In this section of my blog, I've created a listing of finance books organized into (hopefully!) helpful categories.
Trying to find information on budget-friendly meals? We've got it! Need some basic budget skills? No problem. I've included a "spotlight" or "editor" review from Amazon next to each book.
Use these links (or the ones on the right task bar) to go to individual lists, or just scroll through them all!
Books About Basic Finances
Books About Basic Investing
Books About Kids And Money
Books About Budgeting Meals
Get back to me with any comments or suggestions. If you buy through these links, I get a percentage of the sales through the Amazon Associates program, so thank you in advance if you purchase! Either way, I hope you find this useful.
List Of Great Finance Books
Books About Basic Finances
 | Personal Finances For Dummies By: Eric Tyson |
| When I bought the first edition of this book, I was a poor post-graduate loaded with bad debt. At the time, I knew nothing about CD's, funds, stocks, bonds, insurance, 401(k)'s, home-buying, budgeting, saving, debt-reduction, taxes, or any other basic issues of personal finance. All I knew is that I never could seem to "get ahead" financially. Tyson's book led me from this sorry state through four years of self-education and growing self-confidence about controlling my own financial future. Even now, debt-free and market-positioned, I still reference this book when I encounter a new facet of my financial life. No "get-rich-quick" scheme, Tyson lays out a solid framework for anyone interested in getting and maintaining control of their own financial situation throughout a lifetime. The ideas he lays out help a person not only educate him/herself concerning money, but also instill confidence that a financial situation can be corrected or controlled personally. Although this book would serve as a valuable reference to ANYONE interested in their own financial future, it would especially be useful to a young person just "starting out" or to any person who feels overwhelmed by their own financial situation. | |
| The Everything Personal Finance in Your 20s & 30s Book By: Debby Fowles |
| Finally! A book on personal finance for the average person. This book is filled with easy-to-understand advice about managing your money. You can read it from cover to cover or just browse through it and pick the topics you're interested in right now. The budgeting and credit card debt chapters are great. Even though it's geared towards those of us in our 20s and 30s, most of it is good advice for anyone trying to get ahead financially. Best $11 bucks I've ever spent. | |
| The Pocket Idiot's Guide to Living on a Budget By: Peter J. Sander |
| The book is great! The first chapter just really opens your eyes to how much money you are waisting or Frittering, is what they call it. There is a lot of tips and savvy saver tips, as well resources. There concept of budgeting is great. It has everything that you need learn and to budget your living with out being deprived. I will recommend this book anyone who is thinking or just wants to know more about beig on a budget. --Enrique Banuelos | |
| The Everything Get Out of Debt Book By: Cheryl Kimball |
| Collaboratively written by author/editor Cheryl Kimball and certified financial planner Faye Kathryn Doria, The Everything Get Out Of Debt Book is a straightforward, eminently practical, do-it-yourself, "user friendly" guide to dealing with debt and specifically designed for readers of all skill and experience levels when dealing with money matters. From how to obtain and read one's credit report, to assessing one's earning power, to determining when credit counseling services are needed (and how to spot the crooked ones), coping with joint debt, filing for bankruptcy, home equity, the advantages and drawbacks to credit cards, insurance, taxes, and so much more, The Everything Get Out Of Debt Book is a first-rate and highly recommended resource -- especially for the non-specialist general reader unfamiliar with the complexities of America's financial system -- Midwest Book Review | |
| Get a Financial Life By: Beth Kobliner |
| This updated version of Beth Kobliner's work (5/2000) can help the folks in their 20's and 30's get a handle on their finances. Even with a college education, most students fail to come away with sufficient knowledge on how to manage their dough. This book is an easy read, not filled with useless info. There is special emphasis on paying off college loans, getting credit cards, buying a car, and financing a first house or apartment. Things that you really need to know. The main chapters include: Figuring out Where You Are and Where You Want to Go, Finding the Best Loans and Getting Yourself Out of Hock, How to Get the Most from Your Bank for the Least Amount of Money, All You Really Need to Know About Investing, Living the Good Life in 2030 !!, Getting an Apartment or House of Your Own, What Insurance You Need and Don't, Finding the Right Policies and Forgoing Coverage You Don't Need, Making Your Life Less Taxing. There is info on using the Web to help you save, spend and invest wisely, how to refinance your high-rate debt and avoid hidden fees and traps, taking advantage of the latest tax breaks- including deductions for student loans, and planning your long range savings program. In addition, there are details on car leases, credit reports, mutual funds, and more. A wealth of information available for less than 12 bucks. Highly recommended. A great gift. -- Irvin Goodman |
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Books About Basic Investing
| Investing For Dummies By: Eric Tyson |
