Ask HN: Best book/course/resource for personal finance or financial literacy? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Best book/course/resource for personal finance or financial literacy?

11 pointschirau11 comments

Where I come from, people don't get any education in financial literacy. Things like investing, budgeting, taxes, credit, credit cards, insurance etc. Had to figure that stuff on my own much later in life.

I am part of a mentor group for some high school and college kids now. I want to avail a recommended resource to them to get their feet wet with personal finance and financial literacy.

Any suggestions are welcome. Or also, what would be the topics a thorough curriculum on this would cover?

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Some personal favorites:

- Your Money Or Your Life

Great book on financial independence and simple investing. Get the 2017 version since they made modifications to their investing recs to be less bond centric.

- I Will Teach You To Be Rich

The name is gaudy IMO, but the contents are very rational and cover pretty much all the foundations of personal finance, from investing to budgeting, to enjoying your life. The name feels like a get rich quick thing, but it's about what the other describes as "living your rich life" - essentially enjoying your money in addition to saving and investing for the future.

- The Simple Path To Wealth

Great simple investing book. Probably the best investing book for the average person, in my opinion. Well written, to the point, and rational.

There are some other great books out there, but those are three solid ones to start with. I Will Teach You To Be Rich is the most catch all based on what you're looking for.

+1 for I Will Teach You To Be Rich. The title is a turn-off but the book is great. It has some life-changing financial literacy advice and is worth the price many times over, IMHO.

And yeah, you can get an AI to dump the key points out of the book, but they don't do the book justice.

> - I Will Teach You To Be Rich

The author also has a great podcast [0] that discusses money issues with couples. Even if you are not a couple, the insights they have are very useful and interesting, as it acts as a sort of therapy for the guests and the listener. After all, money issues are often psychological in nature.

[0] https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/podcast/

IMO, the absolute best book is The Richest Man in Babylon. It's a story about a man who slowly becomes super rich by doing some common sense things (e.g. saving money). It's a super fun and motivating read. Perfect for high school/college kids.

You want theory or actual steps. There are a lot of books that touch the high value stuff like investment, etc.. But there aren't many books about how to protect your finances.

1. Insurances: health, dental, car, life, renter, home owner, etc.. 2. Your basic rights such as getting pay for the hours your work (wage theft is a huge issue). 3. Your credit, how to protect and build it. 4. Scams, how to identify scams and protect yourself. 5. Understand how financing work. 6. Understand how progressive income tax work.

The list is endless. It's crazy we ask people to invest in 401k without knowing what it is.

If they are in the US, bogleheads [1] has always been my go to resource.

[1] https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Main_Page

i think bogleheads applies everywhere - just substitute the investment types for your countries equivalents

the moneysavingexpert website created an open university course -

https://www.open.edu/openlearn/money-business/mses-academy-m...

Worth a look as some topics are universal

Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger.

Frankly, I doubt you will find anything better in finance that what came from those 2 guys. It's pure, old school, wisdom. Backed by >50 years of outstanding financial results.

If you can afford it, buy them 'Poor Charlie's Almanack' by Charlie Munger - and let them go down the rabbit hole.

I would imagine it would depend on where you're from? I'm from Canada and the book that helped me more than anything else is 'The Wealthy Barber Returns'.

'Millionaire Teacher' is also fantastic, and I believe is U.S. based (been a few years).

Both books teach the fundamentals of how to save/invest in a safe manner in a way that is easily digestible. Barber especially is an engrossing read.

Random Walk Down Wall Street

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