Your Favorite books on Finances?

dominicsavio · #1 Aug 2, '08, 11:56 pm

Over the last two years or so of my life, I have been reading many different books on personal finance and investing. Books by people like Robert Kiyosaki, David Bach, etc. What are your favorite books on these topics?

Rommegrot · #2 Aug 5, '08, 3:59 pm

I think Ric Edelman is an excellent personal finance author. He's fun to read, doesn't get overly complicated, and isn't trying to sell you something. "The New Rules of Money" is good but a little basic. "The Truth About Money" is much more in depth. His latest title, "The Lies About Money" is supposed to be good too but I haven't read it.

Is there a particular financial topic you're looking to get more information on?

-R

dominicsavio · #3 Aug 8, '08, 12:06 pm

no. there is topic in particular at the moment that i was looking to get more information on. i just feel like a total geek sometimes because of how much i enjoy reading books on these subjects. i figured other people around here would either share my liking for those books and might have read others that i hadn't heard of yet. just seeing whats out there i guess!

Anonymous · #4 Aug 8, '08, 3:22 pm

Dave Ramsey-Total Money Makeover

I enjoyed and learned from that book.

mommyof4 · #5 Aug 8, '08, 4:19 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anonymous

Dave Ramsey-Total Money Makeover

I enjoyed and learned from that book.

Me too. Also, I like Suze Orman's Women and Money book.

Al Masetti · #6 Aug 21, '08, 6:31 am

www.centralsecurities.com

Free read.

Their annual reports are extremely easy to read and very educational.

Cordelil · #7 Aug 21, '08, 7:25 am

"Common Sense On Murtual Funds" by John C. Bogle the founder of the Vanguard Group.

On economics it would be "The Worldly Philosopher" (The Lives, Times and Ideas of the Great Economic Thinkers) by Robert Heilbroner.

John

kentuckyliz · #8 Aug 22, '08, 5:17 pm

Jane Bryant Quinn How To Handle Your Money and her more recent Busy Person's Guide...blah blah I can't remember the title. She is very reliable and trustworthy.

Dave Ramsey (books, FPU, radio show, cash wallet system) is really good at using humor and polemic to get one to change one's behavior. He has made a huge difference in my life. I think he's the only one who ever got traction with me, in learning to hate my debt and fighting hard to become debt free (March 19, 2008). Now I'm a gazelle who chases cheetahs. LOL

Ric Edelman the Truth About Money explains a lot of money dynamics really well...what the jargon means. He sets some context to serve as an effective backdrop for financial decision making.

There's a great little book by Nick Murray with a tree on the cover...it's a handholding book for investors. It's great. Like a pep talk by your financial advisor. The tree is a metaphor to make you take the long view and realize that what you're growing is multigenerational. If you're a newbie investor and feeling nervous or intimidated, or just need a booster shot of encouragement through the bumpy ride of this current economy...great little book.

Cordelil · #9 Aug 22, '08, 5:38 pm

Also, have one of those little books that define all the financial terms. I have one I bought used but David Scott has one that's highly touted.

John

mike14620 · #10 Aug 24, '08, 6:04 pm

For an enjoyable look at various investment tools, I'd recommend "Greed is Good" by Jonathan Hoenig. It combines pop-culture of the 90's with a good explanation of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, options, and more. Definitely written for Generation X. Hoenig is a regular contributor on Fox Business Channel.

Cordelil · #11 Aug 24, '08, 6:20 pm

I think that when investing it is wise to learn something about the economy and how it works. That is why I previously mentioned Heilbroner's "The Worldly Philosophers." Another more contemporary one would be Charles Wheelan's "The Naked Economist."

There is also many programs on talk radio that deal with the world of finance. The best in my opinion is Bob Brinker who is syndicated and his weekend program is heard in many cities.

John

dominicsavio · #12 Aug 25, '08, 12:24 am

thank you all for your replies! it is good to see replies with titles i either 1.) do not know or 2.) wouldn't have read necessarily had they not came recommended. so thank you. sometimes it can be difficult to sift through all the info thats out there and read what is really good. im sure there is a lot of good in plenty of books...but id prefer to start with books that i know have had an impact on real people

des_scahill · #13 Aug 27, '08, 7:55 am

You can make personal investing as simple or as complex as you want it to be. Keeping it simple is best, add the complexity as your knowledge and skills increase over time.

Definitely visit the Vanguard site and read their literature on the use of index funds. You can find some of their literature here:
https://personal.vanguard.com/us/new...132008_ALL.jsp

The two things that matter most are:
The asset classes you chose to invest in and the proportion you have in each: ( the normal asset classes are: Local shares, international shares, property, fixed interest and cash.

That choice alone will dictate 90% of the final return you get.

Your time horizon: Its the rest of your life, not the time before you retire - this influences your asset class choices.

One rule I nearly always follow is: If its not listed, I'm not interested.

In other words, if what I'm being asked to invest in isn't listed on a government regulated market thats reasonably liquid, then I simply won't get involved. Following that rule will cut out a lot of potential problem areas.Don't be sucked in by the seeming high returns that some investment schemes offer. Capital markets in the major world economies are extremely sophisticated with an enormous range of securities. You can construct a portfolio with whatever degree of risk you are comfortable with using these regulated markets. Once you go outside these, well... its a different world.

Over time, you can subdivide your asset classes even further eg. residential property and office blocks are both a subset of the overall property asset class but behave slightly differently from each other.

The problem with most of the 'popular' books is that they point you in the direction of a narrow asset sub-class and encourage the use of 'borrowing' to improve your return. What borrowing does is introduce a new risk into the scheme of things ie. 'financial gearing' risk. That can kill you financially if things go bad.

Hope this helps