Personalfinance tips

Another book I recently read is by famed investor Ray Dalio called Principles: Life and Work. This is a MONSTER of a book and at times can be a bit difficult to read, but the insight is solid. Dalio shares what he’s learned over the course of his incredible investing career and running an investment firm. He argues that life, management, economics, and investing can all be systemized into rules. Whether you are interested in investing, entrepreneurship, or starting a business, I think there is tons of value in this book.

The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need is one of my favorites on this personal finance books list. So much so, that I’ve read it twice and now going on three times. Not only because I liked it, but there is so much solid information that it is easy to miss or forget. This book has also been around for nearly forty years! Yet, it gets updated every so often and the information still holds valuable after all these years. I found this book pretty easy to read and will definitely help your money make money.

The Intelligent Investor is another big book, but if you are interested in individual stock investing then this a must to add to your collection. It’s also the essential personal finance book that teaches you all of the fundamentals of stocks. The main premise is if you are investing in an individual stock, you are buying a piece of the company and should be investing for the long haul. This is not a get rich quick or stock flipping book. As I’ve mentioned in other blog posts, I don’t think most people should be investing in individual stocks. You are exposed to more risk and should really read up (like this book) before even considering getting started. I personally only invest 1% of my total available cash in individual stocks and still don’t that often. Sometimes it is nice to dabble a bit, but I’d stick to index funds that get you great exposure and diversification, with less risk.

So confession time, I have not read this classic yet….so why is it on the list? Well, anyone who I have ever talked to about finances, business, or entrepreneurship has at some point mentioned this book. I’ve been slacking on reading this but based on the feedback I’ve gotten about it, this is a must in your personal finance collection. In Think and Grow Rich, author Napoleon Hill draws on stories of Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and other millionaires of his generation to illustrate his principles. This book will show you not only what to do to build wealth but how to do it. Once you learn and apply the basic techniques, you will have mastered the secret of true and lasting success. I’m excited to give this one a read.

Interesting title right? So what does it mean? Well, this is the DIY handbook that espouses the investment wisdom of John C. Bogle, the founder of Vanguard. I use Vanguard heavily and always recommend friends who are interested in investing to choose this platform. Mind you, there are some other decent ones out there that have low fees and great funds, but Vanguard has always been my preference. When I got started in investing and with Vanguard, I wanted to learn more about the best funds to invest in. And I also wanted something to keep my interest, because reading about investing sometimes is not the most exciting stuff. But The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing kept my attention and helped me build a solid Vanguard portfolio.

Another one you might recognize and also not all necessarily about personal finance. However, this was the second book I read when I had just started getting into personal finance. The 4-Hour Work Week by New York Times Bestseller Tim Ferris covers how to escape the rat race, experiencing high-end world travel, and how earning a monthly five-figure income with zero management is possible. This book also talks about Ferris’s personal life changes to achieve that status and this updated version includes A LOT of new material and case studies. I will note, there were some things that I didn’t necessarily agree with in this book, but it opened my eyes to a lot more opportunities and how to live a better life. I think the key with truly getting in the right money mindset, is to read books like The 4-Hour Work Week, regardless if you agree with everything.

When it comes to Tony Robbins, I will say I don’t buy into everything he puts out there. But, I was thoroughly impressed with his 2016 book, MONEY Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom. This book is for investing and personal finance beginners, to even those who have solid knowledge. It’s a thick book, but easy to read and simple to understand. Robbins did his homework on this one with interviews with the most legendary investors at work today (John Bogle, Warren Buffett, Paul Tudor Jones, Ray Dalio, Carl Icahn, and many others). And his 7-step blueprint for securing financial freedom. I learned quite a bit more about investing money and it even helped my portfolio increase in returns in the last two years since reading. Also, Tony Robbins wrote a follow-up called Unshakeable: Your Financial Freedom Playbook, that is also quite good and may interest you.

If you are already pretty connected to the personal finance community then you are probably familiar with Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez’s masterpiece. Your Money or Your Life has been around for over twenty years but has continued to be an essential read to understanding money and personal finance. This was a great eye-opening read and is a must for anyone interested in taking back your life by changing your relationship with money. It helped me to rethink everything I know about money, building wealth, and my habits to obtain a better life. The book also has gotten some recent updates and new content, so highly worth checking out an updated edition.

Have you ever met someone or know someone in your family who never appeared to be wealthy? But at some point, you find out they are financially free or have a ridiculous amount of money saved? That’s what The Millionaire Next Door explores, the people you least expect to be millionaires and how they got there by living below their means. The fact is, most people who are wealthy can be your neighbor in a modest suburban neighbor. The book explores this and the common characteristics of those who obtained wealth. Another one of my favorite personal finance books and it’s quite an easy read. But just like Rich Dad, Poor Dad, there is a lot of knowledge and perspective you’ll come away with.

While many of these books focus on similar topics, Financial Freedom by Grant Sabatier takes that and spins it a bit more on the financial independence aspect. You may be familiar with Grant’s story from his website Millennial Money, he was one of the first blogs I really started reading when I wanted to fix my own finances. Since then, Grant has become an author and his first book Financial Freedom does not disappoint. It’s certainly geared towards the younger crowd like Broke Millennial, but there are tons of great principles and simple breakdowns about money and achieving financial independence.