Books that You MUST Read to Change Your Finances Today!

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Reading books has always been a huge part of my life. I am such a huge reader and I have been since I was super little. Reading to me came at a young age and it has stuck with me throughout my entire life because I was good at it, and to me it was fun. While the genre of my books have changed tremendously, I still curl up in bed or bring a book with me to the bathtub as I take a bubble bath at the end of the day!

It has always been my belief that reading will teach you far more than most classes ever will. I have learned more about finances from reading a few books. Sure, college classes will teach you some very specific things, but how specific do you really need to know. I have learned a ton in just the last year of intentionally reading almost every single day.

I do absolutely love my Kindle. I do pay for Kindle Unlimited, but there are also a ton of books available to you through your library through apps like Libby, Overdrive, and Hoopla.

One of my favorite things in the world is when I get to suggest books to people, and they tell me they LOVED it. This isn’t an extensive list of all of my favorite books, but instead, it is a guide of a few of my favorites that have helped direct me on the path that I have been on with my finances. This list covers the books that I read during my debt free journey and ones that I hope to read as I continue. I actually put off writing this post for a while because there are always going to be more books that I want to add to any list of books. While I don’t feel like this will ever be complete, I hope that it helps you get a start on your own reading list!

Here are a few of my favorite money books.

Millionaire Next Door (By Thomas J. Stanley)

This book is very research based (Means: A little dry). It was created after a study was done after they studied the habits and methods to multiple millionaires. This covers, statistically, who becomes a millionaire and how. From this book, I learned that almost 80% of millionaires were self-made, first generation rich. Most of these millionaires are NOT trust fund rich. Their parents were not the sole contributing factor to their wealth. This is the book that actually made me see that it was totally possible that I could be a millionaire.

This one was a little harder for me to read. It is very statistical throughout the book, but it is FULL of great advice on how to be a millionaire! My goal is to be a millionaire by 35 years old, so I better get to cracking SOOOON! While I don’t actually know if I am going to make that happen, I love the idea of living frugally. There is no reason to have more than you actually need. Stanley covers habits of people who are millionaires

 

 

The Latte Factor (By David Bach) 

The Latte Factor is really a book all about the money you can save by not buying your daily coffee. I know the idea is old, but it did really put into perspective how little habits do add up. That is really what budgeting and paying off debt is all about.

$5 every day, over a lifetime, put into an investment account adds up. This book was motivating for me to be excited about the differences that I can make with a little bit of money and that it doesn’t have to be millions invested.

 

 

Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together (By Erin Lowry)

This was probably one of the first ones that I felt like it really spoke to my generation. There is a lot more about being young and single in this book. Erin talks about the benefits of taking charge of your finances from a young age instead of waiting ’til later. There are tons of benefits of being young and getting it together, but she kills it on real life financial tips. Erin goes beyond just talking about debt and credit. She talks about your relationship with money as well as spending habits.

 

 

Psychology of Money (By Morgan Housel)

As a Psychology major in college, I really appreciated this book. I often talk about how money is way more than just the math of a budget. It is filled with emotions, expectations, and how we perceive money. A lot of these things are largely formed by our culture, our parents/childhood, and our other experiences.

This book did a good job at talking about things other than the math of money that leads to how we spend and save money.

 

 

Total Money Makeover (By Dave Ramsey)

While I don’t LOVE him as a person, I think his foundation is strong.

Pretty much every one who is working on paying down their debts will tell you that they have at least skimmed through this one. This book completely saved my 20’s. It has changed the way that I look at money and has helped connect me with people who think the same way as I do! I have suggested this book on every single monthly debt free journey. This was the first book I read about money when I started my debt free journey.

Dave Ramsey writes the steps on how to completely change your financial life. In this book, he gives you a clear cut, step by step route to get your finances together. He has kind of a no nonsense explanation to getting out of debt! He goes through the 7 Baby Steps in great detail in this book!

 

 

Here are a few of my favorite leadership/mindset books.

 

7 Habits of Highly Effective People (By Stephen Covey)

This book has been made famous and talked about over and over again. There are countless editions of this book. Covey talks about the 7 important habits of “highly effective”/ successful people.

I absolutely love this book. I’ve read it and I’ve also gone through a workshop that took each habit step by step. This book changed the way I look at certain things. This book isn’t as much about finances as it is about developing yourself as a person. When I took the workshop, I also learned a lot about each habit and got to work them into my life a little more. One of the things he talks about was writing a personal mission statement for your life. When I sat down for this, it really made me think about what I wanted my life to look like. Reading this book is actually what helped me start dreaming!

 

Atomic Habits (By James Clear) 

I just finished this one and LOVED it. This book gives really practical and easy to follow advice oncreating lasting habits. If you feel like you are really GO GO GO and then fall off the wagon of new habits, this books is great for you. This book gave me a lot of motivation to implement small, easy things that could lead to bigger and healthier habits.

 

 

On my list to read yet

While I am an avid reader, there are still a lot of books that I want to read. My stack to read is always just a little bigger than my actual list of books I have read recently. I am slowly working through my to read pile that I already have at home before diving into buying/borrowing more books! Here is a quick list of what is on my to do list and what I know about them (before reading them). My goal is to continue updating this post as I read more because, let’s face it, book lists are always growing and changing.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad (By Robert T. Kiyosaki)

I honestly don’t know a ton about this book, but I am excited to dig into it. So many people on Instagram have recommended this book over and over again, so I know it must be good. In the book, he talks about high income not meaning great wealth and what you can do with your regular income to create wealth.

 

 

Simple Path to Wealth (By JL Collins)

I have been told that this is the book to read about investing. I have a lot to learn about investing still. But, I am eager to learn when I get to that stage of the finance game. I look forward to reading this book when I am ready to put more money towards investments. I started reading it once, but got eager to quit throwing money at debt and invest instead, so I walked away from it for the moment.

 

If you have other favorites, what else should I add to my reading list?

This is definitely not every single book that I want to read. There are far too many to list out there. I could seriously sit here and list books all day long for this list. I hope that if you are just starting your money journey, you can get a good start with this list of books. I am always up and open for suggestions on books to read!

I regularly update my favorites list on Amazon more than I update this blog post. So if you are looking for more recommendations, check out My Favorite Books Amazon List!