The PFwise Book Reading List - Frequently Updated

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At PFwise.com, our goal is to empower consumers make wise personal finance decisions. What a better way than recommending some of the best books to you so you can read by yourself! 

We have organized the books, along with brief reviews, into different categories, and we will keep updating this list. You can get all of the books at Amazon, but your local library probably has many of them too.  

The * symbols represent the following:
*** A must-read and great to keep for future references as well
** A must-read, at least once
* Nice to read

Personal Finance for Beginners

• The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need ***                                     Indeed this is probably the only book you will ever need for your finances. It covers a broad range of topics with real life and easy to understand languages.  A must have for every family, you are guaranteed to find many many useful advices!
  
• The Smartest Investment Book You'll Ever Read ***                               Compared with the above "The only investment guild you'll ever need" book, this one is more focused and practical. And it's truly for ordinary investors. It will change the way you think about investing, and you will find its 4-step process makes perfect sense! 
• The Little Book of Common Sense Investing ***                                     This book is from the legendary John Bogle, it's a quick and concise investment guide. If you are a beginning investor, reading it will definitely change your view about investment, and you will benefit from it for the rest of your life!
• The Four Pillars of Investing **                                                                           This classic will guide you to construct a solid portfolio without a financial advisor!  After reading it, you will be able to, with relatively little effort, design and assemble an investment portfolio that will beat most of the professionally managed accounts, consistently!
• Margin of Safety **

          A classic value investment book, out of print already, free download above!

• Rich Dad Poor Dad **                                                                                           Some call it the best personal finance book. You can learn a lot through the stories of two Dads – one a middle-class big spender who never became financially independent, the other a businessman/investor who thought of his money as investment capital. 
  
• The Charles Schwab Guide to Finances After Fifty: Answers to Your Most Important Questions
  This books is not just for people over 50, it is for everyone.  It starts with the top 10 financial recommendations for every age.  In easy to follow Q&A format, you will surely find some retirement questions you may not even have known you should ask.
  
• Early Retirement Extreme *                                                                                  The author retired at the age 30, after figuring out how to spend very little money by living simply and learning many skills to become more self-sufficient. This is not a conventional book, it is not even about how to get rich, it's about how to become wealthy in life.
  
• Your Money or Your Life *                                                                                     Life is more than money, although it doesn't hurt!  This book shows you 9 steps to transform your relationship with money and achieving financial independence.
• Getting Financial Aid 2014 **                                                                                    If you have kids about to enter college, and have no idea about how to get the needed financial aid, this book from The College Board will save you lots of headaches.

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For More Advanced and Serious Investors

• A Random Walk Down Wall Street ***                                                               The first book to purchase if you want to build a portfolio, a must-read investment book. Written by wise professor/investor - Burton Malkiel -  he has personally researched and debunked most of the common “wisdom” that exists about stock trading today.
• The Intelligent Investor ***                                                                            This is a classic from Benjamin Graham, the greatest investment advisor in the 20th century.  A must read for any serious investor!
• Security Analysis **                                                                                              One of the most influential financial books ever written.  If you want to be an investor, you owe yourself to find time to read this book!  
  
• The Intelligent Asset Allocator *                                                                  Endorsed by the index pioneer - John Bogle - this book was written more than 10 years ago, but a classic means it still applies today!  It examines the effects of mixing stocks, bonds, and other assets into your portfolio in different proportions.
  
• Get What's Yours: The Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security **    A must read if you want to maximize your social security benefits - too many tricks there
  
• The Little Book that Still Beats the Market *                                              Considered a classic finance literature, this book describes a time tested method of stock picking which has historically performed much better than the stock market as a whole. It’s really just a complicated form of value investing.

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Frugal Living

• The Millionaire Next Door *                                                                                    A groundbreadking book in its category, this is a fun and easy to read book, it is really not hard to steal those secrets from the millionaires next door and apply them to your life, and you can become a millionaire next door to your neighbors in a short number of years too!
  
• Save Big: Cut Your Top 5 Costs and Save Thousands *                             If you want to save big in life's most costly spending categories, rather than spending countless hours clipping coupons to save, this book is for you!  Follow this book's actionable advices and insider secrets, you will definitely save BIG!
• The Frugal Life: The Simple Path to Living a Good Life on a Budget *    As the book's title indicates, frugal living is really simple.  If you are already practicing frugal living, don't bother with this book, otherwise, it's a very helpful book!

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Real Estate Investment

• Buy It, Rent It, Profit!: Make Money as a Landlord in ANY Real Estate Market ***        The title explains itself, an excellent book for anyone who wants to try real estate investment!
• The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner: A Lifetime Plan *                          This is a real estate investment book for beginners.  Author David Bach introduces a simple system to build wealth in real estate. It emphasizes on setting things up to run automatically, keeping you free to expand the empire.
  
• Zero Risk Real Estate: Creating Wealth Through Tax Liens and Tax Deeds *               If you have never heard of tax liens or tax deeds investing, this book will be worth its price! With this book at hand, you really don't have to spend thousands of dollars to purchase those expensive tax lien educational programs' materials!
  
• CliffsNotes Graduation Debt: How to Manage Student Loans and Live Your Life *         Not for a summer fun read, but if you are having trouble making your student loan payments, you will find a lot of help in this book on how to recover, including information on new regulations for people in default.

Insurance & Annuity Product Know How

• Questions and Answers on Life Insurance: The Life Insurance Toolbook *

        This is a top rated insurance product book at Amazon - 5-star. It's for both average
        consumers and practitioners. You can find literally any question you have about life insurance
        from this book.

• Life Annuities: An Optimal Product for Retirement Income **

        You can't beat the price of FREE! This is a book written in easy-to-read fashion, good for
        anyone who is planning retirement. 

• Pay Checks and Paychecks: Retirement Solutions for Life **                     A roadmap for surviving, and thriving, in difficult economic times. A mathematical and scientifically proven guide on how to create a solid retirement with as much upside potential and downside protection as possible.

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Personal Finance Magazines

• Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine ***                                                  The most popular personal finance magazine.  Full of practical, easy to read and follow information!
• Money Magazine **                                                                                                The largest personal finance magazine in the U.S. It covers a wide range of topics.
• Forbes Magazine *                                                                                              Each issue is packed with very insightful articles, a must read for every business person!
• FORTUNE Magazine *                                                                                          Amazon has this Fortune magazine's Kindle Tablet Edition for free.
• Consumer Reports *                                                                                              If you plan to purchase any big ticket items, you definitely want to check Consumer Reports first, it will be money well spent, because Consumer Reports takes no commercial sponsors and only provides truly unbiased reviews for almost any products!
• Kiplinger's Retirement Report *                                                                          If you are already retired or plan to retire, this is for you, full of good advices! 
• Bloomberg Businessweek *
 Since taken over by Bloomberg, the new Business Week has improved so much! 

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