books financial education

• Search Search Please fill out this field.

The 10 Best Personal Finance Books

Get your money on track with our picks

Personal finance books help you manage your money better. At the most basic level, you can learn personal finance basics—like why paying yourself first pays off or how to manage and pay off debt—so you'll become smarter and more confident with handling your money. But it doesn't stop there. They can also teach you how to invest, manage a mortgage, create a nest egg, save for retirement, and ultimately help you overcome common money pitfalls. Sure, it’s not light reading, but your wallet—and your investment portfolio —will thank you.

Here are our picks of the best personal finance books to help foster a healthy relationship with your money.

Key Takeaways

• Our choice for best overall personal finance book is “Why Didn’t They Teach Me This in School?” by Carey Siegel.
• “The Total Money Makeover” by Dave Ramsey gets our nod as the best choice for debt management.
• The best memoir on our list is “Rich Dad Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki.
• Our top choice for millennials is “Broke Millennial” by Erin Lowry.

Best Overall: Why Didn’t They Teach Me This in School?

Courtesy of Amazon

Ask anyone what they wish they’d learned more about in school, and the answer is likely money. More specifically, how to properly handle one’s finances—enter Cary Siegel’s title, “Why Didn’t They Teach Me This in School?” Siegel, a retired business executive, divides the book into 99 principles and eight money lessons that you should have learned by high school or college but didn’t. This book was initially intended for his five children when he realized they didn’t learn important personal finance principles before entering the real world, but it grew into a well-reviewed read full of money lessons, as well as firsthand experience and advice from Siegel. This easy-to-read book is ideal for new grads or anyone looking to start their personal finance journey on the right foot.

Best Memoir: Rich Dad Poor Dad

You’ve probably heard of Robert Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad Poor Dad," but there’s a reason it’s stuck around for more than two decades. In one of the most popular personal finance books of all time, Kiyosaki shares what he learned growing up from his father and his friend’s father, the latter of which is the “rich dad” in the title. Those lessons include how you don’t need to make a lot of money to get rich and how to think about assets and liabilities . He also explains to parents why schools won’t teach their kids what they need to know about personal finance. This 20th-anniversary edition includes an update from the author on all things money, the economy, and investing.

Best for Debt Management: The Total Money Makeover

Debt management plays a major role in the state of your personal finances. Need a little help in that area? Take a look at Dave Ramsey’s “The Total Money Makeover.” This New York Times bestseller explains, without mincing words, how to get out of debt and improve your financial picture by avoiding common pitfalls like rent-to-own, cash advances, or using credit. It also offers solid advice on starting an emergency fund, saving for college and retirement, and how to succeed at Ramsey’s famed “Snowball Method” for debt payoff.

Best for Building Wealth: The Automatic Millionaire

Who doesn’t want to be a millionaire? David Bach’s “The Automatic Millionaire,” a New York Times, USA Today, Bloomberg Businessweek, and Wall Street Journal business bestseller, shows you how to do just that. The book kicks off with the story of a couple earning about $55,000 combined annually, and how they achieved their financial dreams. Think: owning two homes, putting their children through college, and retiring at 55 with a $1 million retirement nest egg. The secret? Setting up a financial system that not only pays yourself first but one that is automatic. Bach has also written "Smart Women Finish Rich," "Smart Couples Finish Rich," and "Start Late, Finish Rich."

Related: The Best Investing Books

Best for Beginners: Broke Millennial

If you can decipher #GYFLT, then this is the personal finance book for you. (Hint: #GYFLT stands for “get your financial life together” in social media speak.) Erin Lowry’s “Broke Millennial” explains in her signature conversational style how 20- and 30-somethings can get in control of their personal finances. From understanding your relationship with money to managing student loans to sharing the details of your finances with a partner, this book covers the biggest money challenges facing millennials today. 

Related: The Best Investing Books for Beginners

Runner-Up, Best for Beginners: The One-Page Financial Plan

Courtesy of Walmart

Confused when it comes to your money, whether it’s how to properly invest or how to deal with unexpected financial challenges? Carl Richards’ “The One-Page Financial Plan” takes the mystery out of how to effectively manage your finances. This book helps you not only figure out what your financial goals are, but also how to get there in a simple, one-page plan. Richards is a Certified Financial Planner and a columnist for The New York Times. 

Best for Spenders: I Will Teach You to Be Rich

Being rich isn’t about not spending money at all. In "I Will Teach You to Be Rich," a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, financial expert Ramit Sethi explains that you can spend your money guilt-free as long as you have it invested and allocated properly. This title talks about how to deal with all the common money pitfalls, from paying off student loans to how to save every month, and even how to talk your way out of late fees. This 10th-anniversary edition includes updated views on technology, money, and psychology, as well as some success stories of readers who have actually gotten rich from reading—you guessed it—Sethi’s book.

Best for Women: Clever Girl Finance

Women still earn just 83 cents to a man’s dollar, and average earnings are even lower for women who are older or belong to certain race and ethnicity groups, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. In short, women still have to work harder when it comes to their money. Bola Sokunbi’s “Clever Girl Finance” aims to empower and educate a whole new generation of women, sounding off on things like how to keep an eye on expenses, create and stick to a budget, manage your credit, build a nest egg, and take responsibility for your own financial well-being. Sokunbi is a Certified Financial Education Instructor (CFEI) and the founder and CEO of the website Clever Girl Finance.

Best Psychology: The Psychology of Money

This read is an interesting delve into the psychology of money and how your ego, preconceived notions, and even your pride can affect your decisions around money. As expected, this isn’t exactly the best way to manage your investment portfolio, and Morgan Housel’s “The Psychology of Money'' gives readers tips and tools for combating these biases in the form of 19 short stories that focus on the same topic. Housel is a partner at The Collaborative Fund and has worked as a columnist at The Wall Street Journal.

Related: The Best Economics Books

Best for Budgeting: Your Money or Your Life

With more than a million copies sold, Vicki Robin’s “Your Money or Your Life” lays out an easy-to-follow, nine-step plan to help readers change their relationship with money. Whether it’s how to get out of debt, get started investing , build wealth, or even save money by practicing Robin’s signature mindfulness technique, this read has you covered.

Final Verdict

Whether you're new to finances or just looking for more financial advice, the top overall personal finance book is "Why Didn't They Teach Me This In School?" by Cary Siegel ( view at Amazon ). It teaches eight important money lessons you should've learned by high school as well as a whopping 99 principles that will help you save, invest, and build your wealth.

Different methods might be best for different people. For example, many computer programs can help track income and expenses, and they even can be connected to your financial accounts to automatically import data. Others might want to handle the process manually. Regardless, the important thing to do is to set a budget so you can know exactly where you stand with your finances.

Be as detailed as possible when managing your personal finances . Sticking to a budget, paying down debt, and knowing exactly where every dollar is going can help make it possible to increase your savings. Having the details to find that extra $10 or $20 per week or month that you can save or invest today can add up to thousands of dollars years from now.

Budgeting is a big part of financial planning . To be successful, it is important to account for everything necessary to financial health. In addition to simply knowing your income and expenses, you have to think about where you will be in the future with income and expenses. Insurance, a good investment plan, and more can help you with expected and unexpected expenses that may arise.

Meet the Expert

Rachel Morgan Cautero has a master's degree in journalism from New York University and more than a decade of journalism experience, most in the personal finance sector. Most recently, she was the managing editor of DailyWorth, a finance-based media destination for women. She’s been published in SmartAsset, The Balance, The Atlantic, Life & Money, Parents, WealthRocket, and Yahoo Finance.

Department of Labor. " Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers ."

• Planswell reviews
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Service
• Financial planning 101
• Our assumptions
• Workplace Violence, Harassment and Discrimination Policy
• Code Of Conduct
• Child Affordability Calculator
• Insurance + Investments Calculator
• Monthly Budget Calculator
• Financial planning
• For Advisors

August 28, 2023

10 of the Best Financial Literacy Books You Won’t Want to Miss

Navigating the world of finance and investment is hard. Thankfully, there’s a treasure trove of resources out there to guide us, and some of the best tools are books. The best books on financial literacy are filled with more than complex jargon and hard-to-follow advice. 

Think about it: the choices we make with our money today can shape our futures for years to come. But how do we ensure we’re making the right decisions? How do we save money effectively and plan our investments wisely? 

That’s where practical advice from financial experts comes in. Through their insights, we can learn to navigate the choppy waters of personal finance with confidence.

To achieve financial freedom and security, it’s essential to be financially literate. It’s not just about knowing the difference between stocks and bonds or understanding how a mortgage works. It’s about cultivating a mindset that prioritizes smart financial choices in all areas of life. This means understanding how to budget, avoid debt, invest wisely, and set yourself up for a comfortable future.

We’ve compiled a list of some of the most influential texts on financial literacy. These books are packed with strategies, tips, and wisdom that can help anyone become more informed and empowered with their money. 

Let’s dive in.

This absolute classic of personal finance literature has been in publication nearly 100 years — and for good reason. Set against the backdrop of ancient Babylon, this captivating book weaves tales of ordinary people and their financial decisions. These stories offer timeless wisdom on wealth-building and financial discipline. 

The core of the narrative revolves around Arkad, the titular “richest man.” He shares the simple financial principles he follows to amass his wealth. The book teaches essential lessons such as living below one’s means, investing wisely, and seeking knowledgeable counsel.

This illustrative narrative stands as a cornerstone in personal financial literature. It presents a tale of two contrasting fathers—Poor Dad (Kiyosaki’s) and Rich Dad (his friend’s). The book delves into the differences in their beliefs and approaches toward money, work, and life. 

Poor Dad emphasizes traditional education and a stable job. Rich Dad, on the other hand, champions the importance of financial education, investments, and entrepreneurial ventures. 

Kiyosaki outlines how these varied perspectives influenced his understanding of assets and liabilities, ultimately shaping his net worth. Instead of relying on a fixed income, he underscores the significance of creating and acquiring assets that generate income. 

Moreover, the book sheds light on the intricacies of stock markets, real estate, and other investment avenues. It urges readers to think beyond the conventional rat race. 

Rich Dad Poor Dad ultimately emphasizes that a high income doesn’t necessarily equate to wealth. It’s what you do with that income that counts.

In Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover, readers are given a step-by-step plan to rectify their financial woes. It’s a comprehensive blueprint for transforming one’s monetary situation. 

It starts with the basics: creating an emergency fund and paying off debt. It then delves into more advanced topics, ensuring readers are well-equipped to build wealth and secure a stable future. The practical tools and actionable advice discussed are punctuated by success stories of individuals who have turned their financial lives around. 

The Total Money Makeover isn’t about quick fixes. It’s a journey to lasting financial health and independence.

In this text, Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez offer a refreshing perspective on personal finance. Money, they say, isn’t just a tool for acquiring things. It’s the product of the life-energy you spend to earn it. 

This view encourages people to evaluate whether their job and the things they spend on truly add value to their lives. Robin and Dominguez lay out a comprehensive financial plan that goes beyond mere budgeting. Their nine-step program emphasizes frugality, reducing debt, and redefining what “enough” truly means in a consumption-driven world. 

The ultimate goal? Achieving financial independence and reclaiming one’s life from the clutches of mindless earning and spending. 

Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko shatter many popular myths surrounding millionaires in The Millionaire Next Door . As it turns out, the majority of wealthy individuals in the U.S. don’t live in upscale neighborhoods or drive flashy cars. 

Instead, they live modestly, often below their means, and prioritize saving over conspicuous consumption. The lesson is simple: true wealth isn’t about earning high incomes. It’s about making wise financial decisions and being frugal. 

Stanley and Danko discover rich people often share traits and behaviors. They live well below their means, allocate time and money efficiently, and value financial independence over social status. 

The authors argue that many people who appear rich might not actually have sustainable wealth. On the other hand, those living unassumingly might have substantial net worth. 

J.L. Collins presents a refreshing perspective on wealth accumulation in The Simple Path to Wealth . 

He advocates for the virtues of low-cost index funds because they outperform most actively managed funds in the long run. By keeping investment strategies simple and avoiding the pitfalls of complex financial products, one can steadily grow their wealth. 

The book also delves into the intricacies of taxes, debt, and retirement, offering readers a comprehensive yet easily digestible financial plan. 

John C. Bogle, the founder of Vanguard Group, has a simple message in The Little Book of Common Sense Investing. The simplest investment approach often yields the best results.

Low-cost index funds, he says, are more profitable than trying to beat the market or hiring a fund manager. They’re also less risky. 

Bogle proves his point by showcasing the compounding effects of active trading costs over time. He also critiques the mutual fund industry for its frequent disregard for the best interests of the individual investor. 

He ultimately encourages readers to adopt a long-term perspective and to prioritize simplicity and frugality in their investment decisions. 

Erin Lowry’s Broke Millennial is a practical roadmap for young adults eager to conquer their finances. Lowry delves into the financial challenges that many millennials face. She offers actionable advice tailored to a generation often criticized for its spending habits. 

Lowry also understands there’s no one-size-fits-all solution in personal finance. She emphasizes personal financial journeys, highlighting the importance of understanding one’s unique relationship with money.

She also breaks down complex financial topics into digestible tidbits. She covers everything millennials will find practical. From paying off student loans, to budgeting; navigating tricky financial conversations with friends to managing the intricacies of the gig economy.

Ramit Sethi’s I Will Teach You to Be Rich is a candid guide that dismisses the traditional notions of personal finance. It embraces a modern, more holistic approach to wealth. Unlike many financial guides that tout pinching pennies and forgoing lattes, Sethi emphasizes smart spending, automating finances, and investing in oneself.

Over the course of a 6-week program, Sethi takes readers through a transformative journey. It begins with credit cards, tackles student loans, and finally delves into investments and saving for big goals. 

Sethi’s ultimate point is one can lead a rich life today while also preparing for a financially secure future.

The book challenges readers to confront their financial behaviors and beliefs. Sethi’s approach to personal finance is both actionable and motivational. While it is tailored primarily for young adults, the strategies and principles discussed are universally applicable.

One of the standout features of I Will Teach You to Be Rich is its directness. Sethi doesn’t shy away from addressing the common excuses people make to avoid making key financial decisions. 

By the end, readers are equipped with more than knowledge. They have a plan to create their version of a rich life.

Benjamin Graham’s seminal work has earned its reputation as one of the foundational texts in the world of value investing. Since its original publication in 1949, the book has guided countless investors in the principles of value investing. This method focuses on buying stocks at less than their intrinsic value.

Graham explains that an investment should be approached with the same thoroughness as a business endeavor. He introduces the idea of “Mr. Market,” a fictional character representing the stock market’s manic-depressive nature. Investors, Graham suggests, should capitalize on Mr. Market’s mood swings rather than be ruled by them.

Much of the book is dedicated to teaching readers how to analyze stocks and bonds from a long-term perspective. Doing so requires thinking of stock as a stake in the company, rather than just a ticker symbol. 

This text requires a commitment to fully digest. However, the lessons within offer a roadmap for anyone looking to navigate the waters of investing with a calm and informed approach.

Embarking on a journey into the world of financial literacy can be both enlightening and empowering. These ten essential texts offer insights, strategies, and advice tailored to various stages and aspects of one’s financial journey. They provide not just theoretical knowledge, but practical tools to navigate the complex terrains of investing, saving, and financial planning.

As you delve into these reads, it’s important to remember that knowledge, while powerful, is most effective when coupled with action. These books arm you with the knowledge to make informed financial decisions. However, it’s the proactive steps you take afterwards that will truly shape your financial future. Financial planning, then, becomes the bridge between what you’ve learned and its real-world application.

A well-structured financial plan allows you to set tangible goals, chart out strategies to achieve them, and monitor your progress. Whether it’s early retirement, purchasing a dream home, or ensuring a comfortable life for your loved ones, a robust financial plan turns these aspirations into achievable milestones.

As you consume the invaluable information these books offer, consider complementing your newfound knowledge by delving into the realm of financial planning. It’s the natural next step that can unlock the true potential of what you’ve learned, ensuring that you don’t just become financially literate, but also financially astute and proactive. Remember, the journey to financial freedom is not just about understanding money—it’s about making it work for you in the most optimized way.

YOUR FREE FINANCIAL PLAN

Are you ready to invest in your future?

Build your free plan today.

Related Articles

March 5, 2024

Planning for Retirement in Your 50s: Catching Up From A Late Start

Planning for retirement is a vital endeavor that requires careful consideration and strategic financial management. While ideally, retirement savings should begin early in one's career, life circumstances often lead individuals to start their retirement planning journey later in life.

September 25, 2023

FSA vs HSA: Which Account is Right for You?

Both HSA and FSA accounts offer tax advantages on medical expenses, but which account is best? We've got a breakdown to help you decide.

September 22, 2023

42 Inexpensive Hobbies for Retirees

Now that retirement is on the horizon you'll have to decide what to do with your time. here's a list of 42 inexpensive hobbies to try!

• The 14 Best Finance Books of All Time

In 2022, a study found that 56% of Americans have less than $1,000 in savings in the bank. It gets worse: Over half of those people don’t have enough money to cover a $1,000 expense at all. They’d have to borrow the money. That’s bad.

It’s not bad because “you should save money,” but because having no emergency fund puts you in a vulnerable position. What if someone crashes into your car? What if you break a few bones? Things outside of our control can force us to pay up. You don’t want to come up short when that happens.

That’s just the most pressing example of why you should learn to manage your finances. There are others: Retiring in peace without stressing about money, having enough to invest in a new venture, giving freely to friends, family, and charity — money does make our lives easier up to a certain degree.

Thankfully, there are a lot of good books to help us become financially smart. At Four Minute Books, we’ve reviewed and summarized over 1,000 books to date , and we think the best finance books come down to three things:

• Practical advice. Money is a tangible thing, so whatever tips authors give should be easy to implement for you right away.
• Relevant information. Depending on your situation and goals, you might need a beginner’s book or a more advanced one.
• Inspiring stories. If a book is boring, it won’t motivate you to take action. The easiest way to change is to listen to a good story.

Based on these three criteria, we’ve selected the 14 best finance books for you to read. If you want to become savvy with your finances, be smarter in how you spend and save, and learn to invest your money to build freedom, consider these books.

Our list includes our favorite quote, a short summary, three key lessons, and few arguments for why you may want to read each book in question. Each of them is available on Four Minute Books, so you can read our free four-minute summary or get a copy for yourself.

To make navigating this page easier for you, we broke the list down into different categories and created a table of contents. You can also jump back up here with the little arrow in the bottom right corner of the page.

Whether you’ve been unlucky, have bad financial habits, or just aren’t good at math, these books may finally change your financial life for the better. Here are the best finance books!

Table of Contents

1. Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki

2. money: master the game by tony robbins, 3. the barefoot investor by scott pape, 4. the one-page financial plan by carl richards, 5. the intelligent investor by benjamin graham, 6. the little book that beats the market by joel greenblatt, 7. the millionaire fastlane by mj demarco, 8. think and grow rich by napoleon hill, 9. i will teach you to be rich by ramit sethi, 10. the total money makeover by dave ramsey, 11. the automatic millionaire by david bach, 12. the millionaire next door by thomas j. stanley, 13. secrets of the millionaire mind by t. harv eker, 14. the richest man in babylon by george clason, bonus: the 4 minute millionaire by niklas göke, other book lists by topic, other book lists by author, best finance books overall, favorite quote.

