25 Best Finance Books for Beginners to Make & Save Money

Yes, there are best books for beginners who want to make and save money.

This article contains a list of up to 25 such best finance books that are perfect for beginners.

Truth is – whether you consider yourself a beginner when it comes to finance or not, you will find this article very helpful.

 

Importance

As with anything in life, before you move into the advanced stages of learning a particular skill, talent, etc. there are fundamental actions that need to be taken.

For example, a toddler begins to learn how to walk by starting with crawling.

And before you can dive deep into the pool, you generally start at the shallow end and learn how to swim.

In the world of finances, the same process is true.

Typically, you don’t start investing in the stock market until you know quite a bit about finances which could include budgeting, basic concepts, of your personal finances, saving a bit of money for emergencies, and so forth.

Consequently, as an individual wishing to know about finances it is important to begin at the beginning and learn financial fundamentals.

This can be accomplished by reading from a variety of financial books that are designed for this financial stage in your life.

 

25 Best Finance Books for Beginners

 

1. The Richest Man in Babylon

This book, written by George S. Clason, is based on the Babylonian parables.

The tone of the book can be defined as inspirational and deals with financial subjects such as:

• Personal wealth
• Importance of being thrifty
• Financial planning
• And more.

Inside, the narrative expounds on secrets on how to accumulate money, keep your money, and making your money work for you.

This personal-finance book is a classic.

Read more about this book on Wikipedia and on Amazon.

 

2. Your Money or Your Life

This book was originally penned by Joe Dominguez and his wife Vicki Robin.

Mr. Dominguez was a financial analyst on Wall Street and retired at the age of 31 and died in 1997.

The book offers a program with nine steps that is designed to allow the reader to live a more meaningful life by understanding money as representative of the life energy expended to earn this money.

Therefore, the powerful premise is being cognizant of what you spend your money on and is that how you want your life energy to be utilized?

In addition, the reader is instructed on how to:

• Get out of debt
• Investing
• Saving money
• Prioritizing
• Dealing with inner conflicts
• Preservation of the planet
• Seeing opportunities that often look like problems

Click here to check out this awesome book on Amazon

 

3. The Millionaire Next Door

This book, through research, does a deep dive into those individuals who are millionaires.

The questions that are asked include:

• How do they invest?
• How did they get rich?
• What do they do?
• Can we attain millionaire status?
• And so forth

As a spoiler alert, the basic premise is that those that are millionaires have what they have and are content with their possessions and not spend needlessly.

Click here to check out this book on Amazon

 

4. I Will Teach You to Be Rich

The argument of this author, Ramit Sethi, is that you can spend your money on what you wish and live in that richness of life rather than worrying about tracking every last expense.

The book embraces and shares with the reader a six-week program that is designed for the individual to take control of their finances.

The strategy is to choose long-term investments and utilize the right bank accounts.

He also shares with the reader, about utilizing credit cards rather than the credit cards using you.

Other topics of discussion include getting a hold of your debt and specifically student loans.

Also, the author talks about how to negotiate a pay raise in your job, setting up automatic payments, working through any psychological barriers with your relationship with money, and more.

 

5. Total Money Makeover

Dave Ramsey, the author, comes with a Christian perspective on handling your personal finances.

The narrative is designed to cut through and dispel all of the get rich quick schemes and start seriously working on your personal finances.

Some of the topics that the book addresses include:

• A plan for paying off all debt
• Recognizing the most dangerous myths as it relates to money
• Working towards a significant nest egg for emergencies and retirement
• Working through any marital conflict as it relates to finances
• College debt
• Etc.

 

6. The Simple Path to Wealth

The Simple Path to Wealth is written by J.L. Collins.

The background on this book is that the author wrote letters to his daughter about a number of things that she would face as she grew into adulthood.

The set of letters was mainly about money and how to invest her money.

The daughter’s response was that she knew about money but didn’t want to spend her time thinking about this powerful commodity.

Her response was an eye-opening moment for Collins decided to give her advice, which is now captured in this book.

