Top 5 Reasons To Read Personal Finance Books
You might already know that I enjoy reading personal finance books, I after all have a reading list, full of links to reviews of different books. While they can be a bit repetitive, I still recommend reading more than just one, and here’s why!
Personal finance books are easy to understand
The world of finance can be overwhelming and full of jargon, making entering it intimidating.
However, personal finance books are written to the laypeople, those who are not familiar with the jargon to begin with. So they aim to be very easy to understand.
This is why they can be a bit repetitive too, as everything is explained!
Personal finance books use great examples to illustrate concepts, and often visuals as well where appropriate.
They give you inspiration
Personal finance books are absolutely brilliant for inspiration!
They usually include real life experiences and money stories that are often relatable to the average person as well, showcasing what is actually possible.
As we all know, motivation can be a fleeting thing, especially when it comes to tasks that take a long time.
Reading personal finance books are great at giving that boost of inspiration and motivation that you need on your own financial journey.
It is often a marathon rather than a sprint after all!
Personal finance books show case the different areas of finance
Finance is a very broad subject and there’s no way you can have everything between same covers without the book becoming extremely long.
There are so many different money management strategies, investment strategies and options that having everything in one place could even feel really overwhelming.
Different personal finance books often focus on a few things at a time, introducing other areas briefly but giving most of the space to certain areas.
This is why I find that it is a great idea to read multiple different personal finance books.
One author likes passive investing, the other property investing and third focuses on how to invest into local businesses (non-traded businesses that is).
You get ideas on how to manage your money or create wealth in ways you might have not even thought about otherwise!
They give you different perspectives to money
As there are so many ways to manage money, invest and create wealth, we all have different views, opinions and feelings about it.
Some might not want to be landladies, but are happy to invest in property some other way, like shares in commercial property or even flipping properties (where you buy a doer upper, complete renovations and then sell it to the next person for higher price than you paid for).
It’s great to read about others’ thoughts and the way they do things, or what they focus on. Some of it might align with you and you can implement it in how you manage your finances, some might not and you can leave that on the pages as nice to know.
Different perspectives on the same subject broaden and challenge our thinking, which is never a bad thing.
It helps us to keep evolving on our money journey, and makes sure that our approach to our finances stays relative to goals AND where we are in that moment.
Help with creating your own approach to money
The whole point of personal finance books is to open your eyes to finances and help you figure out how to manage your own money, no matter where you are in life.
I really believe that it is beneficial to read multiple different personal finance books, for all the above reasons.
Then you get to cherry pick the tips, tricks and way that work for you, in your season of life.
Just because someone does things certain way doesn’t mean you need to do things exactly the same way!
I know there are a few personal finance movements on social media (American Dave Ramsay’s Baby Steps and Australian The Barefoot Investor‘s buckets come to mind) where you might feel you just have to follow their approach to a T.
But let me just say this again. If the whole approach doesn’t suit you, take what you like of it and leave the rest!
The beauty of reading about money and the managing of it from different perspectives and angles is that knowledge is always power. You know what suits your financial situation and also, very importantly, your personality.
I really don’t want you to be discouraged because some specific way doesn’t seem to work for you.
Move on and try another approach. There are plenty out there! Soon enough you’ll find a way that works for you and you see results with.
That is the most important thing!
(Even if sometimes it might go against some general money management advice floating around there.)
Do you read personal finance books? Do you have a favorite? Let me know in the comments!