“The main reason that over 90 percent of the American public struggles financially is because they play not to lose.  They don’t play to win.”  — Robert T. Kiyosaki

The Book in One Sentence

Rich Dad Poor Dad tells the story of a boy with two fathers, one rich, one poor, to help you develop the mindset and financial knowledge you need to build a life of wealth and freedom.

Why should you read it?

This book is controversial, but in getting you to actually do something , it just works. It’s based partially on Kiyosaki’s life, who learned two different ways of handling money from his dad and that of his best friend. The lessons are a mix of how to approach money as a concept, basic knowledge of accounting, budgeting, and investing, and how to manage your money so it works for you. By the time you’re done with the story, you’ll enjoy implementing the tips.

Key Takeaways

• Use your money to acquire assets, not liabilities.
• Manage risks instead of avoiding them.
• Work to learn, not to earn.

If you want to learn more, you can read our free four-minute summary or get a copy for yourself.

“You either master money, or, on some level, money masters you!” — Tony Robbins

Money: Master The Game lays out seven simple steps to financial freedom, based on the advice of the world’s best billionaire investors, interviewed by Tony Robbins.

Tony Robbins dedicated ten years of research to this book. After the financial crisis of 2008 , he decided to help average people secure a good future. After interviewing several billionaire financial legends, such as Ray Dalio , Warren Buffett , Jack Bogle , he put together their best strategies. The book contains everything from mindset changes to saving tips to asset allocation. The transcripts of the interviews are worth the price of the book alone.

• Never underestimate the exponential power of compounding interest.
• Pick one of three financial goals to show yourself that financial freedom is within reach: basic expenses, basic + fun, or financial independence.
• Diversify your investments by using a 3-bucket system: A security bucket, a growth bucket, and a dream bucket.

Best Finance Books For Beginners

“You can continue living in the past, beating yourself up about the money mistakes you made when you were younger, telling yourself you’ve left it too late…or you can rise up and make yourself proud.” — Scott Pape

The Barefoot Investor is an Australian farm boy’s no-BS guide to taking charge of your personal finances with a simple system to eliminate debt, live in the now, and still retire in peace.

Scott Pape is Australia’s most trusted personal finance expert. His book has sold over 1,000,000 copies. Despite growing up on a farm, Pape wanted to get rich by trading stocks. That didn’t work out. He went back to his farm and now uses the simple life as a metaphor for managing your money. The book helps you take control in three phases: plant, grow, then harvest your money. He balances easy tips with radical advice. A great book for beginners.

• Simplify your money management by using different bank accounts.
• Shred your credit cards first, then start paying off your debt.
• Automate some of your retirement planning with index funds.

“People who understand interest earn it. People who don’t pay it.” — Carl Richards

The One-Page Financial Plan makes financial planning stop feeling like a burden for the less disciplined by helping you plan your entire financial future on a single page.

Carl Richards has spent more than 40,000 hours over the last 20 years as a financial advisor, working at Wells Fargo, Merrill Lynch and others. Some of his sketches he shares on Instagram went viral. They illustrate the ideas that helped him and his wife plan their finances on just one piece of paper. His book shows you how to do the same.

• Set some goals but stay flexible and fine-tune along the way.
• Turn budgeting into a game to make saving fun.
• View paying off debt as an investment in your future.

Best Finance Books For Investors

“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” — Benjamin Graham

The Intelligent Investor explains value investing, which is focused on generating steady, long-term profits by ignoring the current market and picking companies with high intrinsic value.

Warren Buffett says this is the single greatest book on investing ever written. It’s based on Benjamin Graham’s classes, which Warren Buffett took as a young student. Value investors find companies with great fundamentals and buy their shares at a discounted price. After that, all they have to do is wait. Eventually, their real value will unlock. A true, timeless classic.

• There are 3 principles to intelligent investing: analyze for the long term, protect yourself from losses, and don’t go for crazy profits.
• Never trust Mr. Market, he can be very irrational in the short and medium term.
• Stick to a strict formula by which you make all your investments, and you’ll do fine.

“Choosing individual stocks without any idea of what you’re looking for is like running through a dynamite factory with a burning match. You may live, but you’re still an idiot.” — Joel Greenblatt

The Little Book That (Still) Beats The Market is a step-by-step tutorial to implement a simple, mathematical formula when buying stocks which guarantees long-term profits.

Joel Greenblatt is an investing legend. His investment company Gotham Funds had an annual return of over 40% for 20 years, from 1986 to 2006. With his simple formula, Joel has managed to turn Benjamin Graham’s value investing approach into a system that only needs to be updated once a year. In 2005, he wrote it down to pass it on to his children. If you’re looking for a specific, low-hassle investment approach, this is your best bet.

• Look at earnings yield and return on capital to evaluate stocks.
• Rank and combine these two factors to find winning companies.
• Be patient, it’s what makes this formula unpopular, but effective.

Best Finance Books For Entrepreneurs

“Many people want to change their life, but they are not willing to change their choices, and ultimately this changes nothing.” — MJ DeMarco

The Millionaire Fastlane points out what’s wrong with the old “get a degree, get a job, work hard, retire rich” model, defines wealth in a new way, and shows you the path to retiring young.

This book must have the world’s most misleading title. It’s not a get-rich-quick-scheme at all. Instead, it’s a story of persistence, boldness, risk-taking, and unconventional thinking. After seeing a man in a Lamborghini when he was a teenager, MJ DeMarco knew he wanted to be rich, but he didn’t want to slave away for 40 years to get there. After launching, selling, and re-buying his own company, he retired at age 33 as a multi-millionaire. An inspiring read!

• Wealth stands for 3 things — and money isn’t one of them: health, relationships, and freedom are what truly matters.
• At some point, you must make your income independent of your time.
• Think like a producer, not like a consumer.

“The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desire brings weak results, just as a small fire makes a small amount of heat.” — Napoleon Hill

Think and Grow Rich is a curation of the 13 most common habits of wealthy and successful people, distilled from studying over 500 individuals over the course of 20 years.

This might be the most popular book about success in the world. After steel magnate Andrew Carnegie himself put him on to the task, Napoleon Hill interviewed successful individuals for 20 years. The result, was published in 1937 and has sold 70 million copies. It’s a book about thinking, vision, and doing what it takes to succeed. If you’re a young entrepreneur, this is for you.

• Use autosuggestion to build an unshakeable belief in yourself.
• Be stubborn and always stick to your decisions.
• Join a Mastermind group to cut your learning curve.

Best Finance Books For Saving Money

“Getting started is more important than becoming an expert.”  — Ramit Sethi

I Will Teach You To Be Rich helps you save money on autopilot while allowing yourself to spend guilt-free on the things you enjoy.

Ramit Sethi’s blog started in his dorm room in 2004. After selling an ebook for a few dollars and seeing the magic of earning online, he doubled down. 15 years later, GrowthLab makes millions in annual revenue with online courses. His New York Times bestseller will help you cut costs in every area of life, splurge on the things you enjoy, and automate your retirement planning. A down-to-earth perspective from someone who’s done it.

• You’re the only one responsible for your financial problems.
• Know how much money you have coming in and then automatically direct it where you want it to end up.
• Start investing today, even if it’s just $1.

“We buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t like.” — Dave Ramsey

The Total Money Makeover shows you how to stop accepting debt as normal, eliminate it forever in small increments, and build the financial future you deserve in seven steps.

The Dave Ramsey Show is one of USA’s most popular radio shows ever. Ramsey helps people become debt-free, at which point they go on his show to talk about the experience. He also helps them with the emotional issues of tackling money and goes beyond mere mathematical tips. Ramsey encourages you to tackle your debts from small to large, then slowly start saving, and only invest after you’ve covered the basics. A rock-solid approach to finance.

• Before you do anything else, put away $1,000 in an emergency fund.
• Start paying down your debts, beginning with the smallest.
• Grow your emergency fund until you have at least a three-month buffer.

Best Finance Books For Retirement

“The fact is, none of us really has a choice: We are all playing the money game whether we want to or not. The only question is: Are we winning?” — David Bach

The Automatic Millionaire is an actionable, step-by-step plan for building wealth without being disciplined by relying on fixed percentages, small payments, and automated transactions.

When he was seven years old, his grandma took David Bach to McDonald’s. Over lunch, she told him there are three types of people in the world: those who eat at McDonald’s, those who work at McDonald’s, and those who invest in McDonald’s. Wow! Later, Bach became a vice president at Morgan Stanley. Today, he runs a consultancy and publishes books. 7 of 12 are New York Times bestsellers, and this one is his most practical template for building wealth.

• Saving a little every day will go a long way.
• Pay yourself first to take care of your financial future.
• Automatic payments allow you to invest in a disciplined manner without being disciplined yourself.

“Whatever your income, always live below your means.” — Thomas J. Stanley

The Millionaire Next Door shows you the simple spending and saving habits that lead to more cash in the bank than most people earn in their life while helping you avoid critical mistakes on your way to financial independence.

Stanley and his co-author William Danko studied people with normal incomes and high net worths for decades. The book helps you avoid becoming a UAW — an under-accumulator of wealth. Most people could save half their income. This book shows you why that’s worth the effort in the long run.

• Save responsibly from the moment you first start earning more than you need to live.
• Use a simple net worth formula to calculate if you’re falling short of your financial potential.
• Avoid economic outpatient care — spending too much money supporting others — to reach your goal.

Best Finance Books For Financial Freedom

“If you want to change the fruits, you will first have to change the roots. If you want to change the visible, you must first change the invisible.” — T. Harv Eker

Secrets Of The Millionaire Mind suggests our financial success is not determined from birth and shows us what to do to break through mental barriers and acquire the habits and thinking of the rich.

After an absolute rollercoaster of building, selling, losing, and failing at over a dozen businesses, T. Harv Eker analyzed his own relationship with money. He found he’d just emulated his parents’ financial strategies, and so do most of us. This book will help you undo the damaging aspects of that wiring and replace it with solid financial thinking and habits.

• You naturally tend to replicate your parents’ income strategies.
• If you want to control your finances, you first have to realize you’re the one at the wheel.
• Don’t despise rich people or you’ll never become rich yourself.

“Advice is one thing that is freely given away, but watch that you only take what is worth having.” — George S. Clason

The Richest Man In Babylon gives common-sense financial advice which you can apply today, told through tales and parables from the times of ancient Babylon.

George S. Clason, a soldier, businessman, and writer, was smart when he published this book in 1926. Instead of giving boring advice without any credibility, he wrapped his lessons into stories from the Babylonians. Generally believed to be an astonishing people, they lent George the power to transfer these lessons to us. The advice is as sound today as it was back then.

• Live below your means.
• Learn how to be lucky.
• Never take on debt.

“At the end of the day, all change is in your hands. Whether you want to be rich, get fit, or find love, no one can do the work but you. What you can and should do to succeed, however, is take all the help you can get.” — Niklas Göke

The 4 Minute Millionaire  is a collection of 44 short lessons sourced from the best finance books, each paired with an action item to help you get closer to financial freedom in just 4 minutes a day.

If you feel overwhelmed with managing your money or that you are too busy to invest, this book is for you. It’ll help you to finally start looking after your finances, and it’ll do so in a way that’s manageable in just 4 minutes a day. Everyone has 4 minutes a day, including you. The daily action items will make sure you implement what you learn, and if you’re already further along in your financial independence–journey, you can simply start with the later sections for some advanced investing techniques and ideas.

• Take pride in starting, even if you can only start small.
• Instead of avoiding risk and thus also avoiding wealth, you should manage it.
• There are 7 new asset classes that make it easy to get excited about investing.

We’ve summarized over 1,000 books to date, many of them about money. In our opinion, these are the best finance books of all time to start mastering money in your life.

Whether you’re recovering from an unlucky turn of events, suffering from bad financial habits picked up in childhood, or just not good at math, after diving into these books, you’ll soon create more financial breathing room in your life.

Improve your financial knowledge, reduce your spending, start saving and investing, and you’ll be well on your way to financial independence.

When it comes to taking control of your finances, the most important part is to start today.

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” – Benjamin Franklin

Looking for more of the best books on various topics? Here are all the book lists we’ve made for you so far:

• The 60 Best Business Books of All Time (Will Forever Change How You Think About Organizations)
• The 20 Best Entrepreneurship Books to Start, Grow & Run a Successful Business
• The 21 Best Habit Books of All Time to Change Any Behavior
• The 33 Best Happiness Books of All Time That Everyone Should Read
• The 60 Best History Books of All Time (to Read at Any Age)
• The 7 Best Inspirational Books That Will Light Your Inner Fire
• The 40 Best Leadership Books of All Time to Help You Become a Truly Inspiring Person
• The 31 Best Motivational Books Ever Written
• The 12 Best Nonfiction Books Most People Have Never Heard Of
• The 35 Best Philosophy Books to Live Better and Become a Great Thinker
• The 34 Best Psychology Books That Will Make You Smarter and Happier
• The 25 Best Sales Books of All Time to Help You Close Any Deal
• The 33 Best Self-Help Books of All Time to Read at Any Age
• The 22 Best Books About Sex & Sexuality to Improve Your Love Life & Relationships
• The 30 Most Life-Changing Books That Will Shift Your Perspective & Stay With You Forever

Looking for more books by the world’s most celebrated authors? Here are all of the book lists by the author we’ve curated for you:

• All Brené Brown Books, Sorted Chronologically (and by Popularity)
• Jordan Peterson Books: All Titles in Order of Publication + The 5 Top Books He Recommends
• All Malcolm Gladwell Books, Sorted Chronologically (and by Popularity)
• All Michael Pollan Books, Sorted Chronologically (and by Popularity)
• Peter Thiel Books: A Comprehensive List of Books By, About & Recommended by Peter Thiel
• All Rachel Hollis Books: The Full List of Non-Fiction, Fiction & Cookbooks, Sorted by Popularity & the Best Reading Order
• All Ray Dalio Books, Sorted Chronologically (and by Popularity)
• All Robert Greene Books, Sorted Chronologically (and by Popularity)
• All Ryan Holiday Books, Sorted Chronologically (and by Popularity)
• All Simon Sinek Books, Sorted Chronologically (and by Popularity)
• All Tim Ferriss Books, Sorted Chronologically (and by Popularity)
• All Walter Isaacson Books, Sorted Chronologically (and by Popularity)

Last Updated on June 30, 2023

*Four Minute Books participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising commissions by linking to Amazon. We also participate in other affiliate programs, such as Blinkist, MindValley, Audible, Audiobooks, Reading.FM, and others. Our referral links allow us to earn commissions (at no extra cost to you) and keep the site running. Thank you for your support.

Need some inspiration? 👀 Here are... The 365 Most Famous Quotes of All Time »

Share on mastodon.

18 Financial Literacy Books You Should Read in 2023

Now is a great time to brush up on your financial literacy with these 18 financial literacy books.

Whether you want to learn more about investing, savings plans , or just want to improve your financial security overall , these 18 popular financial literacy books will help you reach your financial goals , or at the very least, improve your understanding of topics that are not always taught in school or at home.

This list of popular financial literacy books comprises chart-topping hits, best sellers, and books by some of our favorite finance gurus. 

1.   The One-Page Financial Plan by Carl Richards

In this book, Richards explains that bad calls about money aren’t failures. Instead, they’re just what happens when emotional creatures have to make decisions about the future with limited information.

He goes on to explain that he feels it’s important to scrap striving for perfection. Instead, it advises committing to a process of guessing and making adjustments when things go off track.

Those who want to gain clarity about the big picture of finance in order to cope with the unexpected. 

2.   The Little Book That (Still) Beats The Market by Joel Greenblatt

In this expanded-upon version of the original book, Greenblatt explained how investors can outperform the popular market averages by simply and systematically applying a formula that seeks out good businesses when they are available at bargain prices.

Anyone who wants an anecdote-rich, easy-to-understand investing strategy.

3.   Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki

Now 25 years old, this book has been updated to ensure that the information aligns with today’s society. Rich Dad Poor Dad is Kiyosaki’s story of growing up with two dads — his real father and the father of his best friend, his rich dad.

It details the ways in which both men shaped his thoughts about money and investing.

Those who want to make their current money and financial standing work for them.

4.   The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason

The Richest Millennial in Babylon was written by a young professional, and provides 10 tiny habits to help readers get out of debt, build savings, and retire with financial freedom.

Anyone who wants a quick read that integrates short stories, step-by-step guides, and illustrations that keep the content engaging.

5.   Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together by Erin Lowry

With a refreshingly casual attitude, this is a great financial literacy book to pick up if finances scare you. With information like understanding your relationship with money and managing student loans without having a full-on panic attack, this provides a wealth of insight in an actionable and easily digestible way.

Millennials who want simple advice packed with funny stories that hit the nail on the head by sharing real world experiences we’ve all found ourselves in along with useful information on how to move forward from these situations.

6.   Clever Girl Finance by Bola Sokunbi

Check out this financial literacy book for guidance on ditching debt, saving money, and building real wealth.

Sokunbi, the force behind the hugely popular Clever Girl Finance website, draws on her personal money mistakes and financial redemption to educate and empower a new generation of women on their journey to financial freedom.

Women looking to learn real-world stories and advice from other “clever girls”.

7.   Get Good with Money: Ten Simple Steps to Becoming Financially Whole by Tiffany Aliche

Written by Tiffany Aliche who was a successful preschool teacher with a healthy nest egg when a recession. What’s more? Bad advice from a shady advisor put her out of a job and into a huge financial hole.

So she began to chart the path to her own financial rescue. The outline of her ten-step formula for attaining both financial security and peace of mind began to take shape. That was the framework for this financial literacy book,

Anyone who wants to cultivate good financial habits .

8.   The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham

This book focuses on the concept of value investing. Value investing is a long-term investment strategy that involves buying stocks that are undervalued by the market and holding onto them until they reach their full potential.

Anyone looking to learn more about this approach to investing (value investing).

9.   Stop Acting Rich and Start Living Like a Millionaire by Thomas J. Stanley

This book explains the author’s thoughts about how the less affluent have fallen into the elite luxury brand trap that keeps them from acquiring wealth and details how to get out of it by emulating the working rich as opposed to the super elite.

Those looking for a defensive strategy for tough times.

10. I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi

Personal finance expert Ramit Sethi has been called a “wealth wizard” by Forbes and the “new guru on the block” by Fortune. Now he’s updated and expanded his modern money classic for a new age, delivering a simple, powerful, no-BS 6-week program that just works.

Those looking for a six-week program to help you set up finances will adore this financial fix

11. The Basics of Bitcoins and Blockchains: An Introduction to Cryptocurrencies and the Technology that Powers Them by Antony Lewis

In addition to the money advice we’ve all grown up hearing, there’s a world of cryptocurrency to learn about!

This book provides a clear guide to this new currency and the revolutionary technology that powers it.

Those looking to get a better understanding of cryptocurrency and how it all works will love this introductory book.

12. The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness by Morgan Housel

The concept of this book is amazing because it talks about the reality of making financial decisions. It explores how people often make these decisions at the dinner table, or in a meeting room.

These are places where personal history, your own unique view of the world, ego, pride, marketing, and odd incentives are scrambled together.

Money is typically taught as a math-based field, where data and formulas tell us exactly what to do. The only problem? Most people don’t use that structure to make financial decisions.

Anyone looking to learn more about human behavior surrounding money and how it affects financial choices.

13. Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez

This book has been around for over 15 years. It has been recognized as one of the top financial literacy books around.

This updated edition claims to ensure that its time-tested wisdom applies to people of all ages.

