I sometimes get asked something along the lines of, “What book(s) should I read to learn more about financial topics?” Mainly to make my life easier by being able to send them this (but also hopefully to be helpful to other folks), this post is the answer to that question.
To be perfectly clear, someone else could generate a similar list that has exactly zero of these titles on it and it could still be a fantastic list. There are a wealth (pun intended) of great financial literacy resources (books, blogs, podcasts, etc.) and there is not one “right” way to delve into them. But the following list is certainly one great way to learn almost everything you need to know about financial topics. It’s only “almost” everything because there are always individual situations that can arise that might require learning more about a very specific topic, but these resources are sufficient to educate yourself enough to lead a very successful financial life.
Before I get to the list, a brief note about my definition of what a “very successful financial life” looks like. I’ve previously shared my definition of financial literacy, but personal finance is personal, and so is how you define “success” for your life. You have to decide what your “good life” looks like, focusing on your values and your goals. You then need to align your financial decisions in such a way to help you live those values and achieve those goals. That “good life” will look different for different people, but all of the following resources should help each person gain the financial knowledge necessary in order to do that.
You can work your way through the following resources in any order you want. Having said that, I am going to suggest a “progression” of sorts that might be helpful for some folks.
Read these first (at least one, preferably several)
- The Wealthy Barber (1997 and 2025 version): This is a great first book to get your head around personal finance. It’s told in a story format which makes it really accessible. It’s based in Canada so some of the specific account types are different than what we have in the U.S., but the story works for everyone. You can likely find the older version at a public library or get a very inexpensive used copy.
- The Money Tree: A Story About Finding the Fortune in Your Own Backyard: This is a more modern version of The Wealthy Barber, telling the story of the main character and how he proceeds from financially clueless to financially literate.
- Financial Literacy for the Rest of Us: This one is by me, so I hesitated to add it to this list. But if you read this blog and find my writing style and level of explanation helpful, then you likely would find this book helpful.
- The Simple Path to Wealth: Your Road Map to Financial Independence and a Rich, Free Life: This book by JL Collins is excellent. It’s an engaging read and full of great knowledge (revised in 2025).
- TL;DR Financial Literacy Series: If you are an educator and/or someone who has a public service pension, then find your specific pension plan and buy that book. And then share it with colleagues.
- Millionaire Next Door is an older book but does a great job demonstrating why you don’t necessarily have to have a high income to achieve financial security.
Read these next (at least one, preferably several)
- Work Optional: Retire Early the Non-Penny-Pinching Way: This book by Tanja Hester is a great book-length introduction to the Financial Independence movement (and even the Retire Early part of FIRE). She shares her path to financial independence and the steps you can take if you’d like to reach the “work optional” stage of your life a little younger than most folks do.
- The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness: Doing well with money isn’t necessarily about what you know. It’s about how you behave. And behavior is hard to teach, even to really smart people. Morgan Housel shares 19 short stories exploring the strange ways people think about money and teaches you how to make better sense of one of life’s most important topics.
- Financial Feminist: This book is good for everyone, but especially for younger folks (let’s say under 40) and for women. Note that Tori is not afraid of using profanity, so if that bothers you, mentally prepare yourself to not be bothered by those words and focus on the content and the takeaways.
- Why Does the Stock Market Go Up?: Everything You Should Have Been Taught About Investing In School, But Weren’t: This is a great intro to all things investing and stock market. It is very accessible for anyone new to investing.
- Anything by John C. (Jack) Bogle including The Little Book of Common Sense Investing
Then read/watch/listen to these:
- Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk: How to Have Essential Conversations with Your Parents About Their Finances: This is an excellent book if you know you need to talk with your parents about their finances, but haven’t figured out how to do it. I would also gently suggest that if you have kids yourself, you should also read this book to figure out how to develop the same type of relationship with your kids around talking about your finances.
- Social Security Made Simple by Mike Piper is all you need to know about Social Security. He updates it any time there are significant changes.
- Taxes Made Simple by Mike Piper is (almost) all you need to know about income taxes. He updates it any time there are significant changes.
- How to Retire: 20 lessons for a happy, successful, and wealthy retirement: Christine Benz shares 20 lessons from financial professions about how to retire successfully, focusing not only on money-related topics but also on psychological and quality of life issues.
- Fisch Financial Blog: Yeah, me again. General information that is hopefully helpful to everyone, but particularly relevant to Colorado educators. Read new posts or start at the beginning.
- Mr. Money Mustache Blog: The O.G. of FI bloggers, Pete doesn’t write as much as he used to, but that doesn’t mean you can’t go back and read all the past articles When I first found his blog, I actually started at the beginning and read every single article in order. Really. Note: He is not shy about using profanity in his posts.
- The MAD Fientist Blog: Along with his podcast, Brandon has written many detailed articles that look at finances from a data perspective. He doesn’t write much anymore, but reading through the archive is great.
- The Choose FI Podcast: From their first episode where they introduce the concept of financial independence and their podcast, to episodes where they dive deep on a particular financial topic, to episodes where they talk with folks from all walks of life about what they’ve learned about financial independence, this podcast is great.
- Catching Up to FI Podcast: A financial independence podcast for late starters.
- Rob Berger’s Podcast: A nice general financial podcast where he sometimes addresses specific topics but also has episodes where he addresses questions that people submit.
Again, there are many great resources that are not on this list. But if you’re looking for a one-stop, how-to-get-up-to-speed list of financial literacy resources, I think working your way through these will be potentially life changing.
I may periodically edit this list if I think of something I’ve missed or if something new comes along. Some folks feel like anything that’s not written in the last couple of years is outdated, but the vast majority of what you need to know about financial literacy is pretty timeless. Yes, changes to taxes or investing accounts or other items do come along and it’s important to keep current on those things. But the core knowledge necessary to live a financially successful life remains essentially the same. If you work through these financial resources you’ll be in great shape to live your “good life.”