Finances can be scary for people to think about. Everyone has their own relationship with money and it is constantly changing, based on jobs, children, or spouses, and it can be incredibly stressful because money is how we are able to live. But it's not impossible to master it, and make life more manageable. While we can't promise anyone can go from "poor" to living in a huge mansion, these books will help provide tips on creating a budget that works for each individual person or family.
The books here also may help with saving, investing, or getting out of credit card or student loan debt. There's advice for all kinds of people — savers and spenders — in a bunch of different deliveries. Whether advice is padded with personal experience or with structured step-by-step guides, reading at least one of these books can help improve your relationship with money, which will benefit everyone in the family.
'My Money My Way: Taking Back Control of Your Financial Life' by Kumiko Love
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Kumiko Love, also known as The Budget Mom, has amassed a large following on social media as a finance influencer for her manageable and effective money advice. A lot of it is included in her book My Money My Way: Taking Back Control of Your Financial Life. It has tips for budgeting, paying off debt and, in her own words, advice to stop “worrying about money and start living a financially fulfilled life.”
'The Black Girl's Guide to Financial Freedom: Build Wealth, Retire Early, and Live the Life of Your Dreams' by Paris Woods
Financial literacy is for everyone, but especially important for communities of color who don’t have a long lineage of generational wealth. The The Black Girl’s Guide to Financial Freedom: Build Wealth, Retire Early, and Live the Life of Your Dreams by Paris Woods is geared toward Black women who want to change the game. One reviewer says “The author, Paris Woods, breaks it down and gives straightforward advice that will prevent you from making financial mis-decisions that will put you 000’s of dollars in debt, encourage you to build wealth and inspire you to retire early by joining the FIRE movement.”
'Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together' by Erin Lowry
Millennials — a lot of us are over 30 now so it’s time to start #adulting. Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together by Erin Lowry can help kick things off. It’s a beginner’s book that covers finances from a holistic viewpoint: Like “understanding your relationship with moolah,” managing student debt, and having money talks with partners and spouses.
'Your Money or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence' by Vicki Robin
Your Money or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence by Vicki Robin has a four-star rating on Amazon and comes highly recommended across the internet, too (hey, Reddit). It covers the main tenets of finance, including budgeting, debt, and developing savings, “through mindfulness and good habits, rather than strict budgeting.”
'The Dumb Things Smart People Do with Their Money: Thirteen Ways to Right Your Financial Wrongs' by Jill Schlesinger
The Dumb Things Smart People Do with Their Money: Thirteen Ways to Right Your Financial Wrongs by Jill Schlesinger is a straightforward guide to getting out of the specific and common money situations many of us find ourselves in. According to the book’s description, “If you’ve saved for college for your kids before saving for retirement, or you’ve avoided drafting a will, this is the book for you.”
'I Will Teach You to Be Rich: No Guilt. No Excuses. No BS. Just a 6-Week Program That Works' by Ramit Sethi
Budgeting and savings advice is great, but everyone has their own situation. I Will Teach You to Be Rich: No Guilt. No Excuses. No BS. Just a 6-Week Program That Works by Ramit Sethi will show you: “How to crush your debt and student loans faster than you thought possible, how to set up no-fee, high-interest bank accounts that won’t gouge you for every penny,” investment advice and much more.
'The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke' by Suze Orman
Suze Orman is an OG financial mentor and we’d be remiss not to include her book on this list. It’s got solid, no-nonsense money tips for beginners and geared toward “young people” starting out their financial journeys. In The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke, “Suze Orman tells her young, fabulous & broke readers precisely what actions to take and why.”
'Managing Your Money All-in-One for Dummies' by The Experts at Dummies
For people who want money advice, how-to, or tips, without a bunch of personal anecdotes, you can’t go wrong with a Dummies guide. Managing Your Money All-in-One For Dummies by The Experts at Dummies covers the basics like saving, investing, paying off debt, doing all of those things for retirement and tax advice, too.
'The Financial Diet: A Total Beginner's Guide to Getting Good With Money' by Chelsea Fagan
Chelsea Fagan has created a whole finance advice empire with The Financial Diet brand. It’s huge on social media with posts that are a mix of both concrete advice as well as motivation to make changes while not feeling guilty for buying coffee. Fagan’s book is like listening to a YouTube video or podcast on topics like budgeting, saying no to friends who ask to go out to dinner, and “what it means to invest.”
'Get Good with Money' by Tiffany Aliche
Get Good with Money by Tiffany Aliche, the Budgetnista, has a near-perfect five-star rating on Amazon. Its title gives you the gist if not the to-the-point idea of what to expect. The book outlines a 10-step process that “introduces the powerful concept of building wealth through financial wholeness: a realistic, achievable, and energizing alternative to get-rich-quick and over-complicated money management systems.”
'Bad with Money: The Imperfect Art of Getting Your Financial S--- Together' by Gaby Dunn
Bad with Money: The Imperfect Art of Getting Your Financial S— Together by Gaby Dunn also came recommended on the interwebs. According to the description, “even a topic as notoriously dry as money becomes hilarious and engaging in the hands of Dunn, who weaves her own stories with the perspectives of various comedians, artists, students, and more, arguing that — even without selling our bodies to science or suffering the indignity of snobby thrift shop buyers — we can all start taking control of our financial futures.”
'Invested' by Danielle Town and Phil Town
For people who have already understood budgeting and saving, but want to take it up a notch with investing, but don’t know too much, Invested by Danielle Town and Phil Town is a great book to kickstart things. The advice is broken down into 12 different lessons in a “month-to-month” format. One reviewer says, “it is a mix of numbers, mathematical formulas for how to pick a ‘wonderful company’ alongside a really lovely personal narrative of Danielle’s fears of investing and she voiced pretty much everything I was worried about too.”
'How to Manage Your Money When You Don't Have Any' by Erik Wecks
As amazing as this title is, it’s not the only reason why we chose to include it on this list. It is a guide for people who don’t have extra cash to mess around with and just want to stop living paycheck to paycheck. “Created by a financial expert who hasn’t struck it rich, How to Manage Your Money When You Don’t Have Any offers a first hand story of financial survival in the face of rough times.”
'You Need a Budget' by Jesse Mecham
You may have heard of that financial planning app, You Need a Budget (YNAB), where you can input income and track spending and savings on the app. Well the book You Need a Budget The Proven System for Breaking the Paycheck-to-Paycheck Cycle, Getting Out of Debt, and Living the Life You Want is by Jesse Mecham, the creator. It’ll help give you “the tools to learn how to track your expenses, stick to a spending plan, and make your money work for you.”
'The Latte Factor: Why You Don't Have to Be Rich to Live Rich' by David Bach
We’ve all heard that finance advice: cut out daily lattes and you’ll magically be able to manage money. It’s a lot more complicated than that, and this book’s advice has that understanding in mind. According to one reviewer, “The Latte Factor is an easy to read story which teaches you how small amounts of money saved over time can change your life. Despite what some people think, the book does not say you must stop buying lattes. Instead, it teaches you ways you can fulfill your current dreams while also saving for your future.”
'The Spender's Guide to Debt-Free Living' by Anna Newell Jones
Debt, whether it’s from student loans, credit cards, cars or anything else, it’s a big problem many of us face. The Spender’s Guide to Debt-Free Living: How a Spending Fast Helped Me Get from Broke to Badass in Record Time by Anna Newell Jones is geared for those people. It is a detailed step-by-step plan that includes “creating a personalized Debt-Free Life Pledge and understanding where your money is going when you’re in debt, and where it will come from to pay it off.”
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