Some of the topics of advice include:

• How to avoid debt
• Importance of having money
• Understanding money
• Investing advice
• Understanding the stock market
• Building wealth
• Tax savings vehicles
• And so forth

 

7. Set For Life

The goal of this book is to encourage the reader to reach financial freedom and retire early from their ongoing daily work routine.

The book takes the reader through a step-by-step process on building wealth and even by earning an average income; they can pay off their debt.

The author, Scott Trench, is a real estate investor and hosts a money podcast and is CEO of an organization known as BiggerPockets.

The book instructs the reader on how to:

• Save more income (at least 50%) increase their income by two or three times
• Encouragement to track your financial progress
• Being efficient and frugal with spending habits
• Securing real assets
• And so forth

 

8. Rich Dad Poor Dad

The author talks about what he learned from his two dads.

One dad was his biological father, and the other dad was a friend of the family and was successful in business and accumulating wealth.

The story springboards from his interaction with these two dads as it relates to personal finances and how both men shaped his thinking about his own personal finances.

The basic take away is that the book destroys various financial myths that we have accepted as truth and the way to proceed with our finances and explains the significant difference in having your money work for you rather than the other way around.

 

9. Money Master The Game

Tony Robbins is a famous life coach teacher that has positively affected millions of people all around the world.

In this book, Money Master the Game, his focus is still on personal development but now in the area of personal finance.

His book is a reflection of a variety of interviews that he has conducted with famous individuals associated with money.

Some of those individuals include Warren Buffett, Carl Icahn, Steve Forbes, etc.

Through his interviewing he has devised a blueprint plan for anyone that wishes to find financial independence.

This blueprint plan consists of a seven-step program.

 

10. The Barefoot Investor

Scott Pape, the author, does not deal in providing a number of financial tips for the reader nor does he talk about budgeting because he realizes that most people will stray from budgets that are created.

However, he does offer, in his book, a step-by-step action plan that includes direct financial actions to take.

Specifically, he talks about opening this account, then doing this, then calling that person, then saying this to that person and then investing money here and not there.

It is a practical step-by-step guide on what to do that leaves no room for confusion.

The other intriguing aspect of this book is that it is so simple that the entire financial plan can be outlined on the back of a napkin.

Other intriguing topics that this book covers include:

• Saving for a six-figure home in 20 months
• Doubling your income utilizing the trapeze strategy
• Saving over $78,000 on your mortgage and reducing that mortgage by seven years
• Finding a financial advisor
• Gifting your grandchildren with a significant check on their 21st birthday
• And why you don’t need $1 million to retire.

 

11. The One Page Financial Plan

The author, Carl Richards, is a financial advisor who, through this writing, offers a simple one-page financial plan that can focus on what you really want in life and figure out, financially, how to obtain those goals.

He claims that the financial plan is not tied to the markets and how they are performing or about real estate or any hot tips about stock that someone may be suggesting you purchase.

He boils down the financial plan to indicate to the reader that it has everything to do with what’s most important to you as you develop your plan of action.

• Some of the topics that are covered include how much to invest each year
• Allocating
• Life insurance needed
• And so forth

However, he reaffirms that the most critical component of his book and the one-page financial document is about the big picture.

 

12. The Intelligent Investor

This book, written by Benjamin Graham, concentrates on a dynamic known as “value investing.”

Through this dynamic it shields investors from error and how to teach them about strategies that are designed to be long-term investing.

Although penned in 1949, the wisdom of this book is still relevant today and many of the strategies have withstood the test of time.

Below are related articles on business and money making books to also check out:

• Best Must-Read Business Development Books
• Best Books on Business Finance to Read
• Best Must-Read Business Law & Legal Books

 

13. The Little Book That Beats The Market

For the beginner, this is a quality and informative book about investing and how investors can enter the popular market by applying a powerful formula that purchases stock on quality businesses when they are available at bargain prices.

Joel Greenblatt published this book in 2005 and has sold over 300,000 copies.

The book addresses basic principles of investing that would resonate with the finance book for a beginner as it relates to investing.

Through the formula, the individual can use this basic narration in plain language utilizing sixth grade math.

