The best wealth books

This is a good book to understand the pervasive existence of “rents” in the economy. From the literal rents that homeowners in popular areas can charge, to the rents that accrue to copyright or patent holders, to the rents earned by firms using regulation to block competition, the authors document all the places in our economy where this restricts innovation. It is ultimately a book asking “what is fair?”.

The very first sentence of this book made me slam it shut and leave it untouched for years. It reads: “Whatever may be said in praise of poverty, the fact remains that it is not possible to live a really complete or successful life unless one is rich.” Hello? How gross is that?! It offended me to my hippie core, until I understood what it was really saying and that, erm, you kind of can’t —not if you want to fully express yourself, anyway. “Rich” simply means that you have everything you need to share your gifts fully with the world and stay at the highest vibration while you do it, whatever that looks like for you. This is now easily the book I recommend to people the most, and the one I read over and over. But you have to let a lot go because it will… show more.

The title is a trick, probably the publisher's idea. Dennis (who passed away in 2014) expresses qualms about the whole getting rich idea. Before becoming a magazine multimillionaire (The Week, Maxim, Stuff) he was a poet, jailed in 1971 for editing an obscene humor magazine. He borrowed to start his publishing empire with Cozmic Comics and Kung Fu Monthly. He writes that anyone can raise capital -- you just need enough confidence in your plan to grovel and risk your friends' money. I forever carry his advice on negotiation: whoever cares less wins. Negotiate hard, be sure about what you'd like, but be ready to walk away, because no deal is a must-do.

How a book about money is so interesting is beyond me (I assume it has something to do with the author truly understanding, ahem, psychology). But this one is getting rave reviews for good reason. It’s almost addictive to read. Using nineteen short stories, it explores how historical figures navigated wealth, shows you why it was either a winning or losing strategy, and helps you apply to see the relevance to your own financial situation. This book will suck you in and make you realize that a lot of your own financial decisions shouldn’t be made on paper-only. 

God and Money is primarily a guide to giving, but secondarily it is a testimony of how the authors were attending Harvard and became convicted about their extravagant lifestyles and the need to give more. The book largely discusses the different approaches to act on this burden. 

While God and Money focuses on giving, they followed up with True Riches which uses a “putting off and putting on” type of approach: pride to gratitude, coveting to content, anxiety to trust, indifference to love are the chapter topics. At around 100 pages, the book is limited in scope and repeats some of the material (such as the testimonies and approaches) from the previous book.

The biggest drawback for these authors is they haven’t built platforms. Neither have author profiles on sites, such as Goodreads and BookBub. Only one has an Amazon profile. The website, God and Money, is limited with no… show more.

A page-turner about personal finance? This one comes close! Humor is a key ingredient throughout, along with an approachable, off-the-cuff writing style. The chapter on retiring early with kids does a superb job of overturning myths by telling the stories of parents who have actually achieved it. The advice on "Don't Follow Your Passion (Yet)" is spot-on, as is their fun-to-read revelation that traveling the world can actually be cheaper than staying at home.

I was introduced to Jane Jacobs as required reading during graduate school. I’m convinced that most urban planners who claim to adore Jacobs have not actually read her, particularly Cities and the Wealth of Nations, which is my favorite. Its thoroughly brutal logic stands in contrast to nearly everything we still do to manage our cities. Jacobs is an insightful genius.

Ms. Pegue is a speaker and television host on TBN. She made a splash in 2005 with her book, 30 Days to Taming Your Tongue, which she then capitalized on by publishing a 30 Day Series. Taming Your Finances was second in the series.

Although some of Ms. Pegues’s other books are outwardly Christian, this one is not.

Ms. Pegue has no children, which will compromise her credibility with readers who have children. With eight children, no debt, and two paid-off mortgages on a single-income pastor’s salary, I believe I’ll have the credibility they desire. 

Ms. Pegue was the CFO of West Angeles Church of God in Christ when it took on a $35 million loan to construct their building, which was the largest loan ever given to a religious institution.

The book is also fairly short at only 140 pages.

Mr. Alcorn’s book provides an eternal view of our temporary wealth and possessions. The primary focus, spread over the course of the book, can be boiled down to one point: the heavenly perspective we should have will help us be good earthly stewards.

In Mr. Alcorn’s own words, the book is “thoroughly researched…a biblical comprehensive view,” and it should be at over 500 pages! He strives to cover every conceivable topic related to money, such as investing, retirement, gambling, inheritances, giving, and the list goes on. 

Is there such a thing as too much of a good thing? As one review who provided a one-star review said, “In the interests of full disclosure I have only read halfway through this book.” Mark Twain famously said, “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one.”