4 Best New Personal Finance Books To Read Now

If you’re looking for professional financial advice, one place to look is your local bookstore. Classic financial books include “The Millionaire Next Door” by Thomas Stanley and William Danko, “The Complete Tightwad Gazette” by Amy Dacyczyn, “The Total Money Makeover” by Dave Ramsey and “Your Money or Your Life” by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin.

Since these books were published, however, many other writers have written and published wonderful books on inspiring financial topics, exploring money issues with depth and thoughtfulness. These books are timeless in their advice, but they also manage to examine many financial matters with a modern eye. Here are four great, inspiring personal finance books published over the past few years.

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“You Need a Budget: The Proven System to Break the Paycheck Cycle, Get Out of Debt, and Live the Life You Want”

This book by Jesse Mecham, founder of the personal finance platform YNAB, describes a simple and thoughtful four-step system to break free from the life of paycheck to paycheck: give every dollar a job, take responsibility for your real expenses, roll with the punches and age your money.

The goal behind these four rules is simple: Every dollar you spend should be used in terms of what you value in life and what you want out of life in the long run. If you go through your credit card statements and find purchases that have little or no long term meaning or value in your life, these are the costs you need to cut. This book not only walks you through this process, but brings you to the point where you make wise choices for your money before you even spend it, putting it aside for long term goals and eliminating your debt.

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“Playing with FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early): how far would you go for financial freedom? “

Written by filmmaker Scott Rieckens, this book is an extension of the ideas he explored in the documentary of the same name. It focuses on one major goal that many people have in life: achieving the level of financial freedom that allows them to step away from the need for a career.

This objective revolves around two major pieces. First, you should strive to spend as little as possible by practicing extreme frugality. Second, you need to do all you can to maximize your income in the short term of your career. This creates a big “gap” between your expenses and your income, and if you build that gap, you’ll be on your way to retirement quickly. Rieckens approaches these questions with the same method as his documentary, examining these changes through the real lives of many people, including himself.

“Meet Frugalwoods: Achieving Financial Independence Through a Simple Life”

This book by Elizabeth Willard Thames describes how her relatively well-off family found ways to cut expenses without sacrificing the soul of their life, in order to achieve bigger financial goals.

The approach taken by this book is not that you should give up all the luxuries or perks in life, but that you should determine which ones add real value and meaning and give up the rest. It requires careful consideration of what is really important to you and, by comparison, things that are of relatively little value to you. Hanging on to things of great value makes getting rid of the little things much easier, and it can be a big win when those little things turn out to be expensive too.

[See: 50 Ways to Improve Your Finances in 2019.]

“The Simple Path to Wealth: Your Road Map to Financial Independence and a Rich and Free Life”

Written by JL Collins, a popular author and speaker on topics related to financial independence, this book is a comprehensive guide to the nuts and bolts of financial planning with the goal of building a solid financial foundation for your future.

This book starts from the idea that you are aiming for financial independence as early in life as possible and goes into the details of what you need to do to get there. How to invest if this is your goal? How do you maximize the value of 401 (k) and Roth IRAs? More importantly, how does investing terminology really relate to the big, meaningful goals we all have for ourselves? Collins does a wonderful job of relating the details of an investment plan to the big dreams people have for their lives.

These books will provide you with inspiration, ideas and plans for your own financial future.

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