Recommended reading to start your personal finance journey

The list below is reading material I recommend as a starting point in your journey to financial independence. I highly recommend everyone read the Core reading list at a minimum, which should cover the basics of personal finance.

This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, there are many great personal finance books out there. I have thoughtfully curated this list so it isn’t too extensive, yet covers a broad range of topics with minimal overlap.

Disclaimer: Links to books on Amazon are affiliate links

Core reading list

Bogleheads® wiki

This is the bible for personal finance. It covers almost anything you can think of relating to personal finance and investing. It follows John Bogle’s investing principles about investing in broad-based index funds, which the FIRE movement heavily leverages to achieve financial independence. If there is only one thing I would recommend to someone, it is this wiki.

If You Can (How Millenials Can Get Rich Slowly) by William J. Bernstein

This might be the best TL:DR version of the Bogleheads WIki quick summary of how you should invest. It’s a “short” 16 page PDF which is free (but can be purchased as a hardcopy on Amazon).

Stock Series by J L Collins

J L Colins published a book called “The Simple Path to Wealth” resulting from the popularity of his series of posts about general investing, index funds, not timing the market and weathering market crashes. It’s a free read, so if you like the series, do buy the book.

Mr Money Moustache

Arguably his blog was the major catalyst for the FIRE movement (but not the inventor, that credit goes to Your Money or Your Life). Read the “Start Here” section and work your way around the blog.

The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko

This is one of the first books that got me into personal finance, and spending / saving psychology which motivated me to be frugal. It made me realise that anyone can build a decent net worth, even with a meagre salary. They write about their research about how most millionaires live and spend, and how they got there. Also read the sequel with more recent statistics, how millionaires approach raising their kids and how the kids view money/wealth.

I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi

Love his principles, especially about a Rich Life and guilt-free spending, his podcasts are unique and cover how couples manage money together, and I still follow his “conscious spending plan”.

A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel

Further reinforcement about how no one in the long-term can beat the market. It analyses the history and track record since the invention of capitalism, technical and fundamental analysis, modern portfolio theory, etc.

Advanced reading list

The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel

I’ve said it multiple times in various posts and comments; Personal Finance is 80% mindset/behaviours and only 20% knowledge. This book explores the interesting psychology that happens on how people treat money, personal finance and investing.

Die With Zero by Bill Perkins

Many a frugal FIRE fanatic has accumulated 7 figures with high margins of safety/buffers, but are afraid to spend their money. This is because through years/decades of being frugal and being in a saving mindset, FIRE advocates become so afraid to spend their money even though they have more than enough to pull the trigger. They have been conditioned to save and see the number go up. This book provides another perspective to help money hoarders relax and be comfortable with drawing down on their wealth.

The Opposite of Spoiled by Ron Lieber

For wealth accumulators and people above means like us, how do we raise our kids? Many parents are now apparently scared to send their kids to private/international schools lest their kids become “spoiled” or “entitled”. Well, it all starts from home. I haven’t fully read this book, my spouse has, but she gave me the Cliff’s Notes version, and I like it (Update 3rd Oct ’24: I’ve now read the book, I love it and still recommend it). It gives practical advice on how to teach children about money, how to appreciate money, tells you how to answer questions your kids may ask like “Are we rich?”, and even makes a point that you should pay your kids for doing chores.

The Intelligent Asset Allocator by William J Bernstein

He wrote that If You Can PDF I listed under Core reading. It goes in-depth on how to allocate asset weighting to your portfolio. The biggest insight for me was the risk/return correlation which helped me understand statistically how important it is

Final thoughts

I’ll add other recommendations to the list if it fills any gaps in the current list of books. As I continue to read more, I’ll also post a review with my thoughts on other personal finance books.

Do let me know if you think there is a book that fills a gap not covered by any of the books above.