3 Great Personal Finance Books To Read Over The Last 3 Weeks of Summer

Summer time is a great time to read. It’s hot outside, you don’t feel like moving around, you just want to sit and relax. A book is a great way to enjoy those lazy summer days. With vacation days and long weekends there are plenty of opportunities to read a good book. Personal finance books might not be your first choice for a casual summer read but I’ve got three great personal finance books that you should definitely consider this summer.

Of course, there aren’t just three great personal finance books, there are literally hundreds of great books out there. There are books about investing, about financial independence, and about retirement. There are books about budgeting and managing expenses. There are books about how to pay off debt as quickly as possible and how to start saving for the future. There are general personal finance books too, which touch on all these topics and then some.

With so many great books to choose from, and so little time to read them, you need to make some tough decisions. Which book will you put on the top of your list? We have three recommendations that you should consider putting at the top of your list this summer.

Number 1: The Millionaire Next Door

The Millionaire Next Door is a great personal finance book and it’s perfect for the summer! It’s a light read. It’s not heavy on math or difficult concepts. But don’t let its simple nature fool you, this book has the power to change your life.

The authors of The Millionaire Next Door interviewed over 1,000 millionaire households and summarized their findings into just seven common factors. According to the authors these factors seemed to be “the common denominators among those who successfully build wealth”.

The Millionaire Next Door is a great general personal finance book if you want to become wealthy. It doesn’t go very deep into any one topic but provides a great overview of the key factors that help you accumulate wealth.

This book was originally recommended to me by a friend in university. I remember how easy it was to read and how simple the concepts seemed. This simple yet powerful message is why it’s a great personal finance book to read on a lazy summer day.

Number 2: The Intelligent Investor

The Intelligent Investor is the “definitive book on value investing”. It was written by Benjamin Graham in 1949 and is still as relevant today as it was when it was first written. The updated version also includes topics like low-cost index investing.

Benjamin Graham is known as “the father of value investing”. He taught at the Columbia Business School and wrote two very influential books on investing, Security Analysis, and of course The Intelligent Investor. His “children” include investing titans like Warren Buffett. Buffett calls the Intelligent Investor “the best book about investing ever written” (If that doesn’t make you want to read this book I don’t know what will!)

If you invest in the stock market then this is a must read personal finance book. It provides a solid foundation for any investor and it covers key concepts to help you differentiate between speculation and true investing.

Number 3: The Snowball

That brings us to our last recommendation for your summer time reading list. The Snowball is a unique look at the life of the greatest investor that has ever lived, Warren Buffett. This is a fascinating book and it goes into a lot of detail. From Buffett’s early years selling sticks of gum during the great depression, to later in his life when he started to accumulate billions upon billions in his holding company Berkshire Hathaway.

What I found particularly fascinating was that young Warren Buffett had a keen grasp on the power of compounding from an early age (it was an obsession really).

Even at age five or six Buffett understood that $1 today was like $7 in the future. He knew that even a small purchase today would have an incredible impact on his future net worth. You see this play out again and again throughout his life.

This book is a biography, it isn’t a personal finance book per se, but because it’s a biography about Warren Buffett so it consistently revolves around money, investing, and accumulating wealth. It’s both fascinating and educational at the same time and it’s a great book for a casual summer read.