It covers modern topics like investing in index funds, managing revenue streams like side hustles and freelancing, and tracking your finances online. It even tackles the task of having difficult conversations about money.

Those looking for a step-by-step program to learn to live more deliberately and meaningfully will love this book.

14. Student Loan Solution: 5 Steps to Take Control of your Student Loans and Financial Life by David Carlson

According to US census data, over 17% of Americans (45 million) have student loan debt . Needless to say, this book is very relevant. It explains what student loan borrowers should be focusing on. He provides a 5-step approach to help you understand your loans, your options, and how to improve your greater financial life. The best part? You can do this all while paying down your student loan debt.

Anyone looking for tools to start your student loan repayments with a bang.

15. The Financial Diet: A Total Beginner’s Guide to Getting Good with Money by Chelsea Fagan

The Financial Diet is the self-proclaimed personal finance book for people who don’t care about personal finance. Are you in need of an overspending detox? Are you buried under student debt? Are you just trying to figure out how to live on an entry-level salary? Whatever you need, The Financial Diet gives you tools to make a budget, understand investments, and deal with your credit.

Those looking for a personal finance guide written in an approachable and helpful tone.

16. Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties by Beth Kobliner

This New York Times bestseller guides millennials and Gen Z through the world of personal finance. It was so popular that it’s been completely revised and updated in the fourth edition of this book!

Those just starting out who are looking to learn how to decrease their debt, avoid common money mistakes, and navigate the world of personal finance in today’s ever-changing landscape.

17. Why Didn’t They Teach Me This in School?: 99 Personal Money Management Principles to Live By by Cary Siegel

Is there anything that you resonate with more than the concept of “why didn’t they teach me this in school?”

This book hits on all the concepts we missed through the gaping holes in our education system.

It was initially developed by the author to pass on to his five children as they entered adulthood. Summed up as quick and easily digestible, this book is beneficial for anyone at any age.

This book is great for those interested in an easily digestible read that focuses more on the qualitative side than the quantitative side of personal money management.

18. Financial Feminist: Overcome the Patriarchy’s Bullsh*t to Master Your Money and Build a Life You Love by Tori Dunlap

You might recognize Tori Dunlap as the social media star behind Her First $100K . This book covers everything from managing debt to investing and voting with your dollars.

It’s a great read for those who want a financial book with a feminist focus.

This book is great for women looking for a shame- and judgment-free approach to paying off debt . It helps readers learn how to spend mindfully. It also discusses how to save money without monk-like deprivation, and investing to spend your retirementTulum.

If you’re looking at this list of financial literacy books and feel like you still need some additional support, check out our list of 26 personal finance apps to help you make managing your finances more enjoyable !

World’s Best Hack: A Script To Ask For A Raise

Download our free raise script + learn:.

• How to prep your ask
• How to use evidence to prove you deserve a raise
• The proven word-for-word script only shared with subscribers

Heads up! By downloading our script you’re agreeing to join our newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time!

Similar Posts

How to Negotiate a Counteroffer to Get Your Salary

You got the salary offer, but it’s not quite what you expected. Here’s how to…

How To Set SMART Financial Goals

Setting objectives for your yearly financials is important because it helps your business run smoothly….

25+ Passive Income Ideas to Help You Make Money

If you’re trying to make money on the side without having to think about it…

20 Best Personal Finance Blogs to Follow

Personal finance blogs can be an incredible tool to help boost your financial confidence. Maybe…

30+ Creative Savings Plans to Try Today

Let’s face it, life is expensive, and saving money can be hard! That’s why we…

The 15 Best Salary Calculators to Help Achieve Fair Pay

If you’ve wondered what your salary looks like when broken down to an hourly basis, how your taxes could look at a certain pay grade, or what your bi-monthly paycheck will be, we have all the calculators you’ll need.

• Best Personal Finance Books of 2024
• Importance of Personal Finance Literacy
• Benefits of Personal Finance Books
• Want to Read More?

Best Personal Finance Books to Read in 2024

Affiliate links for the products on this page are from partners that compensate us and terms apply to offers listed (see our advertiser disclosure with our list of partners for more details). However, our opinions are our own. See how we rate products and services to help you make smart decisions with your money.

Introduction to the Best Personal Finance Books of 2024

• "Get Good with Money" by Tiffany "The Budgetnista" Aliche
• "Retire Before Mom & Dad" by Rob Berger
• "How I Invest My Money" by Joshua Brown and Brian Portnoy
• "The Simple Path to Wealth" by JL Collins
• "Financial Feminist: Overcoming the Patriarchy's Bullsh*t to Master Your Money and Build a Life You Love" by Tori Dunlap
• " Deeper Than Money: Ditch Money Shame, Build Wealth, and Feel Confident AF" by Chloe Elise
• "The Financial Diet: A Total Beginner's Guide to Getting Good with Money" by Chelsea Fagan and Lauren Ver Hage
• "Cultura and Cash: Lessons from the First Gen Mentor for Managing Finances and Cultural Expectations" by Giovanna González
• "Finance for the People: Getting a Grip on Your Finances" by Paco de Leon
• "Broke Millennial Takes On Investing " by Erin Lowry
• "The Money Manual: A Practical Money Guide to Help You Succeed on Your Financial Journey" by Tonya B. Rapley
• "The Poverty Paradox: Understanding Economic Hardship Amid American Prosperity" by Robert Rank
• "Cashing Out: Win the Wealth Game by Walking Away" by Julien and Kiersten Saunders
• "I Will Teach You to be Rich" by Ramit Sethi
• "Spend Well, Live Rich" by Michelle Singletary
• "Clever Girl Finance: Learn How Investing Works, Grow Your Money" by Bola Sokunbi
• "The Millionaire Next Door" by Thomas J. Stanley
• "When She Makes More" by Farnoosh Torabi

Diving into a book can be a great way to learn more about personal finance. Business Insider's personal finance team put together a list of 18 of the top personal finance books for 2024. 

Our top picks cover a wide range of money topics. So whether you want to retire early , invest in the stock market, start conversations about money with your family, or just see money from a different point of view, we have options for you to discover.

Our list of must-read personal finance books includes our personal favorites and some with truly impressive Amazon reviews and ratings.

'Get Good With Money: Ten Simple Steps To Becoming Financially Whole,' by Tiffany 'The Budgetnista' Aliche

Tiffany Aliche, aka The Budgetnista, shares her own triumph over debt and financial hardships. "Get Good With Money" also includes worksheets to help you assess your financial wellness without shame or judgment. This book also covers a wide range of personal topics like how to build an emergency fund from how to improve your credit score.

• People who want to pay off debt
• People who like worksheets
• Young professionals

'Retire Before Mom and Dad,' by Rob Berger

For anyone considering early retirement through the FIRE (Financially Independent, Retire Early) movement , this book is a quintessential primer on the principles of getting started on this path. But, it also looks at principles that make financial independence and retirement attainable, even if retiring early isn't on your list.

• People who want to retire early
• People who want to build wealth

'How I Invest My Money,' by Joshua Brown and Brian Portnoy

If you've ever wondered how your financial advisor, a venture capitalist, or that money expert on the internet invests their money, Brian Portnoy and Joshua Brown have answers.

With pithy stories from 25 financial experts, this book advances on basic personal finance topics, giving readers ideas to implement as they take the next steps on their financial journeys.

It's not the best choice for anyone who's new to managing money, as it lacks enough explanation of the basics to be a stand-alone guide. But for readers who are ready to make new financial moves, this book will prove helpful.

• Strategies for how to save money , and build wealth
• People who are looking for inspiration to take the next step with their money

The Simple Path to Wealth: Your Road Map to Financial Independence and a Rich, Free Life,' by JL Collins

The principles of "The Simple Path to Wealth" were first laid out in a series of letters by the author to his daughter, and there's no shortage of accessible and actionable advice on investing throughout the book.

It takes on a light and casual tone in some chapters but doesn't shy away from explanations of more complicated topics, either, like the nuances of investing in a bear or bull market . It's the highest-rated personal finance book on the list, with over 3,800 Amazon reviews and an average rating of 4.8 stars.

'Financial Feminist: Overcoming the Patriarchy's Bullsh*t to Master Your Money and Build a Life You Love,' by Tori Dunlap

In "Financial Feminist," entrepreneur and author Tori Dunlap teaches women how to advocate for their worth and channel their emotions to make smart money decisions. Dunlap offers a financial game plan that helps you build a career you love.

• Socially conscious millennial women

'Deeper Than Money: Ditch Money Shame, Build Wealth, and Feel Confident AF' by Chloe Elise

In "'Deeper Than Money" Chloe Elise offers an approachable, insightful perspective on personal finance. Elise takes into account that everyone's situation is unique. It's important to build your own relationship with money rather than following set rules and guidelines. Elise shares moments from her own journey to show readers how they can adjust their mindset.

• Changing your money mindset and building confidence around money management
• Millennial women

'The Financial Diet: A Total Beginner's Guide to Getting Good with Money,' by Chelsea Fagan and Lauren Ver Hage

A great book for beginners, "The Financial Diet" lays a groundwork for anyone wanting to learn more about money and life. Best for young adults, Fagan dives into starting to invest and saving for retirement, as well as budgeting and debt repayment plans. The advice here is no-frills and easy to put into practice.

• Personal finance beginners

'Cultura and Cash: Lessons from the First Gen Mentor for Managing Finances and Cultural Expectations' by Giovanna González

Giovanna González acknowledges that cultural expectations and first-generation experiences can impact a person's money management in "Cultura and Cash." Latinx and first-generation readers can relate to a lot of the experiences González writes about — something you won't see in other personal finance books.

Ultimately, this book does a great job of teaching you how to embrace the best of two different cultural systems— the individualist nature of the U.S. and the family-oriented view of Latinx cultures — so you can learn how to manage your money.

• Women of color
• Latinx learning about personal finance
• First gen in the U.S.

'Finance for the People,' by Paco de Leon

In "Finance for the People," former financial planner Paco de Leon explains how to take personal responsibility for our personal finances despite inequities out of our control, while providing the necessary tools to help you build a strong financial foundation.

• Visual learners
• Socially conscious millennials and Gen Zers
• Holistic financial wellness advice

'Broke Millennial Takes On Investing: A Beginner's Guide To Leveling Up Your Money,' by Erin Lowry

"Broke Millennial" took the world by storm with great budgeting tips written specifically for avocado-toast-brunching millennials. Erin Lowry is back at it again with a practical, easy-to-read guide to investing. Packed with tips for beginners, "Broke Millennial Takes On Investing" will teach you how to navigate the market in alignment with your beliefs and values.

• Socially conscious investors

'The Money Manual' by Tonya B. Rapley

"The Money Manual" is a guidebook to the basics of managing money, from saving to building credit . Written by the blogger behind Myfabfinance.com, this book is both engaging and approachable, with money lessons that are applicable no matter how much you're earning.

This book is more interactive than most, with sections of questions and space for writing. The book starts with a simple money check-in, and from the beginning gives actionable advice that can help you understand where you are and where you want to go.

• Young adults and millennials
• Re-learning the basics of budgeting and saving
• Hands-on learners

'The Poverty Paradox: Understanding Economic Hardship Amid American Prosperity' by Mark Robert Rank

"The Poverty Paradox" is technically a social science book.  Still, it's a great book to read if you're learning about personal finance because it helps you realize how systems in the U.S. can create wealth inequality .

This may help you shift your money mindset because you'll gain a better understanding of how external factors contribute to poverty. Rank is an expert in this area, and shares research in the book to support each of his points.

• Understanding wealth inequality and poverty in the U.S.
• Shifting your money mindset

'Cashing Out: Win the Wealth Game by Walking Away,' by Julien and Kiersten Saunders

Early retirees Julien and Kiersten Saunders, founders of the award-winning blog rich®ULAR, outline the exact 15-year plan they used to retire in their 40s. "Cashing Out" walks readers through the process of building a lasting wealth-building plan without sacrificing too many small pleasures that keep you going.

• Anyone experiencing burnout in a high-stress job
• First-time investors

'I Will Teach You To Be Rich,' by Ramit Sethi

Personal finance author Ramit Sethi outlines a six-week plan for living out your "rich life" as you define it. "I Will Teach You to be Rich" by Ramit Sethi walks readers through how to use credit cards and maximize rewards, opening a high-yield savings account to earn interest, and even automating accounts to save with no effort every month. This easy-to-read and highly actionable book goes from reading to returns quickly.

• Making a plan
• Strategizing with your money
• Setting up systems to build wealth

'Spend Well, Live Rich: How to Get What You Want with the Money You Have,' by Michelle Singletary

Author Michelle Singletary reflects on her life with her grandmother, who raised five children (including the author) on a modest salary. Singletary looks into the principles that her grandmother used with her own finances to make the most of what she had. It's best for anyone wanting inspiration on making the most of the money they already have.

• Inspiration

'Clever Girl Finance,' by Bola Sokunbi

This easy-to-read guide to money doesn't make assumptions — it starts with the very basics of building wealth and builds on them. This book roots its lessons in reality with real-life anecdotes, including from the author herself.

It doesn't require any prior knowledge, either. It covers the basics of organizing money and how to budget , then explains the credit system, debt, investing, and even asking for a raise.

It's an excellent choice for anyone who is just getting started with personal finance, or simply wants a refresher on the basics.

• Anyone searching for a crash course on managing money and building wealth

'The Millionaire Next Door,' by Thomas J. Stanley

Thomas J. Stanley's profile of America's wealthy citizens finds that they're more similar than they are different, and they're not all the people you'd expect. Stanley looks at millionaires and finds seven habits that they have in common, including living below their means and rejecting traditional consumerism. Stanley's insights have earned this book over 5,300 five-star reviews.

'When She Makes More,' by Farnoosh Torabi

"When She Makes More" author and personal finance expert Farnoosh Torabi explores a reality she lives with every day: being a breadwinner and a woman in a different-sex relationship. She looks at the realities and the rules she's made with her partner, and discusses ways to maximize earnings and minimize conflict.

• Starting a conversation about money

The Importance of Personal Finance Literacy

If you're just starting your financial journey or struggling with certain aspects of managing your money, a personal finance book can be a great way to learn fundamental concepts.

For example, the best books on investing can help you learn the difference between a Roth IRA and Traditional IRA , as well as how to invest in the stock market.

Personal finance books for budgeting can teach you different budgeting strategies like the pay-yourself-first method or the 50/30/20 rule so you can learn to manage spending and save money over time.

Some personal finance books also cater to specific audiences. For instance, there are several books that include personal experiences the writer has faced, and how they've overcome these issues. Personal finance books for people of color often acknowledge systemic barriers people of color face and include nuances in culture when framing money strategies.

Benefits of Reading Personal Finance Books

The main benefit of reading personal finance books is that you can learn about different approaches to money management.

While there are similar jargon and fundamental concepts that you'll find across many personal finance books, you'll also find that many experts share different opinions, experiences, and strategies regarding money concepts. You get to take these nuggets of wisdom and shape your own ideas to cultivate a system that works for you and helps you achieve your savings goals . 

Want to Read More? Try These:

Not every book we wanted to mention made the top 18. Here are a few more good choices to continue your reading:

• "The Intelligent Investor," by Benjamin Graham
• "Girl, Get Your Credit Straight!," by Glinda Bridgforth
• "Financially Fearless: The LearnVest Program for Taking Control of Your Money," by Alexa Von Tobel
• "Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School," by Andrew Hallam
• "The Automatic Millionaire," by David Bach
• "You Are a Badass at Making Money," by Jen Sincero
• "Your Money or Your Life," by Vicki Robin
• "Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties" by Beth Kobliner

Personal Finance Books FAQs

Our must-read personal books for beginners are "The Financial Diet" by Chelsea Fagan and Lauren Ver Hage, "Finance for the People" by Paco de Leon, "The Poverty Paradox" by Mark Robert Rank, and "I Will Teach You to be Rich" by Ramit Sethi. 

Some of the best personal finance books for investing include "How I Invest My Money" by Joshua Brown and Brian Portnoy, "The Simple Path to Wealth" by JL Collins, "Broke Millennial Takes On Investing" by Erin Lowry, and "The Millionaire Next Door" by Thomas J. Stanley.

Yes, there are personal finance books specifically for women. The best personal finance books for women include "Financial Feminist" by Tori Dunlap, "Deeper Than Money" by Chloe Elise, "Cultura and Cash" by Giovanna González, and "When She Makes More" by Farnoosh Torabi.

"Retire Before Mom and Dad" by Rob Berger talks about the FIRE movement. "Cashing Out" by Julien and Kiersten Saunders is another option people can read if they want to retire early.

For budgeting tips, you should read "The Money Manual" by Tonya B. Ripley, "Spend Well, Live Rich" by Michelle Singletary, and "Clever Girl Finance"  by Bola Sokunbi.

Yes, there are personal finance books with tips and strategies for paying off debt . Our top reads for people who want to pay off debt are "Get Good With Money" by Tiffany Aliche, " The Financial Diet" by Chelsea Fagan and Lauren Ver Hage,  and "Deeper Than Money" by Chloe Elise.

• Bank accounts
• Savings and CD rate trends
• How banks operate

• Main content

• Share on Twitter
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share on Facebook
• Share on Pinterest
• Share through Email

The 17 Best Personal Finance Books for Newbies

Simon Litt is the editor of The CFO Club, specializing in covering a range of financial topics. His career has seen him focus on both personal and corporate finance for digital publications, public companies, and digital media brands across the globe.

Everyone starts somewhere... but winners start here. These are my picks for the best finance books to start managing your money effectively.

I love helping people learn about personal finance. My mum was a banker, so fortunately, I learned the language of money really young—unfortunately, if this wasn't your upbringing, you're never really taught about personal finance.

I've taken to teaching people about financial concepts, whether by editing this publication or writing about it on my own... but I recognize that some authors are much better teachers than I am.

These are some of the best finance books you can find out there. Tuck in, and let's get started.

17 Best Finance Books For Beginners Shortlist

A brave claim, but I think these 17 books are the best personal finance books for beginners, full stop.

• Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
• The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham and Jason Zweig
• The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
• Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin & Joe Dominguez
• The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley
• The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by John C. Bogle
• A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel
• Broke Millennial by Erin Lowry
• I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi
• The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins
• The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason
• Unshakeable by Tony Robbins
• The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke by Suze Orman
• The Barefoot Investor by Scott Pape
• Nudge by Richard H. Thaler & Cass R. Sunstein
• Personal Finance for Dummies by Eric Tyson
• The Index Card by Helaine Olen & Harold Pollack

Overviews Of The 17 Best Finance Books For Beginners

Here’s a quick summary of each book, what you’ll learn, and why you should read it, plus a quote from the book where applicable.

1. Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! by Robert Kiyosaki

"Rich Dad Poor Dad" is a book that contrasts the mindset and financial knowledge of Kiyosaki's “Rich Dad” and “Poor Dad.” It illustrates the fundamental financial principles and illustrates the importance of investing in assets and starting entrepreneurial ventures to achieve financial independence.

What You'll Learn:

You will gain insights into the importance of financial education and wealth-building strategies. The book provides fundamental concepts on the difference between assets and liabilities, emphasizing the significance of making money work for you to avoid the rat race of life.

Why You Should Read It:

This book is essential for beginners as it lays down the foundational principles of financial intelligence. It is an enlightening read that offers a new perspective on money, work, and life and is crucial for anyone looking to break free from the cycle of earning and spending.

Quote From The Book:

“The poor and the middle class work for money. The rich have money to work for them.”

