There are a lot of financial books to choose from… so we picked our favorites for you. Read and recommended by Zuckerman Investment Group.
With summer right around the corner, it is time to start preparing your list of beach reads. Make the most of your free time by finding a good read that will also teach you how to improve your money skills. Below is a curated list of 11 personal finance books our team recommends:
- Investing Amid Low Expected Returns by Antti Ilmanen
- Mastering the Market Cycle by Howard Marks
- Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics by Richard Thaler
- Richer Than a Millionaire by Richard Van Ness & William Danko
- The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by John Bogle
- The Little Book that Still Beats the Market by Joel Greenblatt
- The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley & William Danko
- The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
- The Worldly Philosophers by Robert Heilbroner
- Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
- What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School by Mark McCormack
If you are looking to recommend a summer reading book to your children or grandchildren, Scholastic just announced their Summer Reading program: click here.
Please see below for a brief summary of each book.
Investing Amid Low Expected Returns
Written by Antti Ilmanen
Investing Amid Low Expected Returns is a survey of returns across a wide variety of global assets both on an historical basis and has forward looking insights as well. Antti Ilmanen also touches upon many fundamental academic concepts of how markets work.
Mastering the Market Cycle
Written by Howard Marks
What goes up, must come down. Mastering the Market Cycle takes readers through what financial cycles are, how they act and what influences them. Howard Marks, Co-Founder & Co-Chairman of Oaktree Capital Management, discusses why being aware of financial cycles is one of the most important things for an investor.
Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics
Written by Richard Thaler
Misbehaving takes you through the journey of how psychology and economics formed the in-between discipline of behavioral economics. Over the course of the book, Richard Thaler challenges the way we think about economics and how human behavior differs.
Richer Than a Millionaire
Written by Richard Van Ness & William Danko
What does it mean to really be rich? Richer Than a Millionaire is an insightful book on creating true wealth and happiness in life: a guide to a life of freedom, service, and significance. The book is written by two experts who hope to inspire the next generation to reach a life of true prosperity.
The Little Book of Common Sense Investing
Written by John Bogle
The Little Book of Common Sense Investing is a guide about how to invest right and get educated about the market. John Bogel, Founder of Vanguard, describes his simple strategy for building long-term wealth.
The Little Book that Still Beats the Market
Written by Joel Greenblatt
The Little Book is a crash course on how to outperform the market based on Joel Greenblatt’s “Magic Formula” for buying good companies at bargain prices. The book explains how to view the market, why most people continuously fail at beating the market, and quality and low price stocks.
The Millionaire Next Door
Written by Thomas J. Stanley
What does it mean to be a millionaire? The Millionaire Next Door details the spending and saving habits that lead to excess cash and debunks myths about the millionaire lifestyle. The authors reveal what is means to actually be rich.
The Psychology of Money
Written by Morgan Housel
The Psychology of Money explores the concept that we are emotional, rarely rational, beings when it comes to our financial decisions. Your financial success depends more on your behavior than technical skills. Housel provides the reader with tangible takeaways on how to think and act more rationally with money.
The Wordly Philosophers
Written by Robert Heilbroner
Heilbroner details the histories and contributions to the field of economics of eight major economists and group thinkers including Adam Smith, Thorstein Veblen, and David Ricardo. Each chapter covers one economist. This book goes deeper than a textbook, welcoming the reader into the personal lives and careers of these established individuals.
Thinking, Fast and Slow
Written by Daniel Kahneman
Thinking, Fast and Slow explains how decisions are made and why judgement errors are so common, helping us understand the brilliance and limitations inside our heads. The author, Daniel Kahneman, won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his work in decision making.
What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School
Written by Mark McCormack
Regardless of how much knowledge you have gained at college, it’s always different to apply what you have learned to the real world. What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School teaches you how to run a business, negotiate deals, and network from those who are already running a successful business.