Best Investing Books To Read This Year: 11 Books To Be A Better Investor. Books to learn about money and investment analysis. This post contains Amazon affiliate links and ads by Monumetric.
One of the most important components of investing is reading.
I mean, if you’re gonna have the audacity to think you can beat the market by selecting individual stocks, you have no choice but to read. You must read books, news articles, quarterly reports, and you must be committed to research. Otherwise, you will eventually lose.
According to Business Insider and CNBC, Warren Buffet estimates that he spends 80% of his work day reading. In fact, he recommends that everyone reads 500 pages per day.
Since reading has been such an important part of my own investment strategy, I wanted to share the books that helped me.
In this post, I will show you the 11 best investing books to read so that you can become a better investor.
I still probably spend five to six hours a day reading. – Warren Buffett
In short, it’s my favourite investing book of all time.
Just so you know, The Intelligent Investor is a serious book. It reads like a textbook.
After reading Ben Graham’s ideas about enterprising and defensive investors, I immediately adjusted my investment strategy. I have been relying on his recommendations ever since.
I would highly recommend picking up a copy of this book if you want to learn how to select stocks. It is absolutely essential to become an intelligent and successful investor.
2. One Up on Wall Street: How To Use What You Already Know To Make Money In The Market
Author: Peter Lynch
One Up On Wall Street is another excellent book for learning about investing. It’s the book that introduced me to the concept of a “ten bagger.”
In short, the author of the book, Peter Lynch, explains the advantages that average investors have over professionals and how to use these advantages to achieve personal success.
Reading this book caused me to take a very personal approach to the companies I own. In addition to the financial research, I buy their products, examine their website, and pay attention to their social media presence. I’m not sure if the people in my life realize it, but I ask a lot of questions about products to get unbiased opinions, too.
Overall, you will learn about the kind of effort it takes to find a great company that is undervalued. The author is a legendary mutual fund manager that went to great lengths to analyze companies.
3. Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits
Author: Philip A. Fisher
Although this book was first published in 1958, it’s still valuable for analyzing stocks in my opinion.
I would almost put it up there with The Intelligent investor. The author, Philip A. Fisher is excellent at making un-obvious points about investment analysis seem obvious. He is just brilliant and makes long term investing easy to understand.
I sought out Phil Fisher after reading his Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits…A thorough understanding of the business, obtained by using Phil’s techniques…enables one to make intelligent investment commitments. – Warren Buffet
4. Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!
Author: Robert T. Kiyosaki
To put it bluntly, I didn’t know shit about money when I finished school. I had no idea of the impact that my student loan debt would have on me. Frankly, I was terrible at managing money up until that point. I mean, there was this secret side of me that liked to save a little bit of money from various jobs. But I would put it in an easy-to-access account and end up wasting it.
It wasn’t until around the age of 24 that I was introduced to Rich Dad Poor Dad. It changed everything. The concept throughout the book is to acquire assets that pay you money instead of liabilities.
Rich Dad Poor Dad is a book I would highly recommend reading for motivation and to get the right mindset for investing.
5. Stop Working. Here’s how you can!
Author: Derek Foster
After I became interested in Dividend Investing, I soon realized that not many books on the topic existed.
That was until I came across Stop Working. Here’s how you can!
If you’re already a Canadian Dividend Investor, it’s a good book to consider to reinforce the concept.
6. Think and Grow Rich
Investing requires patience, discipline, a long-term plan, and the mindset to stick to a strategy.
Think and Grow Rich is a great book to gain the motivation to get through anything.
For example, I read this book in June 2012 while on the most horrendous week of commuting in my entire life.
I obtained a job in an industry that I could’t pass up and had to find a way to make things work. It was a two and a half hour commute across many cities. For the first week, I had to commute by train and two buses each way. It was truly awful. I ended up buying a car on the weekend after that first week, though. I’m not so sure I would’ve have made it if I didn’t read Think and Grow Rich, to tell you the truth. It provided me with the right mindset to get through the week. It’s a very motivational book.
7. Buffettology: The Previously Unexplained Techniques That Have Made Warren Buffett The World’s Most Famous Investor
Author: Marry Buffett
If I could snap my fingers and be where I was when I read this book, I totally would! I was flying to Costa Rica when I first started reading Buffettology. If I’m honest, that trip was probably the happiest I’ve ever been in my life. I was completely captivated by the scenery and unique lifestyle the entire trip.
Although I would not classify it in the same category as The Intelligent Investor, it really helped me understand the value of stock buybacks. It even provides simple calculations for how Buffet values a stock.
Overall, it’s a quick read that offers a view into the mind of Warren Buffet.
8. Start Late, Finish Rich
Author: David Bach
Start Late, Finish Rich applies David Bach’s Finish Rich wisdom to all those who “forgot” to save and are worried that it is now too late to achieve financial freedom.
Ironically, I read this book when I was a lot younger. If only I had’ve followed the advice back then…I’d probably be nearing Financial independence by my current age.
However, I read this book shortly before leaving for college. Since I was a broke student living off student loans, I never put any of the concepts taught in this book into practice. But 10 years later, I’m finally using the key concepts I learned in my day-to-day life.
9. The Millionaire Next Door
Author: Dr. Thomas J. Stanley
The Millionaire Next door is a best selling book that identifies key traits of millionaires.
After interviewing a large number of millionaires, the author, Dr. Thomas J. Stanley, discovers that most millionaires do not live extravagant lifestyles at all. In fact, many of them are very frugal.
The other take away from this book is that most millionaires are entrepreneurs. A large number of the millionaires that were interviewed own businesses.
Overall, I found it to be a fascinating read. It’s eye-opening and it changes your perspective on money.
10. The Wealthy Barber: The Common Sense Guide To Successful Financial Planning
Author: David Chilton
I added The Wealthy Barber to the list because it was requested in the comments.
It’s for good reason too. It’s a common sense guide for anyone to achieve financial independence.
The book focuses on concepts like paying yourself first and investing in mutual funds regardless of the market.
It’s a timeless book and it shows how regular people can become wealthy if they commit to simple habits.
11. The Psychology Of Money – Timeless Lessons On Wealth, Greed, and Happiness
Author: Morgan Housel
The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel is the most recently published book on the list. It was published on September 8, 2020, so it’s very applicable to current investors.
Even though it doesn’t get into as much detail on investment analysis as some of the other books, personally, I think it’s one of the best investing books of all time.
This is because doing well with money isn’t necessarily about what you study. It’s about behaviour more than anything else.
This book takes a real-world approach to investing. It’s a short but fascinating read that I would highly recommend.
Best Investing Books – Final Thoughts
Now you know the best investing books to learn more about investing.
The books on this list provide the foundation required to become a better investor.
Furthermore, these are the books that moulded my personal investment style. They influenced the way I invest and taught me how to select individual stocks.
I hope you are able to find as much value from these books as I have.
If you have any more books to share, please feel free to share in the comments below. Otherwise, let me know your thoughts if you’ve read any of the 11 books. Thanks for reading!
I am not a licensed investment or tax adviser. All opinions are my own. This post may contain advertisements by Monumetric. This post may also contain internal links, affiliate links to BizBudding, Amazon, Bluehost, and Questrade, links to trusted external sites, and links to RTC social media accounts.
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