What are the best investing books for beginners? You may want to grow your money and learn how to invest, but not know where to start. Thankfully there are thousands of books you can read to help you learn how to begin investing.
A quick glance Amazon reveals over 30,000 options when you type in “investing books.” That will overwhelm even the most studious individual. Don’t let the volume of books keep you starting!
Investing in the stock market is difficult for many, and finding the best resource to start with is often difficult. The top investing books are ones that simplify difficult concepts in ways that beginner investors can understand. Having a book that is enjoyable to read isn’t too bad either.
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The Best Investing Books for Beginners
It can be difficult to determine which exactly are the best investing books. The books I typically recommend are ones that promote a certain investing philosophy and not game the market.
Instead, manypromote a long-term, slow and steady type of approach to investing and nothing else.
When thinking over the best books on investing, it’s best to keep it to a short numbered list. As you look over our list you’ll notice some that didn’t make the list. Those are:
That’s not to say those books are not good. In fact, each of the above is terrific but this list is meant to highlight a few top-notch books. I’ve read all or significant chunks of each of the books below and they’ve been helpful in my investing journey.
Here are the best investing books for beginners to learn how to invest.
1. A Random Walk Down Wall Street
A Random Walk Down Wall Streetwas written by Burton Malkiel in 1973. Yes, that was over 40 years ago but his concepts still hold true today. In fact, Random Walk as a must read book for both beginner and seasoned investors alike.
What makes Random Walk one of the best books on investing is that it simplifies the market so anyone can understand it. It does this by engaging you as the reader. This is difficult to do for many authors.
However, Malkiel does it in style and offers methods to follow that’ll help you as you begin to invest in the stock market.
2. The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing
The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investingis a more recent book, written by Bogleheads founder Taylor Larimore in 2007.
Larimore has a companion book focusing on saving for retirementwhich I’ve heard is just as good. If you don’t know the Bogleheads, they are an homage to the founder of the investment firm Vanguard.
Vanguard focuses on a low-cost, long-term approach to investing, and one we support.
What makes Bogleheads a top choice is similar to what is found in Random Walk. He offers a straightforward way to start investing. Larimore focuses on a number of things but focuses on the need to develop a long-term view on growing wealth.
This isn’t as sexy as short-term swings, but is better for your long-term financial health.
3. The Intelligent Investor
The Intelligent Investorwas written by Benjamin Graham in 1934. Surprisingly,it’s not the oldest book on our list. Intelligent Investor is a must read for most investors as he makes difficult topics easy to understand.
What makes Intelligent Investor one of the best investing books is he explains how to focus on the long-term health of a company. This is a simple, but effective way to limit your risk.
The idea is to focus on long-term wealth building and not short-term gains. Graham was Warren Buffett’s mentor so he knows what he’s talking about.
4. The Richest Man in Babylon
The Richest Man in Babylonwas written by George Clason back in 1926.Richest Man isn’t a true investing book, per se, but is a great read for new investors. Clason writes the book in parable form set in, you guessed it, Babylon.
The book itself is a collection of short pamphlets that financial institutions handed out in the 1920’s. It was bound together later as a book.
I appreciate thatClason covers basic ideals that most overlook. This helps beginning investors have a fuller view of investing. A classic, Richest Man is relatively quick to read through and should be on anyone’s reading list.
5. Common Sense on Mutual Funds
Common Sense on Mutual Fundsby John Bogle isn’t necessarily a true investing book for beginners. It’s a little more advanced; however, I don’t believe that keeps from a spot on our list.
Common Sense is a top choice because Bogle covers an industry that we sink billions into – the mutual fund industry. Mutual funds are a legitimate investment option for a lot of investors, and an excellent way to create passive income. Yet, there are also countless funds that charge crazy fees and make investing far too complex.
This often result in lost money for investors, which should not be the case. Instead, Bogle promotes a value based, broad portfolio approach as opposed to trying to beat the market.
6. If You Can
If You Canwas written by William Bernstein. This is the one book on my list I’ve not read, however I have read his classicThe Four Pillars of Investingwhich I highly recommend.
I have perusedIf You Can,and knowing his philosophy have no problem recommending it.
What puts this new book on our list of top investing books for beginners is that it’s specifically for new and younger investors. Bernstein promotes a simple approach to beginning in the stock market, and how to start when brand new.
He focuses on being with the market and not chasing gains. Bernstein boils it down to a discipline you must follow in order to grow long-term wealth that will continue to build on itself.
Summary
Investing in the stock market overwhelms many would be investors. Education is the key to mitigating that feeling. Education also breeds the idea that you can accomplish much with a few simple actions.
If you look throughout our list they all focus on the same idea – a long-term view of investing. That includes cutting fees, keeping investing simple, and not chasing gains.
Follow that approach and you’ll generally be happy you did. While investing in the stock market can be difficult, there is no need to make it more so.
Have you read any of these books? Are there any others you’d consider as good choices for beginner investors?
John Schmoll
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I’m John Schmoll, a former stockbroker, MBA-grad, published finance writer, and founder of Frugal Rules.
As a veteran of the financial services industry, I’ve worked as a mutual fund administrator, banker, and stockbroker and was Series 7 and 63-licensed, but I left all that behind in 2012 to help people learn how to manage their money.
My goal is to help you gain the knowledge you need to become financially independent with personally-tested financial tools and money-saving solutions.
