5 Books About Money That Pay For Themselves

books about money

For every financial situation, there’s a book. Whether you’re a fresh grad wanting to become financially independent or getting ready to plan your retirement life, a beginning investor or trying to get yourself out of debt, we have a book for you. Expand your money knowledge with these five books about money:

The Best Book For Fresh Grads

The Money Book For The Young, Fabulous, and Broke, Suze Orman (ebook: P498.49, National Bookstore)

Because you are young, you have the time to right any missteps, and the time to build a solid financial life.

If you are a twenty-something, intimidated by financial jargon and feel overwhelmed by all the decisions you have to make, this book will be a great resource. The issues that you most likely face are covered here: career moves, handling credit cards, saving up, planning for retirement, beginning to invest, buying big-ticket items like cars and houses, and marriage.

Every chapter is focused on one topic and divided up into short pieces like blog posts. Some of the divisions within chapters are: “Lowdown”, covering the basics; “Strategy Sessions”, where Orman gives specific advice, and “Quick Playback”, where she recaps the most important lessons in the chapter. There’s also a helpful glossary to define terms, and an interactive action planner on Orman’s website to help you tackle your financial problems.

The Best Book For Beginning Investors

Learn to Earn: A Beginner’s Guide to the Basics of Investing and Business, Peter Lynch (P640.00, Fully Booked; ebook: P429.49, National Bookstore)

This simple point — that the price of a stock is directly related to a company’s earning power — is often overlooked, even by sophisticated investors … This is the starting point for the successful stock picker: find companies that grow their earnings over many years to come.

Peter Lynch is an investment legend. In his time managing Fidelity’s Magellan fund, he grew its assets from $18 million to $14 billion in 13 years — a 900% return. While we’re not promising that you can do that with this book, it does offer a great introduction to the stock market. Lynch starts off with a quick overview of how capitalism developed in the US, focusing on the lessons to be learned from history, before going into a chapter about the basics of investing: get in the habit of saving and investing and putting aside a certain amount every month; develop a strong stomach because you can’t anticipate stock market ups and downs; do your homework so you can understand the reasons to own a particular stock; and buy shares in solid companies and don’t let go of them without a good reason.

If you’re seeking an easy-to-follow guide to investing that can provide you with a good foundation, read this book.

The Best Book For Managing Your Debt

The Total Money Makeover, Dave Ramsey (P1,150, Fully Booked; ebook: P670.49, National Bookstore)

If you will make the sacrifices now that most people aren’t willing to make, later on you will be able to live as those folks will never be able to live.

If you’re struggling with debt, Dave Ramsey can help. At the core of The Total Money Makeover* are seven steps to financial freedom. One of Ramsey’s big philosophies is “no debt” — no credit cards, no loans, no nothing. Pay for everything with cash. This isn’t easy, but it forms the basis of his seven steps.

The first part of the book is designed to help you overcome the hurdles you face when you confront your personal finances, like money myths, ignorance, and the desire to fit in (which can put you in debt). Once you’ve got over the hurdles, it teaches you to build your financial foundation by paying off all your debts and saving for big purchases.

This isn’t for those who already have a good handle on finances and are looking for ways to increase their wealth; instead, it’s for people who want a simple way to get their money in line and themselves out of debt.

The Best Book For Planning Your Retirement

You Can Retire Sooner Than You Think: The 5 Secrets of the Happiest Retirees, Wes Moss (ebook: P482.99, National Bookstore)

Spoiler alert! Here are the 5 secrets:

    • Determine what you want and need your retirement money for
    • Figure out how much you need to save
    • Create a plan to pay off your mortgage in as little as five years
    • Develop an income stream from multiple sources
    • Become an income investor

You might think you need to work until you’re 75 to save up enough money to retire, but Wes Moss has good news for you — you don’t. Following the five steps above will help you prepare for a financially secure retirement. The book also walks you through an exercise of how you want to live your retirement to help you determine how much money you actually need.

Moss gives a lot of practical advice not only for a financially secure retirement, but a fulfilling one. He advises that retirees find core pursuits (activities they really love doing) and develop them, so that they can fully enjoy the retirement life.

If you’re approaching retirement, definitely read this book.

The Best Book For Understanding Economic Issues

Economics: The User’s Guide, Ha-Joon Chang (ebook: P622.89, National Bookstore)

When was the last time you had a debate on the future of the Euro, inequality in China or the future of the American manufacturing industry? These issues can have a huge impact on your life, wherever you live, by affecting, positively or negatively, your job prospects, your wage and eventually your pension, but you probably haven’t thought about them seriously.

We believe that economics is a “science”; that there’s only one correct answer to everything, and professionals know best. But this is far from the case. There’s no “one right answer”; instead, there are many theories. And many of these theories actually fail (see: every financial crisis).

If you don’t know your neoclassical economics from the Keynesian school, this is the book for you. Chang gives a crash course of economic history, the strengths and weaknesses of the different schools of thought, and how all these highfalutin concepts actually have an effect on your everyday life. Learn more about complex economic issues and impress friends at dinner parties with this book.

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