As we focus on our finances, it is often helpful to reappraise our views about money and how they have affected our financial decisions. The following books not only educate you about money issues, they may help as you make important financial choices in the future.
General Books
The Behavior Gap: Simple Ways to Stop Doing Dumb Things With Money by Carl Richards As a financial planner, Carl Richards grew frustrated watching people he cared about make the same mistakes over and over. They were letting emotion get in the way of smart financial decisions. He named this phenomenon-the distance between what we should do and what we actually do-"the behavior gap." Using simple drawings to explain the gap, he found that once people understood it, they started doing much better. Buy at Amazon.com
How to Speak Money: The Language and Knowledge You Need Now by Ari Velshi & Christine Romans Do you speak money? You should. It is the world’s most important language. It’s spoken everywhere. Speaking—or at least understanding—this language allows you to follow the real conversations in politics, business, and at work. Understanding money and speaking the language fluently is critical to preparing for a comfortable retirement, building a small business, planning for college and a career for your children. Buy at Amazon.com
Buy and Hold Is Dead (Again) by Ken Solow, CFP, ChFC TM The current academic and financial planning definitions of “risk” are changing at light speed, but the notion of what constitutes “risky” investment strategy for informed investors is still stuck in the dark ages. Wealth management expert Kenneth Solow takes a fresh look at the investment industry’s reliance on Buy-and Hold investing , exposing the flaws and potential dangers of this investment approach inn secular bear markets…and proposes an alternative investment strategy called tactical asset allocation. Buy at Amazon.com
Books for Women
Emotional Currency: A Woman's Guide to Building a Healthy Relationship with Money Every day, women face new challenges that come with having control over, and responsibility for, their financial lives. Sometimes exciting, sometimes frightening, these issues always have an emotional side. Author and psychotherapist Dr. Kate Levinson offers fresh approaches to navigating the astonishing range of beliefs about the role of money in our lives, coming to terms with our feelings about being “rich” or “poor,” and exploring our inner money life so that we can put our feelings to work for us in a positive way. By understanding our intimate history and relationship with money we are better able to handle our money anxieties, solve our money problems, enjoy the money we have, and make room for other, more meaningful values. Buy at Amazon.com
Second Acts: Creating the Life Your Really Want, Building the Career You Truly Desire Second Acts is a guide to reinventing your life. Whether you wish to change careers, move to a more desirable part of the country, start a business, write a novel, or drop everything to pursue a life dream, Stephen Pollan offers a powerful message of hope and guidance that has benefited his own clients. Through a series of exercises, you will develop a comprehensive "script" for your second act—a step-by-step action plan that will lead you to the life you've always wanted. Buy at Amazon.com
How to Care for Aging Parents The best and bestselling book of its kind. Originally published in 1995, How To Care For Aging Parents, won a Books for a Better Life Award, and was praised as "an indispensable book" (AARP) and "a compassionate guide of encyclopedic proportion" (The Washington Post). Expanded from 450 to over 650 pages, it covers all the emotional, legal, financial, medical, and logistical issues in caring for the elderly. There are new sections on expanded housing options, alternative therapies, balancing career and care giving, and dealing with difficult parents. It covers the biggest change in care giving - the newfound independence of seniors and benefits of healthy aging-and the reverse. Buy at Amazon.com
The Complete Book of Wills, Estates and Trusts A completely up-to-date legal guide to help you protect your legacy for future generations. Buy at Amazon.com
Books for Parents
What Kids Really Want That Money Can't Buy: Tips for Parenting in a Commercial World Taylor, a leader in the anti-consumerism movement offers a clear and simple path for parents to follow as they seek to protect their children from the notion that 'more is better.' With parents today worried that they are raising the 'I want' generation, this book arrives at just the right moment. Buy at Amazon.com
Kids, Money, and Values Do allowances spoil kids or teach them sensible saving and spending habits? Estess and Barocas address such questions as they look at ways to teach kids about money from toddlerhood to early adolescence. Buy at Amazon.com