There are so many books on personal finance and investing. Many are very good, but even more are questionable. These are the ones that usually have catchy titles and are really written to be sold (to you). Being a best seller is not always the same has having the best advice for you.
Fundamentally, we recommend the simplest approach that works and has been tested over time. Yes, it’s not flashy, but it works. So we keep our reading list short and to the point.
First, it helps to see what has worked in the past by looking at people who have become millionaires. Many of us think of the TV version of a millionaire when we hear the word, but reality is almost exactly the opposite. So our first recommendation is “The Millionaire Next Door” by Thomas Stanley and William Danko. In this book, you will learn the habits of Prodigious Accumulators of Wealth versus the Under Accumulators of Wealth.
The next book is a quick novel set in the days of the pharaohs. It is a fun story of a slave who, through good habits, not only attains his freedom, but ultimately becomes… “The Richest Man in Babylon,” written by George Clason.
Once you understand the habits you need to form, how do you go about doing this simply and cheaply, and without needing expensive “advise” from financial advisors? Well, you get “Common Sense on Mutual Funds” by John Bogle. For those who don’t know this, John “Jack” Bogle is the man who revolutionized the mutual fund industry, making it possible for ordinary people to invest simply on their own, and beat most investment professionals. He might be the most hated man on Wall Street and the most loved man on Main Street. But this book will guide you through simple steps you can take to get started and make great gains.
Finally, we suggest Jason Zweig’s book “Your Money and Your Brain”. It turns out that the biggest barrier to your success in personal finance is ourselves. And the way our brain works seems to be optimized for staying alive in the caveman days. Thus, the more we can understand and stay away from short term, reactionary survival thinking, and move to longer term, investing mindsets, the better we will do. We suggest automating the heck out of things and not looking very often. Again, simple, but it works.
We will be reviewing and recommending other books and blogs over time. Stay tuned!
