With the summer holidays approaching, I’m starting to get my summer reading list ready. I’ve got the latest Richard Osman offering and a couple that Amazon describes as ‘light summer reading’ (in other words great to send you into snoozing mode in the sun after a hard day at the beach), I also have a couple of new money books as well.
While you are planning your reading list, I thought I would share a few of my go-to Money books, to help you prepare your money mindset for the New Year.
The top of the list for me, is the book that got me started on my Money Psychology journey. Written by my now mentor and friend David Krueger, “The Secret Language of Money”. Reading this was an Ah Ha moment for me. I knew there was more to this money stuff than just numbers, reading David’s book really opened my eyes to just how much our emotions impacted our financial decisions, and how that impacts our life.
In no particular order here are a few more of my favourites.
Dan Ariely and his books on Behavioural Economics certainly get you thinking about how we behave. Whether you agree with him or not, his books are worth reading. If you want a bit more theory, then “Predictably Irrational’ is a good choice.
‘Dollars and Sense’ which he co-authored with Jeff Kreisler is more light-hearted and shares the theory through stories. I found myself nodding my head and chuckling at quite a few of the scenarios, I’d been there and done that.
‘Crazy about Money’ by Maggie Baker, Ph.D. She takes us on a journey through the stages of life and delves into where our money beliefs come from and how they shape us. She is a practicing psychologist and shares her advice based on her 30 yrs plus of counselling patients. The blurb on the back of the book describes it as “Funny, humane, and to the point. This will be the most fun you’ve ever had while learning why we act as we do.” I found that to be true as I read it.
“The Power of Habit”, Charles Duhigg. While not directly about money, our habits and understanding them are a cornerstone if we want to make change in any area of our life.
There’s a fascinating chapter about the store Target, and how they used our habits to predict what we want before we know it and then market to us accordingly. This was written before AI, so goodness knows what data is being collected and studied about us as we dutifully swipe our supermarket loyalty card every time we shop.
One of the more popular books about money is Morgan Housel’s, “The Psychology of Money”. Again, this book is story based, so it makes very relatable and readable. When I read it, I felt it was skewed a little towards investing behaviour, nothing wrong with that, just something to be aware of.
Whilst talking about investing. I’m not an authorised adviser, so I find investing a bit of a minefield. When I read Simran Kaur’s book “Girls that Invest” I came out with a much better understanding of investing and that it isn’t as scary as I thought. I don’t think this book is just for girls either, I think guys who want to start their investment journey will get a lot out of it.
Parents, here is your must read. ‘The Opposite of Spoiled’, by Ron Lieber. He takes the fear out of talking to our children about money as well as answering the questions that parents have. How do we talk to our kids about money? How do we raise children who are smart about money? I wish I had this book when my daughter was little, I would have handled quite a few situations differently, had I been armed with this information. One of the key takeaways for me was, don’t lie to your children about money.
You can’t of course go past the classics like Rich Dad, Poor Dad. The Richest Man in Babylon, Think and Grow Rich and more recently The Barefoot Investor, and I will Teach you to be rich.
I’m going to read Victoria Vivente’s “Know your Worth” and Ramit Sethi “Money for couples” over the Xmas break, so I’ll fill you in on those later.
There are hundreds, probably thousands more books about money out there that you could choose from, I’ve shared just a fraction of them to get you started and give you a cross section of the various areas to explore.
If you have read any others that you would like to add to my list, please share them in the comments. Feel free to add a few novels as well, maybe ones that won’t send me off to sleep!
*Lynda Moore is a Money Mentalist coach and New Zealand’s only certified New Money Story® mentor. Lynda helps you understand why you do the things you do with your money, when we all know we should spend less than we earn. You can contact her here.
Being Kiwi-modest, Lynda didn't include her own book in this article. She should have. It is:Conversations With Money: A Love Story: How to love your money and it love you back
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