10 Personal Finance Books That Are Life-Changing (or Budget-Changing, for That Matter)

Sometimes, when you feel you could handle a situation much better, you turn to books. Luckily, many books nowadays can teach you in one month what others have learned in 10 years, which is excellent if you think about it.

The only thing missing is the will to save time and learn new things. When it comes to personal finance books, they can help you manage your money much better. Starting from the most basic level, you will learn some personal finance basics, such as why you should pay yourself the first payoff or how to manage and pay off your debt. It’s 100% guaranteed you will become more confident in your judgment when handling money.

The good part is that this isn’t the only positive aspect. These books will also teach you new ways to invest, manage a mortgage, create your ideal nest egg, save for retirement, and last but not least, help you solve unexpected money pitfalls and create a healthy relationship with your finances. So here are the best books about personal finances you could possibly ask for:

Best Overall: Why Didn’t They Teach Me This in School?

Go out and ask anyone what’s the one thing they wished they learned in school, and everybody will say “money”. To be more specific, the majority of us would like to know how to properly handle our finances. Luckily, here comes Cary Siegel’s book: “Why Didn’t They Teach Me This in School?”.

Siegel is a retired business executive, who decided one day to write a book that’s divided into 99 principles and 8 money lessons that it would have been recommended to learn in school, but you didn’t.

The book was originally intended for his five children after he came to the realization that his kids weren’t prepared with enough personal finance lessons before entering the real world. However, the book ended up as a well-reviewed read full of interesting money lessons, but also firsthand experience and advice from Siegel.

Best Memoir: Rich Dad Poor Dad

You definitely heard by now of Robert Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad Poor Dad”. After all, there’s a reason why this book manages to stick around for such a long time. Among the most popular personal finance books that was ever written, “Rich Dad Poor Dad” is a detailed story about what the author learned from his father and his friend’s father, the latter being the “rich dad”.

The lessons also include all kinds of life lessons, such as why it’s not crucial to have a lot of money, assets, and liabilities. Also, it explains to parents why school won’t do anything for their kids when it comes to personal finances.

Best for Debt Management: The Total Money Makeover

Debt management has a major role when it comes to personal finances. If you need a little bit of help in that area, don’t worry. You can take a look at Dave Ramsey’s “The Total Money Makeover”. This bestseller will show you how to get out of debt and make the best out of your financial picture, by simply avoiding the usual pitfalls such as rent-to-own, cash advances, or even using credit.

It will also offer you solid pieces of advice on how to start your own emergency fund, save for retirement, and how successfully try the “Snowball Method” of debt payoff.

Best for Building Wealth: The Automatic Millionaire

Truly now, who doesn’t want to become a millionaire? Well, by reading David Bach’s “The Automatic Millionaire”, you’ll figure out a way to do that. The book starts with a story of a couple who earned $55,000 combined annually, and how they managed to achieve the financial situation that they’ve always dreamt about.

The outcome? They own two homes, managed to put their kids through college, and retired at age 55 with a $1 million retirement nest egg. What’s the secret? They set up a financial system that was automatic. Bach is a very successful writer, as he also wrote “Smart Women Finish Rich”, “Smart Couples Finish Rich”, and “Start Late, Finish Rich”.

Best for Beginners: Broke Millenial

If you’re able to decipher #GYFLT, then this personal finance book is specially made for you. As a hint, #GYFLT comes from “get your financial life together”, but in social media language. Well, Erin Lowry’s “Broke Millenial” explained in her signature conversational style how someone in their 20s can easily get in control of their personal finances.

So from understanding your personal relationship with money to managing student loans, and sharing the details of your personal finances with your partner, the book will help you overcome some of the biggest money challenges that millennials have to face nowadays.

Runner-Up, Best for Beginners: The One-Page Financial Plan

If you’re getting confused when it comes to your finances, then this book will help you out. Whether it is a matter of how to properly invest or how to deal with some unexpected financial challenges, this book has all the answers!

Carl Richards decided to take the mystery out of how to be effective when it comes to managing your finances. The book will help you to not only figure out what your financial goals are but also how to get there in a very easy, one-page plan. As a background check, Richards is a Certified Financial Planner, but also a writer for the New York Times.

Best for Spenders: I Will Teach You to Be Rich

Trust me, being rich has nothing to do with spending money. That’s what you will learn in “I Will Teach You to Be Rich”, which is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. The writer, Ramit Sethi, is also a financial expert, who explains in detail how you can spend your money, guilt-free, just as long as you have it invested and allocated in the right way.

The book also tackles the subject of common money pitfalls, from paying off debt to saving every month. The 10th-anniversary edition also includes a couple of updated views on money, technology, but also psychology, alongside some success stories of the readers who managed to get rich after reading it.

Best for Women: Clever Girl Finances

Did you know that women still earn only $0.82 for a man’s dollar, while mothers earn only $0.71 for every dollar the fathers earn? The stats were brought to light by the U.S. Department of Labor. In conclusion, women have to work harder when it comes to their finances.

Bola Sokunbi’s “Clever Girl Finance” wants to empower and educate an entire generation of women, discussing topics like how to keep an eye on your expenses, creating and sticking to a budget, but also managing your credit, building a nest egg, and taking the full responsibility for your own well-being.

Sokunbi is a famous Certified Financial Education Instructor (CFEI), and the founder and CEO of the website “Clever Girl Finance”.

Best Psychology: The Psychology of Money

This read will help you delve deeper into the psychology of money and the way your ego, alongside other preconceived notions, will affect your decisions around money. As you expected, this isn’t exactly the proper way to manage your investment portfolio, so Morgan Housel decided to give his readers some tips and tools on how to combat these biases through 19 short stories that focus on the same matter.

Housel is also a partner at The Collaborative Fund and has worked as a columnist for many years at the Wall Street Journal.

Best for Budgeting: Your Money or Your Life

With over a million copies sold, Vicki Robin’s “Your Money or Your Life” laid out a very easy-to-follow, nine-step plan that’s meant to help the readers change their relationship with money. We’re talking here about anything, from getting out of debt to investing, building wealth, and even saving money.

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