[JF.]

What is your favorite personal finance book?

I don't have a favorite right now since most of the books I've read are more business books (4-Hour Workweek).

One personal finance book I've read was Rich by Thirty: A Young Adult's Guide to Financial Success by Lesley Scorgie. Didn't like it. Didn't learn anything. It's all very very basic principles.

So I'm looking for suggestions on what to read.

 

[CanadianCapitalist]

I've read pretty much every personal finance book out there and I agree with your opinion on Rich by Thirty. I wrote about my favourite books sometime back on the blog. If there is one more book I could add to the list, it would be The Richest Man in Babylon. My favourites remain The Wealthy Barber and The Millionaire Next Door.

My Top Ten Money Books

 

[mrcheap]

The Wealthy Barber is the book I recommend to friends who are trying to learn more about personal finance.

 

[fifi]

Your Money or Your Life, no question. Makes you think about what's really important in life. I think a nice consecutive read would be that book, and then The Millionaire Next Door, an interesting read about who the rich really are.

Good post, makes me want to re-read some oldies!

fifi

 

[Northern Engineer]

I second (or third or wherever we are) The Wealthy Barber, and I really like The Richest Man in Babylon, too. I liked several bits of The Total Money Make-Over by Dave Ramsey, though I thought his ideas were a bit more strict than was necessary. He made some good points, and I considered most or all of them before rejecting some.

I imagine this will be an unpopular one, but Rich Dad, Poor Dad was the first finance book I ever read, and while it wasn't really informative, it was accessible to someone with no idea where to start, and it is what inspired me to read more and set the goals I'm aiming for now.

 

[Financial Highway]

I also liked Dave Bach's "Automatic Millionaire" specially for those just starting, I thought it was very simple and straight forward.

 

[The_Number]

My very first one was "When I grow up I'm going to be a millionaire" by Ted and Lora Lea (out of print now). I also read "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" when I first started, and I liked their persuasive redefinitions of "asset" as "something that brings in money" and "liability" as "something that takes money out."

But my favorite so far has to be "The Two Income Trap" by Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Tyagi. I like personal financing books that are grounded in empirical research and show a lot of data meaningfully to make a point.

I don't know if anyone else is bothered by this, but I found many of the personal financing book writers to be terrible writers, and I could not stand their writing even though they had some good points (Patronizing and condescending tones particularly annoy me.) Some examples are "The Good Debt, Bad Debt" by Jon Hanson (I like his concept of "burn rate"), "Your Money or Your Life" by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez (I like their concept of calculating money in terms of time), and "Automatic Millionaire" by David Bach.

 

[flayto]

Not really a personal finance book, but I recently read "After the Crash" by Garth Turner. It's more of a commentary on the current state of the economy from a Canadian perspective and how to prepare for the worst possible scenario if the real estate market and the banks go the way of the U.S. markets. It's kind of doom and gloom, but there's some good, practical information on protecting your money if things get really bad.

Another one I just read and liked was "The Motley Fool Million Dollar Portfolio" by David and Tom Gardner. Good information on buying quality stocks and building a portfolio using Index ETF's.

 

[Four Pillars]

I really liked "Smoke and Mirrors" - it was the first book I read of that type which is probably why it made the biggest impression.

 

[MoneyEnergy]

Kiyosaki's books were great for me

...even though I know so many people have a problem with Robert Kiyosaki. I was young when I first picked them up and they were great inspiration. And in fact they do go into some great detail. If you want big picture, conceptual help, this is the way to go.

Cashflow Quadrant, by Robert Kiyosaki

 

[CanadianMoneyBlogger]

For beginners, I found Personal Finance for Canadians For Dummies (Eric Tyson and Tony Martin) to give an accessible and broad overview of personal finance issues (debt, saving, insurance, investing). If you're more interested in investing, I recommend The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by John Bogle and The Four Pillars of Investing by William Bernstein.

 

[moneygardener]

Has anyone read "Your Money or Your Life"? Is it worth the read?

 

[CJB]

I will also second (third? fourth?) The Wealthy Barber as the book that kicked everything off for me.

 

[CanadianCapitalist]

Has anyone read "Your Money or Your Life"? Is it worth the read?

I read it many years back. It might be an eye-opener for profligate consumer but if you are already frugal, you may find little of interest. I would say it is at least worth checking out once.

 

[FrugalTrader]

Has anyone read "Your Money or Your Life"? Is it worth the read?

Funny that you ask that, that's the book on my night table as we speak. It's all about money psychology and how society uses money. I'm enjoying it thus far, you should be able to find it in your local library.