About The Author:

Robert Kiyosaki is a renowned entrepreneur, investor, and educator, championing the cause of financial literacy. Connect with him on LinkedIn , and Twitter , or explore more about his works and philosophies on his company website .

2. The Intelligent Investor Rev. Ed: The Definitive Book on Value Investing by Benjamin Graham and Jason Zweig

"The Intelligent Investor" is a comprehensive guidebook on value investing. Benjamin Graham’s philosophy of “value investing” shields investors from substantial error and teaches them to develop long-term strategies, making this book an invaluable tool in the world of investing.

You will learn the principles of value investing, risk management , and the development of long-term strategies. Graham's philosophy will guide you on avoiding substantial error and teach the art of "value investing" to achieve consistent, long-term success.

This book is a beacon for individuals desiring to refine their investing skills and decisions. It delves into the psychology of investing, which is crucial for avoiding the pitfalls that emotions can lead to, making it an indispensable read for anyone serious about attaining success in investing.

“In the short run, the market is a voting machine, but in the long run, it is a weighing machine.”

Benjamin Graham was a notable economist and professional investor.

Join North America’s most innovative collective of Tech CFOs.

• Your email *
• By submitting this form, you agree to receive our newsletter, and occasional emails related to The CFO Club. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more details, please review our Privacy Policy . We're protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
• Comments This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

3. The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness by Dave Ramsey

The Total Money Makeover" provides a bold and straightforward approach to money management . Dave Ramsey provides a comprehensive plan to get out of debt, save money, and invest wisely, aimed at those who seek financial fitness and stability.

You’ll learn the steps to eliminate debt, build an emergency fund, and invest wisely. Ramsey provides actionable advice on budgeting, saving, and avoiding debt, enabling readers to achieve financial stability and wealth.

Dave Ramsey’s proven money-making strategies and debt-reduction methods have transformed the financial lives of millions. This book is for anyone desiring to attain financial fitness and avert the common pitfalls related to debt and spending.

“We buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like.”

Dave Ramsey is a financial guru and best-selling author focusing on personal finance. Explore more about his financial wisdom on LinkedIn , and Twitter , or visit his website for more resources and insights.

4. Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial MORE by Vicki Robin & Joe Dominguez

"Your Money or Your Life" is a groundbreaking book that redefines the relationship one has with money, emphasizing living a more deliberate and fulfilled life. It presents a systematic program for transforming your relationship with money and achieving financial independence.

You’ll absorb strategies for debt-free living, saving money, and making conscious spending decisions. This book helps readers understand the value of money in correlation to time and life energy, redefining how to approach earning and spending.

This book is a treasure for those yearning to attain a life of financial independence and value-based living. It’s an essential read for anyone looking to transform their relationship with money and seeking a life of more freedom and fulfillment.

“Money is something we choose to trade our life energy for.”

Vicki Robin is a renowned author and speaker, advocating for financial independence and a sustainable lifestyle. Explore more about Vicki on LinkedIn , Twitter , or her personal website .

5. The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley

"The Millionaire Next Door" uncovers the common traits of those who accumulate wealth, debunking myths about the wealthy. It presents extensive research on millionaires and their lifestyles, breaking stereotypes and highlighting the path to building wealth.

Readers will learn about the seven common traits found among those who accumulate wealth, including living below one's means and allocating time, energy, and money efficiently.

This book is insightful for individuals aspiring to accumulate wealth by living purposefully. It reveals the real picture of wealth in America, offering a roadmap to becoming the ‘millionaire next door’ through disciplined and resilient wealth-building strategies.

“Wealth is not the same as income. If you make a good income each year and spend it all, you are not getting wealthier. You are just living high.”

Thomas J. Stanley was a bestselling author and a researcher on the affluent in America. For more insights and research, visit his website .

6 . The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns by John C. Bogle

John C. Bogle's book is a guiding light in the world of investing, providing the blueprint for owning a portion of a stock market portfolio. It emphasizes the benefits of low-cost index funds, highlighting the importance of simplicity in investment strategy.

You will understand the essence of simplicity in investing, the importance of focusing on the long term, and the value of relying on well-established, low-cost index funds to achieve reliable returns.

For anyone willing to navigate the investment maze, this book serves as a beacon, unraveling the importance of simplicity and long-term focus. It's a crucial read to make the most of your investments and avoid the pitfalls of complex, costly investing strategies.

“A low-cost index fund is the most sensible equity investment for the great majority of investors.”

John C. Bogle was the founder of the Vanguard Group and a major proponent of index investing.

7. A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing by Burton Malkiel

Burton Malkiel’s esteemed work offers a comprehensive guide to various investment opportunities, focusing on the ‘random walk’ hypothesis. It elucidates a myriad of investment strategies, advocating for the long-term buy-and-hold strategy.

You'll gain insights into the functioning of the stock market, the effectiveness of technical and fundamental analysis, and the foundational principles of a successful investment portfolio.

This book provides an extensive understanding of the complexities of the stock market, making it an invaluable resource for anyone aiming to navigate the ever-evolving investment landscape successfully. Its empirical wisdom is crucial for making informed and prudent investment decisions.

“The problem with gold is that it does not earn any return and its price is determined solely by demand relative to supply.”

Burton Malkiel is an economist and writer, specializing in the stock market and investment strategies.

8. Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together by Erin Lowry

Erin Lowry's book is a practical and accessible guide, tailored to address the financial concerns and aspirations of millennials. It brings forth a plethora of real-life scenarios, advice, and actionable tips to manage money effectively.

You will learn the nitty-gritty of budgeting, investing, handling debt, and understanding your money mindset.

Erin Lowry’s practical advice and relatable narrative make this book a must-read for millennials struggling with financial dilemmas. It’s a step toward financial literacy and empowerment, helping the reader navigate their financial journey with confidence.

“It’s not about hitting a $1 million mark; it’s about managing the money you have in a way that helps you live your best life.”

Erin Lowry is a millennial personal finance expert, speaker, and author. You can follow her insights and connect with her on LinkedIn .

9. I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi

Ramit Sethi’s book is a bold, conversational guide to wealth creation, emphasizing no-guilt money philosophies. It offers a robust six-week personal finance program focused on banking, saving, budgeting, and investing.

Readers will learn the intricacies of banking, saving, budgeting, and investing, along with mastering the psychology of money to live a rich life.

With a relatable and unapologetic approach, this book is for anyone aiming to master their money without sacrificing entertainment and leisure. It offers a blend of wealth-building strategies and insights into leveraging money as a tool to achieve life’s riches.

“There is a limit to how much you can cut but there is no limit to how much you can earn.”

Ramit Sethi is a personal finance advisor, author, and entrepreneur. Connect with him on LinkedIn , or explore his philosophies on his company website .

10. The Simple Path to Wealth: Your Road Map to Financial Independence and a Rich, Free Life by JL Collins

JL Collins presents a succinct guide to financial independence and wealth-building, emphasizing the power of simplicity and consistent investments in low-cost index funds.

You'll uncover the principles of financial independence, the significance of savings, and the essence of sound investment in achieving a wealthy, free life.

This book is vital for those seeking a straightforward path to wealth, providing clear strategies and insights on managing money and investments to attain financial freedom. It's a guide to understanding money in its simplest form and using it as a tool to shape your future.

“Prosperity is only an instrument to be used, not a deity to be worshipped.”

JL Collins is a renowned financial blogger and author.

11. The Richest Man in Babylon: The Original 1926 Edition by George S. Clason

George S. Clason’s timeless classic uses ancient Babylonian parables to impart fundamental financial lessons. It provides foundational wisdom on wealth accumulation, preservation, and sharing.

You’ll grasp essential financial principles such as living below your means, seeking wise counsel, and investing wisely for income through the enchanting parables from the wealthiest city of the ancient world, Babylon.

The allegorical tales in this book render timeless financial wisdom and are a beacon for anyone looking to establish a solid financial foundation. Its enduring lessons on wealth creation are as relevant today as they were in 1926.

“Start thy purse to fattening.”

George S. Clason was a soldier, businessman, and writer, best known for his instructive works on financial success. More about his life and works can be discovered through historical records and his lasting contributions to financial literature.

12. Unshakeable by Tony Robbins

Tony Robbins’ “Unshakeable” serves as a financial freedom playbook, illustrating the strategies of the world's top investor, Warren Buffet. Robbins deciphers the codes to financial success, wealth management, and long-term financial freedom in this insightful read.

You’ll delve into the financial strategies and investment secrets from some of the world’s most successful investors and learn the keys to building long-term wealth even in the most uncertain economic times.

Robbins’ expertise, coupled with insights from financial giants, makes this book an essential read for those aiming to attain financial resilience and independence. It offers a holistic view of wealth creation, focusing on both financial strategies and the psychological aspects of money.

“The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient.”

Tony Robbins is a world-renowned life and business strategist, author, and entrepreneur. Connect with him through LinkedIn , or Twitter , or visit his company website for more resources and insights.

13. The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke by Suze Orman

Suze Orman’s book is a finance guide for the younger generation, addressing specific financial challenges faced by young adults and providing practical advice on credit, investing, and retirement.

Gain insights into managing debt, building credit, saving, investing, and achieving financial stability even with limited resources. Understand how to make informed financial decisions that lead to a secure future.

This book is a must-read for young adults struggling to navigate the complex world of finance. It offers practical, step-by-step guidance to overcome financial hurdles and build a robust financial future, making it especially pertinent to those who are young, fabulous, and broke.

“True financial freedom is not only having money but having power over that money as well.”

Suze Orman is a renowned financial advisor, author, and speaker. To learn more about her philosophies and get more financial advice, visit her website or connect with her on LinkedIn .

14. The Barefoot Investor by Scott Pape

Scott Pape’s “The Barefoot Investor” provides Australians with a step-by-step guide to financial freedom, offering simple strategies for managing money, investing wisely, and securing a stress-free retirement.

Discover the principles of sound money management, debt reduction, and retirement planning with easy-to-follow steps and financial advice applicable to real-life situations.

This book’s no-nonsense approach to financial planning and its specific focus on Australian financial landscapes make it a valuable read for anyone, regardless of their financial knowledge or background, looking to gain control over their finances and live freely.

“Don’t follow the herd. It doesn’t end well.”

Scott Pape is a distinguished financial counselor and author specializing in personal finance. You can connect with him through his website for more financial strategies and advice.

15. Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler & Cass R. Sunstein

“Nudge” explores how the design of choices impacts our decisions and how slight changes can significantly improve our ability to make better choices in health, wealth, and happiness.

Understand the concept of "choice architecture" and how it influences decision-making processes. Learn how to set up environments that nudge people towards decisions that are beneficial in the long run.

This book is essential for anyone interested in understanding human behavior and decision-making. It provides insights into how subtle changes can lead to significant improvements in making choices, whether it’s about personal finance, health, or overall well-being.

“A nudge… is any aspect of the choice architecture that alters people’s behavior predictably without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives.”

About The Authors:

Richard H. Thaler is a Nobel Laureate, and Cass R. Sunstein is a legal scholar. Explore more of their work on behavioral economics and law through their respective academic profiles and publications.

16. Personal Finance for Dummies by Eric Tyson

Eric Tyson’s book is a comprehensive guide to building wealth and securing financial stability. It covers a range of topics including budgeting, reducing debt, investing, insurance, taxes, and retirement planning.

This book offers extensive knowledge on managing money, building wealth, and planning for the future. It provides practical tips and advice to handle personal finance efficiently and make informed financial decisions.

“Personal Finance for Dummies” is suitable for those seeking to understand the basics of financial management and gain control over their financial life. Its detailed approach makes it an invaluable resource for anyone looking to enhance their financial literacy.

“Taking control of your finances is a life-long skill—well worth the investment of your time and energy.”

Eric Tyson is an accomplished finance author and speaker. For more insights on personal finance and to connect with him, you can visit his company website .

17. The Index Card: Why Personal Finance Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated by Helaine Olen & Harold Pollack

Olen and Pollack demystify personal finance, asserting that all the financial information one needs can fit on a single index card. The book offers straightforward advice on spending less, saving more, investing wisely, and navigating the maze of financial products and services.

Learn the fundamental principles of personal finance, including saving, spending, investing, and securing a robust financial future, all distilled into simple, actionable steps.

The simplistic yet profound approach of “The Index Card” makes it a must-read for anyone overwhelmed by the complexity of personal finance. It provides clarity and actionable advice to improve financial health without unnecessary complications.

“The best financial advice is simple, easy to understand, and inexpensive.”

Helaine Olen is a commentator on personal finance, and Harold Pollack is a public health researcher. For more insights and advice visit Helaine’s LinkedIn .

Which Best Finance Books For Beginners Do You Recommend?

I invite you to share any pivotal finance books you believe should be included in this list. Your insights are valued, and your recommendations are welcomed, as they can help enhance this collection and assist others on their journey to financial literacy and independence.

10 Business Money Management Tips To Stretch Your Cash Further

12 best fp&a podcasts to listen to in 2024, financial forecasting 101: peek into your company’s future.

• Search Search Please fill out this field.

Personal Finance

Financial literacy.

From how they learn to what they want to learn about, everyone has a different relationship with money. Use this guide to become an educated investor in the ever-evolving financial markets.

Investopedia / Alison Czinkota 

Letter from The Editor

April is National Financial Literacy Month, but it’s our mission here at Investopedia every month. We’re grateful to reach more than 20 million monthly readers from around the world who visit our site, social media channels, newsletters, and podcasts to learn about finance and investing. 

However, millions of people still need financial literacy and guidance, but don’t have easy access to it online, in schools, or in their communities. It’s our goal to reach them. 

Finance and investing are also changing rapidly, thanks to the adoption of cryptocurrencies, decentralized finance, commission-free trading, and alternative forms of investing. These changes are creating pathways for people at nearly every income level to participate and grow their wealth, if they know how to utilize these tools. While technology has helped open doors, more education about these new platforms and assets is required—and that’s what Investopedia does best.

To help increase financial literacy for all, we’re committed to extending our reach and resources to underserved communities who have traditionally been closed out of the financial services and information industries. In the financial literacy section on Investopedia, you’ll find resources to help you become an engaged and educated investor in the ever-evolving financial markets. And in our brand new Financial Literacy Resource Center dedicated to teachers and their students, you’ll also find resources to share with people in your community to help support their financial journeys. 

We wish you all a Happy Financial Literacy Month, year—and future.

How To Start Investing

Behind the statistics.

The amount you need to retire will vary depending on such factors as the income you have now, your age, the age you hope to retire at, and the lifestyle you want in retirement. Most experts recommend your retirement income to be about 80% of your final, pre-retirement annual income. This is a good jumping off point but the amount you save will vary based on your circumstances.

To start investing in cryptocurrency, you first need to open an account with the brokerage firm or cryptocurrency exchange of your choosing. Then, fund your account with a currency like U.S. dollars. Once you decide which cryptocurrency you wish to buy, you can follow the steps required by the exchange to place a buy order. Once the purchase is made, you must store your crypto in a digital wallet.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are unique digital assets that can represent tangible and intangible goods, such as a piece of art, a song, or even a Tweet. Each NFT is individually recorded and authenticated through a public blockchain , much like a cryptocurrency transaction. This enables it to be bought, sold, or traded. Unlike crypto, NFTs are distinctive, one-of-a-kind goods.

To invest in an NFT, you can browse major NFT marketplaces, such as OpenSea, and pick the NFT you want to buy. Next, establish a cryptocurrency wallet and fund it with fiat money . Once your wallet is connected to the marketplace, you can purchase an NFT. The accepted currency for buying an NFT is typically the cryptocurrency corresponding to the blockchain (like Ethereum) that supports the NFT.

There are many layers of security for digital wallet transactions, as they use encryption, tokenization, and authentication to protect your information on your smartphone or computer. While safe, it’s important to take extra precautions when using a digital wallet. This can include enabling a passcode, knowing the merchant you’re purchasing from, or installing facial recognition on your phone.

The capital gains tax is a fee you pay on profit made from selling certain types of assets, like stock or bonds . A capital gain is the total sale price of an asset minus the original amount you bought it for, and there are two types: short-term and long-term. Short-term capital gains occur when you've owned an asset for one year or less and are taxed at a higher rate than long-term capital gains.

A refers to a loan used to purchase or maintain a home, land, or other types of real estate. With this type of loan, a borrower agrees to pay the lender over time, typically in a series of payments that are divided into principal and interest. The property serves as collateral to secure the loan.

An annual percentage rate, or APR, is the yearly rate charged for a loan or earned by an investment. It is expressed as a percentage that represents the actual yearly cost of funds over the term of a loan or income earned on an investment. Lenders must disclose the APR they charge to borrowers.

An emergency fund acts as a financial safety net that you use in times of financial hardship. Often stored in a savings account , the funds are used to meet unanticipated expenses, such as an illness or major home repairs. The amount of money within your emergency fund depends on several factors, including your financial situation, expenses, lifestyle, and debts.

An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a type of investment that is a basket of securities traded on an exchange, much like how a stock is traded. Because there are multiple assets within a single ETF, they are often a popular choice for diversification within one’s portfolio. Unlike mutual funds which only trade once a day once the market closes, ETF share prices fluctuate all day as the ETF is bought and sold.

An index fund is a type of mutual fund or exchange-traded fund that aims to mimic the composition and performance of a market index, such as the S&P 500 . Generally, index funds have lower expenses and fees than actively managed funds. Most experts agree that index funds are considered ideal core portfolio holdings for retirement accounts, like 401(k) accounts or IRAs.

Finance can be broadly defined as the management, creation, and study of money and investments. It is often split into three categories: public, corporate, and personal finance. Personal finance specifically focuses on all financial decisions of an individual or household, including saving, financial planning, budgeting, and retirement planning.

Debt is something—usually money—that a person, organization, or government owes to another person, organization, or government. Generally, the person who borrows the money must pay back the given amount with interest by a specific, agreed-upon time. The most common forms of debt are loans, such as mortgages , auto loans, personal loans, and credit card debt.

Credit is an agreement you make with a lender that enables you to pay for goods or services. In return for the good or service, you agree to pay the lender back, usually with interest, but specific terms will vary depending on the borrower and the lender. Common forms of credit include credit cards , student loans, and mortgages.

The price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio relates a company's share price to its earnings per share. It’s a way for investors and analysts to gauge whether the stock price of a company is high or low compared to its past performance or other companies. The ratio is calculated by dividing the current stock price by the current earnings per share.

Amortization is used in two different ways. First, it can be used when paying off debt. Many borrowers can be put on an amortization schedule where they will pay off a loan with regular payments so that the amount they owe goes down with each payment. Amortization can also refer to the practice of spreading out capital expenses related to intangible assets over a specific duration—usually over the asset’s useful life—for accounting and tax purposes.

A small saver certificate (SSC) is a deposit savings account that has a small minimum requirement balance, or sometimes, no minimum balance requirement at all. The most common investors in SSCs are children or young adults. SSCs are not that common or popular, as investors usually choose to invest in certificates of deposit (CDs) , a similar financial instrument.

Student debt is money owed on a loan by an attending, formerly withdrawn, or graduated student of higher education. Due to the rapidly increasing prices of higher education in the United States, student debt is a popular (and sometimes the only) option for many students to pay for college.

Financial literacy is the capacity, based on knowledge, skills, and access, to manage financial resources and information effectively. It includes the ability to effectively use and understand basic financial skills like budgeting , and investing. Financial literacy is seen as the foundation of one’s relationship with money.

