The United States has some pretty good schools and some great universities. Indeed, many people from all over the world come to America to study and to attend university. We train many foreigners from all over the world to become doctors, engineers, and scientist. Americans are good teachers and have some of the best practices in the world.
Despite the many things that America is good at teaching, there is one important area where we are failing. If we are honest, we have to admit that America has not done a very good job of teaching financial literacy.
Financial Literacy Is Very Poor
Many people – young and old – don’t understand the basics when it comes to credit, investing, managing money, and creating wealth. To be honest, when it comes to managing their finances and their money, many people are pretty dumb. For many, it’s not that they can’t make money. No. Money passes through their fingers quite frequently. They just can’t manage to keep it in their pocket for very long. Therefore, they are not able to save and invest. Because they are not able to save, they are unable to invest and benefit from the power of compound interest.
In my book, What My Father Didn’t Teach Me: Lessons I Had To Learn On My Own, I stress the importance of reading and provide several reasons why you should continue reading books.
First and foremost, reading guards against being ignorant. When you are ignorant, you can miss out on opportunities and people can take advantage of you.
My 10 Best Financial Literacy Books
Here are my 10 best financial literacy books that you should read (in no particular order). Note that if you check the number of positive reviews posted by other readers this is not just my opinion.
- The Richest Man In Babylon
- Think and Grow Rich
- The Science Of Getting Rich
- You Can Retire Sooner Than You Think
- The Millionaire Next Door
- The Millionaire Mind
- The Automatic Millionaire: A Powerful One-Step Plan to Live and Finish Rich
- Rich Dad Poor Dad: What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money – That The Poor And Middle Class Do Not!
- Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan For Financial Fitness
- I Will Teach You To Be Rich
This is just 10 examples of some of the most popular financial literacy books available. There are many other good lesser known books as well. If you are starting at zero, meaning you have no knowledge about how to save or invest money, reading one or more of these 10 financial literacy books will establish a firm foundation from which to build.
Over time, I recommend that you add all of these books to your personal library. To help your children learn more about personal finance and investing, you should make one or more of these books required reading.