The Books That Have Influenced the Way I Think About Money

By the author of The Faithful Prepper and The Prepper’s Guide to Post-Disaster Communications.

Knowledge is power. That’s what Schoolhouse Rock told me, anyway. The fact of the matter, though, is that there are too many people out there who are money illiterate. It’s not that people are stupid. They just have never been taught the truth about money. If you feel like you may fall into this category, seeking out knowledge can help you to climb your way out of that hole. And for doing that, these are the best books out there I know of that have influenced the way I think about money. 

Rich Dad, Poor Dad

Robert Kiyosaki is a bit of a controversial character. I think a part of this is because of the way he views money. He has a lot of different beliefs on what money is, how to pay off debt, and how to use money than a lot of the other financial gurus out there.

To me, that was a part of what made this book so refreshing. It was fun to look at things through a new lens, and there are all kinds of nuggets that one can glean from what he has to say here.

The Richest Man in Babylon

The main thing I pulled from this book is that a man should pay himself first. Yeah, you always have other people that you’re going to have to pay on a monthly basis. You’re going to have your landlord, the grocery store man, the gasoline man, and the electric man. They’ll eat up a portion of your paycheck on a regular basis, and that’s just the way it is.

If you don’t pay yourself first, though, then you can easily end up in a situation when you’re older when you are stuck between a rock and a hard place. You won’t have any type of nest egg, you won’t have any income, and you’ll be wondering just how in the world you’re going to make it the next several decades.

Written in parable form, this book is well worth a read to gather some of the other nuggets of wisdom that are present.

Fake

This was actually the first Robert Kiyosaki book that I ever read. It’s a good book, but it could easily have been edited down a few dozen pages. Kiyosaki seems to have a bit of the old man syndrome where you repeat yourself over and over.

If you can skip over the parts of the book that have already been said, this one’s not bad. The reason I like this one is because Kiyosaki actually considers the world around him when he talks about money. The man doesn’t live in a bubble, and that is something I appreciate.

There are too many finance gurus out there who act as if the world is exactly the same as it was in 1950 and that it will always remain that way. I find this outlook to be incredibly naïve. Kiyosaki doesn’t have that problem. For example, a few years ago, he saw what was happening in the ammo industry. He invested several thousand dollars in pallets full of 5.56 ammunition. He’s been selling that ammunition off of late and has netted thousands in profit as a result. (I’m not exactly sure how that plays out with an FFL and all that, but that’s what he did.)

That’s Exhibit A right there of how Kiyosaki keeps a pulse on the happenings of the world.

The Total Money Makeover and Financial Peace Revisited

You can’t talk about financial guru books without mentioning Dave Ramsey. The man is a powerhouse within the financial guru world and has written a host of books. The above two of his were the ones that I felt gave me the most knowledge.

I consider them the mandatory texts for a Personal Finance 101 course. I’ve found that they largely say the same thing in each, but it’s beneficial to get the points that Ramsey is shouting hammered into your head. He has a lot of good stuff to say, and what he has to say works.

Particularly if one is deep in debt, I highly recommend picking up these books at your local library. The methods he details inside are practical, no-nonsense approaches that will get you to the point of financial freedom if you follow them to a tee.

EntreLeadership

Another Dave Ramsey book, this one is slightly different than the rest of the book. Here, Dave Ramsey is predominantly talking about running a business. Personally, I think that running a business is something that everybody does to some extent. If you regularly host yard sales, sell things on Craigslist, have a side hustle, or the like, then you are involved in running your own business.

You may not have a storefront, employees, or a full-time income from what you do, but what you are doing is essentially running a business – just at a much smaller scale. If you’re going to do this, you are going to need business skills. This is the best book I’ve found on the subject. Ramsey isn’t focused on the hard math of running your own business here as much as he is on the principles of leadership that will help it to flourish.

That description doesn’t really do this book justice, though. It’s not necessarily a self-help, motivation book. It’s more of a book where Ramsey showcases, “Listen, if you get stuck in this tricky situation with your business, THIS is what you do to get yourself out of it in one piece.”

It’s full of practical, real-life examples, is written in an easy-to-read format, and deserves to be read.

What are your thoughts on the best financial books out there? 

Considering that most of these books can be found used for just a little over a dollar on Amazon, there’s really no reason not to add these to your reading list. But do more than just read these. STUDY them. Pore over their pages with a highlighter and pen. Take notes. Carry them around with you. Refresh yourself on their contents. If you do that, these books will change the way that you think about money too.

Are there other books that you would add to the list? Have you read any of the above? Do you agree with my list? Let us know in the comments below.

About Aden

Aden Tate is a regular contributor to TheOrganicPrepper.com and TheFrugalite.com. Aden runs a micro-farm where he raises dairy goats, a pig, honeybees, meat chickens, laying chickens, tomatoes, mushrooms, and greens. Aden has three published books, The Faithful Prepper,  The Prepper’s Guide to Post-Disaster Communications, and Zombie Choices. You can find his podcast The Last American on Preppers’ Broadcasting Network.