The Best Personal Finance Books

The Personal MBA Recommended Reading List

2008 Edition: Revised and Updated

Top MBA programs don't have a monopoly on advanced business knowledge: you can teach yourself everything you need to know to succeed in life and at work. The Personal MBA Recommended Reading List features only the very best business books available, based on thousands of hours of research. So skip b-school and the $100,000 loan: you can get a world-class business education simply by reading these books.

About This Category:

If you're interested in business, chances are you're interested in accumulating wealth. The books in the Personal Finance category will teach you:

How to save, manage, and invest your earnings.
How to avoid unwise and unnecessary spending.
How to live a satisfying and fulfilling life, regardless of the size of your bank account.

Your Money or Your Life by Joel Dominguez & Vicki Robin

Are you willing to trade two weeks of your life for a high-definition television set? What about six months of your life for a brand new BMW? Your Money or Your Life will teach you to think about money in a completely different way: as a tangible form of your life's energy and effort.

On a fundamental level, everyone who works exchanges their time and energy for money. After realizing this fundamental truth, financial decisions like purchasing products via debt or staying in a high-income but stressful job take on a greater sense of urgency: your life and your freedom are at stake.

Your Money or Your Life will help make the mental and emotional commitment necessary to eliminate debt, develop a savings plan, set your financial priorities, avoid unnecessary purchases, and work only as much as you need to in order to enjoy a fulfilling life.

The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley & William Danko

What's the easiest way to have a net worth of over $1 million dollars? Find a way to earn a million dollars... without spending it.

Based on Stanley & Danko's 20+ years of research, people who are financially secure are very different from people who "act wealthy." The Millionaire Next Door will give you a candid and detailed look at the personal habits of the financially successful.

Financially successful people choose to do work that is economically rewarding, then manage their income with frugality and thrift. Instead of spending their money on expensive cars or designer clothing, they choose to save and invest it, focusing more on intangible relationships with family and friends than outward displays of success.

As the saying goes: "even the smallest leak will sink the biggest ship." The Millionaire Next Door will enable you to examine your financial decisions against the actions of others who have achieved financial security, helping you find the wealth-destroying leaks in your current financial situation.

The Lazy Person's Guide to Investing by Paul Farrell

Have you been putting off investing because you don't know where to begin? Never fear: this book is for you.

The Lazy Person's Guide to Investing will teach you how to outperform 90% of other investors simply by spending 15 minutes allocating your investments across a small number of low-cost index funds once a year.

"Lazy Portfolio Investing" is an investment approach designed to minimize time and effort you put into investing. Instead of spending countless hours (and dollars) actively tracking the market and managing your portfolio, simply invest a pre-defined percentage of your investment dollars in a few well-selected index funds at the beginning of the year. When you're done, forget about your portfolio and move on with your life - it will manage itself until you re-allocate your funds next year.

If you're interested in enjoying solid financial returns, ignoring your portfolio, and sleeping well at night, The Lazy Person's Guide to Investing is for you.

The Boglehead's Guide to Investing by Taylor Larimore et al

Investing can be intimidating, even to experienced businesspeople. The 24-hour news cycle and the financial press make it all seem so complicated, and it can be tempting to simply hand over our hard-earned dollars to a "professional" to manage our money for us. Unfortunately, those who do often find themselves paying for their broker's Mercedes instead of enjoying market-beating returns.

Fortunately, there's a better way: The Boglehead's Guide to Investing is a comprehensive guide to effective DIY financial planning.

If you don't know the difference between a Roth and a Traditional IRA, you'll find this book quite useful. While the investment information provided in this book essentially overlaps with the The Lazy Person's Guide to Investing, The Boglehead's Guide to Investing excels in teaching you the ins-and-outs of modern financial instruments: stocks, bonds, treasury bills, index funds, mutual funds, REITs, and annuities.

You'll learn what financial instruments will best serve you when planning for retirement, covering health expenses, and saving for your child's education. You'll also discover the importance of thorough tax preparation, insurance, and estate planning. Best of all, you'll be on solid financial ground without paying an expensive advisor.

The Boglehead's Guide to Investing is the best way to learn the essentials of effective financial planning without breaking the bank.

Work Less, Live More by Bob Clyatt

Many people think of retirement as an "all or nothing" deal - either you're sipping pineapple juice on an exotic beach with millions in the bank, or you're working 80 hours a week to save until you reach the "magic number".

You don't have to wait until you're 65 to enjoy your life: Work Less, Live More will guide you towards a full and fulfilling live of early, permanent semi-retirement.

By choosing "semi-retirement" as your goal and planning wisely, you can reap the rewards of personal freedom much earlier in your life, giving you the option of working only as much as you want to or enjoy.

With tips on living below your means, tracking your progress, making sound long-term financial decisions, and keeping busy throughout your semi-retirement, Work Less, Live More will help you spend more time doing what really matters: enjoying life.

It's Not About the Money by Brent Kessel

What do ancient philosophy, modern psychology, and money have in common? As it turns out, quite a lot.

It's Not About The Money is an illuminating and introspective look at the challenging "inner game" of personal finance.

As humans, we often use money as a means to ensure our sense of security, enhance our image, indulge our senses, or reinforce our sense of self-importance. Ultimately, money can provide none of these things: once we have what we desire, our "wanting mind" immediately moves to the next goal or acquisition. The cliche "money can't by happiness" has a solid core of truth: if you are seeking a lasting sense of satisfaction or fulfillment, you'll never find it in your bank account.

Brent Kessel is an experienced financial planner with roots in yoga and eastern philosophy: traditions that have a great deal to say about how to live a fulfilling life. It's Not About The Money examines how we think about our financial resources through the use of eight archetypes: specific patterns that illustrate a common approach to dealing with money.

Once you understand how you unconsciously think about money and why, you'll be able to adopt a more conscious, balanced, and constructive approach to dealing with financial issues. If personal fulfillment and satisfaction is what you seek, you owe it to yourself to read this book.