5 Best Books on Investing – Time and time again, these are the go-to recommendations from investing enthusiasts and Morningstar specialists.
5 Best Books on Investing:
Books can hold decades of earned knowledge in the span of a few hundred pages. When it comes to understanding finances, fewer decisions are easier, cheaper or more impactful than the move to educate yourself with a great investing book.
Money touches everything we do, so learning how to properly invest early in life can make a huge difference in your ultimate success.
To assist you in this endeavor, here’s a list of 5 books that address multiple aspects of the investing process. The authors range from leading financial gurus of their time to female, minority and next-generation authors who shape new perspectives.
All-time Best Investing Books:
1. The Intelligent Investor
Author: Benjamin Graham
Originally published in 1949, “The Intelligent Investor” has long been considered the only book you’ll need to read to learn the principles of investing. Common themes of this classic text include the concepts of long-term investing and Graham’s philosophy of value investing, earning it a place on every serious investor’s bookshelf. Graham is famous not just for his status as the father of value investing, but for his tutelage of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (ticker: BRK.A, BRK.B) CEO Warren Buffett, who used Graham’s principles to become arguably the best investor of all time.
2.Rich Dad Poor Dad
Author: Robert T. Kiyosaki
A best-selling book for more than 25 years, “Rich Dad Poor Dad” tells the story of Robert Kiyosaki’s own experiences with his father (the poor dad) and his best friend’s father (the rich one) and explains how to grow wealth. It reinforces the reader’s understanding that you do not have to be wealthy to be rich, but rather to ensure your money is working for you.
3. The Psychology of Money
Author: Morgan Housel
Many people think of investing and personal finance as mathematical disciplines where decisions are made in complex spreadsheets, but this isn’t the reality.
“(Decisions) unfold at the dinner table or in a meeting room, where personal experiences and individual perspectives intersect with pivotal opportunities for decision-making,” says Heather Yetman, a certified financial planner and financial advisor at Cross Coastal Advisors. This is why she recommends Morgan Housel’s The Psychology of Money to her clients.
“It underscores a crucial point,” she says: “Success in managing finances is not solely dependent on what you know; it hinges on how you behave.”
In his book, Housel uses 19 short stories to illuminate the “often unconventional ways people perceive and handle money, offering valuable insights into deciphering one of life’s most critical subjects,” Yetman says.
4. The Total Money Makeover
Author: Dave Ramsey
This 2013 book is the bedrock of Ramsey’s philosophy on building wealth. It focuses heavily on eliminating debt (student loans, credit cards, car loans and mortgages) among the seven “baby steps” he teaches to achieve financial stability and emotional peace. Ramsey has helped pull millions out of crushing debt, which is one of the biggest steps to achieving true wealth. It is an excellent foundational book to complement others on this list.
5. If You Can: How Millennials Can Get Rich Slowly
Author: William J. Bernstein
Starting with the easiest – or certainly the shortest – read, William Bernstein’s primer is one of the best books on investing for those looking to start their journey toward building wealth. At less than 50 pages, you could finish it over breakfast and have your first trade placed by lunch.
Bernstein proposes a strategy that’s so straightforward a seven-year-old could do it. The whole process, Bernstein explains, takes only 15 minutes per year, and has been shown to outperform 90% of financial professionals over the long run.
