While reading and equip oneself with financial knowledge is important to achieve the elusive "financial freedom", it is more important to put that knowledge into practice.

Honestly, how many of them actually put what they read into practice ? I can speculate that 90% will forget about the content the next day when their day job consumes all their attention. And during the weekends, all they want is a good rest or enjoy the time with the loved ones. To those 90%, reading those books is more about "entertainment" or at best, a way to console themselves they are "doing something about their future"

Knowledge is nothing if they are not put into practice.

So, If you are not :

1. born into a rich family
2. marrying someone rich
3. winning lottery

then, you have yourself, and only yourself to depend on.

If you really want to achieve "financial freedom", the first thing to do is not reading books, but "get yourself disciplined to put away some money for investment every month".

The only "knowledge" you need is this :

1. Set aside an amount consistently every month. With strong discipline and will power
2. Invest in investment vehicles which the risk you are comfortable with
3. Use the return and re-invest together with the set monthly amount in #1

I have one live example. Long story short, my niece joined my company about 20 years ago. One day, she asked me what is good investment. I told her the above. She set aside RM2k every month without fail to invest. Today, her investment already touched RM1.5m. Her investment is part property and part share market.

It is good reading financial books. But the more important thing is to set aside an amount and start investing. Start with FD if uncomfortable with other investment. Then slowly progress. Be patient and allow time to work on your side.

To me, reading books and gaining knowledge is important. But discipline and will power is even more important (and much more difficult to practise) than investment knowledge.

Your attitude is already half way to financial success 

Keep it up and in 2 decades, you will see your fruits grow very big. At that time, you can pamper yourself and be less frugal and enjoy life

I wouldn't say what I wrote here is "advice", but just my opinion only. Different people got different opinion

For beginners, the usual options are :

1. FD (I am sure many are aware of this since young)
2. Amanah Saham. There are many variety. If you are a bumi, then close one eye put in ASB while searching for better return investment
3. Unit Trust
4. Share market
5. Property (when you have more capital)

Don't look at those "scheme" which give you 20% return per month. They are scams. Also I am not a believer of insurance saving scheme either. I would rather put in FD and get similar return with better flexibility. With the exception that if a person is not disciplined, then insurance saving scheme may be a good choice for forced savings

Reading books is sometimes very boring. And it is only 1 way traffic without interaction. I gain a lot of knowledge through interacting with members in forums (like this one). There are many sifus who are generous in sharing information. For 1-5 mentioned above, there are dedicated threads in LYN. If you mix around with the regulars there, I am sure you will benefit more than reading books

The one important and obvious financial knowledge is simple maths. Ie. "% returns". I use FD as a benchmark. Let's say 3.5% as risk free return (although technically it is not risk free, but let's not go into it). Then use FD rate as benchmark to assess other investment viability. Eg. is Amanah Saham giving higher returns than FD ? Is the accessibility as flexible as FD ? What is the risk ? etc etc

Then as you progress, you will go into unit trust, share market, properties....there are many options and varieties in each type, so try to learn the varieties.

I always remind myself about risk and return --> High risk high return. Low risk low return. There is no free lunch in this world. Don't be a smart aleck and thought that you are the first one who found a gem. I don't believe anyone can out-smart the market

Let's involve yourself more in the forums. Use google more often. Choose the investment vehicle you like best. In time to come, you will be a seasoned investment sifu 

You don't sound like a newbie in investment 

Anyway, here is my take/opinion,

1. If you are new, take your steps slowly. Don't rush, as only patient will get you there safely. So, just focus on low risk investment first. Beating inflation will come naturally when you are more confident in higher return investment

2. There is no so called "optimal" asset allocation, as it is individual risk appetite which dictate the choice of investment vehicle. For a new investor, I would suggest pick three asset class first. Tilt the weightage more towards low risk investment like FD, ASx and a small portion on blue chip stock/reits

3. If you are newbie, you shouldn't be looking at property first. Because first you need big downpayment. And secondly you may not be experienced enough to pick the right property. So I would suggest to stay away from property investment for a newbie.

4. Online better because of lower cost. I do not hold any UT since long time ago so those regulars in FSM are better person to ask your questions.
cherroy I suggest to move this thread out from this section as it has got nothing to do with stock exchange. It is only the title is cheeky so TS thought this thread is entitled here