Whats the Best Personal Finance Book Ever?

This is a great selection, I really think that if you want to master money then listening or reading these books will make an impact on your life, the younger you are the better off you will be. My personal favorite would be Rich Dad Poor Dad By Robert Kiyosaki. I wont post a detailed review because I know people just want to cut to the chase.

Rich Dad Poor Dad really opened my eyes to cash flow, the difference between income and expenses. I learnt some fundamental definitions that really made sense. Anything that put money into my pocket on a regular basis was a true asset and anything that took money out of my pocket was a liability. Everyone's aim should be to know the difference and to buy as many assets as possible and remove as many liabilities as they can from their lives. After reading this book I started researching into purchasing properties that produce income in the form of rent, buying dividend stocks that pay company profits and putting money in high interest accounts to get income on a monthly basis.

I also rented out my car and all the empty rooms in the house I live in because it was a liability and it's best to offset liabilities by renting them out. Seriously this will open your eyes and I would definitely recommend that you listen to the audio book. If you can master the concepts here then I've no doubt that you'll become a very wealthy person in five years time.

I agree with Alistair, reading or listening to these books will make a tremendous difference to your lives. I became serious about money in my 30 but I regret that these books were not made available earlier on. If only I had access to these personal finance books earlier in my life I would be much more wealthier. Anyway I'm starting to ramble.

My personal favorite is the Millionaire Fast Lane, seriously this book broadens your horizons. It's main aim is to hit the big time and describes three lanes, (1) The Side Walk, (2) The Slow Lane (3) The Fast Lane.

The Side Walk is essentially people who don't care about their finances and can't budget, they spend more than they earn and live a lavish life on credit. Eventually their bubble is burst and they come tumbling down to earth.

The Slow Lane also known as mediocrity is working for a living, 9 till 5 then having the weekend to lick your wounds. It mathematically works out that you wont be rich working 9 till 5 and you might not even be able to retire from the rat race.

The Fast Lane is about hitting the home run, working on something big and effecting a million people to become a millionaire, it talks about solving a problem for a million people or making the lives of a million people better to become a millionaire quickly.

I swear that this is a book you want to read early on, if travel broadens your mind then this book will broaden your financial prowess.

I think all these books are wonderful and taking the time to listen or read them and then digest them will make an incredible difference to your life, I also believe the earlier you have access to these books the better. Personally my favorites are as follows

1. Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
2. The Science of Getting Rich
3. Rich Dad Poor Dad

The first two books made me realize that there is enough wealth in this world and accumulating the wealth was a matter of motivation and determination, if you believe you're going to succeed then it will happen. Rich Dad Poor Dad is a classic and the distinction between assets and liabilities really made me think hard about future purchases. I also look to buy assets that produce income and rent out my liabilities to increase my cash flow.

This is a wonderful thread and I thoroughly recommend anyone whose looking for financial security, financial freedom or extreme financial success to study and apply these books.

I'm going to go completely against the grain here and recommend another book. I'm fairly young, between 20 and 25 and I really did not have a clue about money until I read I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi. The book really made me understand how everything works. I was able to negotiate a better salary, I created a budget and slashed all the expenses I did not use like gym membership and increased my spending on the things I love going to the movies. I was able to automate my finances and set up automatic transfers. I also maxed out my pension plans. One of the best pieces of advice he gives is to invest in index funds because it's almost certain that you wont be able to beat the market in the long run and you save a heap of money by investing in index funds with low charges. Seriously this is a fantastic book and should be included in the list. I will definitely give the other books a try.

This is a great list, thanks for sharing. what would be ever better is if we had links to where we could listen to them for free or at least buy them. Having all this information centralized in one thread is really helpful. Time for my two cents. I have not read all the books so I cant really say which one is the best, the personal finance books that I've read are Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and The Science of Getting Rich, both books are wonderfully written and give great insights into personal finance.

The Science of Getting Rich opened my eyes in terms of knowing that there's plenty for everyone and rather than competing for money we should create something and make money. If you're always thinking that there's not enough money to go around then this book will change your attitude.

Rich Dad Poor Dad is a classic, again the description of asset and liabilities made everything simple. I always teach my kids that asset put money in your pocket while liabilities take money out of your pocket. Since reading the book I've bought 3 investment properties and all are generating income for me in the form of rent, other people are paying off my mortgage. This book also taught me the importance of cash flow and to always try to keep liabilities at a minimum and assets at a maximum. I would really endorse this book.

I've not read this book but I've reserved it in my local library, I'm looking for a way to automate my finances and so far from all the reviews that I read it might answer my problems. I spend a lot of time managing my money and putting it to autopilot might save me time - the ultimate asset.

Thanks for the recommendation.

I'm going to be really blunt here are say most of these books are rubbish, I hope this forum administrators wont ban me for making this statement. Only one book gets my approval. Most of the authors who wrote this book did not get rich as a result of practicing what they preach, instead they got rich by writing a best selling book. Most people buy these books because they think the author got rich with the advice they are given, this could not be further from the truth.

