{"id":137860,"date":"2024-12-16T13:39:26","date_gmt":"2024-12-16T17:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=137860"},"modified":"2024-12-17T14:56:37","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T18:56:37","slug":"personal-finance-metrics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/","title":{"rendered":"Personal Finance Metrics to Track on the Way to Financial Freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What drives your progress toward financial freedom? Which numbers should you monitor to accelerate your journey to financial <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/maturity-continuum-7-habits\/\">independence<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Understanding and tracking personal finance metrics is crucial for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/building-wealth\/\">building wealth<\/a>. In his book <em>Set for Life<\/em>, Scott Trench contends that three key measurements\u2014net worth, spending, and income\u2014serve as your financial compass, helping you navigate the path to lasting prosperity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading to discover how monitoring these essential numbers can transform your financial future and speed up your journey to independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-personal-finance-metrics\">Personal Finance Metrics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Trench identifies three personal finance metrics to track to help you improve and speed up your progress toward financial freedom: <strong>your net worth, spending, and income.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Net worth: <\/strong>Net worth is the total value of what you own minus what you owe. To <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/calculate-your-net-worth\/\">calculate your net worth<\/a>, subtract your total debts from your total assets\u2014which are things you own like your investments, rental properties, and businesses. Trench recommends you only include assets that generate income or reliably appreciate (increase in value over time). Things like home equity, cars, and retirement accounts that don\u2019t directly generate usable wealth shouldn\u2019t count toward your net worth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Spending: <\/strong>Trench suggests you track how you spend your money with software that automatically records and categorizes every expense. There are two types of expenses: fixed expenses (like rent, insurance, and loan payments) that stay the same each month, and variable expenses (like groceries, entertainment, and shopping) that change month to month. Review your spending monthly to spot areas of waste. The goal is to paint a clear picture of your lifestyle cost so you know how much passive income you\u2019ll need to sustain it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: How much should you spend on fixed expenses versus variable expenses? In <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/i-will-teach-you-to-be-rich\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>I Will Teach You to Be Rich<\/em><\/a>, Ramit Sethi provides <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/i-will-teach-you-to-be-rich\/chapter-4#deciding-how-youre-going-to-spend-your-money\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">tips for planning your spending<\/a>, suggesting you allocate 50-60% of your take-home pay for fixed expenses and 20 to 35% for variable expenses\u2014which Sethi refers to as guilt-free spending. The rest of your income can go toward things like investments and savings. Sethi also recommends using software to track your finances and provides a <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/i-will-teach-you-to-be-rich\/chapter-4#tools-to-optimize-your-plan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">list of tools and advice for using each tool<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Income: <\/strong>Your income is the money you receive regularly from various sources. Record it to see your financial progress and get a clear picture of your money situation. Trench suggests you break it down between active income (like jobs and side hustles) and passive income (like investments and rental properties).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trench explains that, when your assets generate more income than what you spend each month, with a healthy buffer, you\u2019ve reached financial freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: The average millionaire has <a href=\"https:\/\/finance.yahoo.com\/news\/average-millionaire-7-sources-income-164311915.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">seven different sources of income<\/a>. These sources typically include job income, stock dividends, money from rental properties, intellectual property royalties, profits from selling appreciated assets, business earnings, and interest from savings or loans. Recording your income as Trench suggests can be a helpful first step to building the multiple income streams for reaching financial freedom more quickly.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Things to Consider When Calculating Net Worth<\/strong><br><br>Other financial experts provide more detailed guidance for calculating your net worth. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/rich-dad-poor-dad\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Rich Dad Poor Dad<\/em><\/a>, Robert Kiyosaki also defines assets as things you own <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/rich-dad-poor-dad\/lesson-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">that generate income<\/a>. But he cautions that some things may seem like assets when they\u2019re actually liabilities\u2014things that lose money over time or incur large expenses. These include a house used as your primary residence and expensive things like luxury cars and handbags.<br><br>However, some financial experts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.investopedia.com\/terms\/n\/networth.asp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">include cars and homes because they have a market value<\/a> although they don\u2019t necessarily <em>generate<\/em> income.<br><br>In <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/your-money-or-your-life\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Your Money or Your Life<\/em><\/a>, Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez provide an <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/your-money-or-your-life\/step-1#step-1-visualize-earnings-and-calculate-net-worth\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">extensive list of income sources<\/a> you can gather to identify your debts and assets. The list includes everything from tax returns and bank statements to money you received as gifts. They say that calculating your net worth may take you a few days, but understanding how much money has come into your life is crucial for knowing how to budget it.