| I found this book useful because of its amazingly wide coverage of investment strategies (stocks, bonds, T-bills, mutual funds, bank accounts, retirement accounts, real estate, private companies...). It is also quite well written, compared to the other books from the "dummies" series. Nonetheless, the reading of this book did not give me all that I expected. The amount of information on each particular method of investing is not sufficient to use this book as the primary and the only reference, and the author himself occasionally recommends the readers some other books on the subject. On the other hand, the book is too detailed to be a basic simple introduction for people who have no clue what the investing is. While I certainly learned a few things from this book, I do not feel that this book was helpful enough to advance my knowledge far from its starting point. My advice: if you know what sort of investing you prefer, borrow this book from the local library to read a couple of chapters which you need, but buy a more focused and detailed book. -- +++ | |
| Mutual Funds for Dummies By: Eric Tyson |
| This book is an excellent guide to the world of mutual funds. Eric Tyson does a service to beginning investors by steering them towards the modest goal of getting the same return as the market by investing in low-fee, low turnover mutual funds (preferably index funds). Tyson covers nearly everything in this book, from how to build a portfolio, to what returns you can reasonably expect, to where to buy the funds. He covers stock funds, bond funds, and money market funds, and shows how you can evaluate them. He does all of this in easy-to-read prose. I have one small complaint about the book. If Tyson is not paid by Vanguard, he should be. I can understand that given its dedication to low cost and its unique corporate structure among brokerages, Vanguard might be the best place around to buy mutual funds, but Tyson should have made a point to back off just a bit on highlighting the company so egregiously to avoid the appearance of being the company's shill. But despite this small lapse, I believe Tyson has the best interests of people who want to make a little money for retirement, their children's education, or some other modest goal, but aren't comfortable speculating. He encourages that healthy skepticism towards their ability to make a quick buck and instead teaches them to invest in a way they can have reasonable confidence -- instead of an irrational exuberance -- that they will get the expected return on their money. -- Jeffery Steele | |
| The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need By: Andrew Tobias |
| As a young and overwhelmed newlywed twenty-some years ago, I read The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need. It was clear, fun to read, and full of good advice. I was recently surprised to see it is still in print, revised and updated. If you're already the sort of person who reads personal finance books, it won't be the only one you'll read, but it may be the one that holds up the best over time. Tips such as "invest" in staples such as coffee when they are cheap and ride out times of inflated prices by using your surplus are as useful today as they were in 1978. (Although if I remember, Tobias used canned tuna as the example in the earlier editions, and now uses cases of wine to illustrate the point.) Tobias has updated the book to include investment advice that we never considered in 1978. He includes tips on how to find the best online air fares, when and when not to use eBay, TiVo, and reverse mortgages. He has some simple and effective ideas on how to make Social Security viable for the foreseeable future (without resorting to privitization). He gives specific advice to couples who are married and couples who aren't or who can't be. One of my favorite sections is on what to do if you win the lottery. How many long drives have I passed by planning that very thing? (My first step: get an unlisted phone number.) Tobias's advice on this unlikely event is excellent, especially step 5b.) Don't buy a boat. -- H. Cota |
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Books About Kids And Money
| Money Doesn't Grow On Trees By: Neale S. Godfrey |
| My husband originally bought this book, and then I read and re-read it. We have 2 sons, (10 & 12 yrs old). This book REALLY helped us to set up a program for spending and saving with our sons. I like the way is is simply laid out. I would highly recommend any parent who is interested in learning more and getting help on how to set-up the whole money thing to get this book...better earlier than later! Be patient, it does work...it just takes time and persisitence. -- A. Hall | |
| The Everything Kids' Money Book By: Diane Mayr |
| Every kid in the USA should have the opportunity to read this book. -- George W. Wright | |
| Raising Money Smart Kids By: Janet Bodnar |
| With each generation the children seem to have more money available to them than their parents. With this should come responsibility and learning how to spend or save wisely. The problem is that most just learn to spend as soon as they get it, get it by begging parents or an allowance with no responsibilities involved or similar. Enter Janet Bodnar, deputy-editor of Kiplinger's Personal Finance, mother of three, and writer of the Money Smart Kids column in Kiplinger Magazine. This is not a collection of hard and fast rules to force good finance habits onto kids but a framework within which parents can use good common sense to handle any situation. The book starts with a quiz to test your money smarts. This quiz is excellent and presents most of the potential situations you are likely to encounter with children and money. The author even includes examples of questions kids ask and how to answer them. One of the insightful sections is one on how kids think about money and how to deal with these concepts from preschool to teenager. Ms. Bodnar even includes a fascinating chapter on questions and answers about money's history, composition, and dozens of other miscellaneous facts. Prepare your children to know how to deal with money when they are grown. Raising Money Smart Kids is highly recommended. -- Harold McFarland | |
