Personal Finance Book Recommendations?

Started by RemiJP
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RemiJP

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I'm starting graduate school in the fall and I'm really want to take control of my finances. I'd like to find a book that will help me with the basics like setting up a budget andusing my credit card responsibly. I have no debt from undergrad but I may need to take out some loans this year and I just want to be smart about things. I'm not buying a house or having kids for at least 3 years. My stipend is small but I should be able to live on it and maybe save some, too. Any recommendations?
 
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This book is more philosophical, but a great read.
"The Millionaire Next Door"

An all-time classic that everyone should read.
Some of the ideas are pretty boring, but they work.

- Live below your means.
- Invest the difference in things you understand.

It's nothing exciting, but if you can change your attitude about money, it will be good for the long run.
 
the problem with all personal finance books is that they re-hash the same formula

1) if you look at compounded interest over time you can save a lot of money

2) these are the stories of people who started with nothing and made a fortune....

this is what you need to know

1) work hard and leverage hard to generate as much income as possible
2) spend as little as possible
3) carefully diversify the difference of what you make versus what you spend
4) pay off all of your loans
5) then you can become a bit more risky
6) find a GOOD estate/tax lawyer and work on asset protection in case you get sued
7) most books out there are a waste of time - trust me, i have read most of them.

- think about it, if there was a book with all the answers NOBODY would be losing any money any more... those who lose money are either playing the 1) emotional investing game 2) or the clue-less herd-mentality investing game...

bottom line, when every body is buying gold, then sell gold - when everybody is buying tech stocks, then sell your tech stocks, when everybody is buying real estate, then sell real estate - if you go against the herd, most of the time you will end up winning...
 
This won't solve all your finance woes, just the investment part.

"The Intelligent Investor: A Book of Practical Counsel" by Benjamin Graham

This book is popular, has been in print for decades (funny how the companies change names but the occurrences keep happening), and is available in digital formats like for a PalmPilot.

In my opinion, any plan that doesn't take into account human nature will fail. For physician investors, (or any other investors who don't trade as their primary career), value investing (as in the above book) is the only investment strategy that is worthwhile. Reading the above book top to bottom will help learn to avoid catastrophic failures which in itself is a worthwhile end goal.

Others disagree, but in my opinion:
With discipline and time, one can become an expert on anything. People aren't born physicians, people become physicians through reading, some teaching, apprenticeship, colleagues and hands-on practice. If have enough intelligence and discipline to learn to become a physician, probably have enough inherent mind and discipline to learn to become at least an adequate investor (if one can spare the time, and are interested). If not interested or the time spent learning and managing investments isn't cost-effective, just get a index fund or index etf or a trusted finance adviser and forget about the individual investment part.

That said, while stocks aren't currently cheap, there is a fair number of solid businesses with worthwhile products whose stock prices are certainly not overpriced, giving a good margin of safety.