A guardian IRA is a custodial IRA, meaning it is held in the name of a legal guardian or parent on behalf of their child or minor who is under the age of 18 or 21 (depending on the state). It can also be held on behalf of someone who is incapable of handling their finances due to a physical or mental disability. Once the minor turns 18 or 21, depending on the state, they will gain control over their account.

Personal Finance Basics

One of the best ways to start saving money is by setting a savings goal—whether it be short- or long-term—and paying yourself first. Paying yourself first just means that, before each pay period from work, commit to putting some funds in a savings account . Automating these savings is a great way to ensure a certain amount of money is put toward your financial goals regularly. 

There is no set amount of time it can take to improve a credit score. Your credit report is updated automatically when lenders share new account information to the nationwide credit bureaus . This can happen once a month or every 45 days, but it will depend on the lender. You’re most likely to see a score improvement if you pay your bills on time, pay down any outstanding balances, and avoid debt.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) estimates that combined asset reserves of the OASI and DI Trust Funds will be exhausted in 2034. At that time (if nothing changes), the continuing tax income will be able to pay only 78% of the scheduled benefits . To prevent this from happening, the government may raise the full retirement age, increase payroll tax rates, or adopt new tax reforms.

To pay off debt in collections, confirm the debt is yours, check local statute of limitations, and know your rights. Decide how much you can afford to pay and set up a payment plan . Document everything. Paying a collection removes the debt, takes away certain tax liabilities, and updates your credit report. Note, according to FICO, there’s no guarantee that your credit score will improve.

Many county and state governments, including New York City, offer financial services like free, one-on-one guidance from professionals. Other organizations you can turn to include the Financial Planning Association , the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, and The Foundation for Financial Planning; however, qualifications may vary depending on the guidance you are looking for.

Explore Financial Literacy

Fidelity. “ How much will you spend in retirement? ”

TransUnion. “ How Long Does it Take for a Credit Report to Update? ”

Social Security Administration. “ Press Release | Press Office: Social Security Board of Trustees: Combined Trust Funds Projected Depletion One Year Sooner Than Last Year .”

myFICO. “ How Do Collections Affect Your Credit? .”

• Terms of Service
• Editorial Policy
• Privacy Policy

• National News
• Politics & Policy
• Sustainability
• Social Impact
• Movies & TV
• Celebrities
• Going There
• Relationships
• Mental Health
• Next Question
• Live Events
• Original Content
• Home & Decor
• Gift Guides

The Best Finance Books to Help Get Your Money in Order

Graphic by KCM

According to financial experts from across the country. 

Just about every financial expert will tell you that the best time to get your finances in order was yesterday, but the second best time is right now. While it may be scary to look at your credit card statement, pile of bills, or bank account, facing those is the first step to reaching fiscal freedom . 

“One thing I hear from my community a lot is ‘It’s too late for me,’” Tori Dunlap, author of Financial Feminist , tells Katie Couric Media. “And I’m like, ‘No, it’s not!’ Would we have rather you started when you were 25? Yeah, but we can’t turn back time. And something is better than nothing.”  

Tonya Rapley , founder of My Fab Finance , financial educator for EarnIn, and author of The Money Manual, tells us that many people choose not to invest because they’re afraid to get started. “A lot of people overlook the fact that investing in your workplace retirement plan is, in fact, investing, so start here,” she says. “It’s never too late to start saving or investing, and the first step is outlining your financial goals and finding helpful resources [like books or reputable online content] to work alongside you to achieve them.”

With hundreds of personal finance books out there from a variety of voices, even the hunt for a financial guide can feel impossible, but that’s why we asked experts to share their favorites with you.

The Best Personal Financial Books

The money manual by tonya rapley.

Designed to cut through the clutter that leads to financial overwhelm, this guide encourages and helps you to create manageable, achievable goals for your money. Rapley breaks down the concepts of budgeting, saving, and credit in a way that’s easy for those just beginning to assess their own finances and plan their financial future. 

“When you can visualize your finances, you’re able to plan more effectively,” Rapley says. “It starts with small steps, like a simple budget planner that can help you write out current expenses and plan for future ones.” In her book, she helps you create a budget that works for you, your goals, and your desires around money.

Financial Feminist by Tori Dunlap

“I don’t want you to ever be financially dependent on anybody,” Dunlap says. And that was part of her inspiration for writing this book. “I want you to be able to have enough money to make your own choices and to be able to live comfortably.” By breaking down money myths, talking to a variety of experts in the money field, and exploring how and why our emotions directly impact our money decisions, Dunlap has created an easy-to-read conversational guide to getting your money together in a way that builds your wealth and sticks it to the patriarchy.

Rich AF by Vivian Tu

Tu believes in thinking of your money as a tool — instead of an obstacle  — can help you feel more confident and in control of your finances. After years of working on the trading floor on Wall Street, Tu noticed wealthy people intuitively knew the secrets to winning the “game” of finance. In an effort to level the playing field, Tu is sharing those secrets to hopefully make the game less “male, pale, and stale.”

The Energy of Money by Maria Nemeth, Ph.D.

Money is emotional, which is part of what makes controlling your finances so difficult. Rapley recommends this book by Maria Nemeth, Ph.D. that explores the ways in which our emotions and beliefs about money can set us back, helping you unlearn behaviors that don’t serve you or your financial success. 

“Financial stress is a roadblock to taking control of your finances and building financial momentum,” Rapley says. “Focus on reducing it by planning ahead and budgeting. It’s a learned practice that can start with simply signing up for an app that tracks your income.”

The One-Page Financial Plan by Carl Richards

For those of us wishing someone would just tell us what to do with our money to make it grow, Rapley suggests this book by Carl Richards, a financial advisor. Richards was constantly hearing from friends, family, and clients that they felt hopeless and overwhelmed by money, paralyzed by options and a lack of understanding of complex financial jargon. So, he wrote a book that encourages financial progress over perfection. 

Girls That Invest by Simran Kaur

“I try to look for personal finance books that not only reflect my own goals, but also my experience and identity,” Tu says. “All of my favorites provide amazing, actionable advice, but also a nuanced and diverse perspective when it comes to personal finance, something sorely missing from the majority of financial education.” This book in particular, by investment columnist, TEDx speaker, and co-creator of the podcast Girls That Invest, Simran Kaur, is split into two parts: 1. Why should you invest? And 2. What type of investor are you? After answering these two questions, you’ll learn how to decode financial jargon with ease, gain knowledge about investment strategies, and hopefully, start and grow your own investment portfolio.

Get Good With Money by Tiffany Aliche

If you haven’t caught onto the theme yet, it’s that getting good with money doesn’t require you to have a degree in economics or mathematics. It just takes time and practice. Tu’s next pick by Tiffany Aliche breaks down how to build wealth through financial wholeness (which doesn’t include get-rich-quick schemes or overly complex money management tactics). After following advice from a shady financial advisor and losing her job, Aliche worked to dig herself out of a monetary hole, and she did so successfully. Now, through her book and the audience she’s built on social media as The Budgetnista , she’s helping over a million women do the same. 

Cashing Out by Julien and Kiersten Saunders

“ Rich and Regular have an incredible book called Cashing Out ,” Dunlap says. “They’re a Black couple out of Atlanta and are really great about reframing why we’re pursuing money and how we’re working, especially if you’re trying to get out of the rat race or trying to think strategically, ‘How do I use my money in a more powerful way?’” 

Keeping Finance Personal by Ellyce Fulmore

If you’re interested in hearing from the perspective of someone queer and neurodivergent, Dunlap recommends Ellyce Fulmore’s book. Told from the intersection of finance and identity, Fulmore works to break down the idea that being bad with money is the root of anyone’s financial issues — instead, it “has everything to do with how identity and lived experience affect financial behaviors.” Fulmore creates a shame-free, trauma-aware approach to money that explores the extremely complex and personal relationship between your identity and your money. Chapters cover topics ranging from finding safe spaces to personal values, relationship dynamics to family systems, and more. 

Want more great content?

Sign up here to jumpstart your mornings with Katie's dynamic daily newsletter, Wake-Up Call.

Sign up here:

By joining you accept KCM Terms of Service & Privacy Policy

Trending Products

Dermelect Self-Esteem Neck Cream

EltaMD UV Clear Tinted Face Sunscreen

Quince Carry-On Suitcase

Kinfield Golden Hour

Jumpstart your mornings with Katie's dynamic daily newsletter.

By registering for this event you accept Katie Couric Media’s Terms of Service & Privacy Policy . You also agree to receive email communications including Katie Couric's morning newsletter, Wake-Up Call.

You're registered to this event, you'll find all the details in your inbox

Top 5 Financial Literacy Books for Future Success

Financial literacy is an important part of creating the future you want. How do wealthy people spend and save their money? To support financial understanding, our CFO, John Witty and I created a list of the top 5 financial literacy books for future success. 

How Do We Choose Our Book Reviews?

Forbes Books only accepts manuscripts that represent the best of each industry. Even though we only have five authors highlighted here, I wanted to keep this review to the books I’ve read or listened to as an audiobook. 

I chose these five books because I was looking for tangible information that readers could use immediately after reading. 

The criteria was based on books with:

• Actionable plans  
• Proven methodologies with evidence to support the author’s claims
• Strategies used to be successful 

Infinity Investing

In his own words, Toby Mathis declares this book to be “ about making money no matter what the market is doing and for an infinite period of time .”

Many of us invest with stocks and bonds and try to time the market fluctuations, known as Bear and Bull markets. 

Toby explains trying to trade with professionals with over 20-30 years of experience is like thinking you can beat LeBron James in a game of 1-on-1 basketball. 

There’s a chance we can win sometimes, but the likelihood of success against the best traders on the planet resembles our odds of beating LeBron James in basketball. 

How Does Infinity Investing Help Me With Finances?

Toby does a great job of explaining the history of the market, why things are the way they are in financial markets, and how to calculate and measure an income spreadsheet to build an infinity investing plan . 

In chapter 13, Toby outlines a 90-day plan for continuous financial growth. He does a great job of explaining his plan throughout the chapter, showing the readers how to implement proven strategies from the top 2% of earners. 

Financially Free

Ande Frazier is a financial planner, life-coach, and strategist that has created a unique method for her clients. Although this book was written with women in mind, I found it to be one of the few financial planning books I’ve ever read that discuss personality traits as a base for financial planning. 

How Does Financially Free Help Me With Finances?

Often, we get stuck in the quantitative data points in our finances, instead of the qualitative points. For example, instead of thinking about your financial goals with only numbers, it’s better to plan with your life goals as the central focus. 

Ande makes the premise of her book more about understanding our personal connection to money, rather than a “how-to guide” on financial literacy. Another brilliant piece of advice I took from Financially Free is how to make sound financial decisions, absent of emotions. 

When my wife and I were house-hunting, we lost out on around 20-30 homes because our competitors were paying cash and forgoing house inspections. 

Our emotions were so high each time we made an offer and so low each time we lost out on the house. Due to this, we actively discussed spending our life savings and foregoing house inspections so we could have a house to grow our family in. 

Ironically, I thought of this book and how to take a step back from emotional spending and the dopamine surge we get with high dollar spending. 

Gain Big and Give Back

Gain Big and Give Back is a must read for anyone who has done well for themselves and wants to navigate success. For example, when my brother finally became a medical doctor, he had relatives from all over the country call him for the first time in decades (or ever). 

As he earned more money, he knew he had to have genuine conversations with family and set boundaries, but didn’t know how. 

Patrick Rush does a great job of walking that line and explaining how to give back in the most meaningful way to you, instead of giving to all the surrounding people.

How Does Gain Big and Give Back Help Me With Finances?

After my short teaching career, I learned a valuable lesson that Patrick emphasizes in this book; use money as a means to an end, not the end all be all. Sometimes, it’s easy to listen to friends, family, and market traders on how to invest — especially if you have a more expendable income. 

Patrick recommends sticking to the fundamentals of investing, such as diversification. For example, Patrick only recommends investing only 10% into one company , just in case they fail. 

Monkey, Money, Mind

Monkey, Money, Mind is about finding balance in financial planning by understanding how your state of mind and intellect play into your plan. In contrast to financial literacy books that focus on the future, Chris Zadeh and Angelique Schouten focus on the present. 

Along with Financially Free , Monkey, Money, Mind does a great job explaining how buying on emotion or external influences can lead to financial ruin.

How Does Monkey Money Mind Help Me With Finances?

Sometimes it can be easy to focus on distant financial goals. While writing your future goals is an important strategy, Chris and Angelique focus on developing skills to spend and save money in the now.

One stat that stood out more than any other is the difference between those of us with financial literacy and those without financial literacy . According to the Dutch Central bank, the disparity between people with and without an understanding of finances is $90,878.  

Wiser Investing

Money, Monkey, Mind and Financially Free really helped me think about how my personality, emotions, and aspirations affect the way I save and spend my money. Wiser Investments is more technical with peer-reviewed and empirical data on how to invest. 

For example, my big takeaway from Wiser Investing was the importance of diversification, but also how to diversify. The graph below is from Figure 2.4 in the book and shows how well portfolio risk is correlated with the number of assets. 

How Does Wiser Investing Help Me With Finances?

When I first started investing, I thought being diversified meant investing in different markets, such as energy, medical, commercial, and real estate. However, I was completely wrong, and it took Ben Halliburton to show me what diversification means.

In the graph above, Halliburton suggests six assets to invest in as the golden number. However, I think six assets are incredibly tough to track and maintain. I have four assets this book helped me distinguish, including gold, artwork, land bonds, and – of course – the money market. 

I recommend this book for anyone wanting to understand how assets work within each market and how to create a unique portfolio that reflects your state of mind and personality. 

Final Thoughts

Financial literacy can be the difference between living paycheck to paycheck and living your best life. While five books cannot give you everything you need to know about finance, it’s a great starting point to literacy. I encourage you to supplement your knowledge with the Forbes Books Audio podcast library for more on these and other personal finance topics. 

What is Financial Literacy?

Financial Literacy is the ability to understand the basic components of financial management . Knowing how to operate a personal budget will help you manage your money responsibly. Achieving financial literacy will also help you determine how to invest your money. 

All of our highlighted authors agree you must learn to invest your money to let it work for you. It’s one thing to work hard and spend a lot of hours to increase your funds. It’s another when you can invest responsibly and earn money while you’re sleeping.

How to gain financial literacy?

After reading these 5 books , I’ve learned that if I can follow some basic steps, I can be successful. 

Create a spreadsheet of your income and expenses . Like Annemarie van Gaal states in Money, Monkey, Mind (pg. 31), “ A financially carefree life is only possible when you understand your income and expenses .”

1.Set financial goals and create a plan to achieve them. 

2. Identify your purpose for each financial goal. Toby Mathis makes a brilliant point when he writes, “ Choosing a dollar amount—a financial goal—without purpose can lead to a devastating fall ”. 

3. Think about why you’re saving money , do you want to buy your dream home on a tropical beach? A mountain home in the Rockies? Or have enough to leave for your future generations? Regardless of your financial purpose, it’s vital to your success to know why you’re trying to achieve financial goals.

4.  Set aside money for emergencies . It’s hard to save money when you’re not making much, but you have to find a way to save for emergencies. 

One thing you’ll learn from these authors is that savings for your future and emergencies are different. You should have three months of earnings set aside for any medical, mechanical, or home emergency.

5. Don’t borrow money unless you really need it! If you’re trying to establish your credit line, getting a bank loan for a new car is a fantastic idea. However, if you’re already established, you shouldn’t get a loan unless you can’t afford to pay upfront. 

Most importantly, never get a loan that you can’t reasonably afford. If you know it will be too difficult to pay it off on time, then find another way to pay for the item. 

6. The golden rule of finance is simple, yet difficult for most of us to achieve; spend less than you earn .

7. Question Each Purchase . Before you buy a new iPhone every year or a new car every few years, think about it first. For example, ask yourself, “do I need this item?” If you don’t need the item, chances are you could go without it. 

In Money, Monkey, Mind , Chris Zadeh and Angelique Schouten do a great job of explaining how to avoid buying with your emotions. They’ll teach you how to be a more responsible consumer, while still enjoying your life. 

8. Learn about taxes related to your bracket and if there are any breaks or exemptions, you qualify for.

9. Learn about investments , such as stocks, IRAs (Roth IRA), real estate, and Commodities. Infinity Investing is a fantastic guide to understanding which investments are best for your specific situation.

10. Monitor your security . Set alerts on all of your bank accounts for spending and withdrawals. 

I recently had someone take $20,000 from my savings account, but luckily, my phone woke me up at 3:00 AM. I then reported it to my bank in time for them to cancel the charges before they went through. Setting alerts on all your accounts will help you keep the money you work so hard to earn.

What are the advantages of financial literacy education?

One of Forbes Books’ primary missions is to help share our authors’ expertise to share with the world. We’d love to help our authors inspire change around the world by providing expert advice on matters of business. Here are a few advantages you’ll gain by reading Infinity Investing , Money , Monkey , Mind , Gain Big and Give Back , and Financially Free .

1. Avoid making irreversible Financial mistakes

Simply knowing the difference between a Roth IRA and Traditional IRA could be the difference between thousands in taxes in retirement. Too many of us have made embarrassing mistakes in our 20s that we’d do anything to have back. The more understanding you have with your money, the higher chance you won’t make these devastating mistakes.

2. Map Out Your Financial Future

By understanding how to create a personal financial plan , you can map out your financial future. By monitoring and tracking your spending, you can determine how much you need to save to reach your financial goals. Learning where, when, and how much to invest versus putting into savings accounts is a fantastic first step to investing.

3. Builds Confidence 

How many of you felt confident when you signed the contract for your first home, car, or apartment? Being financially literate will help you stay confident when making major life purchases. Too many people make purchases they can’t afford, based on emotion, desire, pride, and many other factors. 

Understanding your budget and staying within it will get you much further in life than buying off of emotion.

Related Articles

July 20, 2023

The Ultimate Investment | How To Build Generational Wealth

Business , Entrepreneurship , Finance

Sign Up For Weekly Insights From Our Experts

Attributer fields.

Find out if you qualify to be a Forbes Books author.

Financial Literacy Books

• November 24, 2021
• FINANCIAL LITERACY

Financial literacy books – We have a list of the 25 best financial literacy books along with their author and a short description of these best financial literacy books.

Just as education gives us the ability to understand, in the same way, financial education gives us the understanding to understand financial products in the right way so that we can sharpen our financial intelligence by using financial resources effectively.

Financial Literacy books are the best option to improve financial literacy and enhance the ability to apply financial resources or components like budgeting, saving, credit, investment, and protection.

To the guideline of the Financial Literacy and Education Commission, there are five key components of financial literacy Earn, Spend, Save and Invest, Borrow and Protect.

Why should one read financial literacy books? The honest answer is for own lifelong financial well-being along with knowing about  what is financial literacy  and  why it is important .

Table of Contents

List of 25 Best Financial Literacy Books

There is a list of the 25 best  financial literacy  books, these books are really amazing and can the change mindset of a normal person like financially educated peoples.

Short Description of Best Financial Literacy Books

Books can change both the future and the thinking of a person. If you are in a habit of reading books then you will know very well.

How books fill our life with the light of knowledge, similarly reading financial books increases our financial skills and knowledge.

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki

Rich Dad Poor Dad is one of the best personal finance books, In this book, Robert T. Kiyosaki shares his growing up learning from his friend’s father and his father.

In this book lesson, Robert clarifies the difference between Assets and liabilities. Common man always thinks all his valuable things are assets but they are mistaken.

