Ten favorite personal-finance books
While great literature is said to transcend audiences, the best聽聽books are arguably most impactful when they address a particular stage or challenge of your financial life with practical insight and advice.
With this in mind, here are 10 ValuePenguin favorite personal-finance tomes 鈥� many of them among Amazon鈥檚 best sellers and Goodreads.com鈥檚 most loved 鈥� for four different aspects or times of managing your money.聽
Resetting Your Finances
1. Your Money or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence
Authors:聽Vicki Robin, Joe Dominguez and Monique Tilford
Goodreads rating:聽4.07 / 5
Published during The Great Recession, in 2008, this book looks at personal money management (i.e. getting out of debt, starting to save) in the context of ethics as opposed to spreadsheets. It touches upon mindfulness, building good habits and even being a more environmentally-friendly consumer.
2. The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness
础耻迟丑辞谤:听Dave Ramsey
Goodreads rating:聽4.28 / 5
Like other books in the financial-management genre, the title tells you what you need to know. Ramsey鈥檚 may be best for readers who are looking to climb out of debt before worrying about the ensuing stages in their personal-finance development.
3. I Will Teach You To Be Rich
Author:聽Ramit Sethi
Goodreads rating:聽4.04 / 5
If you鈥檙e more likely to gain from a step-by-step and goal-oriented approach, Seithi鈥檚 book may be worth picking off the shelf. He offers a practical approach to what he calls the 鈥渇our pillars鈥� of personal finance:聽, saving, budgeting and investing.
Building Wealth
4. The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America鈥檚 Wealthy
Authors:聽Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko
Goodreads rating:聽3.99 / 5
Taking the tack that much can be learned from those of us who have already made it, so to speak, these two authors, both with Ph.D.s, examine the best practices of America鈥檚 very rich. The book鈥檚 success and value lies in how it makes those takeaways apply to those of us with a lot less in our portfolios than the lux types.
5. The Richest Man in Babylon
Authors:聽George S. Clason, Charles Conrad
Goodreads rating:听4.22
This 100-pager, while nearly a hundred years old, retains as much value as when it was first published, in 1926. Some of the authors of the other books on this list have this classic on their bookshelves, and look fondly on its timeless advice for aspiring wealth-builders.
6. Unshakeable: Your Financial Freedom Playbook
Author:聽Tony Robbins
Goodreads rating:聽4.14 / 5
While some of Robbins鈥� work focuses on get-rich-quick schemes for the everyman, his latest book offers more traditional advice on investing. It鈥檚 at its best when it borrows from the strategies and methods of top investors.
7. The Wealthy Barber
Author:聽David Chilton
Goodreads rating:聽3.97 / 5
Unlike Robbins鈥� effort, this book claims to empower even the average salary-earner to help him or her to gain financial independence. It鈥檚 more readable than the average personal finance book, in part through its use of a successful barber鈥檚 experiences to illustrate Chilton鈥檚 most powerful points.
On Personal Finance and Parenting
8. Make Your Kid a Money Genius (Even if You鈥檙e Not)
Author:聽Beth Kobliner
Goodreads rating:聽4.25 / 5
Also the author of 鈥淕et a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties,鈥� Kobliner addresses this 2017 book toward readers who have grown into parenthood, and now want to instruct their kids in managing money. She offers a guide teaching toddlers to teens everything there is to know about money, whether it鈥檚 how to use a聽聽or how to pay for college.
9. Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not
Author:聽Robert T. Kiyosaki
Goodreads rating:聽3.92 / 5
Kiyosaki takes the stories of his own father, and the wealthy father of his best friend, to explore how parenting affects a long-term outlook on money and investing.
On Retirement
10. How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free: Retirement Wisdom That You Won鈥檛 Get from Your Financial Advisor
Author:聽Ernie J. Zelinski
Goodreads rating:聽3.71 / 5
At times, this may feel less like retirement wisdom than quiet wisdom you might receive from your yogi. Zelinski goes beyond dollars and cents to address how everything that鈥檚 important in your life is connected to the time after your work life ends; it also aims to get you to that milestone more quickly.
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