9 Personal Finance Books to Read This Book Lovers Day

The best thing about social media is that it is a great medium to celebrate a lot of things. Some of those days can be utterly ridiculous like the national sticker day or even a national limerick day. But, there are some days like the Book Lovers Day that make the idea of social media holidays pretty cool. Today, August 9^th, is celebrated as Book Lovers Day, the purpose of which Wikipedia defines is “to encourage bibliophiles (to) celebrate reading and literature”. Falling bang in the middle of monsoons, no better excuse to curl up with a book over a cup of coffee, right? Use this Book Lovers Day as an excuse to brush up your knowledge of personal finance by picking one of these fantastic 9 books listed below:

1. Millionaire Next Door – Thomas J. Stanley

When we think of millionaires, we generally think of flashy cars and luxury brands. But often these purchases are fuelled by dangerous debt cycles, often ending up in avoidable bankruptcies. As the authors prove, backed by a research of many real millionaires in the US, millionaires are often the surprisingly frugal, humble, small business owners living in non-decrepit neighbourhoods. Read on to know about some consistent habits among the lot, which you can start practicing at the right time to get there yourself.

2. Rich Dad Poor Dad – Robert Kiyosaki

A timeless book, this one made Robrt Kiyosaki a household name. In Rich Dad Poor Dad, the author describes the differences between a lot of financial habits. The entire book is told through the idea of his own dad, terming him Poor Dad and his friend’s father, terming him Rich Dad. He distinguishes between the financial mindset, attitudes and actions between his more educated middle-class Poor Dad and those of his friend’s father who dropped out of school to start his business to end up being one of the richest on the island.

3. The Automatic Millionaire – David Bach

Do you find Personal Finance a hassle? Do you think it requires will power and tiresome aspects like a budget to do it right? What if you could take a few simple, yet smart steps to automate your finances and end up rich. David Bach popularised the concept of not just automation in Personal Finance, but also the idea of “The Latte factor”. Read the book for some light bulb moments on the small ignored money aspects, that can then be tweaked to make Personal Finance easy and automated.

4. Think and Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill

One of the personal finance classics, this book by Napolean Hill was probably one of the first to  talk in detail about mindset and money. Published in 1937, it was commissioned by business magnate Andrew Carnegie who asked Hill to interview 500 millionaires and distill their success formulae. The book is a little archaic with its language but if you can get past that, there are valuable lessons when it comes to money, and life in general.

5. How rich people think – Steve Siebold

Not a very well known book, this gem by Steve Siebold is divided into 100 very short chapters. Siebold uses the terminology of “middle class” and “world class” to distinguish between how most people think and how they should think. The distinguishing bit about this book is that most chapters end with an action step, a quote and a resource to follow further. So, if you are looking for a book with a clear sense of direction to pivot your financial mindset, this can be a great starting point.

6. Naked money – Charles Wheelan

Are you confused about the workings of things like the economy, central banks as well as concepts like recession or crypto currency? Have you tried reading about any of these but only ended up yawning your way out? Then Naked Money is a must read where Charles Wheelan successfully talks through these concepts, making them highly relatable as well as sprinkling laugh-out-loud moments liberally through the content. Wheelan makes the fantasy of humour and economy come alive in this book.

7. The wisdom of finance – Mihir Desai

Most people believe finance and humanities are two very varied fields and the twain can never meet. Mihir Desai proves the naysayers wrong by observing finance in action in literature, history and philosophy. He also makes it much more relatable by drawing life lessons from the concepts that he builds on from the intersection of humanities and finance. A short, power packed book, this will make you look at finance from a very different angle and maybe even fall in love with the discipline.

8. The one page financial plan – Carl Richards

Carl Richards is a well-known financial planner who is known much more for his incisive napkin sketches in New York Times. Most of us look at money as a purely rational number-based pursuit. In this book, Richards pares down the idea of financial planning to its basics and talks about fitting the idea to a single page. Sounds impossible? Read the book to simplify your financial life.

9. Let’s Talk Money – Monika Halan

While all of the above books talk about general Personal Finance principles, they still talk about it in context of the US landscape. Monika Halan, a consulting editor with one of India’s largest business newspapers Mint, tries to give a simplified pathway to Personal Finance in India. Be it bank accounts, tax deductions, and how many you need or persistent life insurance sales persons, she equips the readers with answers backed by her years of experience in the industry.

Books can be one of the best mediums to draw upon the wisdom of industry experts and Personal Finance proves it very well. Read some of the books recommended above to understand, simplify and start enjoying the world of finance this Book Lovers Day.