramsey Personality," Hogan works with Dave Ramsey’s money coaching team and can often be heard answering retirement-related questions from radio callers on "The Dave Ramsey Show."

In January 2016, Hogan made a debut as an author when he published Retire Inspired: It’s Not an Age, It’s a Financial Number. The book, which provides readers with strategies on how to save enough money for retirement, instantly became a hit as it reached number one on several bestselling lists including The Wall Street Journal and Publishers Weekly. 

Throughout the week, Hogan shares various tips and tricks on how to retirement planning on his Facebook and Twitter accounts. His website, ChrisHogan360.com, also has free articles and other resources for anyone looking to find out how to retire with dignity.

As a professional sales trainer with more than 25 years of experience, Grant Cardone and his company work with small business owners and Fortune 500 companies from around the world to help increase their annual revenue. Unlike the majority of personal finance experts, including Dave Ramsey and Chris Hogan, Cardone teaches his followers not to worry about spending a lot of money or getting into debt. In fact, he once said, ‘‘Your problem is never debt or [over] spending.’’ He believes that people should focus their time and energy on making more money instead of struggling to make ends meet with what little they currently have. According to Cardone, there is no limit on a person’s earning potential; however, at the end of the day, one can only reduce their living expenses by so much. This is why he tells people that the only way to thrive, and not merely survive, in this new economy is to get out of the middle class and become a high-income earner.

Cardone, who owns a Gulfstream G200 private jet, often advises his more than 1.3 million social media followers to create an extra income stream by investing in multifamily residential real estate. He personally owns $350 million worth of apartment complexes throughout the United States and was able to build that portfolio only using his own money and traditional bank financing. With the help of social media and his own web-based TV service, Cardone provides people with an inside look of how multimillionaires live and work. He often shares live video streams of himself with his family, his real estate negotiations, meetings with partners and other private activities in his life.

(See also, How Grant Cardone Built a $350M Real Estate Empire.)

Peter Schiff is a contrarian investor who caught the attention of the financial world after correctly predicting the dotcom bubble of 2000 and the collapse of the U.S. housing market in 2008, long in advance. For many years, Schiff has served as the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Euro Pacific Capital, an investment firm that focuses its asset allocation outside of the American market.  Schiff records a daily two-hour show and follows it by recording audio podcasts that focus on analyzing and explaining recent headlines in financial news from around the world. "The Peter Schiff Show Podcast" is an informative resource for anyone looking to understand what is happening in the global economy. Schiff also provides his listeners with strategies on how to hedge their investments in international currencies and markets. 

Schiff has also written two books: Crash Proof: How to Profit From the Coming Economic Collapse, which was published in 2007, and another the following year, titled The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets: How to Keep Your Portfolio Up When the Market Is Down. 

Brandon Turner and Joshua Dorkin are the owners of one of the world’s most respected online communities for real estate investors, BiggerPockets.com. The website, which was created in 2004, provides useful resources for people who are interested in making money from flipping properties and owning rental properties.

In addition to running that website, Turner and Dorkin also produce the "BiggerPockets Podcast," a weekly audio series that shares interviews with professional real estate investors and their winning strategies, as well as quick tips that both Turner and Dorkin gleaned from their own property investing experience.

Turner is a co-author of the book The Book on Rental Property Investing, which lays out advice and plans for earning wealth and income through rental properties. 

(See also, 6 Books for Rental Property Investors.)

There are many personal finance experts to learn from. Dave Ramsey, for example, has had a lot of success helping people to live a debt-free life, while Chris Hogan provides great tips and tricks for retirement planning. If you are looking to significantly increase your monthly income, following Grant Cardone might be a smart decision. Whereas Peter Schiff’s podcast can be a helpful resource for those looking to have a better understanding of what’s happening in the economy. And Brandon Turner and Joshua Dorkin from BiggerPockets are wonderful teachers when it comes to learning how to invest in rental property.