The second was Home Ownership: The American Myth, by Mitchell Levy. It’s out of print, but can be found on Amazon or purchased from the author. (If you google the title, the first 4 links will provide all the info you need.)

The title is just about as dramatic as YMOYL, but the book is actually really, really practical. The most useful thing about it is the spreadsheet he describes (also available through his website), which calculates an extremely detailed rental vs. purchase comparison. Despite what the title may imply, the calculations don’t always come out with renting as the winner, and he fully recognizes that motivations for home ownership go beyond desire for monetary gains. (The “myth” is that home ownership is “automatic” profit, and renting is simply “throwing money away.”)

It looks like he’s increased his prices of late, but the information is still very useful, and it’s a fantastic tool for looking at the value of buying vs. renting in a thorough way.

On another note, following your recommendation, I just picked up and skimmed The Incredible Secret Money Machine. Wow, that guy is quite a character! Something about non-conforming money management really attracts interesting folks!

Read all of the above and you’re good to go!

1. The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World by
Niall Ferguson (understanding how a type of finance/investment came about goes a long way in understanding how it works/what it’s risks are
2. Not Buying It by Judith Levine
3. Enough by John Naish (both of these motivate me to be content with what I have
4. The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwarz
5. YMOYL (for people starting out)

2. Millionaire Mind – This is usually my first recommendation.

3. Rich Dad, Poor Dad – Loved the message: Create assets and multiple income streams, but I hated the methods: borrow to buy real estate, buy delinquent taxes, melt down toothpaste tubes, etc…

Other PF books I liked are:

1. Millionaire next door.
2. Your money or your life

Also, on a Suze Orman note, The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, and Broke was the very first PF book I read, and for that age, (I think I was 22?) it was great. I wish I had found Ramsey instead then, but it was so much more accessible to a young person than many of the books that I prefer now.

Great suggestions from everyone! See? Book week isn’t boring at all!

The Millionaire Next Door was responsible for a profound shift in my thoughts regarding wealth and money. The short film “The Story of Stuff”, and the PBS movie “Affluenza” were also gigantimous eye openers for me. Reminds me of George Carlin’s line…”they call it the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it”.

I also would love to hear about Al’s experience with Fail-Safe Investing. Please do share.

Think and Grow Rich has a permanent home on my bookshelf. It presents numerous tools for developing the mindset to achieve anything you dream of including financial success.

Your Money Or Your Life is a recent addition to my library. I wish I had read it years ago. This book has helped me become more mindful of my spending and has shown me that it is possible to acheive financial independence earlier in life than I formerly believed.

#2 Your Money or Your Life – It’s like if you just spend some time doing boring homework, things will happen. KS, yes, the tone is annoying sometimes, but I’m used to being a weirdo and have learned to pick out the parts that sound good to me from all kinds of sources. I like the chapter on net worth, though I’ve never gotten that thorough myself. And I love, love, love the concept of the crossover point.

#3 The Boglehead’s Guide to Investing – This replaces the last chapter of YMOYL for me. I read it after I’d had years of investing experience, and it matches most of what I learned the hard way.

#4 Benjamin Graham’s The Intelligent Investor – This reminds me how drastically your investment possibilities can change over time. Find the latest version if you can where he talks about the earlier version–tres fun. It reminds me to stay on my toes. (In my adult lifetime, Roth IRAs and Roth 403(b)s, I-bonds, and high-interest online savings accounts were invented. And maybe low-cost index funds and discount brokers. And I’m not even that old.)

The Millionaire Next Door taught me that I don’t want to be a millionaire–I don’t want to work that hard and long for money and I do think it’s appropriate to make charitable contributions even when you’re not rich yet. It’s also a good reminder not to spoil your kids. By the way, almost no one thinks they’re rich, no matter how rich they are.

Clutter’s Last Stand (a loud and obnoxious book) in conjunction with some simplicity blogs are helping me with another aspect of personal finance.

Its still a good book but not one of my favorites, I think the most I got out of that book was to think about what was “enough.”

My favorite finance books:

Your book
Ramit’s book
Shoo, Jimmy Choo! The Modern Girl’s Guide to Spending Less and Saving More by Catey Hill

The last one I particularly liked because I’m female, in my late 20s, and this book takes money seriously. Its geared towards women and I know that PF books don’t discriminate that they aim for everyone that needs their advice, but for me I appreciated having a book written for women.

I do like the author’s sassy voice and I like the girly cover. Yeah I know I’m such a girl for liking it, but oh well, lol

EDIT: And yes I bought all 5 books on my own through B&N/Amazon.

This book is about increasing your wealth
. . . . . . through Compounding,
. . . avoiding the two main traps, Taxes and Fees,
. . . . . . with little Risk and Reasonable Rewards,
. . . . . . taking Responsibility for your actions,
. . . while Riding the Stock Market Roller Coaster and
. . . . . . Dividend Escalator.

I think I liked the Thomas Stanley books the best. I haven’t read the new one though. But they were good combinations of study and motivation.

I love that the book is centered around research of many millionaires as opposed to one person’s anecdotal experience.

This book is a great book to read for the first time in your young, impressionable years (18 – 25) and then re-read every 5 to 10 years to re-enforce the lessons learned.

I felt this book was so important I used to make it required reading in my personal finance course.

Some other books that I have read, but are not necessarily personal finance ones are:

“Negotiating Your Salary: How To Make $1000 a Minute” by Jack Chapman. This book can help you increase your earning potential throughout your career. I’m hoping to use some of the techniques instilled in this book.

“Career Renegade: How to Make a Great Living Doing What You Love” by Jonathan Fields. This book helped me to think “outside the box” when it comes to making money doing things I love to do.

Next on my list to read is your book J.D.!

Both are *timeless*