Comments on: 26 Personal Finance Books – Ranked From Best To Worst

By: Tina

Tina — Mon, 10 May 2010 23:16:42 +0000

Dave Ramsey puts common sense practices into every day use. He explains things in a way that can make even a child understand. My husband and I have followed his plan (teeny bit modified) and it works!

By: Finomist

Finomist — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:36:25 +0000

Thank you for the list, also I have already bought two books from your list :-)

Thanks for the ONE PAGE booktoo..i have taken a liberty to add that in my blog too!!

By: Barb

Barb — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 18:53:07 +0000

I agree that “Your Money or Your Life” is the best book there is for just about every aspect of money, period. I read it years ago, and want to re-read it. Your whole list was fascinating. I’d heard of or seen most of the books, and enjoyed your take on them. I also agree that “Personal Finance for Dummies” is a very good basic book, a great place to start.

By: apennysaved

apennysaved — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:43:01 +0000

Would like to hear if anyone has read Jean Chatzky (the financial person who is on the Today Show)’s books about debt. Also Oprah’s Debt Diet (it’s on her website—-not a book but a bunch of information & worksheets, etc., based on a series of shows she had, with various panelists, including Jean Chatzky, about debt).

By: Jay Cee

Jay Cee — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 16:47:06 +0000

A bit late for a reply, but I just want to add my own recommendation, what I’d consider a #1 personal finance and debt-eliminating title:

“HOW TO GET OUT OF DEBT, STAY OUT OF DEBT, AND LIVE PROSPEROUSLY”

I just “shouted” the name of the title because I really, truly highly recommend it. The steps are invaluable, and there’s also a bit of spiritual and 12-step content, with the goal of changing your thinking/attitude, and uplifting your lifestyle while getting out of debt.

By: James

James — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 22:53:56 +0000

I think you have to look at which authors have a conflict of interest. As a Chartered Financial Consultant, I avoid any books from any author that is selling something besides their books and their expertise.

Orman is the pinnacle of a conflict of interest. She touts on her show that you should be financially responsible (money before things) yet she goes and produces commercials for GM stating it is financially correct to buy new cars. If she said it on her own show at least a few times (which I have never seen her say the times I have watched her show pre-GM commercial), the commercials become a moot point. She is then consistent in her advice.

She clearly did those commercials to build her bank account yet she bankrupted her professional ethics. A good financial advisor has no conflicts of interest. They will present all options without influence of personal or company means.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 01:01:43 +0000

P.S…the flaws in Cramer’s ideas is that he doesn’t invest in stocks using pure and raw business principles. His methods depend to a large degree on market momentum and cheerful forecasts of which no one can really be sure of. His ideas are lacking any true margin of safety, and requires one to be too focused on price quotations. There is no focus on value in Cramer’s framework. Buffett said…”Why risk what you have and need to get what you don’t have and don’t need?” Buffett also says…”Rule no. 1 Don’t lose money, Rule no.2 Never forget Rule no.1″

By: Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 00:53:42 +0000

Well if you ever want to do well in the stock market you best forget everything you ever read by Cramer.

I’d recommend these…

1-Beating the Street….by peter Lynch
2-One Up on Wall Street….by Peter Lynch
3-How to Pick Stocks Like Warren Buffett….by Timothy Vick
4-Wall Street on Sale….by Timothy Vick
5-The Warren Buffett Way…by Robert Hagstrom
6-The Intelligent Investor….by Benjamin Graham
7-Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America…by Lawrence Cunningham
8-The Little Book that Beats the Market….by Joel Greenblatt
9-The Dhandho Investor…by Mohnish Pabrai
10-Damn Right….by Janet Lowe
11-Buffett: The Making of an American capitalist…by Roger Lowenstein

Cramer is madness. The bulk of his wealth is in the IPO stock for his company TheStreet.com…as well as his earnings from CNBC. He was also in sales at Goldman Sachs for a period. He did run a small hedge fund for a period. The results of that fund have ben debated, and documentation of his track record has been difficult to verify accurately. I would study Buffett. The majority of his wealth was made picking stocks and buying businesses. he never did a TV show and never wrote a book. Cramer is a great writer and entertainer. Sorry you liked the book. He is nothing more than Wall Street’s version of Robert Kiyosaki.

By: Carnival of Personal Finance » Carnival of Personal Finance #100

Carnival of Personal Finance » Carnival of Personal Finance #100 — Mon, 14 May 2007 04:16:44 +0000

[...] 26 Personal Finance Books – Ranked From Best To Worst [...]

