Best Investing Books

If you're looking to learn more about investing, there's no better place to start than with a good book. Find the best investing books in this guide.

Investing can get really complicated, really fast.

Luckily, the subject has been covered from every angle imaginable in countless books.

But which investing books are worth reading?

This list of the best books on investing can help you find the gems without having to sift through the mediocre content first.

The Best Investing Books

The Intelligent Investor - Best Overall

There's a reason that Warren Buffett called this "the best book on investing ever written." Benjamin Graham (1894-1976), an economist, professor, and investor, first published The Intelligent Investor in 1949. It's been a foundational text of investing knowledge ever since.

The main subject of the book is Graham's belief in "value investing," and how to go about it. He makes a distinction between investing and speculation.

Investing is a long-term, low-risk strategy for building wealth achieved by putting your money only in stocks of companies that you believe in and understand. Speculation is the risky attempt to make quick money by taking advantage of short-term changes in the market, and Graham didn't believe in it.

You can find the original book with revisions and notes from modern voices, which can help you find modern applications of this timeless wisdom in today's market.

The Intelligent Investor isn't about making you rich. It's about keeping you financially whole, and giving you a foundation of wealth to build your life around.

The Little Book of Common Sense Investing - Best for Index Funds

John C. Bogle's Little Book of Common Sense Investing offers insight into his relatively simple strategy for success.

Bogle was founder and leader of The Vanguard Group, and is said to have created the first index fund—and according to his book, it's through low-cost index funds that you can find the path to successful investing.

The strategy he describes isn't flashy or particularly exciting. Similar to Benjamin Graham's approach, it isn't designed to make you rich, but instead, secure. He advocates for buying and holding a mutual fund that tracks a stock market index like the S&P 500—hence the term index fund.

The first edition of the book was published in 2007, and its strategy has proven to be successful ever since.

Bogle's book discussions topics like:

• The 3 sources of investment returns: dividends, earnings growth, and change in stock price
  
• How to pursue a low-effort investment strategy for better returns in the long run
  
• How to invest for retirement and how to allocate one's assets effectively

This book has been lauded by famous investors like Warren Buffet and many others. If you're looking for a time-tested strategy for building wealth at low cost and low risk, this book is for you.

The Psychology of Money - Best for Everyday Decision-Making

Author Morgan Housel has written for the Wall Street Journal and the Motley Fool, and now he's a partner at Collaborative Fund. In his book The Psychology of Money, he attempts to get to the root of the questions of why we treat our money the way we do.

In this book, he tries to get away from the numbers-focused approach to investing, finance, and business, and instead focus on the behaviors and thought patterns that determine our financial success.

Housel argues that people aren't perfectly logical, and expecting yourself to make decisions purely based on the numbers is going to lead to a lot of disappointment.

Through the 19 stories in the book, Housel aims to illustrate how people interact with money in the real world, and make you a better investor in doing so.

The Book on Rental Property Investing - Best for Real Estate Investing

It's easy to forget that investing doesn't have to mean trading stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds. In fact, real estate represents a huge percentage of the investing market.

In The Book on Rental Property Investing, Brandon Turner, a successful real estate investor, as well as co-host of the BiggerPockets Podcast, shows you how you can get into this particular investment class.

The book is long and full of detail at almost 400 pages. It offers actionable strategies for investing in real estate market no matter where you are. As the name suggests, it focuses on rental properties, which can provide a consistent source of income.

Readers will learn all the steps required to become a successful real estate investor, including:

• How to recognize properties worth buying
  
• Where to look for good deals
  
• How to get financing and structure a business
  
• What pitfalls to avoid to ensure your success as a real estate investor

The Total Money Makeover - Best for Budgeting

There's a good chance you've heard of Dave Ramsey. He's the host of the nationally syndicated The Ramsey Show, and former host of a show on Fox by the same name.

His book, The Total Money Makeover, aims to help average people get their finances in shape.

Ramsey takes a holistic approach to investing advice, discussing the everyday realities that affect people's financial health, like student loans and family life. By the time you finish the book, you'll have the tools you need for financial well-being and a plan for emergencies and retirement.

The Total Money Makeover isn't about getting rich. It's about sound financial decision-making, getting out of debt, and building wealth in a way that will last to see you through good times and bad.

