Here are the best investing books of all time — well, that’s my opinion…
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Who is to say what are the best investment books of all time?
- Do you mean the best selling investing books of all time?
- Or, the most books sold?
No! We want the best books that will speak to you, inspire action, and teach you how to create the best long-term returns.
On this web page I suggest the best investing books. They must still be actively sold today, and I’ve eliminated what you need to avoid.
I’ve eliminated books about individual stock selection and active market trading.
Why? Because this site teaches you to make a distinction between investing and speculating.
So, you choose the categories you are interested in and then you can sort those books by ratings from Amazon reviewers, and Goodreads reviewers. If you buy a book today then Amazon will send this website a few pennies to help us with our educational mission.
Best Investing Books for Beginners and Advanced Beginners
It’s most important for beginners to avoid the books that feed our human tendency to speculate and attempt to “time the market”. This website, or good books, will teach you that these are losing strategies. Below I recommend what may be the best investing books of all time for beginner investors. Click on any books and use the “Look Inside” feature at Amazon to choose one or more that grabs you. Ultimately, the best book is the one you read and motivates you to get started. Beginner investors will learn:
- Speculating and active trading is a losing strategy
- The best strategy is both easiest and produces highest returns
- The industry’s self-interest is to make it look complicated
- It’s actually simple, although your human emotions don’t make it easy
Book | Author / Description | Ratings |
---|---|---|
Click to learn more. | Bodie, Zvi and Taqqu, Rachelle Risk Less and Prosper: Your Guide to Safer Investing It's about sensible financial planning with an emphasis on meeting essential needs without unnecessary risk. Excellent advice and easy to understand. Read my extensive review here. | 3.4 stars Amazon 3.1 stars Goodreads |
Click to learn more. | Pfau, Wade Safety-first Retirement Planning Superb book about using an integrated approach to assure retirement income needs are met without unnecessary risk. Part of a trilogy, although each can stand alone. | 4.9 stars Amazon 4.75 stars Goodreads |
Click book to see it on Amazon. | Bogle, John C. The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns (A classic.) I had an opportunity to ask Jack (author) to sign any of his books (I have them all) and I chose this one. It’s compelling. It’s simple. It’s short. Read reviews and buy on Amazon. | 4.6 stars Amazon 4.2 stars Goodreads |
Click to learn more. | Bernstein, William J. Steal This Book! If You Can: How Millennials Can Get Rich Slowly by one of the best investment authors of our time: William Bernstein. In 2014 he wrote a gem to guide both the young—and not so young—investor through the five hurdles that threaten to spoil their dreams. It’s available for free as a PDF that you can read in an hour or two. Or, buy from Amazon if you prefer paperback, or to give it as a wedding, birthday, or graduation gift. | 4.5 stars Amazon 4.2 stars Goodreads |
Click to learn more. | Larimore, Taylor; LeBoeuf, Michael; and Lindauer, Mel The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing Wiley; 2 edition (2014); 336 pages. Friends of John Bogle put together a guide simply to support Bogle’s mission by teaching others how to get the best long-term return on their investment dollars. It’s also a good introduction to this amazing site: Bogleheads.org. Read reviews and buy on Amazon. | 4.5 stars Amazon 4.3 stars Goodreads |
Click to learn more. | Larimore, Taylor The Bogleheads' Guide to the Three-Fund Portfolio: How a Simple Portfolio of Three Total Market Index Funds Outperforms Most Investors with Less Risk This is a compelling description of how a simple portfolio of three total market index funds outperforms most investors with less risk. See my full review. | 4.6 stars Amazon 3.9 stars Goodreads |
Click to learn more. | Swedroe, Larry The Only Guide to a Winning Investment Strategy You'll Ever Need: The Way Smart Money Invests Today Another one of my favorites! Will be most appreciated by those that already have already begun to build an investment portfolio, because there are some outstanding chapters that deal with mutual fund choices. Read reviews and buy on Amazon. | 4.3 stars Amazon 4.0 stars Goodreads |
Click to learn more - opens new window on Amazon. | Van Ness, Rick Why Bother With bonds: A Guide To Build An All-Weather Portfolio Including CDs, Bonds, and Bond Funds This is my book. You will learn:
| 4.5 stars Amazon 4.1 stars Goodreads |
Click to learn more. | Roth, Allan S. How a Second Grader Beats Wall Street: Golden Rules Any Investor Can Learn Author Allan Roth uses conversations with his son as the device to debunk myths and teach common sense investing principles in a way that we can all understand. This book is for ages 20 to 50 by an author who is a very respected financial planner. Read reviews and buy on Amazon. | 4.6 stars Amazon 4.0 stars Goodreads |