One should read this book to understand financial literacy, it took a boom in my life to learn more about finance.

I personally recommended, starting your financial journey with this book because it is easy to understand and the author explains with examples along with amazing stories.

each youngster should read this book to understand the importance of real finance in their life.

The Richest Man In Babylon by George Clason

This is one of the amazing financial literacy books, in this book George Clason explains saving at least 10 percent of everything you earn and never confusing your necessary expenses with your desires along with 7 simple golden rules of money which lead to financial freedom.

The author also explains how can you invest your money so that this money will works for your lifetime, you do not need to work for money.

Why Didn’t They Teach Me This in School? by Cary Siegel

Cary Siegel is a retired business executive and this book was initially intended for his children when he realized they did not learn important personal finance principles before entering the real world after school.

He divides this book into 99 principles and eight money chapters that one should learn in high school. This book is easy to read in simple words.

The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel  

Morgan Housel teaches in this book the Psychology of money how you can create a better relationship with money and make smarter financial decisions. Author Morgan housel explains how your psychology can work for and against you.

The book The Psychology of Money is written by Morgan Housel, in this book the author explains the art of handling money the right way.

It is said that sometimes a very intelligent and financially literate person in the matter of money also loses money and at the same time, even a normal person can become rich with money.

To understand the behavior of money, the author explains to the readers a very beautiful story that how people’s behavior toward money makes them poor or rich.

The author tells the story that at a young age, a boy who was a technology executive created and sold many companies. Due to this a lot of money came to him, but his foolish behavior towards money made him a pauper one day, he used to carry bundles of notes everywhere with him and used to be fond of being rich and a lot of money was spent on alcohol and other things. Foolishly lost in games.

Psychology plays a vital role in everyone’s life, The Psychology of money is the best book to understand how our psychology works for us and against us. Everyone must read this book.

Think And Grow Rich by Napolean Hill

Think and Grow Rich. This book is written by Napoleon Hill, an American author, he is one of the great writers of success. In this book, the author tells you the way to becoming rich.

Let us tell you that becoming rich does not mean only earning wealth, but it also means that in whatever field you want to work if you implement these 13 steps in your life in the right way. You will definitely get successful.

The book starts with some strong ideas, if you also have some great ideas, then you can do anything. Anything can be done by thinking, if our prankster can think something then he can do it too If you persevere then you will definitely get success in your goal.

The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing by Benjamin Graham and Jason Zweig

The book The Intelligent Investor was written by Warren Buffett’s mentor Benjamin Graham, All great investors, this book is also called the Bible of Investing.

In this book, the author has told about some important principles of investing, which by implementing in his life, Warren Buffett, who is the world’s number one investor, invests today.

In this book the author discusses some theories like aggressive and defensive investing, second very interesting concept given by Benjamin Graham in this book is the theory of Mr. Market.

Benjamin Graham tells about these three types of investors, number one defensive investor, number 2 aggressive investor and number 3 enterprise investor.

In this book there are other principles like margin of safety and all these principles in themselves play a huge role for a great investor.

The Theory of Investment Value by John Burr Williams

In this book, the author provides a theoretical framework for investors to determine the intrinsic value of stocks based on their dividends.

Just as Benjamin Graham is considered the father of value investing, John Burr Williams is considered the ancestor of the dividend investor.

The author lays out four key principles in this book Focus on Dividends Not Earnings, Investing vs. Speculation, Lasting influence and on Government, Socialism and Taxes.

This lesson is more important than ever in this age of growing and stagnant and low investment returns.

The Four Pillars of Investing by William J. Bernstein

In this book, the author explains how investors can build a strong portfolio by learning the four essentials of investing, even without a financial advisor.

The four pillars of successful investing have been described by the author. 1- Investment theory – which states that risk and return are different sides of the same coin. 2- Investment History – The author has divided investment knowledge into four major areas: Theory, History, Psychological and Investment Industry Practices Out of which historical knowledge can prove to be the most important for success in finance. 3- Investment Psychology- This tells that if you are not disciplined then you are your own worst enemy. 4- Investment Business – Brokers are not your friends and also the interests of fund companies are very different from yours.

Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd

The book Security Analysis is a famous book written by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd, in fact, security analysis is a process of deciding which securities will be a good investment, which can keep the principal safe and return on it.

The authors point out that any investment that does not satisfy these two conditions is not an investment but speculation.

The book Security Analysis, first published in 1934, has been in print ever since. Investment legend Warren Buffett also calls this book the Bible of Investment.

The importance of this book can be seen in the fact that it provides security analysis advice to all investors.

Psychology of Investing by John R. Nofsinger

In the book, the author does not pretend to know everything, in the book author Nofsinger writes that investors should use the psychology of investing.

Investors should adopt a sound financial strategy and avoid common investment mistakes as well as be patient in times of uncertainty and take advantage of practical finance opportunities in financial markets with their financial strategy

How Much Money Do I Need to Retire? by Todd R. Tresidder  

How much money do I need to retire? In this book, the author provides practical guides and a step-by-step plan to calculate your retirement needs with confidence.

How much money will be required for retirement?

The author takes you through the scientific aspect of modern retirement plans. As a successful guide, the book provides step-by-step instructions on how to correctly calculate the amount you need to retire so that you can ensure, How much money you need to retire?

Stop Acting Rich by Thomas J. Stanley  

This book is a best-selling book which makes the author also a best-selling author, in this book the author explains the difference between being rich and acting rich.

The author points out that everything you think you’re rich about is wrong. Thus the author rightly advises people to rethink their spending patterns and avoid getting bogged down in symbolism.

The Richest Engineer by Abhishek Kumar

“The Richest Engineer” is a book about the life and career of Abhishek Kumar, an engineer who became extremely successful in his field.

The book provides an in-depth look at the strategies and mindset that he used to achieve his success and offers advice and inspiration for others who want to follow in his footsteps.

It also covers his journey from being an engineer to becoming a successful entrepreneur, highlighting the key decisions and actions that led to his success.

Overall, the book is designed to provide readers with practical and actionable insights that can help them achieve their own goals and aspirations.

From The Rat Race to Financial Freedom by Manoj Arora  

Author Manoj Arora is an engineer by profession and a gold medallist from Aligarh Muslim University, in the book the author talks about creating a road map for achieving financial independence.

This book written by a common man for the common man will help you lead a financially independent and conscious life, the author also explains that it doesn’t matter how much you earn, what matters is how much you earn, You can save and invest wisely.

The secret of financial freedom is to learn the basic concepts of planning well and adopt the right approach, Everyone around us is caught in the rat race.

If you have resolved to take control of your finances and follow it by making a personal financial plan, then you have started moving from the rat race to financial freedom.

The Simple Path to Wealth: Your road map to financial independence and a rich by J L Collins

The Simple Path to Wealth is one of the best financial books out of all the financial books ever written.

The author guides you to move towards financial freedom in the book How You Can Buy Your Financial Freedom.

Further in the book, the author writes that how you can become rich and take control of your own finances, this book can help you achieve financial freedom.

One Up On Wall Street by Peter Lynch

This book is written by Peter Lynch, it is the most practical investment book I have read so far. The author has given three sections in this book.

The first one is an introduction to investment and how we can develop the mindset of a good investor.

In the Second section author give details views on step by step process to select a stock and in the third section, the author discusses the long-term view for investing and portfolio.

Whether you are investing in stocks or thinking of becoming an investor, you must read this book. Peter Lynch has been the manager of a large fund and has written this book based on his experience.

The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley and William Danko

In this book, the author shows you the simple spending and saving habits that lead to more cash in the bank. While most people earn in their life, this book helps you avoid critical mistakes on the way to financial freedom.

The author recommends using three rules to improve your chances of getting a million dollars in the bank.

• Start saving honestly and responsibly from the moment you start earning more than you need to live for the first time.
• If your target capital is falling short, then calculate it using a simple formula.
• Avoid financial mistakes and increase your financial knowledge to reach your goals.

Your Money or Your Life by Dominguez and Robin

In this book, the author advises following 9 principles to attain financial freedom, “Your Money Your Life” is full of examples, stories and experiences of many people.

Those who have followed the Indore step-by-step program or principles in their journey to financial freedom. The author suggests asking yourself questions.

• do you have enough money?
• Are you spending enough time with family and friends?
• Have you come home from your job for the rest of your life?
• Do you have time to participate in things that you think are worthwhile?
• If you were fired, would you see this as an opportunity?
• Are you satisfied with your contribution to the world?
• Are you at peace with money?
• Does your work reflect your values?
• Do you have enough savings to cover six months of normal living expenses?
• Is your life perfect? Do all the pieces of your job, your expenses, your relationships, and your values ​​- fit together?

If you answered ‘no’ to any of these questions, you must read this book.

The Wealthy Barber by David Chilton

This book is also the best financial book like many other financial books but it is more like a novel, The novel is centered around the author David.

An expectant father who finds out that he is not yet financially ready, his sister Cathy who has a successful business of her own but doesn’t know much about investing and her friend Tom also.

They are all in their late 20s to early 30s and they visit a new person from time to time in Sarnia, Ontario. They have heard that they have become quite rich.

The three friends wonder how this man named Rai got so rich on a barber salary and David frequently visits him for financial advice while he is cutting his hair.

The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey

This book is written on Debt Management, Debt management plays a huge role in personal finance. This book is a New York Times bestseller that explains, How to come out of debt and improve your financial skills.

This book is strongly recommended for improving your financial state by avoiding common pitfalls like cash advances or credit cards used along with advice on keeping emergency funds and saving for college, and retirement.

Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis

The book Lair’s Poker is written by Michael Lewis, the author writing the book as an autobiography of his own time and the experiences of the Salomon Brothers before that.

The book also follows the rise and fall of the Salomon Brothers, with the author focusing primarily on the mortgage bond department in the book, which closely tracked the speculative bubble in various mortgage-backed securities in the 80s.

I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi  

” I Will Teach You to Be Rich ” is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller book, written by financial expert Ramit Sethi.

He explains that you can spend your money, guilt-free as long as you have it invested and allocated properly. This book also explains how to deal with common pitfalls like student loans, late fees etc.

Winning the Loser’s Game by Charles Ellis

This book is a well-known investment book based on real data and historical facts which always argues that successful investors always focus on long-term strategies to avoid short-term traps like compounding time and natural volatility of markets Lower.

This book provides strategies to gain control of your investment future by working with the markets rather than against them and we can learn a lot about our investing from it.

When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management by Roger Lowenstein

It is September 1998 when the New York Federal Reserve Bank invited several major Wall Street investment banks to enter into a consortium to fund a multi-billion dollar bailout of a troubled fund when the nearly $3.6 billion plan.

The announcement was not made soon so questions arose as to why the usually independent banks would come together to save a privately held fund, the answer to which was that the banks feared that the collapse of the fund could destabilize the entire stock market.

In the book, the author has shown the story of a fund’s fall and rise again with great reality which can teach an investor a lot and inspires them to grow.

Common Sense on Mutual Funds by John Bogle

“Common Sense on Mutual Funds” book written by John bogle.

This book gives advice to investors about Mutual Funds. In this book, the author has emphasized the importance of adopting a long-term strategy along with the appreciation of index funds.

Since the publication of this book, both the book and the author have received high acclaim in the investment community and this book has been counted as a bestseller for investors. who do not have the time to research to invest in direct stocks.

Buying Mutual Funds and Investing in Equity This book helps investors to choose the best mutual funds and encourages them to stick to them a long-term strategy. All those who want to invest in Mutual Funds should read this book.

Rich dad poor dad, The Richest Man In Babylon, and Think And Grow Rich is the three financial literacy books that I personally follow and read many times.

When you read these best financial literacy books you feel an energy in your body and learn new things in a funny and enjoyable manner.

Learning financial literacy can change the life of a person and make him economically stronger.

What is the best finance book to read for financial literacy?

The top financial book in my view is Rich Dad Poor Dad which made me curious about financial education and is always ready to learn financial things today and I think you must read the world’s bestseller financial book Rich Dad Poor Dad written by Robert T. Kiyosaki.

How To Become Financially Literate?

By reading books about financial literacy and gathering information from websites related to financial literacy, you can become financially literate, as well as you have to implement all the things you have learned related to financial literacy in your real life only then you can become a real financial literate person.

Interested to learn more   »  How to make money in stocks  Click on the Link.

» Read the more related article…

• The Ultimate Guide To Personal Financial Literacy
• What Is Financial Literacy
• Understanding Financial Literacy
• Top 10 Benefits From Financial Learning
• Financially Educated

My name is Sapna Rana Negi and I have done B.A. Basically I am a resident of Gudum, a small village in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand state, I was always very interested in internet and for almost a year I have been doing writing work by joining the team of InvesToBrain.Com. Also I am also a housewife.

Related Posts

Florida’s retirement dreams: where paradise meets the golden years.

• September 10, 2023

Importance of imparting financial literacy to kids

• April 1, 2023

Minister of Finance

• March 29, 2023

Leave a Reply Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Name  *

Email  *

Add Comment  *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

I accept the Privacy Policy

Post Comment

Trending now

Genius tips, tricks & beautiful things, straight to your inbox every day.

© 2010-2021 Wow Media Products, Inc doing business as PureWow. All rights reserved.

15 Financial Literacy Books You Should Read for Better Money Management

PureWow editors select every item that appears on this page, and the company may earn compensation through affiliate links within the story. All prices are accurate upon date of publish. You can learn more about the affiliate process here .

Though financial literacy has become a big issue in the zeitgeist over the last few years, it remains one of the most evasive topics to discuss. For one, there are so many layers to unpack— personal finances , investing, loans, budgeting, ahh!—and with inflation currently on the rise and a recession looming, most people won’t even bother to delve into the subject. Still, you can never have too much knowledge and perhaps one of these 15 financial literacy books will help you manage your hard-earned money better, even if you have no desire to be an investor of any kind.

22 True Crime Books to Read Once Your Podcast Queue Is Empty

1. Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki

Key Takeaway:   You can’t rely on the school system to teach your kids about money

This is arguably the most popular book about personal finances. It outlines the money lessons Kiyosaki learned from his two fathers—his own dad and a friend’s dad, who’s the “rich dad” in the book. Kiyosaki advises readers on why they don’t necessarily have to make a lot of money to become rich, breaks down the difference between an asset and a liability and challenges the idea that a house is an asset.

2. The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey

Key Takeaway: The snowball method—a debt-reduction strategy where you pay off your smallest debts first then use the money you were putting toward that payment to pay off your larger debts.

Nothing is more detrimental to your financial well-being than a seemingly insurmountable amount of debt. And when you don’t have a game plan for managing it, you may find yourself in an even bigger financial hole. Thanks to this New York Times best seller, that doesn’t have to be you. This book offers a plan for paying off debt, busts some money myths and may help you secure a nest egg for big emergencies or retirement.

3. Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together by Erin Lowry

Key Takeaway: How to get “financially naked” with your partner and find out his or her (debt) number.

Part of a three-book series counselling millennials on how to make the best financial decisions, Broke Millennial is catered to those 20 to 30-something-year-olds who are constantly cash-strapped and can’t figure out how to make their money work for them. Broke Millennials also outlines how to deal with IRL awkward scenarios—i.e. what to do when you can’t afford to split a fancy dinner bill evenly—that many millennials face.

4. Clever Girl Finance by Bola Sokunbi

Key Takeaway: How to start and succeed at your side hustle.

Maybe you’re not swimming in debt and your finances are just steady enough. This book could help you take things to the next level. Financial expert Bola Sokunbi breaks down how you can better monitor your expenses, build a budget and actually stick with it so even if you’re not a big earner, you still have dough in the bank.

5. Get Good with Money: Ten Simple Steps to Becoming Financially Whole by Tiffany Aliche

Key Takeaway: It’s important to figure out if you have a “don’t make enough” problem or a “spend too much” issue. The distinction is not always as simple as it may seem.

Sure, Aliche could’ve stopped at outlining the ten-step process that helped get her on track. But what makes this book even better is the fact that she includes advice from experts—aka “budgenista boosters—she relies on herself, so you’re getting gems of financial wisdom from some of the top financial advisors without breaking the bank. The book also comes with helpful checklists, worksheets and a toolkit of resources so you can actually formulate a plan as you go.

6. The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason

Key Takeaway: Pay yourself first, live within your means and invest in what you know.

Hailed as one of the best books on being thrifty, personal wealth and financial planning, it’s no wonder The Richest Man in Babylon is still in circulation almost 100 years after it was published. It’s a collection of parables told from the perspective of a fictional man named Arkad who came from being a scribe to amassing so much wealth he became the richest man in Babylon. Through his journey, readers get lessons on how to not only generate wealth, but to also protect and invest that money wisely.

7. The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham

Key Takeaway: Price and value are two entirely different concepts when it comes to investing

Dubbed as one of the greatest investment advisors of the 20 th century, Benjamin Graham wrote this for the people who are well-off enough to make some substantial investments. Still, just because you’re a strong earner doesn’t mean you’ll be a wise investor. That’s why this “stock market bible” is chock full of advice that can shield newbie investors from making substantial errors and teaches them to develop long-term strategies with their money.

8. Stop Acting Rich and Start Living Like a Millionaire by Thomas J. Stanley

Key Takeaway: Put wealth into perspective and you can live rich without spending more

The idea of living beyond your means to keep up appearances and fit in existed long before social media amplified it. And that’s why this masterpiece by Thomas J. Stanley is a classic. He details how the less affluent have fallen into the elite luxury brand trap that keeps them from acquiring wealth. He also suggests that emulating the working rich is a better strategy than trying to copy the lifestyles of the super elite.

9. I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi

Key Takeaway: Investing doesn’t require you to feel guilty about buying the things you want.

This witty take on investing challenges the notion that you have to sacrifice the things you like in order to be able to invest. What Sethi teaches instead is how to strike a balance between all the little splurges—i.e. mani-pedis, your everyday cup of coffee, ordering takeout etc.—and allocating your finances to the right place.

10. The Basics of Bitcoins and Blockchains: An Introduction to Cryptocurrencies and the Technology that Powers Them by Antony Lewis

Key Takeaways: Everything you need to know about cryptocurrency and the technology behind it.

To most people, cryptocurrency, bitcoin and NFT talk pretty much sounds like Klingon. Yet, there are some folks who really have it figured out and are making a killing in the cybercurrency world. If you’re thinking you need to at least place a few dollars in that world but you don’t know how any of it works, this may be the book for you as it answers all your questions on cryptocurrency and outlines how that market works.

11. The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness by Morgan Housel

Key Takeaway: Money management is not just mathematical, it’s also emotional and psychological

Though being a master budgeter and excellent mathematician may make you a good handler of money, this book urges you to analyze your relationship with money on a deeper level. Do you have any financial trauma ? Are you spending to feed your ego? What preconceived notions do you have about money? The Psychology of Money is a compilation of 19 short stories exploring the different ways people think about money and it teaches you how to make better sense of your relationship with moolah.

12. Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez

Key Takeaway: Budgeting is not the only way to save money

Much like The Psychology of Money, Your Money or Your Life is all about managing your relationship with money from a non-mathematical lens. This nine-step program focuses more on teaching you how to spend deliberately and meaningfully rather than just resort to plain ol’ budgeting.

13. Student Loan Solution: 5 Steps to Take Control of your Student Loans and Financial Life by David Carlson

Key Takeaway: Understanding all your options is the key to paying off your debt without being stressed.

