The most recommended finance books

Again, this is the kind of book that demonstrates practically how to forecast financial performance of a company and then value it.

It goes a step further and, as the title proclaims, the authors try to reverse engineer a price of a stock and match investors’ expectations with specific assumptions of the model. One of these assumptions is the growth period. This contrasts with the conventional practice of discounting a fixed growth period of five or ten years.

The book provides Excel models, backed up by the proper math, that are very helpful in deconstructing a share price to model assumptions and see if they are plausible or not.

I've had this on my "want to read" list for eons but only finally got around to it. I found this a highly informative book without really bogging down into a bunch of math or other fine details. 

In fact, that's kind of the whole point of it. His writing style is also quite hilarious and I would suspect we might hit it off, if I was ever fortunate enough to meet the guy, a lot of this stuff sounds like something I would say, though, of course, he thought of it first and went the distance chasing down these thoughts. But yeah, I totally get where he's coming from.

The basic premise is that all these charts, reams of data, prediction models, et cetera are completely useless because one fluke hugely unexpected event arrives (it pretty much always arrives) and totally annihilates any notion of an "average" or anyone… show more.

Think and Grow Rich is one of the best books of all time – a true class for achieving super success and wealth.

Napoleon Hill shows you how to get ahead and build wealth. The idea is that successful, wealthy people found the way and we can too. Hill believes that how you think and use the knowledge and experience you accumulate along your journey drives your success.

He explains the importance of desire and faith and gaining specialized knowledge. He emphasizes organized planning, making decisions and taking action, and sticking with it. Hill shares stories based on his interviews with leaders including Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and many other millionaires. 

There’s a reason why people who want to become their own boss often test the waters while they are still drawing a paycheck from their 9-5. It’s a scary business wondering how you’re going to pay the rent, put food on the table, clothe your kids, pay taxes, etc. when you have always had the safety net of regular employment. Ms. Adams pulls no punches in encouraging readers to take a reality check regarding their finances, legal considerations, and even the long-term vision of whatever solo enterprise they want to launch.

I loved how this “Little Book" gets right to the point and explains why every investor should include low-cost index ETFs in their portfolios. This is a great guide for beginners and old hands alike. It is a book devoted to simplicity.

I loved Bogle’s “Cost Matters Hypothesis” which is simpler and more relevant than the also important “Efficient Markets Hypothesis” that is taught in Finance 101 classes. 

I felt this book empowered me to take control of my financial life. It’s a book I always recommend to people who are looking to improve their financial lives. I learned a lot from Vanguard founder John Bogle's 80+ years of experience and wisdom. Invest just 60 minutes in this book and reap a lifetime of informed, confident investing decisions.

Co-author Ken Rogoff taught my PhD course in Global Economics while he was a visiting professor at NYU (from Princeton). We used Foundations of International Macroeconomics as our textbook; Ken was writing the book with Maurice Obstfeld. When I turned in a handful of pages to him with editorial corrections, he hired me to edit the rest of the book and a research paper for him! It caused quite a stir among my peers when Ken thanked me by name when the article was published (JEL, June 1996). This book traces eight hundred years of financial crises to demonstrate that they are, in fact, predictable. Economists and policymakers are taken by surprise only because they do not learn the lessons from one crisis to the next.

This was probably the most easily digestible book on investing that I’ve ever read. To me, the most difficult part of investing is simply getting over the fear of doing it, and Morgan Housel gives genuine motivation for overcoming that fear.

The chapters are purposefully short, which allowed me to absorb the main takeaways without getting too in the weeds on details (a necessary downside of a lot of nonfiction). I loved that it included very clear examples of how our brains work against us when it comes to our finances, as well as clear advice on how to counteract that.

As a financial coach, I have met many women who feel alone with their financial challenges, or unable to talk openly about their finances. Women With Money includes the voices of women Chatzky interviewed about their money challenges and goals, and their comments help to humanize the subject. Chatzky’s discussion of our money beliefs is very solid, as is her advice about putting our money to work. Some topics, like investing in real estate, won’t be applicable to all readers, at least not right away. But overall, Chatzky, a longtime personal finance journalist, deftly communicates core personal finance topics in a clear and accessible way. 

Julien and Kiersten Saunders paid off $200k in debt in five years and left their corporate jobs before turning 40.

In most personal finance books with an opening like this, you'd have to buckle in for a lot of talk about how easy it is to follow their lead if you just "worked harder," but they completely sidestep that trope.

Instead, they help readers reframe their relationship to corporate work, address how racism shows up in work and finances, and help people figure out how to get what they need from their job and leave the toxic rat race behind by creating a "15-year career."

The 15-year career starts by building a financial foundation, leveraging transferrable skills to find the highest-paying positions that need those skills, and creating an emotional and financial exit plan. 

I loved this book because it is well-written and presents 200+ years of stock market history in a clear and compelling fashion.

This book helped me to understand the value of buying and holding stocks for the long term. I appreciated the thoroughness and objectivity that the professor who wrote this book brings to the table.