Click to learn more - opens new window on Amazon. | Dahle, James M. The White Coat Investor's Financial Boot Camp: A 12-Step High-Yield Guide to Bring Your Finances Up to Speed (Feb 2019) Pay no attention to the fact that this was written for doctors. This book will show you how to:
| 5.0 stars Amazon 4.7 stars Goodreads |
Click to learn more. | Solin, Daniel R. The Smartest Investment Book You'll Ever Read: The Simple, Stress-Free Way to Reach Your Investment Goals Daniel Solin cuts through the financial hype to show you exactly how to invest-with an easy-to-follow four-step plan that lets you create and monitor your investment portfolio in ninety minutes or less...and put your investment earnings in the top 5 percent of all professionally managed money. If you want to gamble, go to Las Vegas-or try stock picking and market timing. If you want to be a Smart Investor, follow this effortless and effective plan. | 4.2 stars Amazon 3.7 stars Goodreads |
Click to learn more. | Zweig, Jason The Little Book of Safe Money: How to Conquer Killer Markets, Con Artists, and Yourself. One of today's most influential financial commentators offers his advice on keeping your money safe in an uncertain world The Little Book of Safe Money acts as a guide for those trying to make their way through today's down markets. The topics covered include everything from investing behavior-why our minds come with their own set of biases that often prove harmful-to the use of financial advisors. But this timely book goes one step further than the rest by questioning an investor's true appetite for risk. | 3.9 stars Amazon 3.8 stars Goodreads |
Click to learn more. | Swedroe, Larry Think, Act, and Invest Like Warren Buffett: The Winning Strategy to Help You Achieve Your Financial and Life Goals 2012. Develop a financial plan to help you make rational decisions on a consistent basis Determine the level of risk that's right for you, and allocate your assets accordingly Build a low-cost, tax-efficient, globally diversified portfolio Manage your portfolio by rebalancing periodically to maintain proper risk levels The beauty of the Buffett approach is its profound simplicity: follow the basics, keep your cool, and have a sense of humor and humility. Here’s my short video book review. Read reviews and buy on Amazon. | 4.1 stars Amazon 3.5 stars Goodreads |
Click to learn more. | Malkiel, Burton G. and Ellis, Charles D. The Elements of Investing: Easy Lessons for Every Investor An updated look at best rules of investing provided by two of the world's greatest financial thinkers. In the updated edition of The Elements of Investing, authors Charles Ellis and Burton Malkiel—two of the world's greatest financial thinkers—have again combined their talents to produce a straight-talking book about investing and saving. Written with every investor in mind, this reliable resource will put you on a path towards a lifetime of financial success. | 4.5 stars Amazon 4.1 stars Goodreads |
Only available at Amazon. Click book to learn more. | Sit, Harry; (aka.The Finance Buff) This book is the short-cut to learning what you need to know about Treasury Inflation Protected Securites by a terrific writer and blogger; clear and concise. Explore TIPS gives you all the details about investing in TIPS other books only gloss over. Starting from the very basics, what TIPS are and how they work, the book guides you through
| 4.2 stars Amazon 3.8 stars Goodreads |
Click to learn more. | Bogle, John C. Enough.: True Measures of Money, Business, and Life That John Bogle, who has so impressed me as a man of high integrity and as the champion for ordinary investors, would recognize that there is a concept of Enough and care enough to write a book about it, elevates him to the highest esteem. In truth, it is about much more of Bogle’s thinking than just this and very worth reading! Read reviews and buy on Amazon. | 4.4 stars Amazon 3.7 stars Goodreads |
Click to learn more. | Tobias, Andrew The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need (27 editions) This is the book that first grabbed me. It’s been updated many times. I’m particularly fond of the chapter titled: A Penny Saved Is Two Pennies Earned. Read reviews and buy on Amazon. | 4.2 stars Amazon 3.9 stars Goodreads |
Click to learn more. | Farrell, Paul B. The Lazy Person's Guide to Investing: A Book for Procrastinators, the Financially Challenged, and Everyone Who Worries About Dealing with Their Money. These are simple, easy-to-understand, proven strategies that take very little time or energy to maintain. Readers can relax. Dr. Farrell has distilled the most successful plans--from the Couch Potato to the Coffee House to the No-Brainer approach--so that even inexperienced investors can chart their financial future with confidence. | 4.0 stars Amazon 3.8 stars Goodreads |
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Related book recommendations:
- Best books by John Bogle — certainly the best books on mutual funds
- John C. Bogle Quotes
- A comic book on investing!
- www.amazon.com/shop/financinglife
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