The book is also humorous, which makes for an entertaining read as well.

 

14. The Millionaire Fastlane

This book stimulates the reader’s financial mind and thinking by posing the question of how your financial plan looks.

Is it a plan in which you graduate from college, get a good job, save at least 10% of your money, buy used cars, cancel movie channels, save money in other ways, save a penny here and there, invest in the stock market, and then one day you will be able to retire?

The author, M.J. DeMarco, challenges this financial plan.

He then encourages the reader to get into the fast lane and realize that the fast lane has nothing to do with wages, jobs, 401(k) s, or the other typical financial aspects of planning.

He provides the reader a challenge in which he encourages you to demand more, change lanes, and explode your wealth acceleration by moving into the fast lane.

 

15. Think and Grow Rich

This author uses the Law of Success philosophy that was the foundation for all of the books that he authored.

In this book, Napoleon Hill references and draws on the stories of influential and wealthy individuals.

Some of those individuals include:

• Andrew Carnegie
• Thomas Edison
• Henry Ford
• And others

The book is designed to educate and teach you about the secrets that these individuals revealed that allowed them to accumulate their fortune.

The book is designed to not only tell you what to do but how to do it.

 

16. The Automatic Millionaire

Spring boarding from the story of an average middle-class family who do not have exceptional salaries, David Bach, the author, talks about their financial situation, how they owned two homes, put their kids through college, and retired 10 years early with $1 million in savings.

With the interest of the reader peek, the author then shares that this too can be your experience and can be accomplished by paying yourself automatically.

The book does not emphasize a budget, willpower, earning a lot of money, etc. but just paying you first, automatically, and that the plan can be set up in an hour.

This would be an optimum book for an individual just starting out on their financial journey, learning finances, and the importance of saving regularly and automatically.

 

17. The Millionaire Next Door

The intriguing draw of The Millionaire Next Door is about the individuals who have accumulated significant wealth.

The book proceeds to provide a narrative that answers the questions on who these individuals are, how did they do what they do, how do they invest, how do they get rich, and you ever become a millionaire?

 

18. Secrets Of The Millionaire Mind

This book surrounds the concept of your money blueprint and is it set at a significant level that is focused on success?

The author, T. Harv Eker, states that you can know everything there is to know about finances, but if your blueprint is not well established, you will never have the money that you desire and if you do it eventually will be gone.

This book is broken down into two sections with the first section talking about how the money blueprint works and the second section delves into individuals who are rich and their method of obtaining that wealth.

The bottom line is if you are not doing well financially or wish to learn or reset your financial blueprint this is the book to read and follow the blueprint.

 

19. Clever Girl Finance

Although designed and written for the woman, this book has basic teachings for both genders.

It is a practical book on guiding the individual who may be new to the world of finances and help them on dissolving their debt, building real wealth, and saving money.

The author, Bola Sokunbi, brings her experience and expertise into the narrative to share with individuals on how to be financially independent.

She draws upon her own personal mistakes and bares her financial soul to help other women on their financial journey.

Topics of discussion include:

• Managing credit
• Managing credit card history
• Building a nest egg
• Despite your salary, having money to spare
• And so forth

 

20. The Psychology of Money

The narrative of this book pushes through into the reality of how we make personal financial decisions.

Often, it is thought that reports, black and white data, budgets, drive our monetary habits and how we think about money.

This book, however, asserts that these financial decisions are not made based on these processes, but are actual real world and real-life decisions that are made in the moment where we live with a mixture of our ego and pride blended together in making those decisions.

In this book, Morgan Housel, has selected 19 individual narratives to highlight on how people think about their money and uses these scenarios to show us how we think and how we can make better decisions as it relates to the use of our finances.

 

21. If You Can How Millennials Can Get Rich Slowly

This book is a short and reasonably priced book about how a young person can start out learning about retirement with their first 401(k) and on to saving and investing.

This book can prove to be a primer and a foundational book as it relates to beginners starting out towards their journey of saving money in anticipation of their retirement.

The book is written by William J Bernstein.

 

22. Personal Finance For Dummies

As part of the “For Dummies” books series, this book has it all and would be a wonderful investment for a beginner learning about finances.

