One of the best ways to learn about the stock market and investing is through a good book. A podcast listener named Christopher reached out and wanted to know my recommendations on the best books to learn about investing.
To help Christopher (and hopefully you too!), I'm going to share 10 books that helped me become a millionaire and a better investor.
This list starts with more beginner books and progresses to slightly more advanced ones. My hope is that if you decide to read or listen to all of these books, the concepts will become clearer and easier to understand over time.
Broke Millennial Takes on Investing by Erin Lowry
It’s no coincidence that the first investing book I mention is also one of the newest investing books as well.
Award-winning author, Erin Lowry, shares how to get started with investing for the millennial generation.
I love this book because investing in today's world has a lot of other nuances associated with it. Topics like our student debt crisis, advancements in Fintech and Robo Advising are all newer areas of focus. Erin takes these factors into consideration when discussing when to invest and how to keep things simple.
99 Minute Millionaire by Scott Alan Turner
I had been investing for a while before reading this book, but I felt like I lacked direction.
Scott Alan Turner equipped me with the knowledge that helped me adjust my path to becoming a millionaire. The book pointed out the pitfalls of certain investors and how others succeed time and time again.
No, the book didn’t help me become a millionaire in 99 minutes (bummer!). The title alludes to it being a quick read as it’s only 252 pages.
Related Content: How We Became Millionaires in 10 Years
I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi
For some more “in-your-face” fun, check out this book by personal finance and business guru Ramit Sethi.
I Will Teach You to Be Rich covers a variety of personal finance topics from optimizing your credit cards to what it means to actually have a rich life.
The concepts of growing your wealth are woven throughout the entire book. He hones in specifically on investing strategies in select chapters.
Ramit teaches while making you laugh and cringe at times so if you’re looking for a boring investing book that talks over you, this book is not for you.
The book is now in its second edition after being re-released a decade after its original release. It's a fun read!
The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clayson
This book was written in 1926 and it was based on parables from 8,000 years ago. Although ancient-sounding, The Richest Man in Babylon has principles that hold true today.
This is a refreshing and fun personal finance read that is more of a story than “how-to” non-fiction.
When you review the investing and personal finance lessons captured in this book, you’ll realize these wealth-building concepts are a lot simpler than you originally thought.
The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach
David Bach shares strategies that make becoming a millionaire simple and easy. The Automatic Millionaire touches on the importance of automation and how not “overthinking it” can help you succeed with your money.
When you are able to insert automation into your life, investing becomes massively easier. There’s no double guessing and it helps you to remove some of the emotion out of investing.
After speaking with dozens of financial advisors on my podcast, their biggest piece of advice to me and their clients is to simply stay the course. Time and compound interest are magical if you let them do the work. David Bach expresses this very sentiment in this highly acclaimed book.
The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley
This book dispels the myths of what it takes to become a millionaire. The philosophies and exposed truths in The Millionaire Next Door helped our family stay the course and achieve real wealth.
It was hailed as one of the most thorough research studies done on millionaires and their habits.
Since then, another great book called Everyday Millionaires by Chris Hogan was released. It expanded this concept by researching over 10,000 millionaires and how they’ve built their wealth. If you’re looking for a more updated version of The Millionaire Next Door, I’d recommend Everyday Millionaires.
MONEY: Master the Game by Tony Robbins
One of my favorite authors and speakers is Tony Robbins. In Money: Master the Game, he tackles investing and personal finance by interviewing top investors and billionaires to find out their secrets to financial success.
I loved this book because it took a deep dive into how billionaires get wealthy and how they continue to do so. Although it's a hefty 688 pages, the book is filled with interviews with some of the smartest and wealthiest folks alive.
This book taught me about creating a portfolio that works well over the decades and the importance of diversification.
The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins
Investing be very confusing for a lot of people. JL Collins creates a simpler path by breaking down complex topics and making them easy to understand.
The Simple Path to Wealth explores the effectiveness and simplicity of index funds and how they can give you a successful portfolio.
If I could recommend one book for people to read about “the case for index funds vs. individual stocks”, it would be this book hands down.
This is one of the best books to learn about investing and will top the charts for many years to come.
Related Content: How to Achieve Financial Independence with Index Funds – with JL Collins
Little Book of Common Sense Investing by John Bogle
Like The Simple Path to Wealth, this book by the late John Bogle focuses on the power and simplicity of index fund investing.
One of the main focuses is purely proving the superiority of index fund investing over single stock investing or other non-buy-and-hold type strategies.
Mr. Bogle is a HERO for the everyday investor who wants to build wealth as he is the investor of the index fund and the founder of Vanguard.
As an index fund junkie and Vanguard client, I’m quite partial to this book and Jack’s commitment to helping the masses build wealth easily.
You will be smarter and wealthier for reading this one.
The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
Last but not least is Morgan Housel’s new book called The Psychology of Money.
Not a beginner’s investing book per se, but definitely a book that helps you understand how money works and how we work when it comes to money.
I love history. Morgan shares incredible stories and anecdotes about how history, if not studied and understood, tends to repeat itself. And the common mistakes we made decades or centuries ago can come back if we don’t pay attention to our general makeup as human beings.
This book is quite new and quite popular. I’d say it’s one you shouldn’t pass up on reading.
Final Thoughts on Best Books to Learn About Investing
Now, these books aren’t going to give an answer on how YOU should invest.
They are going to help you understand different strategies and principles for you to consider. With this new knowledge, you can have more engaged conservations with a financial professional and you’ll feel more equipped to invest on your own if you choose to.
If you’d prefer to listen to your books instead of reading them, try Audible for free for 30 days. As a young parent who doesn't get a lot of time to read, I love it.
Which titles would you add to this list of best books to learn about investing? What would you remove?
Please let me know in the comments below.
