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Looking for reading suggestions about Personal Finance? Learn about what I’m reading—and what I took away from it—below (and check back as I will keep adding reviews!).
The Simple Path to Wealth by J.L. Collins
I’m always getting asked for recommendations on a good book for beginning investors so was so glad to find this new one to recommend. J.L. Collins says he wrote The Simple Path to Wealth for his college-age daughter and the tone reflects this.
His three steps are: don’t get into debt (or if you are in debt, pay it off quickly); save a big chunk of your income; and invest what you save in low cost index funds.
I know this seems to good to be true but it is the process I have been working through (and which has been working for me). You can read my full review here.
Smart Women Love Money by Alice Finn
Focused on investing for growth, Alice Finn’s Smart Women Love Money is organized around five fundamental rules: invest in stocks for the long run; allocate your assets; implement using index funds; rebalance regularly; and keep fees low.
The advice is sound even though the writing could be a little more crisp. Also, although terms are defined throughout, the discussion might be challenging for someone completely new to investing.
Read my full review here.
The Year of Less by Cait Flanders
I wasn’t sure whether to classify Cait Flanders’ The Year of Less as personal finance or finding happiness but ultimately went with personal finance because of the book’s focus on increasing your savings rate by reducing what you buy and what you own.
You may be inclined to dismiss this frugal lifestyle as unattainable, but I encourage you to at least think about it. When I did my spending fast during the summer of 2016, I quickly realized how in many instances my spending was not about need but habit. Once I confronted that, I found myself naturally buying less even after the fast ended.
Read my full review here.
How to Retire with Enough Money (and How to Know What Enough Is) by Teresa Ghilarducci
Teresa Ghilarducci is an economics professor, which occasionally made How To Retire With Enough Money (and How to Know What Enough Is) a dense read. But it’s a short book, and if you stick with it, you will learn a lot.
In addition to walking through how much to save, and providing suggestions on how to invest your savings, she spends a lot of time talking about Social Security which I appreciated.
Turns out, I didn’t know as much about the program as I thought I did.
You can read my full review here.
Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez
Your Money or Your Life was originally published in the 1990s to great acclaim (Oprah loved it!) and its basic message remains true today: every day I trade my life’s energy for money so I better make sure what I am doing to get money and what I am spending my money on is worth it. This awareness means I get to decide what trade-offs I make.
The program has nine steps to help you increase your awareness. For me, given where I am in my financial independence journey, steps 4 (figuring out your “enough”) and 7 (picking a job that helps accomplish your goals) were most helpful.
Read my full review here.
Worth It by Amanda Steinberg
I really liked Amanda Steinberg’s Worth It but not as a guide to the nuts and bolts of financing. Instead, I liked it because of its focus on reminding women of their power over money—how it comes into our lives, how it flows out of our lives, and everything in between.
I am convinced that I didn’t take control of my money because I was all of the sudden better at math. I took control because something woke me up to the fact that I could be in control and that with a little bit of focus could do a damn good job of it. Amanda describes this as coming out of your money coma.
Read my full review here.