“When it comes to money, the only skill most people know is to work hard.” - Robert Kiyosaki
2020 brought a couple of firsts this year; a reading challenge involving one spiritual book a month and one finance book a month. Twelve books on finance and spirituality to help shore up those parts of my life and provide additional time to think about them. It can be easy to slip into patterns of ignorance or the idea that we already know everything there is to know.
Twelve books down on the money side, and these three were my favourites. Always tough to choose, here are a couple of reasons why these were at the top of the list.
Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad brings a simple structure to a complex topic and gets us to think about money in a completely new way. As the quote above says, most of us think about money in terms of hard work and not about making money work for us. There is a reason why this book has sold millions of copies because it requires one to change their mindset about money and how to build wealth.
MJ DeMarco's The Millionaire Fastlane builds on the ideas put forth in Rich Dad Poor Dad, and as the book title suggests, puts things in the fast lane. I liken this to a mix between Grant Cardone and his 10X Principles and the ideas on how to build businesses and wealth as fast as possible. Although the book doesn't spell out exactly how you may do it, it provides the framework and motivation to get moving.
Danielle Town's Invested came late to the party but left me with a positive feeling about value investing and simple tools and ideas on implementation. Money psychology alongside Buffett and Munger's strategies on investing put this book into my Top 3. You can easily walk away from this book with a basic but firm understanding of how to value companies and look for long-term investing opportunities. Buffett and Munger have always said that it comes down to a total of 10-20 investments over a lifetime ... a lifetime! This is the type of book that can help you start to think about the companies you deal with all of the time and what makes them a potential investment vehicle.
All three books are worth a read if you are thinking about financial goals in the upcoming year. It's ok to be scared to think about investing but it's not an excuse to ignore it. Like anything scary in life, we have to be willing to face up to our fears. Financial responsibility now leads to bigger rewards in the future and thus it's important to educate ourselves on how best to take care of ourselves in the future.
If you have been doing any financial reading what book would you suggest?
I plan on continuing into 2021 with 12 new books, so hopefully, you will find something to help out along the way.
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