With about 92.8 million Americans riddled by student loan debt, this book is a handy guide on how to get a handle on your finances whether you’re fresh out of school or you’ve been working for a while. With the five steps offered, you’ll better understand your loans, find out what options are available to you and learn how to improve your greater financial life while paying down your student loan debt.

14. The Financial Diet: A Total Beginner's Guide to Getting Good with Money by Chelsea Fagan

Key Takeaway: How to get good with money even if you’re on an entry-level salary.

One of the biggest mistakes people make—especially after just graduating—is to stave off financial literacy until they’re making more. However, Chelsea Fagan geared this book toward her fellow millennials as a way to get everyone on the finance bandwagon sooner rather than later. There is expert advice to be found, as well as tips on how to create a budget-friendly wardrobe, how to negotiate a salary raise and how to get good with money within a year.

15. Why Didn't They Teach Me This in School?: 99 Personal Money Management Principles to Live By by Cary Siegel

Key Takeaway: Learning about finances doesn’t have to be complicated or tedious.

Honestly, how many times have you asked yourself this question after finding out about taxes, mortgages, deductibles or some other adult thing that you weren’t educated on? Siegel initially wrote this book as a personal finance guide to give his children as they entered adulthood. However, as it developed, he realized our school system had a gaping hole when it came to money management education. So, he developed eight important lessons on money management, focusing on 99 principles that will quickly and seamlessly enhance any individual's acumen.

7 Books Like ‘Bridgerton’ to Read Until Season 3 Premieres

Resident Hufflepuff, Beyonce historian, self-proclaimed tea sommelier

Success Advice

10 of the best financial education books that wealthy people read.

You don’t just need money to build an empire, you need great knowledge, usually from   financial education books that will feed you with nuggets of wisdom needed to amass, maintain and increase your wealth.

There are a number of financial education books that have built a great reputation over the years for providing insightful and mind-opening education that has changed the lives of many people. Finding a book that answers the financial questions that have remained a puzzle in your quest for success is a life-changing experience.

Here is a collection of some of the best financial education books that have shaped the lives of some of the newest wealthy individuals across the globe and inspired them to take up challenges that have made them remarkably successful.

The Best Financial Education Books:

1 . rich dad, poor dad.

In this book, Robert Kiyosaki will show you the difference between a wealthy man and a poor man and the decisions that define each one of them. Robert Kiyosaki continues these insights in a series of Rich Dad books that you will find useful in financial education such as Unfair Advantage and Rich Dad’s Cash Flow Quadrant.

2 . The Millionaire Next Door

According to the book, the rich budget, live below their means and allow their grown-up children success independently. This will show you how to solve the investing equation on saving and earning money. Perhaps you are always trying to figure out the nature of things that go through the brain of a millionaire .

3 . The Intelligent Investor

4 . street smarts, 5 . think and grow rich, 6 . one up on wall street, 7 . the little book of common sense investing, 8 . do what you love and the money will follow, 9 . secrets of the millionaire mind, 10 . the money book for the young, fabulous and broke.

Suze Orman saw the niche in young people who had just left college without any form of financial literacy and wrote a financial education book to enlighten them on the steps to making money .

Thank you for checking out our list of the best financial education books.

Please leave a comment and let us know of any financial education books that you have read lately that are worth noting on this list and we will be happy to mention them in an updated version of this post.

5 Kick Butt Ways to Be More Assertive

(Video) How To Set Goals Like A Champion & Where You’re Going Wrong

I am the the Founder of Addicted2Success.com and I am so grateful you're here to be part of this awesome community. I love connecting with people who have a passion for Entrepreneurship, Self Development & Achieving Success. I started this website with the intention of educating and inspiring likeminded people to always strive for success no matter what their circumstances. I'm proud to say through my podcast and through this website we have impacted over 200 million lives in the last 10 years.

You may like

Top 12 Books Every Young Entrepreneur Should Read

Life Lessons From The War of Art That Will Change Your Life

The Bookshelves of 20 Highly Admired Celebrities

7 Must-Read Books on Self-Development, Wisdom, and Leadership

4 Non-Business Books Every Entrepreneur Must Read

3 Books to Help You Learn How to Write Better and More Effectively

25 Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail

How Proper Link Building Can Bridge the Gap in Your Content Strategy

Integrating link building with content marketing is a powerful approach for business owners looking to enhance their online presence and drive growth. 

In today’s digital landscape, entrepreneurs and business owners must adopt innovative strategies to enhance their online presence and drive growth. One such approach is integrating white label link building with content marketing.  (more…)

The 5 Simple Ingredients to Ultimate Lifelong Success

Success is the sweetest word that excites all of us. But not everyone can reach it

Success is the sweetest word that excites all of us. But not everyone can reach it.  Only a few can.  Why is it so?  Is there a magic wand for successful people? (more…)

Tips to Improve Your Concentration Quickly and Efficiently

Avoid interruptions, focus on one activity and avoid multitasking to lead mindfully

Most people lack concentration.When the mind wavers, the thoughts are scattered, resulting in decreased performance and productivity. It is essential to improve concentration to achieve success in personal, professional, and social life.  (more…)

How AI Shook Up My Business and Made Me a Market Leader

AI is becoming the biggest disruptor across most service-based industries

Change is an intimidating prospect for many , especially when it disrupts our established ways of working and living. Yet, within every challenge lies the seed of opportunity. (more…)

How to Use the “12 Week Year” to Supercharge Your Productivity

Could Remote Work Be the Secret to Massive Profit in Your Business?

The Best Ways Entrepreneurs Are Maximizing Their Digital Presence

5 Ways For Startups To Succeed Making Acquisitions

77 Inspirational Quotes That Will Change Your Life

(Images) 52 Motivational Picture Quotes For An Epic Year Of Success

40 Rare Motivational and Inspirational Picture Quotes

30 famous quotes that will inspire success in you.

3 Prince EA Videos To Change Humanities Path To Greatness

(Video) What Is Success? An Entrepreneurial Story To Inspire You

(Inspirational Video) What If Today You Knew You Were Going To Take Your Last Breath?

How To Make Enough Money From A Blog To Quit Your Job – Kate McKibbin

How Finding Your Passion And Becoming An Entrepreneur Can Lead To Happiness – Chiquita Searle

How to Stop the War in Your Head and Find Peace

13 Meaningful Ways to Show Someone They Matter

The Top Startups You Can’t Miss: Summer 2024 Edition

How Business Owners Can Keep Their Employees Motivated Daily

7 Things to Remember When Building Your Career

Why a Sales Closer Should Be Your First Hire and How to Find One

Our Mission: Empower Do-It-Yourself Investors with Free Academic-based Research & Resources for Life-long Investing

You are about to join more than 40,000 savvy investors in setting a course for a lifetime of “sound investing.”

Understanding how to invest wisely for your future can be daunting. Many people never get started for fear of making mistakes. Others make choices based on hearsay and hope. In  We're Talking Millions! , you will learn why and how to make a handful of smart choices that can turn modest regular savings into a secure future. 

You'll discover "12 small steps with big payoffs", each of which can add $1 million or more to your retirement nest egg if you start in your twenties or thirties. These steps are well known. Now for the first time,  We're Talking Millions!  combines them into a single action plan you can implement in less than one hour a year. That could be the most valuable time you'll ever spend. Get started now!

Long-time financial educator/retired advisor Paul Merriman and co-author Richard Buck have boiled down decades of academic-based knowledge and experience to help millennials and Gen Y'ers get started and stay on the right track of saving and investing for life using 401ks, IRAs, and other simple investments like target date funds.

Click for your FREE pdf copy and/or Audiobook of We’re Talking Millions — 12 Simple Ways To Supercharge Your Retirement by Paul Merriman and Richard Buck.

Simplify investing & simplify life. If you want to know WHY 2-Funds-for-Life strategies increase likely lifetime returns by 25% to more than 130%, and what you need to do to reap those benefits? Then this deep-dive owner’s manual is for you! For an introduction to the 2-Funds-for-Life strategy, read  We’re Talking Millions  by Merriman and Buck. Get your free copy here- https://paulmerriman.com/signup/ We’re all wired to invest for the future, but when it comes to personal finance few of us know how. How much should I save? How much risk can I take? How does risk tolerance change with age? How can I get the most while risking the least? How complex does it have to be? Could I really do everything I need with just two funds? 2-Funds for Life  is a quest to answer these questions and show definitively that simple approaches can match, beat, or even trounce more complex ones. More about the 2 Funds for Life strategy can be found at: https://paulmerriman.com/2-funds-for-life/

Paul Heys updated book now available for free!

"It is a brilliant reframing of the psychological concepts that influence wealth-related decisions—told in a clear, engaging and down-to-earth style” Ronald E. Smith Ph.D., Psychology Professor, University of Washington

“Kudos to Paul Heys for this wise and lucid guide to financial and psychological wealth. By applying and simplifying economic and cognitive science he shows us the path to both fiscal fitness and human flourishing.” David Myers, Ph.D.,

Psychology Professor, Hope College. Don’t miss Appendix E. It contains a brilliantly written summary of Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman’s 500 page masterpiece, “Thinking, Fast and Slow.” Paul Merriman

“I wish someone had given me this book when I was younger. It would have directed my spending and investing in ways that would have made me re-think my career, relationships and what I truly wanted out of life.” Tyler R. Tichelaar, Ph.D., Author: Narrow Lives and The best Place.

First Time Investor: Grow and Protect Your Money

An easy, essential read for getting started as a long-term investor. Get the steps necessary to build and maintain a successful investment portfolio. You’ll learn exactly what to do to set and meet your financial goals — from the day you start saving and investing for your future, and for the rest of your lifetime. If you invest wisely, you may be able to retire while your friends are still chained to their jobs.

In this book, I give you the steps necessary to build and maintain a successful investment portfolio. You’ll learn exactly what to do to meet your financial goals — from the day you start saving and investing for your future, and for the rest of your lifetime. If you invest wisely, you may be able to retire while your friends are still chained to their jobs.

Whether you’re starting out or starting over, this book is for you. You may be 23 and just landed your first job, or you’re 40 and decided to finally get serious about investing, but If you follow the advice you find here, you will have a high probability of being financially independent when your working years are over.

101 Investment Decisions Guaranteed to Change Your Financial Future

Learn how every investment decision you make has the potential to add $1,000, $10,000, $100,000 or more to your wealth.

101 Investment Decisions Guaranteed To Change Your Financial Future is the workbook for savvy investors at all stages of life! Learn how every investment decision you make has the potential to add $1,000, $10,000, $100,000 or more to your wealth. Together, this can mean millions of extra dollars for you and your family over the years. In his information rich, pull-no-punches style, Paul Merriman explains the decisions to be made and the impact of each on your financial future, so you can easily prioritize and make the best financial choices to meet your goals. It’s your future… choose wisely.

Get Smart or Get Screwed: How To Select The Best and Get The Most From Your Financial Advisor

Understand about the variety of financial brokers and advisors, and the services they can — and should — offer.

GET SMART or GET SCREWED: How To Select The Best and Get The Most From Your Financial Advisor gives you insights into the variety of financial brokers and advisors, and the services they can — and should — offer.

It includes extensive lists of questions you should ask and services you should receive from an advisor, and reasons why the brokerage industry is not serving your best interests.

To ensure that you “Get Smart,” Paul helps you understand how to find and work with competent and ethical advisors, firms and products. Getting the best and most from your advisor will save you time, grow your money, and give you peace of mind. Whether you are a first-time or savvy investor, you will learn new ways to avoid the plethora of pitfalls many investors encounter.

The Merriman Financial Education Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2012.

All donations are used to support our work. Deductions are permissible to the extent of the law.

Contact us at  [email protected]

All information on this site is provided free of charge (with the exception of books for sale) and is funded in full by The Merriman Financial Education Foundation.

Anyone wishing to use this educational information in web-based or printed materials are welcome to do so with the following attribution and link:

 “This information freely provided courtesy of  PaulMerriman.com .” We would also appreciate a copy and link of where it has been published  via email . 

JOIN US ON 

SOCIAL MEDIA!

All Rights Reserved

Short Story Marketing

More From Forbes

Financial literacy in schools is improving but more needs to be done.

• Share to Facebook
• Share to Twitter
• Share to Linkedin

Financial literacy education

Financial literacy education in the United States has improved significantly in recent years. More than 90% of states incorporate elements of financial literacy into their school curricula, either as a prerequisite for graduation, through elective courses, or by implementing standards.

This progress reflects a growing recognition of the importance of equipping young people with the skills to manage their finances effectively. However, despite these advancements, there is still much work to be done. This article explores the state of financial literacy education in the U.S. and explores key areas for improvement.

What Is Financial Literacy?

Financial literacy is the ability to understand and effectively manage various aspects of personal finance, including budgeting, saving, investing, and credit management.

At its core, financial literacy is about empowering individuals to take control of their financial futures by understanding how money works in the real world. Without a solid foundation in financial literacy, individuals risk making costly mistakes that can have long-lasting impacts on their financial well-being.

Financial literacy also plays a significant role in broader economic stability. A financially literate population is better equipped to contribute positively to the economy, as informed individuals are more likely to manage debt responsibly, invest wisely, and plan for their financial futures.

Best High-Yield Savings Accounts Of 2024

Best 5% interest savings accounts of 2024.

This recognition of the value of financial literacy has driven a growing movement to incorporate financial education into school curricula across the United States, ensuring that young people are prepared to face the financial challenges of adulthood.

The State Of U.S. Financial Literacy Education

Growing adoption of financial literacy education.

As of 2024, more than half of the states in the U.S. have mandated financial literacy education as a graduation requirement for high school students. Specifically, 26 out of 50 states require students to complete a financial literacy course before receiving their high school diplomas.

This represents a significant increase in the adoption of financial literacy education compared to just a decade ago, reflecting a growing recognition of its importance.

California is the most recent addition to this list. In June 2024, the state passed legislation requiring high school students to complete a standalone one-semester personal finance course. This requirement will be fully implemented by the 2030-31 school year.

California’s move is particularly noteworthy given the state’s size and influence, and it marks a major milestone in the nationwide effort to improve financial literacy among young people.

Other states that have implemented similar mandates include Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

These states have recognized that financial literacy is a critical life skill and have taken steps to ensure that all students receive formal education in this area.

The Need For Nationwide Financial Literacy Education

While the progress in these 26 states is commendable, the remaining 24 states do not have a mandatory financial literacy course as a graduation requirement. In these states, financial literacy education varies widely.

Some states, such as New York, Arizona, and Texas, include financial literacy topics within other subjects like economics or social studies. However, this approach often means that financial literacy is not given the same emphasis or depth of coverage as in states with standalone courses.

In states like Colorado, Delaware, and Maryland, financial literacy standards are included in the curriculum, but schools have flexibility in how they implement these standards. This can lead to significant disparities in the quality and consistency of financial education across different districts and schools.

While the progress in the 26 states that have mandated financial literacy courses is encouraging, it is concerning that nearly half of the states still do not require students to receive this critical education.

Given the complex financial landscape that individuals must navigate in today’s world, it is essential that all students, regardless of where they live, receive a comprehensive financial education.

A Bigger Goal: Expanding Financial Literacy Education

Is one semester enough.

The current trend among states that mandate financial literacy education is to require students to complete a one-semester course. While this is certainly a step in the right direction, it raises the question: Is one semester really enough to equip students with the financial knowledge and skills they need to succeed?

Personal finance is a complex subject that encompasses a wide range of topics, from basic budgeting and saving to more advanced concepts like investing, credit management, and understanding financial products. It can be challenging to cover all these topics sufficiently in a one-semester course.

Ed Grocholski, CMO of the nonprofit educational organization Junior Achievement, comments, “We don’t teach any other subject like that.” He compares it to learning English, where “you don’t give a kid their first English class in high school and expect them to go from learning the alphabet to reading War and Peace in one semester.”

Moreover, financial literacy is not just about understanding concepts; it also involves developing the habits and behaviors that lead to long-term financial success. This requires not only knowledge but also practice and reinforcement over time.

Grocholski adds that financial literacy is “a multigrade approach.” Nonetheless, he asserts, “It’s certainly better to have a semester of financial literacy than to have no financial literacy education.”

To check whether JA financial literacy programs are offered in your area, you can do so here .

Lifelong Financial Education

In addition to expanding financial literacy education in schools, there is also a need for ongoing financial education throughout adulthood. Financial products and services constantly evolve, and individuals must continually update their knowledge to stay informed and make the best financial decisions.

Unfortunately, many adults do not receive any formal financial education after they leave school, leaving them vulnerable to making costly mistakes.

One approach to addressing this gap is to offer financial education programs for adults, such as workshops, online courses, and community-based initiatives.

These programs can help adults build on the foundation they received in school and stay up-to-date with the latest financial trends and products.

Employers can also play a role by offering financial wellness programs to their employees, providing them with the tools and resources they need to manage their finances effectively.

Various organizations can also provide help in promoting financial literacy education across America. For example, the Financial Literacy Coalition — a collective of educators, financial advisors, institutions, community leaders, and corporations — pools its resources, expertise, and passions to make financial literacy a national priority.

Final Thoughts

The state of financial literacy education in the United States is at a critical juncture. While significant progress has been made, with 26 states now requiring financial literacy courses for high school graduation, there is still much work to be done. The remaining states must adopt similar mandates to ensure that all students receive the financial education they need to succeed.

Moreover, the current approach of requiring a single semester of financial literacy education may not be sufficient to achieve true financial literacy. There is a strong case for expanding financial education to multiple years of schooling, providing students with more opportunities to practice and apply what they have learned.

Additionally, ongoing financial education for adults is essential to ensure that individuals can navigate the ever-changing financial landscape and make informed decisions throughout their lives.

• Editorial Standards
• Reprints & Permissions

Join The Conversation

One Community. Many Voices. Create a free account to share your thoughts. 

Forbes Community Guidelines

Our community is about connecting people through open and thoughtful conversations. We want our readers to share their views and exchange ideas and facts in a safe space.

In order to do so, please follow the posting rules in our site's  Terms of Service.   We've summarized some of those key rules below. Simply put, keep it civil.

Your post will be rejected if we notice that it seems to contain:

• False or intentionally out-of-context or misleading information
• Insults, profanity, incoherent, obscene or inflammatory language or threats of any kind
• Attacks on the identity of other commenters or the article's author
• Content that otherwise violates our site's  terms.

User accounts will be blocked if we notice or believe that users are engaged in:

• Continuous attempts to re-post comments that have been previously moderated/rejected
• Racist, sexist, homophobic or other discriminatory comments
• Attempts or tactics that put the site security at risk
• Actions that otherwise violate our site's  terms.

So, how can you be a power user?

• Stay on topic and share your insights
• Feel free to be clear and thoughtful to get your point across
• ‘Like’ or ‘Dislike’ to show your point of view.
• Protect your community.
• Use the report tool to alert us when someone breaks the rules.

Thanks for reading our community guidelines. Please read the full list of posting rules found in our site's  Terms of Service.

Investigators looking for long-missing woman find human remains on husband’s property

Family members told WTVG-TV and WTOL-TV that the remains were found Friday in a sealed, empty tank meant for anhydrous ammonia

Author of the article:

You can save this article by registering for free here . Or sign-in if you have an account.

Article content

Investigators have discovered human remains during a search of property in southeastern Michigan that belongs to a man whose wife disappeared more than three years ago and is presumed dead.

