Amplifying your knowledge of personal finance can never be enough. You are not alone in this; in fact, a recent study showed that 59% of adults in India said they lived paycheck to paycheck in 2020, while the remaining realised they had no emergency savings.
Learning personal finance basics is a must, knowing why paying yourself first pays off, managing and paying off debt, and even the money lessons that are not taught in school.
With these ten best personal finance books, you will indeed thank us in the future. Sure, it's not light reading, but it will be worth it.
1. 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter
A financial self-help book sets you the right relationship with money and wealth. This book lays on the importance of passive income and making money work for you instead of working for money. The book succeeds in captivating the reader in the starting only, and it has the perspective of a middle-class person and how he views and observes the rich people around him. Are you from the same middle-class socioeconomic background? Then you can't help but get glued to this book.
2. 'Why Didn't They Teach Me This In School' by Cary Siegel
Ask anybody what they wish they'd learned more about in school, and the answer is money management. This book by Siegel includes 99 straightforward financial investment principles that are straightforward, easy to follow for beginners, actionable, and sometimes common sense. By just looking at the contents page - all the investment advice categorised into life, spending, budgeting, investing, housing, and insurance, you can order the sections that apply to my current personal finance blueprint.
Read more: 10 Smart Financial Planning Rules for First-Time Earners
3. 'The Total Money Makeover' by Dave Ramsey
Are you talking about personal finance, not mentioning Dave Ramsey? Dave has got himself an empire dedicated to helping people get out of debt. The Total Money Makeover walks you through his entire seven-step process, i.e., the baby steps. It advises you on starting an emergency fund, saving for the future and retirement, and how to succeed at Ramsey's famous "Snowball Method" for debt payoff, but don't read this book unless you have a clear understanding of the state of your finances.
4. 'The One Page Financial Plan' by Carl Richards
The One-Page Financial Plan, by New York Times columnist and best-selling author Carl Richards, gives people a straightforward one-page financial overview to look at what is going rough without getting too stressed with the details.
5. 'Broke Millennial' by Erin Lowry
This book has some great tips for young adults with no clue how to manage finances. The first eight chapters deal with some pretty basic concepts. Overall, this book covers the most significant money challenges facing millennials today, from understanding one's relationship with money to student loan management.
Read more: These 5 Questions Can Determine Your Financial Well-Being
6. 'The Automatic Millionaire' by David Bach
David Bach's The Automatic Millionaire is a path to becoming wealthy. Making an early commitment to start saving for the future and to do so with every single paycheck is the way to get you there. As outlined in the book, the concept of "pay yourself first," as outlined in the book, is the key and starts early.
7. 'The Psychology Of Money' by Morgan Housel
Neat and crisply written – this book by Morgan offers a lot of wisdom and high-quality content. It has 19 stories exploring various ways people think about money and tells us how our thinking towards finances drives the critical decisions of our life.
The premise of this book is doing well with money has very little to do with how smart you are but more with how you behave.
8. 'Clever Girl Finance' by Bola Sokunbi
Written by Bola Sokunbi, it helps by putting all the content in one cohesive volume. An excellent resource for any woman looking to get more proactive with her finances, featuring everyday stories of women who have achieved financial independence themselves. There's nothing more inspiring than learning about someone who has accomplished things that you want to achieve in your own life.
Read more: 5 Simple Ways You Can Become Financially Literate
9. 'I Will Teach You To Be Rich' by Ramit Sethi
This book by Ramit Sethi gives actionable steps on how to categorise your salary for the expenses, so you have enough money for your leisures, Emergency fund & guilt-free spending. The concept of spending more on what you love & cutting costs mercilessly on what you don't is good. A must-buy for someone who has started earning recently or has been making for a while. Read it before it's too late.
10. 'Your Money or Your Life' by Vicki Robin
Vicki Robin's "Your Money or Your Life" has sold more than a million copies. An easy-to-follow, nine-step plan for readers to change their relationship with money. If it's how to get out of debt, getting started in investing, building wealth, or save money by practising Robin's signature mindfulness technique, this read has got your back covered.
(Check out 'Learn & Grow with Wizely' 'to read and learn all about personal finance and financial planning.)