The book runs the gamut on financial topics including:

• Taxes
• Investing and investing in technology
• Crypto Curran sees
• Evaluation tools
• Accessing credit reports
• International investing
• Etc.

The format of these Dummies narratives is easy to read, replete with tips, and written well to engage the reader.

 

23. Napkin Finance

This book develops the assertion that finances for an individual can be reduced to a plan written on a napkin.

Perhaps not literally but the idea is that, through the explanation of the narrative of this book, what seems to be a maze of complicated issues surrounding personal finances can be reduced to simplicity and easy-to-understand explanations and processes.

The topics covered in this book include:

• Budgets
• How to invest
• Retirement
• Credit reports
• Pay off student loans
• Economics,
• Lock chain
• And so forth

 

24. The Wealthy Barber

This book, written by David Chilton, is not about the occupation of being a barber and becoming wealthy.

It is based on a fictional barber by the name of Roy, but offers real-life advice and personal financial instruction and insight in, often, a humorous way.

Through the book, there is the demystification of personal finances, breaking down financial jargon and processes involved into easy and understandable teachings.

The book is a practical guide on how to take control of your personal finances, learn in the process and march steadily and surely forward towards financial success.

It is not about getting rich quickly but a steady process of accumulating wealth.

 

25. Adulting How To Become A Grown-Up In 468 Easy(Ish) Steps

This unique personal-finance book is penned by a young author who draws upon her own experience and personal financial journey up to her particular age when she authors this book.

The book relies heavily upon sharing action steps that the reader can utilize on their journey to solidify their financial understanding and begin their quest for financial independence.

Each of the steps in the journey is assigned a number and the idea is that when a certain number has been reached and realized realistically that there comes a point in time where you can declare yourself as an adult.

Some of these steps are basic but nevertheless need to be addressed.

This book is an enjoyable read and often humorous but provides a blueprint of practical steps that can be taken to reach adulthood.

 

Personal Story

Interestingly, while I was working a member of the Armed Forces, my secondary duty was the ordering of supplies for the medical department.

I would need to do inventory, put in place quality control measures, and determine what medical supplies were needed when we deployed.

Consequently, I was given the responsibility of ordering items at various quantities, looking up the unit price, and then multiplying the number of units times the cost per unit.

This was an ongoing process throughout our deployment and while in port and prior to deployment, millions of dollars were involved in the process over my tenure.

Following this role in the Navy I then moved into the business world and was responsible for creating budgets, financial reports, ensuring that we were on track as it pertained to staying within budgetary limitations, etc.

Despite all of this, I never brought any of this knowledge or experience into my personal financial life.

This was because while I was deployed my wife handled the finances and when I left the military she continued on in that role.

As time would have it, we went our separate ways and I remarried and found myself having the finances thrown into my lap which, quite frankly, I did not handle well.

All that to say is that my first financial book in learning about my attitude and relationship with money and learning more about personal finances came through a book that my wife recommended that I buy.

The book was your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and proved to be a rock-solid foundation for my financial personal financial journey.

 

Beginners Best Finance Books FAQs

 

What is a Good Strategy in Selecting a Particular Personal Finance Book?

The best way to select a personal financial book is one that resonates with you, where you are at with your personal financial situation, and what you wish to accomplish.

For example, if your goal is to become a millionaire then perhaps your library would include “The Millionaire Next Door.” Or if you desire is to learn more about your attitude towards money then, “Your Money or Your Life” would be one of your choices.

 

What Are the Attributes of a Quality Personal Finance Book for Beginners?

The book should be:

• Practical
• Educational
• Written by a qualified author
• Challenging
• Address your personal financial goals

 

You Can Do It

You are beginning your personal finance journey.

To help you “crawl and walk” there is a variety of books that delve into the basics of personal finances, challenge your relationship thinking with money and investing.

 

Conclusion

The good news is that there are several personal finance books that are offered for individuals who are at varied learning levels.

The authors share from their wealth of experience that reflects not only their professional financial expertise, but each brings a different caveat and focus.