When it comes to saving your money and preparing for your future, you can never be too educated or prepared. Every piece of knowledge, action, and discipline is important in creating money-saving habits, and forming a paradigm in which you’re always looking past tomorrow.
One of the best ways to kick-start your retirement income planning is to consult with professionals, such as our team at Kennedy Wealth Management in Calabasas, California. We will help you with every facet of your retirement planning, and we also provide other services, such as 401(k) rollover strategy, life insurance planning, investment management, and more.
However, our financial advisors can’t do all the work for you, and that’s why it’s important for you to educate yourself and learn on your own as well. One of the best ways to do that is to read expert wealth management financial advice from celebrated specialists. In this blog post, we’ll go over some of the most valuable books you can read about personal finance in general. Whether you’re looking to improve your retirement income planning, manage your money, start investing, or build up a hefty savings account, the sage advice in these books will do nothing but help.
Essential Wealth Management Books
The Richest Man in Babylon
We’ll start our list off with a veritable classic. The Richest Man in Babylon, written by George Clason, dates way back to the 20s, and it doesn’t even use any real-life stories to teach its principles. Does that sound ineffective to you? Think again — The Richest Man in Babylon is one of the most celebrated volumes of financial wisdom.
True to its title, which alludes to that Babylon, the ancient city dating back to Biblical times, the book is essentially a collection of fictional parables that demonstrate the most foundational aspects of money management. The argument is that there are certain fundamental financial principles that will hold true through all ages of time. The book walks through the life of a Babylonian pauper who eventually comes into riches through the disciplined implementation of good wealth management habits.
The messages of The Richest Man in Babylon are simple and timeless, and do an effective job at showing how one can manage their money well regardless of the context of their life or moment in history. These are things we should all be doing — paying ourselves by saving a cut of all the money we receive, setting up different accounts for different purposes, investing safely and wisely, and so on. Sometimes there is a beauty in simplicity, and the efficacy of Babylon’s message is a clear example of this.
The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy
When people think of millionaires, the image that usually comes to mind is an eccentric person who drives around lavish cars, hosts parties at their giant mansion, and travels the world like it’s their own personal backyard.
In reality, the majority of America’s millionaires are normal people who have simply mastered money-saving techniques. That’s the main premise of this book — that becoming a millionaire isn’t some outlandish fantasy — it’s an attainable reality that is made possible by good habits, smart planning, and a strong sense of discipline.
The Millionaire Next Door breaks down the commonalities between the majority of America’s millionaires, and asserts that, rather than some magic formula, anybody can pull in seven figures if they’re willing to put in the hard work.
This is a great book for anybody who is interested in seeing how most millionaires make their money. Because it is so rife with methods that are tried and true, it’s also an excellent resource for your own wealth management and financial planning. Our desire for every one of our clients is for them to find themselves in a state of true financial independence when their retirement comes, and this book will go a long way towards helping them to build up money when they’re young.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad
Rich Dad, Poor Dad is a very interesting book because it challenges a lot of the traditional ideas about building wealth. More than anything though, it invites you to challenge the ideas that you may have been taught growing up.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad tells its message by contrasting fathers and sons, both rich and poor, and how their financial education played an essential role in bringing them to wherever they are.
Kiyosaki asserts that an eighth-grade student with a solid understanding of finances is smarter than a college professor who can’t seem to stay out of debt. He proclaims that age and seniority do not make us make us wise by default, and that the way you’re taught will have a lasting effect on your finances for the rest of your life.
We recommend this book because it’s a fascinating look at the paradigms through which people see money and wealth management. It helps us to see the flaws in our own mentalities, and even more importantly, how to pass the right knowledge to our children. Whether you’re a parent who wants to set their child on the right course, or a young adult who wants to develop good habits while you’re young, Rich Dad, Poor Dad will be a boon for your personal finances.
Your Money Or Your Life
This book is a positive reminder of what our priorities should be when it comes to money. Most people don’t look at retirement income planning as a way to get rich, they see it as a way to be happy. Shouldn’t we extend this mentality to the rest of our lives? Your Money or Your Life is an engaging look at the psychology behind money, and how changing your perceptions of money itself can lead to a life where you’re not only wiser in your wealth management, but happier as a person.
There are timeless pieces of advice that will be true through all periods of time, such as the advice to save more and spend less. However, by challenging the very way you perceive money and wealth, you might just find ways to change your life that you’ve never encountered in other personal finance books.
Your Money or Your Life gives us a valuable and much-needed perspective about the morality of money, the role it plays in our lives, and how certain paradigm shifts can completely alter the way we spend and save, often for the better. This is a useful book for anybody to read, because far too many people end up drowning in the quagmire that is money management — you don’t want to build wealth at the expense of your own happiness, as people often do. Your Money or Your Life helps you to keep a healthy mentality about money, and can help you to have both wealth and happiness at the same time.
Retirement Income Planning and Wealth Management in California
And, of course, no matter how much literature you read, don’t forget to consult with wealth management professionals about your retirement income plan and personal money management in general. At Kennedy Wealth Management, LLC, this is what we specialize in. We have helped countless California clients to build a healthy retirement income, and we would love to help you. Whether you’re in Calabasas, Northridge, Reseda, Woodland Hills, or any other surrounding areas, we urge you to contact us today for professional retirement income planning.