My Required Reading List

One of the most important things I learned from the book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad", is that our traditional education system is severely lacking in the area of financial education. As a result, even people highly educated in the traditional sense often lack basic financial literacy. That thought has caused me to start a reading rampage on the topic of money, wealth, and of course investing and the stock market. Included below are the three best books that I have read on the subject.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad
Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon L. Lechter, ISBN: 0316857750

Jim Cramer's Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World
James J. Cramer, ISBN: 0743224892

The Millionaire Next Door : The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy
Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko, ISBN: 1563523302

I would consider these the foundation of my financial education and mindset. In addition, I highly recommend other books in the Rich Dad series. While I've only read "Retire Young, Retire Rich" and "Prophecy" so far, the manner in which they are written is consistent with the philosophy of the original, and I expect the other books in the series to be as well.

Some other interesting books that I've read on the subject of money and investing are "The Little Book that Beats the Market", "Stock Market Miracles", and William O'Neil's classic "How to Make Money in Stocks." I also read Jim Cramer's autobiography, "Confessions of a Street Addict" just because I find him interesting. The point is, the more that I read, the more that I learn. Take "Stock Market Miracles", for instance. It reads like it was written by an illiterate moron. But if you can get past the poor English and awful grammar, there are actually some good ideas in there. It just goes to show you that having good investment ideas does not mean that you are able to write well about them. So at times even poorly written books are still good books, if they generate ideas that can make you money.

I recently relocated and cannot stress enough the value of a good library. If you don't live near a quality library, it's worth the drive to one. My old local library has a handful of books on the subjects of investment and wealth, and most had copyrights from the Sixties. My new library has thousand of books on the subjects, and seems to get more every time I go. I've been reading twice as many books as I used to since I'm no longer shelling out twenty bucks every time a new one comes along.