Sorry for the long hiatus! Summer is a hard time of year to motivate myself to write as there is always something to do. I’ve had a great time with family and have enjoyed my summer reading as always. My writing sabbatical made me think a book list might be helpful for those wanting to increase their financial knowledge.

There are tons of finance books out there and this list is by no means exhaustive. I have personally read everything I mention here and each has played a part in shaping my financial mental models.

I have linked to Amazon for easy access to reviews etc, but most of these can be found at locally libraries for free. Remember to save first wherever you can!

Intro to Personal Finance

The Wealthy Barber

Straight forward easy read that drives home the point of pay yourself first and using a long term investment horizon. Was a great intro book for me when I was a teenager.

Rich Dad/ Poor Dad

Nice comparison of the traditional play it safe professional “poor Dad” vs the asset building “Rich Dad”

I read this in my early 20’s and felt it really struck a chord for understanding early asset accumulation.

Millionaire Next Door

Similar to the others discussing the behaviors of the average millionaires, how they view money and what financial independence means to them.

Think and Grow Rich

Considered a classic from the 80’s on core personal finance tenets

Stocks For the Long Run

I have a post discussing this one, but nothing beats reading the book to really absorb the concept into your mental models

Intro to Index Investing

BogleHeads Guide to Investing

This is from a US perspective but covers the majority of core investing concepts well in an accessible format.

The Little Book of Common Sense Investing

I love the Little Book series as great intro material. John Bogle is a legend and makes a solid case for the right way for individual investors to invest

A Random Walk Down Wall Street

Slightly more advanced detailed analysis on the research behind index investing outperformance compared to expensive mutual funds. I felt this helped build my “foundational” belief in indexing for the average investor

Four Pillars of Investing

Solid all around book for asset allocation and advocate for indexing

Intro to Behavioral Investing

The Little Book of Behavior Investing

Great basic info on all the classic mistakes investors make and the psychology around it

Thinking, Fast and Slow

Nobel prize winning work done here. Solid read but only for more advanced finance enthusiasts

Fooled By Randomness

Nassim Taleb is a great thinker who talks about how often we attribute skill to luck and massively underestimate risk.

Intro to Value Investing

The Little Book of Value Investing

Great intro to basic fundamental analysis from the Little Book Series

The Little Book That Still Beats the Market

Same as above with a formulaic approach to having an index style with a “value” tint

The Dhando Investor

Well respected Value Investor with market beating returns/Contrarian Style

*The Intelligent Investor – get the Jason Zweig version

This book gets a special mention since it had a huge influence on me (I have read it 3 times!) Prior to this I planned on a pure indexation portfolio. I read it on Spring Break in 2009 at the absolute bottom of the financial markets from The Great Financial Crises. I don’t think there could have been better timing to read this book.

It made me believe that (you will need to read it to get the ideas):

The hypomanic Mr Market is your servant
In the short term, the market is a voting machine. In the long term, it is a weighing machine.
The Defensive Investor should be an indexer – this is 95-99% of readers for this blog
The Enterprising Investor with the right temperament CAN beat the market

This book is a must read for anyone who gets excited about finance. If it strikes a chord and you have a love for learning, becoming a value investor could be right for you. My guess is about 1-2% of people have the right temperament and true enjoyment for finance to use value investing principles to their advantage.

I have been a value investor for the last 9 years with superior risk adjusted market returns after fees. More on this in an individual post on Path to Financial Independence. Indexing is a fantastic option for everyone else and is what I tell everyone to do. This is my backup option if I ever get tired of managing my own money.

Advanced Value Investing

Most don’t need to bother reading these but if anyone is keen to consider becoming a value investor these are all fantastic. You can PM me for more details as I won’t talk about value investing much in the blog.

Manual Of Ideas