The following is a guest post by Jesse Michelsen of PFFirewall.com.

Education is important to me. In fact, I don’t ever plan to stop learning, regardless of the subject matters that come and go in my life. Knowledge really is power and without knowing, how can you go forward and do?

That’s why ever since I read I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi, I have been promoting it and pretty much giving it away to as many people as I can (who will actually read it). It’s an amazing book that covers a ton of different topics related to personal finance. I’ll even go as far as to say that it is the best book I have ever read on the subject. Check out my full I Will Teach You To Be Rich book review for more information.

I find Ramit’s book extremely useful, not because it covers every topic on personal finance so deeply that you won’t ever need to read anything on the subject again, but because it touches on the most important topics and opens the door for your own curiosity to take you forward.

I Will Teach You To Be Rich also builds a complete financial road map for you that’s relevant to your situation regardless of your current level of knowledge or the areas of your finances that need the most attention. You can come away from reading the book knowing exactly what to do in various situations like setting your finances on autopilot, preparing for college, saving during working years, starting a family and even planning for retirement. Additionally, each chapter is self-contained with advice, time-frame guidelines and exact steps to get things completed so you can skim through and cherry pick nuggets of information that you need now.

The book is also very entertaining. The author, Ramit Sethi, is a young hip college grad with a degree in Psychology from Stanford University. His writing style is fresh and fun, and he uses stories from real people he’s encountered who use his advice and live life the way that they want to.

My readers over at Personal Finance Firewall have heard me rave about the book enough so I wanted to give someone else an introduction to it and a chance to win it here. As a short teaser, below is one of my favorite tips from the book, as well as giveaway information for your chance to win.

The Tip: Use credit cards in a smart way. Credit is a huge part of our lives so you can’t really go without using it if you ever plan to buy a house or get a loan. Building a solid credit score and history from the get-go can save you hundreds of thousands of dollars throughout your life. Here are six steps to manage and improve your credit, all of which have additional detail and help in the book:

Pay off your card regularly. Get all fees waived on your card. Negotiate a lower APR. Keep your cards for a long time and keep them active. Get more credit. (Warning! Do this only if you have no debt.) Use your rewards!

Book Giveaway – Win a Free copy of I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

To enter to win a free copy of I Will Teach You To Be Rich, simply drop a comment on this post and let us know what the next step in your life might be. [Kevin] I will be matching Jesse’s generous offer with a free copy of my own. So, there are two copies to be won! For example, if you are a high school kid trying to get a head start on college, let us know. If you are an avid amateur financier and your next step is retirement, you have some bragging rights so get to it.

The contest will run for 10 days at which point Kevin and I will pick two winners from the comments.*

*The contest has now closed; thanks for your participation!

Image by seeveeaar

Jesse Michelsen is the owner of Personal Finance Firewall, where he writes with a burning passion for personal finance.