Top Books To Build Wealth
Books are awesome.
They allow you to “stand on the shoulders of giants”. A book can condense a lifetime of deep thought into a 6-hour read. Plus, they teach you lessons from painful mistakes that others have made. You get to skip the painful failure part. That’s not a bad deal.
Each book you read adds a new layer to your prior knowledge, resulting in an intellectual compounding effect.
Books are great, but they are nothing without action. Books are only useful when you apply what you learn.
Here are the books that I’ve found most helpful to build financial and non-financial wealth. You will notice that they inform content on my blog.
Please note that this page contains affiliate links, meaning I get a commission at no cost to you if you purchase one of these books. I use this revenue to keep this blog operating.
This is my favourite all-in-one investing book, focused on investing in stocks and bonds. It’s a bit dry, but it speaks in an easily understood tone.
Topics Covered: Stock market history, the risk and return relationship, portfolio management, modern portfolio theory, the source of bond returns and the source of stock returns. The theoretical concepts are explained. These concepts (and the historical evidence) naturally support index investing.
Who it’s for: Anyone who wants to build long-term wealth with stocks and bonds.
The little book of common sense investing is written by the legend John Bogle who founded the Vanguard Group. He is known as the godfather of index investing. I enjoyed John Bogle’s sense of humor that is aced throughout the book.
Topics Covered: Stock and bond index investing, asset allocation, retirement planning, and sources of stock returns. I recommend you read this after the Random Walk Down Wall Street.
Who it’s for: Those who want to better understand index investing with stocks and bonds.
To see the table of contents, click the “look inside” arrow above the photo in Amazon and scroll down:
Shelter is likely your largest expense. Society biases us toward home ownership. This book brings up various behavioral and financial considerations in the rent-vs-buy evaluation. The book also assesses the real estate markets in six metropolitan areas in Canada.
Topics Covered: True costs of home ownership, the Canadian Real-Estate market, and the rent vs. buy decision.
Who it’s for: Canadians who want to make the best possible financial decision when it comes to shelter.
To see the table of contents, click the “look inside” arrow above the photo in Amazon and scroll down:
A non-technical all-around personal finance book that guides frugal living and investing. The hardest aspect of personal finance is controlling your behaviour and your mindset. This book (obviously) focuses on psychology.
Topics Covered: Compound growth, luck vs risk, money, and freedom, and the stunning difference between looking wealthy and being wealthy.
Who it’s for: Beginners who want a firm grasp on core financial concepts and an understanding of strong money behaviours.
To see the table of contents, click the “look inside” arrow above the photo in Amazon and scroll down:
We live in a world full of easy dopamine. Social media, advertisements and fast food are a few examples.
I learned that humans adapt to pleasure, including the fleeting happiness brought upon through material spending. With such treats, there is no such thing as enough.
In addition, I learned that there is no escape from hardship. Instead of using your time and energy to make life easier, focusing on becoming more resilient may be more beneficial.
Topics Covered: Addictive behaviour, the pleasure-pain balance and hedonic adaptation.
Who it’s for: Anyone who wants to improve their self-discipline and enhance their overall capacity.
To see the table of contents, click the “look inside” arrow above the photo in Amazon and scroll down.
Behavioural errors cause you to buy high and sell low when investing. This humbling book will inform you of the human biases that hurt long-run returns.
Topics Covered: Human cognitive and behavioural biases. I find this useful for spending and investing. But it’s applicable in many other domains, especially leadership.
Who it’s for: Those who want to understand behavioural biases in decisions. For example, it can help you see that you are loss averse. Then, you can see how to mitigate this bias. This book is humbling.
To see the table of contents, click the “look inside” arrow above the photo in Amazon and scroll down.
Written by Peter Lynch, the manager of the Magellan Fund between 1977 and 1990 where he averaged a 29.2% annual return through value investing.
It’s an entertaining read if you like some dry humor. Lynch is super to the point. He does a great job of reinforcing the fact that stocks represent ownership in real business.
Topics Covered: Individual stock selection, value investing, and fundamental analysis.
Who it’s for: Intermediate investors (index funds or otherwise) who want to better understand how stocks work.
To see the table of contents, click the “look inside” arrow above the photo in Amazon and scroll down.
Money isn’t the only thing that compounds. Habits eventually become automatic. Then you can focus on the next habit. An aggregation of small habits can make considerable changes in your spending, earnings power and impact on the world. I discuss habits in more detail in the post How To Set and Meet Financial Goals.
Topics Covered: How to engineer your environment to build good habits. Methods to form new habits and rid yourself of bad habits.
Who it’s for: Everyone who wants to be better. Applicable at any stage of building wealth, from expense cutting to investing to earnings power.
To see the table of contents, click the “look inside” arrow above the photo in Amazon and scroll down.