Dee Warner’s family reported her missing in April 2021. Her husband, Dale John Warner, 56, was charged in November with open murder and tampering with evidence in her disappearance. He has pleaded not guilty.

Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.

• Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.
• Unlimited online access to National Post and 15 news sites with one account.
• National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.
• Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.
• Support local journalism.

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

• Access articles from across Canada with one account.
• Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.
• Enjoy additional articles per month.
• Get email updates from your favourite authors.

Don't have an account? Create Account

Michigan State Police said in a statement Sunday that they recently searched Dale Warner’s property in Lenawee County and found human remains.

“The remains are currently in the process of being recovered and there will be a great deal of work and testing completed before positive identification is made,” the agency said in a social media post. “The family of Dee Warner has been contacted and advised of the findings. This continues to be an ongoing investigation.”

Family members told WTVG-TV and WTOL-TV that the remains were found Friday in a sealed, empty tank meant for anhydrous ammonia, which is used as fertilizer for crops.

Lt. Rene Gonzalez, a spokesman for the Michigan State Police, confirmed that the search was conducted Friday but said he couldn’t comment further beyond the agency statement because of the ongoing investigation.

An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday.

Dee Warner was 52 when she was last seen the morning of April 25, 2021, on a road in Franklin Township, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) southwest of Detroit. Since then, she has had no contact with her family or friends.

Dale Warner is being held in the Lenawee County Jail. He is scheduled to appear in court Sept. 4 for a pretrial hearing.

“We believe that a fair and objective review of the evidence _ or more precisely the lack of evidence in this case — will show that Mr. Warner did not kill his wife,” his attorney, Mary Chartier, told The Associated Press when he was charged in November.

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here .

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.

NP View: Canada's immigration system needs to be rescued from Trudeau

Subscriber only. Conrad Black: The Charter is dead — Jordan Peterson's forced re-education proves it

Man who pulled gun after burger king worker wouldn’t take drugs for payment gets 143 years in prison, raymond j. de souza: euthanasia's grisly transformation of the canadian medical regime, a hunter’s graveyard shift: grabbing pythons in the everglades, these highly-anticipated nonfiction books are hitting shelves this fall.

Buzzy new titles from Mats Sundin, Ina Garten and more

Hair tutorial: How to get bouncy curls without using heat

There are a few heatless curling tools on the market that will do the trick on a budget.

Advertisement 2 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Dior perfumer dives into details of new water-based Sauvage Eau Forte fragrance

Dior Sauvage Eau Forte is billed as the first high-concentration men’s cologne with a water-based formula that's free of alcohol.

This new heart charm is Pamela Anderson-approved

The Canadian style star wore the new Pandora Be Love Heart Charm on a pearl necklace, layering the piece with other sterling silver styles.

Reformation review: Testing best-selling styles from the slow fashion brand

Ranking eight summer essentials with year-round versatility

This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here . By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy .

You've reached the 20 article limit.

You can manage saved articles in your account.

and save up to 100 articles!

Looks like you've reached your saved article limit!

You can manage your saved articles in your account and clicking the X located at the bottom right of the article.

Navigation on swissre.com

Our applied research covers emerging risks, industry trends and topical deep dives.

Topics & Risk Dialogues

• Climate and natural catastrophe risk
• Health and longevity
• Digital business models and cyber risk
• Economy and insurance outlook
• Casualty risk
• Risk Dialogue: Underwriting
• Risk Dialogue: Digital Ecosystems

sigma research

• Expertise Publications
• Economic Insights
• Economic Outlook
• Insurance Monitoring
• sigma data explorer
• sigma 3/2024
• sigma 2/2024

Publication Multi-Cancer Early Detection: cancer screening beyond today's boundaries

Your global partner for risk and insurance education. We help you navigate tomorrow.

• Open Programmes
• Learning success factors

Swiss Re Institute Campus

Book a training

Our events examine topics relevant to understanding risk and re/insurance.

Your digital place for risk & insurance education

Partnerships

With selected research partners, we explore the future of risk coverage, assess changes in the risk landscape and act as a catalyst for industry change.

Collaboration Open research challenge: Modelling biodiversity and ecosystem services loss to advance resilience

Meetings of the Swiss Re Strategic Council explore emerging issues and provide strategic insights, advice and recommendations on the global economic, political, regulatory ...

Superior research driving better decisions.

Locations and regional sites

Asia pacific, europe, middle east, & africa.

• Brazil Country Website
• Colombia Country Website
• Mexico Country Website
• United States of America
• Australia Country Website
• China Country Website
• Hong Kong SAR
• Japan Country Website
• Republic of Korea Country Website
• New Zealand Country Website
• Ivory Coast
• Slovak Republic
• Switzerland
• United Kingdom
• South Africa

Economic and financial risk insights: strong fundamentals contrast volatility, rate uncertainties

Article information and share options, key takeaways.

• Growth: normalisation progresses. Upside risk to full-year growth in US and Europe after a strong 2Q24, even though economic momentum is set to soften in 2H24.
• Inflation: disinflation on track, but some turbulence ahead . Reverse base effects will feed inflation volatility in 2H24, but we continue to expect a steady return to 2% targets.
• Interest rates: renewed focus on labour markets . Recent employment softening adds upside risk to our US rate call for this year.

Solid fundamentals despite market volatility. The upside surprise on 2Q24 US GDP growth (2.8% annualised) reiterates that economic fundamentals remain healthy. However, early 3Q24 data has generated a sharp rise in financial market volatility. A soft July US nonfarm payrolls report, hawkish communications from the Bank of Japan (BoJ), and rising hostilities in the Middle East saw the S&P 500 Volatility Index spike to its highest level since October 2020 (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: S&P 500 Volatility Index 

While the 20 bp rise in the unemployment rate triggered the Sahm Rule 1 recession indicator in the US (see Figure 2), the increase remains low relative to past cycles with the recession indicator distorted from COVID-19. The increased jobless rate is likely due to more cautious hiring behaviour and growing labour supply, and we do not expect imminent downturn (see Figure 3). In the euro area, the recovery continued in 2Q24, apart from in Germany where the economy contracted by 0.1% q/q. We maintain a below-consensus growth outlook for 2025 amidst heightened downside risks from geopolitics and ongoing weak prospects in Germany. Activity in China remains fragile; we see downside risks to our end-year forecasts.

Figure 2: Sahm rule recession indicator 

Figure 3: US unemployment rate increases from cycle low 

Bumpy near-term outlook, but 2% is coming into view. Reverse base effects over the coming months will unwind some of the disinflation progress seen in 2Q24, but the direction of travel remains towards the 2% central bank targets (see Figure 4). In Europe, services inflation remains the key driver of overall inflation (see Figure 5) and adds some upside risk to our 2024 CPI forecasts, but this will likely ease over the medium-term as wage growth decelerates. In Japan, a more sustainable trend in underlying inflation suggests policy normalisation will continue at a measured pace into 2025. However, recent Yen appreciation could weigh on inflation and delay the pace of rate increases. 

Figure 4: Harmonised CPI inflation

Figure 5: Euro area inflation composition

Interest rates

Emphasis shifts from inflation to normalisation. The July US jobs report cements our view that the Federal Reserve will begin to ease policy in September, with a rising likelihood of three rate cuts this year, one more than our current forecast of two. We maintain our view that the European Central Bank will dial back restrictive policy cautiously given ongoing services inflation strength. We still expect rate cuts to come quarterly, with the next cut in September. In Japan, we expect the BoJ will wait for calmer market conditions and monitor closely any US slowdown before acting, but that it will continue to normalise policy in 2025.

Figure 6: Japan policy interest rate and core CPI inflation

Baseline view

Upside risks to our 2024 US and Europe GDP forecasts remain. Disinflation continues and could bring greater rate cuts in 2H24. 

• macroeconomic growth
• economic policy
• interest rates

Economic Outlook Economic and financial risk insights

Strong fundamentals contrast rising volatility and heightened uncertainty around extent of rate cuts

See further Economic Outlooks

Publication european economic outlook: hopes of significant monetary easing dashed by stronger growth and sticky services inflation, publication us economic outlook: getting back to normal, publication us economic outlook: economy is defying the odds, but markets should curb their enthusiasm, publication european economic outlook: wage growth holds the key to the interest rate cutting cycle, publication uae: labour market growth to continue with policy support and a strong private sector, overlay with sharing options.

Main navigation

• Our Articles
• Dr. Joe's Books
• Media and Press
• Our History
• Public Lectures
• Past Newsletters
• Photo Gallery: The McGill OSS Separates 25 Years of Separating Sense from Nonsense

Subscribe to the OSS Weekly Newsletter!

Register for the trottier 2024 symposium, the book natural healers really hate.

• Add to calendar
• Tweet Widget

To the conspiracy-minded alternative health practitioner, everything was great until the Flexner Report was published. Humanity was crushing diseases with herbal remedies and natural potions until 1910 when the “medical-industrial complex” came together and  “criminalized natural therapies.”  We are now afflicted by Rockefeller medicine, where ill citizens are hooked on expensive drugs that never heal them and the truth about the benefits of herbs is being hidden by paid-off politicians and academics.

This alleged fall from paradise can all be blamed on the original sin of that darn Flexner Report.

I would wager that most of the people hurling insults at this century-old book have never actually read it; I did, because I wanted to know what the fuss was all about.

The Flexner Report was commissioned because the state of medical education in the United States and Canada was dire. A young educator was hired to visit all of North America’s medical colleges and report back, which led to much-needed changes and some unfortunate consequences.

And, yes, he did have some harsh words for what he called “the unconscionable quacks.”

A medical degree  and  a free trip to Europe!

There is a reason why leeches and purging agents are now rarely used in medicine: the discipline has evolved over the millennia, and Abraham Flexner found himself at the beginning of a new and exciting era.

Medicine in the Western tradition began with Hippocrates and Galen. It began with dogma. “Facts,” Flexner wrote in his report, “had no chance if pitted against the word of the master.” Those who despise modern medicine will claim it has remained dogmatic to this day; but while practitioners can be set in their ways and new findings can linger before they are adopted, we are far from the pontifical medicine of old.

With the rapid development of anatomy in the 1500s, medicine moved from dogma to empiricism. This meant that instead of doctors simply parroting what they had been taught by the rock stars of their field, they would learn from their own experience. They would observe and they would treat accordingly. This approach was more welcoming to discovery, but it was still hard for doctors of that era to properly disentangle diseases that superficially looked the same.

What propelled the discipline forward was science. We came to realize that the human body obeys the laws of biology: it grows, reproduces itself, and dies in predictable ways, and by understanding this underlying biology, the doctor would be better able to prevent and treat disease. Scientific research fed clinical practice, and the medical student, no longer limited to watching, would  do  as well.

Like medicine, medical training itself had changed over the centuries. It started as a system of apprenticeship, where a trainee became indentured at a young age to a doctor and ran his errands. Eventually, he would get to learn the secrets of his master’s trade. In Europe, the teaching of medicine would move to the lecture halls, which were host to anatomy demonstrations, and many American students would cross the Atlantic to benefit from this enrichment in Paris or Edinburgh. It wouldn’t take long before American doctors saw a way to sprout a similar system stateside and reap its financial benefits.

They were called proprietary schools. They were privately owned, with their teachers splitting the profits among themselves. They could rent a cheap hall, get some inexpensive benches, and recruit students who didn’t even have a high school diploma. “A school that began in October,” Flexner wrote, “would graduate a class the next spring.” Their facilities were poorly stocked, with barely-existing laboratories. The money that didn’t end up in the founders’ pockets was used to make all sorts of wild promises in the advertising material. One of these medical colleges swore it would gift its graduates a trip to Europe!

Following this explosion in questionable proprietary medical schools in the mid-1800s, change was thankfully afoot, but something major was needed around which this change could crystallize.

Quality over quantity

The Flexner Report’s actual title is  Medical Education in the United States and Canada: A Report to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.  It was commissioned by industrialist Andrew Carnegie’s policy and research foundation. Much has been made of the report’s ties to Carnegie and to Rockefeller, whose own foundation alongside eight others would pour a lot of money to implement the solutions proposed in the Flexner Report. Flexner’s brother, Simon, was also a friend of John D. Rockefeller, Jr, and he directed the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research for more than three decades. Seen through our modern lens, this friendly alliance between medical education and capitalistic interest can trigger a fair amount of skepticism, if not outright conspiracy theories. It was in the wealthy elite’s interest to downplay the impact of social disparities on health and to promote the simpler idea that the human body was a machine whose broken parts could be mended by the right science-informed technician. But as we’ll see, the report itself did not stick to this narrow viewpoint.

Abraham Flexner, whom the Carnegie Foundation recruited for this massive work, was not a doctor; he was a teacher. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Flexner studied Greek, Latin and philosophy as an undergrad at Johns Hopkins, and this university made a profound mark on him. It would become the template for Flexner’s medical education revolution.

After teaching high school, Flexner opened his own private preparatory school, which served as a laboratory for his educational convictions. After receiving a Master’s degree in philosophy from Harvard, exploring Europe, and writing a book on American education, he was recruited by the head of the Carnegie Foundation. His mission: to tour the 150 medical schools in the United States and Canada and report back in writing on what their problems were and how to solve them. Already, the deceptive marketing of many of these schools and their deficient scientific education was known; Flexner was to document it. His report was scathing.

Flexner wrote of the dissection rooms where cadavers were as dry as tanned leather. He denounced the medical colleges claiming to have access to a hospital for their students when that was not the case. Many schools did not have full-time faculty and lacked proper laboratories. At the North Carolina Medical College, in Charlotte, Flexner was told that asking about laboratories was futile: their students were “all thumbs,” better suited to be farmers.

His year-and-a-half survey of North America resulted in a three-tiered list of medical colleges.

Sixteen were in tier one, requiring at least two years of college for admission and doing their best to meet the standard set by the Johns Hopkins Medical School. Fifty were salvageable and required of their student applicants a high school diploma. The rest, mostly found in the south of the United States, was a complete loss, in his opinion. “For the law, if enforced, would stamp them out.” (In case my colleagues are curious, he admired McGill’s own medical school, calling it “excellent” and being impressed by its anatomical and pathological museums, as well as its library. Its medical budget at the time was a mere $77,000.)

Flexner’s short-term solution to the proliferation of inadequate, for-profit medical schools was to shut them down and fund the ones that had stricter standards and that were affiliated with a university. He recommended quality over quantity, with fewer but better equipped schools graduating fewer physicians that were better trained. His influential book-length report was used to justify an influx of $154 million in the medical education system over the course of nearly two decades.

While prioritizing quality is commendable, the consequences of the Flexner Report were not all positive. Almost all women’s and historically Black medical colleges  shut down in its wake , and women were nearly eliminated from the physician workforce until the 1970s. Medical schools were consolidated in large urban centres and required more money and education to get in, which meant that middle- and upper-class white men had an easier time becoming physicians. And closing a bad medical college in the American South might have been smart in the short term, but if it was not replaced by a better school, it simply created an educational desert.

But if the Flexner Report was focused on improving  medical  education, why are so many homeopaths and naturopaths mad about it?

Made-up minds

In chapter 10 of his report, Flexner goes for the jugular of what he calls the “medical sects.” Those were competing philosophies of medicine, like homeopathy, osteopathy, and eclectic medicine (a plant-based approach). Flexner correctly observes that unlike the doctor who wants facts and not dogma, “the sectarian […] begins with his mind made up.” He denounces the contradiction in many of the best sectarian colleges, where students underwent two years of chemistry, biology, and physics, before entering clinical training and suddenly being introduced to a pseudoscientific principle that contradicted what they had just learned.

Flexner was not single-handedly responsible for shutting these colleges down. In the ten years before the publication of his report, the 22 homeopathic colleges in the U.S. were trimmed down to 15. Much like the scientific revolution changing medicine, the Flexner Report did not begin the transformation but simply galvanized it.

Yet, Flexner, perceived as the hatchet man that tore down much of the medical education infrastructure, has become a lightning rod for misconceptions and bad arguments. He is sometimes accused of having denigrated the value of public health, which is simply false. In his report he writes of bad environmental conditions that breed disease, such as a contaminated water and food supply. The good doctor’s role, he writes on page 68, “is equally to heal the sick and to protect the well. The public health laboratory belongs, then, under the wing of the medical school.” To make the point even clearer, Flexner notes that “the physician’s function is fast becoming social and preventive, rather than individual and curative.”

And while a hyperfocus on science as the answer to medical problems can lead to inhumane treatment (and certainly had a role to play in eugenics and unconscionable medical experiments like Tuskegee’s), Flexner understood the importance of care. His ideal doctor required “insight and sympathy” in order to heal. That priority may have gotten lost in the implementation of his plan, but it is present in the report, black on white.

When the sectarians he condemns criticize his report, they often claim that he transformed medicine from a holistic view of the entire body into a myopic practice that only focused on broken body parts. This is a convenient argument for them. As scientific research nourished clinical practice, our body of medical knowledge grew, forcing doctors to specialize. But there is no real growth in so-called alternative medicine. There is no  need  to specialize when you believe there is only one true cause to all diseases. Whether it’s an alleged chiropractic subluxation or a blockage of the supposed life force called qi, it’s just an obstruction. All these practitioners need to do is find the source of the blockage and declog the pipe, much like a plumber. As Flexner pointed out, though, this is not science but dogma masquerading as knowledge.

As for the loss of holism in medicine, it still exists in family medicine, and especially in group practices, where integrating knowledge from specialties is commonplace. But given the incredible amount of knowledge generated in scientific medicine, it is absurd to expect every doctor to know everything.

The Flexner Report of 1910 was an imperfect catalyst that helped move medicine into its science-informed era. It would take many more decades, though, before the randomized controlled clinical trial was adopted as a gold standard for determining the worth of a treatment or preventative. The report also exacerbated inequalities in access to medical education in an attempt to reward the most rigorous institutions. Nonetheless, it argued that the best place for medical education was not in a privately owned and poorly regulated makeshift school but in a university, where foundational research could provide new solutions to the healer.

The kind of quackery that Flexner decried has not really gone away, despite what he predicted, and its practices certainly have not been criminalized.  Osteopathy  raised its standards in the United States and became, for all intents and purposes, equivalent to medicine. Homeopathic colleges are rare but  their hyperdiluted concoctions  are still widely available. Some dubious professions, like naturopaths, have acquired an unearned legitimacy in some states and provinces, and the concept of integrative medicine—of adding junk practices to actual medicine to get some sort of best of both worlds—has unfortunately made  massive strides in academia .

The battle against medical sectarianism has not been won. There is a lot of work left to do.

Take-home message: - The Flexner Report, published in 1910, crystallized a revolution in North America toward teaching a type of medicine that was strongly influenced by scientific discoveries - The claim that Flexner downplayed the importance of public health and preventive medicine in his report because he was working for the Carnegie Foundation is simply false - The claim that medicine stopped treating the whole person after the Flexner Report came out but that natural healers still do is false: family medicine is holistic; medical specialties exist because of our increased knowledge; and natural healing practices have no need to specialize since they often believe there is one true cause to every disease, which is wrong

@CrackedScience

What to read next

Water cures have flowed through history 16 aug 2024.

Whipping Up Some Science 14 Aug 2024

How a Crazy Claim About a 'Bottle Jumper' Led to a Riot 9 Aug 2024

Doc of Detox Tries to Rewrite All of Medicine 9 Aug 2024

Coffee for the Brain 7 Aug 2024

From Black Goo to Blue Dye and Beyond — the Fascinating History of Aniline 2 Aug 2024

Department and University Information

Office for science and society.