 

[The_Number]

Has anyone read "Your Money or Your Life"? Is it worth the read?

I already said this, but I couldn't stand their writing. I was offended by the manner in which the writers address the reader as an ignorant and wasteful spender.

 

[PMREdmonton]

I liked "The Little Book of Common Sense Investing" by John Bogle.

 

[Hodge]

Unfortunately, "The Wealthy Barber" appears to currently be out of print.

Since it was originally published back in the 80's and has apparently gone through 70 or 80 print runs, I was wondering if later editions contain any significant additions or revisions from earlier eds. It's easier to find used copies dating from the mid-90's that it is to find more recent copies

 

[CanadianCapitalist]

It turns out the classic personal finance book, The Richest Man in Babylon is now in the public domain and you can download a copy from Preet's website:

Download The Richest Man in Babylon For Free (Here)

 

[Jon Chevreau]

Here's a two-page list of the books listed in the appendix my own financial novel, Findependence Day:

Good Debt, Bad Debt, Jon Hanson, Penguin 2005.

The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy, Thomas Stanley and William Danko, Longstreet Press, 1996.

Beyond Work: How Accomplished People Retire Successfully, Bill Roiter, Wiley 2008.

The New Retirement: How it Will Change Our Future, Sherry Cooper, Penguin Canada 2007.

How I stopped worrying about retirement (without alcohol, nicotine, caffeine or other artificial stimulants), Bruce McDougall, Prentice Hall Canada Inc., 2001.

How to Retire Happy Wild and Free. Ernie Zelinksi, Ten Speed Press, 2004.

How Much is Enough? Balancing Today’s Needs with Tomorrow’s Retirement Goals, Diane McCurdy, McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2001.

The Number: A Completely Different Way to Think About the Rest of Your Life, Lee Eisenberg, Simon & Schuster, 2006.

Conserving Client Portfolios During Retirement, William Bengen, FPA Press, 2006.

Are You a Stock or a Bond? Create Your Own Pension Plan for a Secure Financial Future, Moshe Milevsky, FT Press, 2008.

Mathematics: Making Financial Decisions 11, McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2001.

Stocks for the Long Run, Jeremy Siegel, McGraw Hill, 2002 (4th ed).

Multiple Streams of Income: How to Generate a Lifetime of Unlimited Wealth, Robert Allen, Wiley & Sons 2005.

Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence, Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin, Penguin 1999.

Stumbling on Happiness, Daniel Gilbert. Vintage Canada 2007.

Am I Going to be OK? Achieving Financial Comfort in Today’s World, Francis D’Andrade, Per Capita Publishing 2006.

The Wisdom of Insecurity, Alan Watts. Vintage ed, 1968.

The Wealthy Barber: The Common Sense Guide to Successful Financial Planning, David Chilton, Stoddart 1989.

The Richest Man in Babylon, George S. Clason, Signet 2004.

The Automatic Millionaire: A Powerful One-Step Plan to Live and Finish Rich, David Bach, Broadway Books 2003.

Financial Freedom Without Sacrifice, Talbot Stevens, Financial Success Strategies, 1993.

The Cottage, the Spider Brooch and the Second Wife: How to Overcome the Challenges of Estate Planning, Sandy Cardy, ECW Press, 2004.
The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio, William Bernstein, McGraw Hill, 2002.
Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment, David Swensen, Simon & Schuster, 2005.

The Empowered Investor: A Guide to Building Better Porfolios, Keith Matthews (2nd edition); Book Coach Press, 2008.

What Wall Street Doesn’t Want You to Know: How you can Build Real Wealth Investing in Index Funds, Larry Swedroe, St. Martin’s Press, 2004.

Common Sense on Mutual Funds: New Imperatives for the Intelligent Investor, John Bogle, John Wiley & Sons, 1999.

The New Investment Frontier III, Howard Atkinson with Donna Green, Insomniac Press, 2005.

Index Funds: The 12-Step Program for Active Investors; Mark Hebner, Index Fund Advisors Inc., 2003.

The Intelligent Investor, Benjamin Graham, 2003 Collins edition updated by Jason Zweig.

Asset Dedication: How to Grow Wealthy with the Next Generation of Asset Allocation, Stephen J. Huxley & J. Brent Burns, McGraw Hill Professional, 2004.

No Hype: The Straight Goods on Investing, Gail Bebee, The Ganneth Company, 2008.

This is listed as "A Peek at Theo's Library." For more info, see www.financialpost.com/fd