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Now that you understand how to track these three personal finance metrics and monitor your financial situation, you can begin taking concrete steps toward financial freedom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What drives your progress toward financial freedom? Which numbers should you monitor to accelerate your journey to financial independence? Understanding and tracking personal finance metrics is crucial for building wealth. In his book Set for Life, Scott Trench contends that three key measurements\u2014net worth, spending, and income\u2014serve as your financial compass, helping you navigate the path to lasting prosperity. Keep reading to discover how monitoring these essential numbers can transform your financial future and speed up your journey to independence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":137868,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,31],"tags":[1696],"class_list":["post-137860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-money","tag-set-for-life","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Personal Finance Metrics to Track on the Way to Financial Freedom - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Understanding and tracking personal finance metrics is key to building wealth. Learn which measurements should be your financial compass.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Personal Finance Metrics to Track on the Way to Financial Freedom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Understanding and tracking personal finance metrics is key to building wealth. Learn which measurements should be your financial compass.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-16T17:39:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-17T18:56:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/man-looking-at-personal-finance-metrics.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1344\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\"},\"headline\":\"Personal Finance Metrics to Track on the Way to Financial Freedom\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-16T17:39:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-17T18:56:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/\"},\"wordCount\":710,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/man-looking-at-personal-finance-metrics.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Set for Life\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Lifestyle\",\"Money\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/\",\"name\":\"Personal Finance Metrics to Track on the Way to Financial Freedom - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/man-looking-at-personal-finance-metrics.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-16T17:39:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-17T18:56:37+00:00\",\"description\":\"Understanding and tracking personal finance metrics is key to building wealth. Learn which measurements should be your financial compass.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/man-looking-at-personal-finance-metrics.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/man-looking-at-personal-finance-metrics.jpg\",\"width\":1344,\"height\":768,\"caption\":\"A man looking at personal finance metrics on papers in a kitchen with shelves of dishes, plants, and books in the background\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Personal Finance Metrics to Track on the Way to Financial Freedom\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\",\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\"},\"description\":\"Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books\u2014and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a Substack and is writing a book about what the Bible says about death and hell.\",\"sameAs\":[\"rina@shortform.com\"],\"award\":[\"Contributions to joint task force efforts (FBI)\",\"Contributions to Special Operations Division (DOJ & DEA)\",\"Efforts to fight the war on drugs (NSA)\",\"Contributions to Operation Storm Front (US Customs Service)\"],\"knowsAbout\":[\"History\",\"Theology\",\"Government\"],\"jobTitle\":\"Senior SEO Writer\",\"worksFor\":\"Shortform\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Personal Finance Metrics to Track on the Way to Financial Freedom - Shortform Books","description":"Understanding and tracking personal finance metrics is key to building wealth. Learn which measurements should be your financial compass.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Personal Finance Metrics to Track on the Way to Financial Freedom","og_description":"Understanding and tracking personal finance metrics is key to building wealth. Learn which measurements should be your financial compass.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2024-12-16T17:39:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-12-17T18:56:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1344,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/man-looking-at-personal-finance-metrics.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Elizabeth Whitworth","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elizabeth Whitworth","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/"},"author":{"name":"Elizabeth Whitworth","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13"},"headline":"Personal Finance Metrics to Track on the Way to Financial Freedom","datePublished":"2024-12-16T17:39:26+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-17T18:56:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/"},"wordCount":710,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/man-looking-at-personal-finance-metrics.jpg","keywords":["Set for Life"],"articleSection":["Lifestyle","Money"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/","name":"Personal Finance Metrics to Track on the Way to Financial Freedom - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/man-looking-at-personal-finance-metrics.jpg","datePublished":"2024-12-16T17:39:26+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-17T18:56:37+00:00","description":"Understanding and tracking personal finance metrics is key to building wealth. Learn which measurements should be your financial compass.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/man-looking-at-personal-finance-metrics.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/man-looking-at-personal-finance-metrics.jpg","width":1344,"height":768,"caption":"A man looking at personal finance metrics on papers in a kitchen with shelves of dishes, plants, and books in the background"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-finance-metrics\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Personal Finance Metrics to Track on the Way to Financial Freedom"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13","name":"Elizabeth Whitworth","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Elizabeth Whitworth"},"description":"Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books\u2014and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a Substack and is writing a book about what the Bible says about death and hell.","sameAs":["rina@shortform.com"],"award":["Contributions to joint task force efforts (FBI)","Contributions to Special Operations Division (DOJ & DEA)","Efforts to fight the war on drugs (NSA)","Contributions to Operation Storm Front (US Customs Service)"],"knowsAbout":["History","Theology","Government"],"jobTitle":"Senior SEO Writer","worksFor":"Shortform","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/man-looking-at-personal-finance-metrics.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137860"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":137867,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137860\/revisions\/137867"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}