| Raising Financially Fit Kids By: Joline Godfrey |
| This is the best guide to teaching kids about money. I've got 3 small and busy kids and not much time to read. This book is great because it's easy (but not insulting) and offers concrete activities - outlined in charts (minimal reading required). One of the best things about this book is that it makes you think about your own money values and how you express yourself with money. Then it gives you ideas of how to teach your kids about money in a way that matches YOUR family's ideas...and it gives tips on how to "tweak" the message, depending on your children's personalities. The book is divided into age-appropriate sections, so advice for parents of 5 year olds is different from that of parents of 9 or 13 or 18 year olds. This is a great book you will use for years. -- Mahj Mom | |
| Kids and Money (AUDIO CASSETTE!) By: Jayne A. Pearl |
| How many books do you know that have actually improved your life? We're not just talking finances here. This book will change the atmosphere in your family in ways you thought impossible. Kids and Money convinced us to change our approach to allowances. Not only did we end up spending less by eliminating all those little "off-budget" extras, our kids suddenly became interested in getting value for their dollars. No more extravagant purchases that they wore once and forgot. And they began to take better care of the things they did buy. No more nagging! Kids and Money is full of great advice on many other subjects. Including how to finance college if you didn't (or couldn't) start saving when the kids were born. And there's a terrific list of web resources at the end. -- Paul Kaplan | |
| The Motley Fool Investment Guide for Teens By: David Gardner |
| Although it contains some information that my daughter thought was unrealistic, like the amount she should be able to save each week, she thought the book had some great ideas. I especially liked that they didn't talk down to the teenagers yet told them about the true financial cost of smoking, the good use of credit cards, ATMS and the fiancial mistakes many people make. A good book that tells it to them straight in a format that they will read. -- Mom/Nurse Ann |
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Books About Budgeting Meals
| The Everything Meals For A Month Cookbook By: Linda Larsen |
| I have been playing around with the idea of OAMC (Once a month cooking) for about a year. I love the concept, but with three children, a full time job, and a husband that works on the weekend, I had not been able to put together a cooking day. This is the book that led me to compile and complete my first "mini" session (12 meals in the freezer). The book made it sound so easy and fun, that I had to try it. The recipes are kid friendly (obviously important, if the kids refuse to eat the meal I have not saved ANY time or money), easy to make, and contain common ingredients. There was a good variety of different ideas. I made 9 different recipes (a lot of variety for one setting, BUT who wants 3 more meals sized helpings of something no one liked?) and so far I have not been disppointed with any of the items I made. If you are looking to try OAMC, this is the best cookbook I have found (I bought about 10 different cookbooks specializing in freezer cooking, so I have a pretty big library for comparison to back up my claim). -- Kangalop | |
| Cook Once a Week, Eat Well Every Day By: Theresa Albert |
| This book is perfect for anyone who finds themselves eating out waaaay too often, just because they can't face pulling together a meal after a hectic day. The idea here is to cook something each week that can spin off a number of easy-to-prepare meals. Does roasted chicken, beef burritos, meat loaf with salsa, or beef and pasta toss sound like food your family would eat? The recipes aren't overly elaborate or gourmet, just good food. Think of all you'll save, staying out of the restaurants. Think of family dinners where everyone actually talks together and bonds over their meal. This book makes it a lot easier.-- Virginia Allain | |
| Chef On A Shoestring By: Andrew Friedman |
| Not being much of a TV watcher, never knew this was there. Now, I'll watch every now and then. The concept is terrific, shop with only $20 and then create some gorgeous food. To date have completed these dishes and found them to be innovative, complex, yet the price is just outstanding and time and techniques involved are achievable for wide grouping of cooks: loved this one: Peter Kelly's Roasted Onions with Bacon and Apple Stuffing; Walter Staib's Curried French Lentil Salad and Sausage; David Walrog's Asparagus and Cremini Mushroom Barley Risotto; and these are out of this world -- "Rick Moonen's Salmon Burgers with Green Tartar Sauce." Bonus is with this purchase that CBS donates the royalties to Share the Strength. As the cookbook in memory of Patrick Clark, cooks everywhere will want this for themselves as well as gift-giving not only for the excellent dishes but also for the cause of charity. -- rodboomboom | |
| Budget Meals By: Kimberly Saunders |
| Kim's book has changed my life! I just wish this book had been available years ago!-- Virginia Eldridge |
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