By: Chris Burgwald

Chris Burgwald — Fri, 11 May 2007 19:57:52 +0000

Linnet, I’m curious as to why you found PFfD merely “mildly interesting”… in my case, it was the first book I’d read that gave the big picture of PF, and I thought the author did a nice job of balancing the big picture and the need for some degree of detail. I read it after I read Ramsey’s TMM, and I thought it nicely rounded out what Ramsey doesn’t cover.

I’m curious about your thoughts.

By: Linnet

Linnet — Thu, 10 May 2007 04:18:37 +0000

Personal Finance for Dummies? Well, I guess it was mildly interesting.
Trent, what about Jane Bryant Quinn’s other book?–the one about managing money for busy people?
Interesting list–thank you. Interesting comments–thanks for those, too!

By: Chris Burgwald

Chris Burgwald — Wed, 09 May 2007 16:09:49 +0000

Trent, I hope you get a chance to read Personal Finance for Dummies… it’s both one of the best of the Dummies series and one of the best PF books I’ve ever read… I highly recommend it.

In the meantime, thanks for the 26 you’ve already reviewed! Great stuff!

By: ck_dex

ck_dex — Tue, 08 May 2007 21:26:55 +0000

I agree with you on “Your Money or Your Life”. It’s far and away the best and most balanced personal finance book addressing getting out of debt, realigning values and setting financial independence as a goal.

Another terrific personal finance book (specifically addressing a system for getting out of debt and budgeting) is Elizabeth Warren’s “All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan”.

I agree with your readers who say “Nickel and Dimed” is not in any way a personal finance book. Anymore than James Scurlock’s new book and movie “Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of Predatory Lenders” is a pf book. Yet both are compelling sociological pieces. To me, a personal finance books must have some systematized method for addressing the basics: budgeting, debt, how to think about money.

By: chris

chris — Tue, 08 May 2007 04:21:57 +0000

The Richest Man in Babylon, I LOVE THIS BOOK!!! BUT, I do recommend not reading it, but listening to it. I got it from our library and put it on my iPod. It is the single greatest most interesting and most entertaining book I have ever listen to on CD. Mix Shakespeare with money principals and you got yourself a great read/listen.

I agree that it is more for beginners, but it has some great principals.

Thanks Trent

By: Heather

Heather — Tue, 08 May 2007 00:32:37 +0000

I read Nickel and Dimed in college four or five years ago. It was required reading for my Sociology class, and it’s value to me is immeasurable. I’m a white girl from a middle-class suburban (broken) family. I went to college in North Philadelphia, where all around the “borders” of campus people lived in run-down homes and shootings were the norm. Being there and reading Ehrenreich’s book showed me the world in a different light. Although her book deals with personal finance, I believe her intention was with educating those of us in shoes we bought new, not second-hand, of the real-life disadvantages of others.

By: lorax

lorax — Mon, 07 May 2007 23:31:59 +0000

I have to disagree with two entries:

- Millionaire Next Door – despite undoubtedly intelligent researchers, the conclusions from the survey in this book would have never passed peer review in the physical sciences arena. They forgot to poll non-millionaires! It’s quite possible that there are many penniless people walking around that did exactly what the millionaires did. The book is fun to read, but the conclusion is flawed. (In fact, I know a few counter-examples myself.)

– Making The Most Of Your Money – this book is in a completely different class than the others, it’s a reference book and not meant to be read as a simple plan for how to managed your finances.

By: Rob

Rob — Mon, 07 May 2007 22:16:02 +0000

I was surprised you reviewed Nickle and Dimed as a personal finance book. When I worked at a bookstore we always shelved it under Sociology – the opposite end of the store from Finance. Without commenting on the content of the book I’m not surprised it had very little value within the context of personal finance, I don’t think that was ever the author’s intention.

By: Shawna

Shawna — Mon, 07 May 2007 18:31:04 +0000

I am totally with you on Nickel and Dimed. I bought when it was first out thinking it would be somewhat enlightening. I was wrong. As I read it I kept thinking, ‘thank you captain obvious.’

By: clkl

clkl — Mon, 07 May 2007 18:20:17 +0000

This is wonderful. Thank you so much for compiling this list, and for all of your reviews.

By: Tyler

Tyler — Mon, 07 May 2007 17:39:08 +0000

Thanks for your hard work in putting this list together! This will be my go to list for the rest of the year (books to read).