Comments on: Best Personal Finance Books for Your Library

By: George

George — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 18:35:27 +0000

Although it’s from waaaay back in 1978, I recommend “Everyone’s Money Book” By Jane Bryant Quinn. It has a full range of financial advice including all the peripherals of that era. Kinda like Bargaineering.com for the 70’s! Even though some of the monetary devices have changed, she discusses the logic and needs of the underlying instruments, so the book still holds up. Whenever I find a copy in a used book store or yard sale, I buy it and give it to friends.

I also recommend Intelligent Investor which has already been cited.

By: John Hunter

John Hunter — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 21:04:01 +0000

The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham is excellent. The updated editions provide sensible commentary by Jason Zweig. Very highly recommended.

By: Start-Up

Start-Up — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 17:59:59 +0000

A critical section of personal finance is missing. A section for books about making more money would be great. Increasing your net worth is done by both saving more and making more. For those of you looking to do so via the internet I would recommend Darren Rowse’s problogger, Timothy Ferriss’ four hour work week, and yanik silver’s moonlighting on the internet.

By: SimplyForties

SimplyForties — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 01:02:45 +0000

Some of these I have but I’m making a list and will keep my eyes open at the used bookstore for some of the others. Thanks for pulling them together!

By: Chiko

Chiko — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 00:19:22 +0000

With a goal to be financially independent by 25, I will surely be adding these books to my library.

By: Mr. ToughMoneyLove

Mr. ToughMoneyLove — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 05:08:44 +0000

Spend ’til the End by Scott Burns and Larry Kotlikoff.

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 19:06:50 +0000

I’ve read the Millionaire Next Door and the Wealthy Barber. I highly recommend the Millionaire Next Door as it has changed my life more than any other finance book to date.

Thanks for the other recommendations!

By: Simon Prince

Simon Prince — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:59:22 +0000

Excellent choices, I read most of these.. and now will problem complete the ones I have neglected (starting with Your Money or Your Life when it becomes available on the Kindle)

Under Behavioral Economics, I would add: NAKED ECONOMICS by Wheelan. I enjoyed this book more than Undercover Economics.

By: Rob Lewis

Rob Lewis — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 09:06:51 +0000

I’ve only read one of these (Tim Harford’s The Undercover Economist, which is a good read – he also has quite a good blog – http://timharford.com/), so I’ve obviously got a lot of reading to do!

By: Carla

Carla — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 07:01:06 +0000

The only book I have in that list is Freakonomics but have been resistant to reading it since I got it a few years ago.

I would like a personal finance book that is more about facts and information and less about shouting and humiliation. Any recs out of that list?

By: Lord

Lord — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 22:10:23 +0000

The Richest Man in Babylon is available here.

By: jim

jim — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 21:10:47 +0000

I think Dave speaks to a certain mindset, one that is greatly affected by the psychological aspects of finances more so than the numbers. For some, it’s a godsend, to others it’s just a gimmick. Either way, I know it has worked for people so I wanted to put it out there. I agree that financials are very specific but there are enough generalities that can affect a large enough group for it to be worth writing about.

I’ll check out Middle Class Millionaire next time I get the chance.

By: Eric J. Nisall

Eric J. Nisall — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 19:43:43 +0000

While I haven’t read anything by Dave Ramsey, I have heard plenty of negatives about his book as well as his methods. Personally, I have a very strong belief against any type of book life this where all people are treated as an aggregate and everything is a blanket statement. Each person’s situation is different, as is their psychological issue with money, and therefore how can book and generic, broad-based planning take all of the different profiles of debtors into consideration. I am a huge proponent of specialized advising, where each person get a tailored action-plan after finding out all the little details about their habits and financial health. That said, books like this just do not provide that kind of direction, but it’s your list, Jim so I won’t tell you what to include or take off.

I will recommend another book for you to check out, though. I read “The Middle-Class Millionaire” by Russ Alan Prince and Lewis Schiff a few months ago, and it was a quite interesting read. The premise is similar to that of “The Millionaire Mind” (which by the way I have about 30 copies of and give at each initial consultation I do regardless of whether or not the person becomes a client) in that it focuses on those who built their wealth as opposed to inheriting it. It doesn’t come off as an instructional guide promising to teach anyone how to get rich, but does offer some insight into the mindset and habits of those who are. And it hits on the failures as well as the successes, so in a way it humanizes the people it describes.

By: Mike P

Mike P — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 19:05:06 +0000

Excellent list (though there are a few I haven’t read).

I’d also highly recommend The Four Pillars of Investing by William Bernstein

By: Trevor - 14 Year Old Money Blogger

Trevor - 14 Year Old Money Blogger — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:51:49 +0000

Thanks for the books.

I was just checking Get Rich Slowly’s list of 25 best books.

Some of these books overlap his but there’s certainly some new additions i’m looking to read. Thanks!