Personal Finance Tips

J.D. Roth, owner of famous website Get Rich Slowly, listed a recommended list of finance books for his readers. J.D. Roth has read lots of books, roughly 400 books, mainly on money manuals, and many of them contained great information. So his recommended book list should be read if you do want to learn more about personal finance and investment.

Here are the recommended list of finance books:

• All Your Worth. Someone may hate this book at first. But this book will sure have a huge impact on helping you find a balanced financial life. The idea of Balanced Money Formula is originated here.
• The Complete Tightwad Gazette. This book is a monster — almost 1000 pages of ideas on how to live well for less. Amy Dacyczyn was the Queen of Cheap twenty years ago, and her legacy remains strong. If you want to know how to get the best deal on groceries, how to shop for clothes, and how to reuse anything, then pick up this book. It’s a treasure trove of ideas.
• Debt is Slavery. Not many people have heard of this slim self-published book. That’s too bad. Michael Mihalik does a fantastic job of explaining a handful of basic financial concepts, and his advice is sound. This is the perfect book for a young adult who doesn’t know where to start.
• The Four Pillars of Investing. It can also be replaced this book on the list with Jeremy Siegel’s Stocks for the Long Run. Book The Four Pillars of Investing can be a go-to book for reminding yourself why adopting index funds as the main investment strategy. This book covers investment theory, history, and psychology, as well as the business of investing.
• The Incredible Secret Money Machine. It may be long out of print, but The Incredible Secret Money Machine is a terrific book about building “money machines”, businesses or products that keep producing nickels year after year.
• Work Less, Live More. Bob Clyatt’s book on early- and semi-retirement may be on lots of people's favorite list. It’s sensible, comprehensive, and inspirational. He includes a big section on smart investing, and offers ideas for how to pursue your passions once you’ve stopped working full-time.
• You Can Negotiate Anything. It was a toss-up whether to include this or Negotiating Your Salary . The latter is outstanding, and it is recommended highly to anyone who is applying for a job or asking for a raise. Herb Cohen’s book is chosen because it covers a wider range of topics. And it’s entertaining!
• Your Money and Your Brain. It’s a great book. Jason Zweig covers the latest research into how money affects our behavior. There are a lot of interesting books out there about the psychology of personal finance, but this is the most comprehensive.
• Your Money or Your Life. This book has influenced thousands of people — including me. The book includes advice about getting out of debt, living frugally, and seeking financial independence. But what most of us remember is that it helped make money less abstract, helped us see how it was directly related to time.
• Your Money: The Missing Manual. It’s a great resource, getting to the heart of a broad range of topics. Plus, The author has done his best to point to other books and websites readers can use to get more information.

Most of books are written by a writer, so recommendation basing on authors will also help us to read more books. One friend of J.D. Roth gave a guest post, talk about recommended authors. It seemed that this friend focused a lot on index funding, so the recommended authors are almost experts on index fund. And here are the recommended list of authors:

• John Bogle
  Like Malkiel, Bogle advocated indexing before indexing was cool. He founded the Vanguard Group of mutual funds in 1974 (after getting fired from another job — talk about making the most of adversity!), and created the first index fund available to individual investors in 1975 (institutional index funds had been tried a few years earlier). People at The Motley Fool like Bogle so much, they named a room after him. After he gave a speech to a company a year or so ago, he received a standing ovation. To learn about investing from one of the smartest and most ethical people around, read Common Sense on Mutual Funds or The Little Book of Common Sense Investing. To learn a bit about Bogle’s life, his life lessons, and why he thinks today’s financial-services industry fails investors, read Enough.
• Eric Tyson
  Tyson pens many of the financial books in the For Dummies series. All of them are good. If you’re new to financial stuff in general, start with Personal Finance for Dummies. Also, lots of people love the Guru Watch area of his website, which digs deep into the track records of financial pundits.
• William Bernstein
  Bernstein’s The Four Pillars of Investing is on the above book list, and it is worthy of a second trecommendation. If you’re looking for an investing expert who also holds a Ph.D. in chemistry and an M.D. and practiced neurology, Bernstein’s your man. The Investor’s Manifesto might be more accessible for those newer to investing. He’s also written excellent books on economic history.
• Richard Ferri
  Ferri defends index investing like the Marine fighter pilot he once was. His All About Asset Allocation is an excellent primer on the pros and cons of various types of investments and how to put them all together. If you want to learn more about exchange-traded funds, check out The ETF Book. Also, Ferri’s firm, Portfolio Solutions, charges just about the lowest management fees (0.25% a year) you’ll find, though there is a $500-per-quarter minimum charge.
• Larry Swedroe
  Perhaps the only person who can match Rick Ferri’s zealotry about indexing is Larry Swedroe. He’s written or co-written a series of “The Only Guide…” books, the most recent being The Only Guide You’ll Ever Need for the Right Financial Plan. All the “Only Guide” books are worth reading (as are Swedroe’s other books), but the one that deserves special highlighting is The Only Guide to a Winning Bond Strategy You’ll Ever Need because there are so few good books out there about bonds. Swedroe also has an excellent blog on MoneyWatch.com.
• Bill Schultheis
  If you’re looking for simplicity in investing and a little more personality in the writing, Bill Schultheis is the author for you. The New Coffeehouse Investor is about as readable, entertaining, and inspiring as an investment book gets.
• David Swensen
  In the world of institutional investing, David Swensen is a rock star. He has managed Yale’s endowment for 25 years, with spectacular results. He’s written just one book for individual investors, Unconventional Success. The interesting thing about this book is, Swenson set out hoping to highlight the best mutual funds and fund families for the average schmo. However, the more research he did, the more he realized that almost all fund families suffer from an insurmountable conflict of interest: Their drive for profits encourages them to keep expenses high, which in the end hurts investor returns. Swensen concludes that he can only recommend two companies: Vanguard and TIAA-CREF.
• Roger Gibson
  For a more technical book written for financial professionals, check out Roger Gibson’s Asset Allocation: Balancing Financial Risk. To get a taste of the subject matter, read “The Rewards of Multiple-Asset-Class Investing” [PDF] from the Journal of Financial Planning. While I have this book at the end of this list, Gibson’s work has probably had the biggest influence on me as a financial writer. Plus, he’s a really nice guy.

So what is your favorite books or authors on finance and investing? Have you read these books or do you know these authors? Is there anything you want to share with us?