how long is this going to take?

How long do I need to spend working on this financial stuff? Well, it depends...

Everyone is different - different needs, different expectations, different interests, different urgency...

Spending some time every day probably works best for me. I like to subscribe to a couple of information sources - blogs, newsletters, publications that send out emails. I check my email several times a day. When there is something in my email and I have a few minutes, I read the financial stuff and follow up on a few links.

I also appreciate having conversations about interesting financial topics. This doesn't require divulging personal information. But it does keep the interest up.

For many years I have maintained a paper portfolio that I have been tracking sporadically. It is interesting, but it really doesn't tell me anything that I want to know. Stocks go up and down, but it doesn't show actual income that would have been generated, as some of the holdings would have provided income as dividends.

Next... Find a couple more personal financial news sources to subscribe to, and plan to be more diligent about spending 15-20 minutes each day on this. Recruit a couple of friends to participate to make this more engaging and broaden my thinking and investigation - I love to have a "topic" to research and report on.