The Best Personal Finance Book, NZ Edition

I love reading books about money, even though it may seem redundant to re-read about the same topic over and over again. But it just means that I’m no able to share with you my thoughts on what the best personal finance book for NZ audience is, so you don’t have to read them all!

Unless you want to of course! I believe they all have a tiny bit different perspective, so you can learn something from all of them.

*Disclaimer: This post will include an affiliate link. If you choose to click through and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission, at a no cost to you! If you’d like to support my blog by using the link, thank you!

Tales From a Financial Hot Mess by Frances Cook

The author of Tales From A Financial Hot Mess, Frances Cook, is a financial journalist here in NZ.

She runs a podcast (Cooking the Books) and writes a weekly Money Questions column for Business Desk among other things.

Tales From A Financial Hot Mess is her journey from being a financial hot mess to having her finances sorted.

The book covers all your basics from how to save money to getting rid of debt and starting investing.

Unique point of view: Frances shares her own personal money journey, which is very relatable and makes you feel like if she could do it, you can too.

You can find my full review here. And you can get your own copy *here for NZ buyers and *here for international (or if you prefer the Kindle version).

Rich Enough? by Mary Holm

Mary Holm is a well know financial journalist in New Zealand, recognised for her work in the field of helping everyday people get better with their money.

She runs a weekly money Q&A column for the NZ Herald (the column is behind a paywall on the NZ Herald website but can be found for free on Mary’s own website).

Rich Enough? is meant as a one stop shop when it comes to managing your money, with all the basic topics of saving money, clearing debt, retirement, investing, but she also touches on the reasons behind your money choices and happiness.

Unique point of view: Mary draws from her years of experience answering people’s money questions and gives examples of all walks of life and money situations.

You can find my full review here. And you can get your own copy *here for NZ buyers and *here for international (or if you prefer the Kindle version).

Kill Your Mortgage And Sort Your Retirement by Hannah McQueen

Hannah McQueen calls herself a Financial Personal Trainer. She helps her clients sort out their finances and provides long term support in reaching your financial goals.

Kill Your Mortgage And Sort Your Retirement goes through pretty much the same basics as the other two previous books, except that it goes into more detail about property investing and creating wealth through owning a business.

All in all, the book goes into a lot of detail on everything it talks about, and also considers the psychology of money (what kind of spender/saver you are) etc.

Unique point of view: Hannah has worked with a multitude of clients and helped them get their money affairs sorted. This book also has a huge emphasis on property and business ownership, with the author somewhat biased towards shares.

You can find my full review here. And you can get your own copy *here for NZ buyers and *here for international (or if you prefer the Kindle version).

So which is the best personal finance book in NZ?

So if you don’t have enough time, energy or purely interest to read all of these, which one is the best personal finance book in NZ setting that you should read?

All of these books have their merits, and I can definitely recommend reading all of them.

Initially I was going to say Kill Your Mortgage And Sort Your Retirement because of the amount of detail in the book, but what was weighing against it was the author’s unfounded bias against shares and how the book is oldest of the three, so a tad bit outdated.

Therefore I’m slightly leaning towards Mary Holm’s Rich Enough as the best personal finance book in the New Zealand setting.

Rich Enough? goes through all your money basics and then some from starting your first job to retirement.

But my main reason is that Rich Enough? would be quite a sufficient read on it’s own (although I would highly recommend that EVERYONE reads Girls That Invest as well), compared to Kill Your Mortgage And Sort Your Retirement which you would need to supplement with more accurate and up to date information around investing in shares, or Tales From A Financial Hot Mess that has the very basics and continues on in Frances’s second book Your Money, Your Future.

Out of these three, which do you like the best? Or if you haven’t read them, which one are you most interested to read? I’d love to hear in the comments!