The only book that practices what they preach and gets rich doing so is the millionaires fast lane. Anyone reading this thread should start here because all the other books will seem rubbish once you read this one. I must confess this is a long read and there are no free audio versions on YouTube however you can download a complete PDF for free. One of the most important things that I learned here was that to become a millionaire you need to effect a million people, you need to solve a problem for a million people, you need to make their lives better, happier. Seriously this book should be number one and should replace all the others. If you're just checking this site out then I thoroughly recommend this book, you'll save time and make money by thinking big and globally as opposed to locally and small.

Please do not blaze me for this post, nothing I have said here will profit me, it's the truth.

I've heard of this book and the only thing that's worth knowing is that you save time by automating your finances and maxing out your Roth IRA and 401K, also buying index funds to save money on annual charges also makes sense. I don't think it's worthy of being in the top 10 personally.

I hear you brother! this book describes working until your reach the retirement age as a form of mediocrity. I mean who wants to work for five days and have two days rest? It does not make sense. After reading this book I realized that I need to produce something that creates income and then grow it exponentially until a liquidation event happens and I can sell the business, product, or website for millions. Come on guys, lets vote this book to the top, that's how much I appreciate this book, One final thing to mention is that I am not MJ DeMarco, I'm just a great fan!.

There are some flaws in this argument, I'm sorry but trying to hit a home run is very hard when it comes to making millions, if you just concentrate all your energies on creating a product/website/business system that doesn't work then your always back to square one. I think there are some valid points made in the Millionaires Fast Lane by MJ DeMarco but I could not help but feel he was cocky at times, just because he's made it doesn't mean that everyone will! I think you should start with a solid foundation in personal finance which means the following

1. Spend less than you earn
2. Save money
3. Max out 401K and Roth IRA
4. Create emergency fund
5. Look to increase your wealth

If you keep on failing to become a millionaire then you might wake up in your 50's having absolutely nothing, take the above advice from Raymond with a pinch of salt, if everybody could be millionaires then everybody would be.

I really liked this book and gave it to my younger brother who was making lots of money in his job but did not have a clue what to do with it. This book is aimed at professional people who earn lots but don't have the expertise to invest the money. My brother really thanked me for this book and since then he's started his 401k contribution and is working towards paying off his credit card bills and saving for an emergency fund. He loves the fact that you can automate everything and then just enjoy yourself and let everything take care of itself.

This is absolute rubbish, I'm sorry but I'm not blazing you, I'm stating a fact. Dismissing all personal finance books for the Millionaires Fast Lane is a big mistake and anyone who is considering this route should think twice. The Millionaires Fast Lane call people who work mediocre because they work 9 to 5, five days a week. I find that kind of insulting, I also think that it's impossible for everyone to effect a million people and if you neglect working and progressing and doing everything a normal person does just to hit the big time is similar to those people who go on the X Factor hoping to make it big.

Raymond I am sorry but you are sorely mistaken, I agree with Alistair, you need to have a proper job and save money and then think about hitting a home run by effecting millions. My only criticism of the book is that it does not recognize working for a living an admirable act to follow. Sorry if you sound emotional here.

This is my favorite, I will endorse it as many times as I can. I hope any newbie makes a note of this book and read it because it will change your life!

A very interesting thread, a lot of arguments being thrown around and lots of helpful comments given. I personally think that it's worth reading all these books so you can get a comprehensive look at the topic of personal finance. Most gurus say that if you read 10 books on a particular subject you become an expert in that field. Anyone who wants to turn their finances around should realize that it takes time so while your changing your habits it's worth reading all the books.

Personally I think Secrets of a Millionaire Mind by T Harv Eker is the best place to start, rather than taking an outward journey it takes an inward introspective journey to find out what you really think and feel about money, it dispels some myths such as money is the root of all evil and instead replaces these deep rooted beliefs with beliefs that are congruent to building wealth and getting rich, after reading this book I felt like I reprogrammed myself and my money beliefs to create an wealth friendly environment. I might be the only person to vote for this book but if you want to take an inward journey then this is where you should start.

Looks like there is a lot of controversy surrounding this book, maybe I'll read it in my spare time, is there a link to an audio book or PDF somewhere? Would appreciate it as I am on a saving mission and am being very tight with my money. LOL.

If you do a search on Google for Millionaires Fast Lane PDF you should be able to find the free copy, it looks like its readily available, you can pay for the audio book as it's over 300 pages. Good Read

I've not really heard of this author until now but judging by the hits he's getting on YouTube he looks like he's a serious guru on personal finance. I've not really taken the inward journey, maybe aligning wealth deep within my psyche will help me towards financial freedom. Thanks for the videos, looks like it's very similar to the book.

I'm surprised that no ones mentioned Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover book. This book really helped me when I was on the verge of financial oblivion, I was in serious debt and I did not know what to do as my income shriveled up when I had to go part time to look after my partner. One of the best pieces of debt advice I got to tackle my mountain of debt was to list them from smallest to biggest then call each creditor and ask them to stop all the interest or reduce the minimum payment. The book also explained the concept of debt snowball where you make minimum payments on all the debt and then use all your surplus income to pay off the smallest debt, you repeat this process until you've paid all the debt off. This method really worked for me, if you're in a lot of debt then this is a book you should try.

It's really cool every ones adding YouTube videos to forums as it makes the thread much more valuable, here's one of Dave Ramsey's videos explaining the debt snowball method.