Personal Finance Books To Start Reading

Countless readers have been helped by the famous “Babylonian parables,” hailed as the greatest of all inspirational works on the subject of thrift, financial planning, and personal wealth. Acclaimed as a modern-day classic, this celebrated bestseller offers an understanding of — and a solution to — your personal financial problems that will guide you through a lifetime.

An illustrated guide to the mad math and terrible terminology of economics, from one of the internet’s favorite financial educators. This indispensable handbook reveals the hidden forces driving key economic outcomes, the most common myths to steer clear of, and the dusty, outdated assumptions that constrain our political imagination, offering a bold new path to building a prosperous society that works for everyone.

A ten-step plan for finding peace, safety, and harmony with your money — no matter how big or small your goals and no matter how rocky the market might be — by the inspiring and savvy “Budgetnista.”

Think and Grow Rich has been called the “Granddaddy of All Motivational Literature.” Originally published in 1937, it was the first book to boldly ask, “What makes a winner?” In this updated version, Arthur R. Pell, Ph.D. deftly interweaves anecdotes of how contemporary millionaires and billionaires, such as Bill Gates, Mary Kay Ash, Dave Thomas, and Sir John Templeton, achieved their wealth. Outmoded or arcane terminology and examples are faithfully refreshed to preclude any stumbling blocks to a new generation of readers.

Financial Freedom is a step-by-step path to make more money in less time, so you have more time for the things you love. It challenges the accepted narrative of spending decades working a traditional 9 to 5 job, pinching pennies, and finally earning the right to retirement at age 65, and instead offers readers an alternative: Forget everything you’ve ever learned about money so that you can actually live the life you want.

A must-have guide to optimizing your life for wealth and success, from bestselling author, NYU professor, and cohost of the Pivot podcast Scott Galloway. Brimming with wise, game-changing advice from one of the world’s most popular business school professors, The Algebra of Wealth offers a powerful framework for making the most of what opportunities come your way.

Forget the old concept of retirement and the rest of the deferred-life plan – there is no need to wait and every reason not to, especially in unpredictable economic times. Whether your dream is escaping the rat race, experiencing high-end world travel, or earning a monthly five-figure income with zero management, The 4-Hour Workweek is the blueprint. Live more and work less, now with more than 100 pages of new, cutting-edge content.

Cashing Out is your roadmap to financial freedom despite a broken system. You don’t have to sacrifice your time and mental health to maximize income. Instead, financial experts Julien and Kiersten Saunders show how to design a life that allows you to enjoy the little things now while setting yourself up for future financial security.

From TikTok star and Your (favorite) Rich BFF Vivian Tu, the definitive book on personal finance for a new generation. Rich AF will equip readers with the tools and knowledge to not only understand the financial landscape, but to build a financial strategy of their own. You’ll be able to start your financial journey already in an affluent mindset, making the most of your money and growing your wealth for years to come.

The trio of founders behind the global movement Female Invest brings you an empowering five-step guide with a straight-talking message: You don’t have to be an expert or a millionaire to make money. Simply equip yourself with the easy-to-follow golden rules and tools of three finance gurus to find your confidence and open a whole new world of opportunities.

For more than 25 years, Your Money or Your Life has been considered the go-to book for taking back your life by changing your relationship with money. This fully revised and updated edition with a foreword by “the Frugal Guru” (New Yorker) Mr. Money Mustache is the ultimate makeover of this bestselling classic, ensuring that its time-tested wisdom applies to people of all ages and covers modern topics like investing in index funds, managing revenue streams like side hustles and freelancing, tracking your finances online, and having difficult conversations about money.

In Think Like a Breadwinner, financial expert Jennifer Barrett reframes what it really means to be a breadwinner. By dismantling the narrative that women don’t — and shouldn’t — take full financial responsibility to create the lives they want, she reveals not only the importance of women building their own wealth, but also the freedom and power that comes with it. With concrete practical tools, as well as examples from her own journey, Barrett encourages women to reclaim, rejoice in, and aspire to the role of breadwinner like never before.

You Are a Badass at Making Money will launch you past the fears and stumbling blocks that have kept financial success beyond your reach. Drawing on her own transformation — over just a few years — Jen Sincero combines hilarious personal essays with bite-size, aha concepts that unlock earning potential and get real results.

From investor and popular newsletter writer with 100k+ subscribers Darius Foroux comes an approach to building wealth that applies ancient wisdom to the chaos of modern-day markets.

In The Power of Zero, McKnight provides a concise, step-by-step roadmap on how to get to the 0% tax bracket by the time you retire, effectively eliminating tax rate risk from your retirement picture. Now, in this expanded edition, McKnight has updated the book with a new chapter on the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, showing readers how to navigate the new tax law, and how they can extend the life of their retirement savings by taking advantage of it now. The day of reckoning is fast approaching. Are you ready to do what it takes to experience the power of zero?

From the money nerds behind the award-winning Stacking Benjamins podcast, a new kind of personal finance book to get your house in order. If you’ve ever dreamed of a basic philosophy of money that’ll help you live bigger, be bolder, and laugh harder, you need this book.

Make finance personal and map your money goals with this hands-on workbook from the author of the Broke Millennial series.

People in Japan are masters of minimal living, able to make do with less in all aspects of life, whether it’s de-cluttering personal belongings or savvy seasonal cooking. At the heart of all this is the kakeibo: The budgeting journal used to set savings goals and track spending. The premise is simple: At the beginning of each month, the prompts in this book help you to plan how much you would like to save and what you need to do in order to reach your goal. The kakeibo then gives you space to jot down your weekly spending and reflect on the month just gone. The act of completing your journal ensures that saving is a part of your everyday life, while also giving you the opportunity to reflect and improve every month.

After decades of working as a Wall Street trader, investment adviser, and money expert for CBS News, Jill Schlesinger reveals thirteen costly mistakes you may be making right now with your money. Drawing on personal stories and a hefty dose of humor, Schlesinger argues that even the brightest people can behave like financial dumb-asses because of emotional blind spots. So if you’ve saved for college for your kids before saving for retirement, or you’ve avoided drafting a will, this is the book for you. By following Schlesinger’s rules about retirement, college financing, insurance, real estate, and more, you can save money and avoid countless sleepless nights. It could be the smartest investment you make all year.

As the global economic landscape shifts at an increasing rate, it’s more important than ever that citizens understand the building blocks of the new world economy. In this lively guide, Randy Charles Epping cuts through the jargon to explain the fundamentals, laying bare everything from NGOs and nonprofits to AI and data mining. With a comprehensive glossary and absolutely no graphs, The New World Economy: A Beginner’s Guide is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand what is going on in the world around them. This timely book is a vital resource for today’s chaotic world.

A beautiful, full-color guide to living with money, not for money, packed with fun, tangible advice from the women behind The Financial Diet.

John Schwartz and his wife, Jeanne, are pre-retirement workers of an economic class well above the poverty line, but well below the one percent. Sharing his own alternately harrowing and hilarious stories, John will walk you through his own journey to financial literacy, which he admittedly started a bit late. He covers everything from investments to retirement and insurance to wills (at fifty-eight, he didn’t have one!), medical directives and more.