Books to Increase Your Financial Literacy

Books That Have Shaped Begin Anywhere…Personal Finance and Much More…

Since starting down the path to financial independence, one of our goals has been to increase our financial literacy. I have devoured books like I’ve never done in the past. I’ve always liked to read, but I didn’t like having more than one book going at a time. Weird – I know! Part of the reason for my change, is the popularity of audio books. They are my first choice since they can be stored on my phone and don’t physically require me to carry the book around, yet I have it everywhere I go.  

Since so much of what I’ve learned on my path has been through books, I keep track of the ones I’ve found helpful to increase my financial literacy, and ones that have been recommended to me. Not all are personal finance titles, but the goal of this list is to capture the ones that have shaped our views (or will in the future). Please leave a comment with recommendations. I know they are out there.

Check Out Your Library

Also, my first choice is to borrow these books at the library. My brother recently bought a house in a new city and I asked him if they had a good library. He laughed, but I was serious!  I love libraries. If I can’t get the book at the library, then I head over to Amazon and use my digital credits (finally figured out how to use those!). Get going, increase your financial literacy now!

Enjoy!

Ms BA

Books I’ve Read and Found Helpful

Personal Finance Books to Increase Financial Literacy

• Lifeonaire by Steve Cook and Shaun McCloskey – I’m a firm believer in know your means and live below them, and really appreciated the message about being deliberate with how you want to live your life and being financially conservative (read in 2020)
• I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Remit Sethi – Automation for the win, so you can focus on other things in your life! Couldn’t agree more.  I also really liked his concept of money dials and spending on things that bring you happiness and cutting back ruthlessly on things that don’t (read in 2019)
• Set for Life by Scott Trench – this is a great book for someone starting out in their 20’s. I would have loved to have read this book to shape my view of how to not spend the principal. This would be a great book for a high-school or recent college grad. (read in 2019)
• Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker – great book which identifies that the past mental models you’ve used or experienced may not be the only ones you need to succeed in the future. (read in 2019)
• Quit like a millionaire: no gimmicks, luck or trust fund required by Kristy Shen – great read about modern portfolio theory as well as geoarbitrage and other options for how to protect against sequence of returns risk in early retirement. (read in 2019)
• The Simple Path to Wealth by J.L. Collins – this book gives you everything you need to be a successful lifetime investor. (read in 2019)
• Work Optional : retire early the non-penny-pinching way by Tanja Hester – I’ve liked Tanja’s blog, and enjoyed her book as well. I appreciated her chapter on healthcare coverage which isn’t talked about enough. (read in 2019)
• Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez – great book for getting a handle on your real hourly wage. (read in 2018)

Real Estate Investing

• The Book On Estimating Rehab Costs by J Scott – great reference to use for real estate investing and even our personal home renovation(read in 2019)
• How to invest in real estate: the ultimate beginner’s guide to getting started by Joshua Dorkin – great book on the MANY facets to real estate investing and how to pick your niche (read in 2019)
• Long-Distance Real Estate Investing by David Greene – I liked the straight forward approach to real estate investing along with actionable steps to get started. I borrowed this book about 5 times from the library before I finally put this book on my wish list 🙂 (read in 2019) 

Personal Growth

• The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor – I’m always trying to flip the de facto script of “if I just do X and I’ll be happy”, and this book gets into the details on why this is imperative. (read in 2019)
• How to Find Fulfilling Work by Roman Krznaric – this book is great to ponder new career paths, which is especially useful when thinking long term about what will bring you happiness. (read in 2019)
• Mindset by Carol Dweck – Thinking of yourself as “I’m the type of person who…[insert what you want to become]” is the key takeaway for me.  I also liked the point about staying in a growth mindset throughout your life vs. a fixed mindset. This book made me think about the words I use to compliment people in my life to reinforce a growth mindset. (read in 2019)
• Silos, Politics & Turf Wars by Patrick Lencioni – my first intro to Patrick.  I like his story teller style he uses to get his points across. (read in 2019)
• Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill – interesting book in audio format since you hear how this is an older book.   Many of the principals were not new to me, however they were a good refresher to go through and apply to my current projects. (read in 2019)  

Productivity

• Essentialism by Greg McKeown – This book seeks to teach you about getting the right things done as opposed to getting more done in less time.  I really liked the section on hiring teammates and “protecting the asset”. You are the asset here, so learning how to keep yourself going on whatever it is you find to be the most important.  (read in 2019)
• Deep Work by Cal Newport – I go to a lot of meetings in the work I do today in my day job, and this book made me think about how that practice should change with the type of work you are doing. My husband is an engineer that needs long stretches of uninterrupted time to think, design, and iterate, and this book made me appreciate these differences, and see how I need to structure my time differently as a writer. (read in 2019)

Minimalism

• Meet the Frugalwoods: achieving financial independence through simple living by Elizabeth Willard Thames – fun read about that realization that materialism will only get you so far in life. (read in 2018)
• The Year of Less by Cait Flanders – I’m not a minimalist, but I do love to declutter and use what I have. I’ve taken on my own challenges to not make purchases and use what I have first. This book resonated with those challenges I’d issued myself without even knowing it. (read in 2019)

Habits

• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey – I’m good at being efficient but not always effective. This book gave me the words and models to focus on being more effective in my personal and professional life. (read in 2019)
• Atomic Habits by James Clear – I credit automation as a part of my success, and am constantly looking for ways to break bad habits and start good habits. This book is a good reminder to me that everything starts off small (even when it doesn’t look small because you are likely seeing many years of work by the time you see it), and that building the habit is just as important as the habit itself. (read in 2019)
• The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg – deep dive into what a habit is tons of stories about how companies and organizations have used habits to improve. (read in 2019)
• This Naked Mindby Annie Grace – excellent book on how reboot your thinking about alcohol and addictions in general. (read in 2019)

Negotiating

• Never Split the Difference: negotiating as if your life depended on it by Christopher Voss – this is a book I will read again and again. Negotiating tips from a hostage negotiator. What more could you need for that next job or raise negotiation! 🙂 (read in 2019)

Move Beyond

• The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer – interesting read about consciousness and separating yourself from the constant chatter in your mind.  The book addresses working through blockages in your life as well as pain and fear and letting go. (read in 2019)
• Journey of souls: case studies of life between lives by Michael Newton – mind expanding book to make you think about the people around you and your mission in this life. Great read and I think about it often as we’ve lost two friends too young. (read in 2019)
• Freelance to Freedom by Vincent Pugliese – This book gave me a new script about freelancing. I had hang-ups about it in the past and this book showed me another path. (read in 2019)

Books To Read

• Your Money Ratio$ 8 Simple Tools for Financial Security by Charles Farrell
• Money for the Rest of Us: 10 questions to master successful investing by David J Stein
• Emotional Agility by Susan Davis
• Execution: the discipline of getting things done by Larry Bossidy 
• Decisive : how to make better choices in life and work by Chip Heath
• Happy Money: the Japanese art of making peace with your money by Ken Honda
• The millionaire fastlane: crack the code to wealth and live rich for a lifetime by MJ Demarco
• The Millionaire Next Door
• Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk by Cameron Huddleston
• So good they can’t ignore you: why skills trump passion in the quest for work you love by Cal Newport.

What books have shaped your personal finance and development views? What books do you recommend to increase financial literacy? Leave me a note below.