Key points include:

• Building an emergency fund
  
• Strategies for paying off debt
  
• Saving for large future expenses like college tuition or retirement

A Beginner's Guide to the Stock Market - Best for Beginners

Want to learn how to navigate the stock market while minimizing the risk to your hard-earned money? A Beginner's Guide to the Stock Market is worth checking out.

Author Matthew Kratter spent 20 years working as a hedge fund manager, and in A Beginner's Guide to the Stock Market, he shares all you need to know to get started as an investor.

He'll help you avoid beginner mistakes and offer useful strategies for making your investments. Kratter's book includes guidance for:

• How to buy stocks for the first time
  
• How to choose the best broker
  
• How to recognize which stocks have the potential to increase in value

With this guide, you'll be able to go from someone who's never invested to someone who can invest confidently, and build long-term plans for growth over a lifetime.

Rich Dad Poor Dad - Best for Everyday Investors

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki is one of the most widely read books on personal finance.

In the book, Kiyosaki compares what it was like growing up with his own father (the "poor dad") versus the things he learned from his friend's dad, who happened to be rich.

It explores how the rich think differently about money than everyone else, and how they make their money work for them to make even more. Readers will learn ways to earn real wealth without having to be lucky enough to have a high income.

Readers who dive into Rich Dad, Poor Dad will walk away with insights like:

• The difference between an asset and a liability
  
• How to buy assets that generate income
  
• How to make money the smart way, not the hard way

The Money Manual - Best for Young Adults

If you're interested in a fresher take on investing advice, look no further than The Money Manual by Tonya B Rapley, founder of the site My Fab Finance and a popular figure in the finance world on Twitter.

This guide aims to help everyone master their money and remove the stress of financial uncertainty.

As you're getting started on your journey navigating finances, it's important to have a well-developed set of financial skills, and The Money Manual is a great tool to hone those skills.

In Rapley's books, you'll learn crucial tips on:

• How to budget and save
  
• How to eliminate debt
  
• How to handle the burden of student loans
  
• How to build credit
  
• How to plan for the future

The Women's Guide to Successful Investing - Best for Women

Sometimes you want to hear advice from someone whose life experience more closely resembles your own.

For women interested in investing, they need look no further than Nancy Tengler and The Women's Guide to Successful Investing.

Tengler has solid credentials, with over two decades experience as a wealth advisor, regular guest appearances to talk finance on major TV stations, and contributions to respected news sites. You can be sure that she knows what she's talking about.

In the book, Tengler make even difficult ideas easy to understand by explaining them using simple, straightforward language. By the end, you should know everything you need to start investing in the stock market—woman or man.

Investing for Kids - Best for Kids

It's never too early to start learning how to invest. In fact, thanks to the power of compound interest, earlier is better.

Why waste 20 years of potential investing time waiting for maturity? Thanks to Investing for Kids: How to Save, Invest, and Grow Money by Dylin Redling and Allison Tom, you don't have to.

This book, aimed at kids from 8-12, makes the concepts of saving and investing easy to understand so that kids can get a jump-start on their financial future.

It includes actionable advice that kids can follow throughout their lives explained in terms and with context that kids will understand, and activities that parents or teachers can use to help the concepts stick.

If you're hoping to ready your kids for a strong financial future, this is the book for you.

Think and Grow Rich - Best for Timeless Wisdom

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill is more about mindset than anything else. One of the oldest books on this list, it was first published in 1937, but it still comes highly recommended by people in the finance world.

In this classic, Hill hopes to teach by example, illustrating his ideas with stories of successful men out of the history books like Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Andrew Carnegie. In the newest edition, there are updates to include modern exemplars of success as well.

While this book doesn't necessarily provide a direct strategy for investing itself, it is considered a window into the mindset of a successful investor.

Bottom Line

Learning to invest can seem like a real mountain of a task, but it doesn't have to be. With a little effort and a little guidance, you can start your investing journey no matter what your resources.

There are people who have devoted their lives to helping others lift themselves up, and thanks to the power of the written word, we have access to their thoughts whenever we need them.

So, take a look, dive in, and get ready to start down the path to a better financial future.