Personal finance is the most valuable self-help you can do to change your life. It is one of the few areas of your life where simple improvement can and will directly affect your money. This makes personal finance books like the ones I have listed incredibly valuable.
The internet is a great source of information about personal finance. You will be able to find which debt repayment method is most effective or how to save money on groceries. You can find millions of articles with the information you need to know.
But if you want to dig deeper into a money mindset or financial philosophy, there’s still no substitute for a good old-fashioned book.
Check out our list of the best personal finance self-help books out there.
1. The Total Money Makeover (Classic Edition): A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness by Dave Ramsey
There’s one sure way to whip your finances into shape, and that’s with The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition. By now, you’ve heard all the nutty get-rich-quick schemes, the fiscal diet fads that leave you with a lot of kooky ideas but not a penny in your pocket. Hey, if you’re tired of the lies and sick of the false promises, take a look at this? it’s the simplest, most straightforward game plan for completely making over your money habits. And it’s based on results, not pie-in-the-sky fantasies.
2. I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi
At last, for a generation that’s materially ambitious yet financially clueless comes I Will Teach You To Be Rich, Ramit Sethi’s 6-week personal finance program for 20-to-35-year-olds. A completely practical approach delivered with a nonjudgmental style that makes readers want to do what Sethi says. It is based around the four pillars of personal finance banking, saving, budgeting, and investing-and the wealth-building ideas of personal entrepreneurship.
3. The 5 Years Before You Retire: Retirement Planning When You Need It the Most Emily Guy Birken
Even though half of all Americans put money aside for retirement, it isn’t until they reach their sixties that many realize that they haven’t saved enough. With The Five Years Before You Retire, you’ll hone in on what you need to do in the next five years to maximize your current savings and create a realistic plan for your future. This book guides you through each financial, medical, and familial decision, from taking advantage of the employer match your company offers for your 401k program to enrolling in Medicare to discussing housing options with your family.
4. Why Didn’t They Teach Me This in School?: 99 Personal Money Management Principles to Live By by Carly Siegel
Why Didn’t They Teach Me This in School? 99 Personal Money Management Lessons to Live By was initially developed by the author to pass on to his five children as they entered adulthood. As it developed, the author realized that personal money management skills were rarely taught in high schools, colleges, and even in MBA programs.
Unfortunately, books on the subject tend to be complicated, lengthy reads. The book includes eight important lessons focusing on 99 principles that will quickly and memorably enhance any individual’s money management acumen.
5. Make Your Kid A Money Genius (Even If You’re Not): A Parents’ Guide for Kids 3 to 23 by Beth Kobliner
Many of us think we can have the “money talk” when our kids are old enough to get it…which won’t be for years, right? But get this: Research shows that even preschoolers can understand basic money concepts, and a study from Cambridge University confirmed that basic money habits are formed by the age of seven. Oh, and research shows the number one influence on kids’ financial behaviors is mom and dad. Clearly, we can’t afford to wait.
Make Your Kid a Money Genius (Even If You’re Not)is a jargon-free, step-by-step guide to help parents of all income levels teach their kids from ages three to twenty-three about money. It turns out the key to raising a money genius isn’t to teach that four quarters equal a dollar or how to pick a stock. Instead, it’s about instilling values that have been proven to make people successful not just financially, but in life: delaying gratification, working hard, living within your means, getting a good education, and acting generously toward others.
6. MONEY Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom by Tony Robbins
Based on extensive research and interviews with some of the most legendary investors at work today (John Bogle, Warren Buffett, Paul Tudor Jones, Ray Dalio, Carl Icahn, and many others), Tony Robbins has created a 7-step blueprint for securing financial freedom.
With advice about taking control of your financial decisions, to setting up a savings and investing plan, to destroying myths about what it takes to save and invest, to set up a “lifetime income plan,” the book brims with advice and practices for making the financial game not only winnable but providing financial freedom for the rest of your life. “Put MONEY on your short list of new books to read…It’s that good” (Marketwatch.com).
7. The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley and William D. Danko
The bestselling The Millionaire Next Door identifies seven common traits that show up again and again among those who have accumulated wealth. Most of the truly wealthy in this country don’t live in Beverly Hills or on Park Avenue-they live next door. This new edition, the first since 1998, includes a new foreword for the twenty-first century by Dr. Thomas J. Stanley.
8. Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter
Rich Dad Poor Dad is Robert’s story of growing up with two dads his real father and the father of his best friend, his rich dad, and the ways in which both men shaped his thoughts about money and investing. The book explores the myth that you need to earn a high income to be rich. It explains the difference between working for money and having your money work for you.
Will there be a few surprises? Count on it.
Rich Dad Poor Dad:
- Will explores the myth that you need to earn a high income to become rich
- Challenges the belief that your house is an asset
- Shows parents why they can’t rely on the school system to teach their kids
- about money
- Defines once and for all an asset and a liability
- Teaches you what to teach your kids about money for their future financial success
9. Dave Ramsey’s Complete Guide to Money: The Handbook of Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey
If you’re looking for practical information to answer all your “How?” “What?” and “Why?” questions about money, this book is for you. Dave Ramsey’s Complete Guide to Money covers the A to Z of Dave’s money teaching, including how to budget, save, dump debt, and invest. You’ll also learn all about insurance, mortgage options, marketing, bargain hunting, and the most important element of all―giving.
10. All The Money in the World by Laura Vanderkam
The universal lament about money is that there is never enough. We spend endless hours trying to figure out ways to stretch every dollar to improve our personal finances. Then kick ourselves whenever we spend too much or save too little. For all the stress and effort we put into every choice, why are most of us unhappy about our finances? According to Laura Vanderkam, the key is to change your perspective.
Instead of looking at money as a scarce resource, consider it a tool that you can use creatively. Learn to build a better life for yourself and the people you care about. Drawing on the latest happiness research as well as the stories of dozens of real people, Vanderkam offers a contrarian approach. This forces us to examine our own beliefs, goals, and values.
11. Personal Finance for Dummies by Eric Tyson
Personal finance is an important topic, as your financial wellbeing has an integral impact on so many aspects of your life. Taking the pulse of your finances every now and then is critical to ensuring that you’re on the right track. Also, identify the areas in which you can improve your financial strategies.
- Explore time-tested financial tips and advice that help improve your financial wellbeing
- Consider how different aspects of your financial life work with and against one another, and how to bring them into alignment to enhance your overall financial situation
- Discover updated recommendations and strategies that account for changing market and economic conditions
- Look at your financial situation from a new perspective, and understand what you can do to improve it
12.The Index Card: Why Personal Finance Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated by Helaine Olen and Harold Pollack
Now, Pollack teams up with Olen to explain why the ten simple rules of the index card outperform more complicated financial strategies. Inside is an easy-to-follow action plan. It works in good times and bad, giving you the tools, knowledge, and confidence to seize control of your financial life.
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