As you gather your receipts and W-2s this tax season, you may be inspired to tackle your overall financial well-being. Here are three books that can help.
YOU ARE A BADASS AT MAKING MONEY
Master the Mindset of Wealth
By Jen Sincero
269 pp. Viking. (2017)
According to this book, if you want to make more money, it starts with changing how you think about your finances. This book is aimed at changing readers’ mentality. In Sincero’s view, pursuing wealth gets a bad rap — that it is greedy, gross or will prevent you from spending time with your family — and those negative associations hold people back from achieving their desired or deserved income level. She argues that money can be a conduit to living a richer life and guides readers through thought exercises and mantras to change how readers talk to themselves about money and unleash their ability to attain it.
THIS IS THE YEAR I PUT MY FINANCIAL LIFE IN ORDER
By John Schwartz
320 pp. Avery. (2018)
Born from an article that Schwartz, a science reporter for The Times, wrote in 2015 about realizing he was ill-equipped for retirement, this book uses his personal story to walk readers through the financial steps they should take to improve their finances. With self-deprecating humor, Schwartz highlights some of his and his wife, Jeanne’s, money mistakes as young professionals and, later, as midlife adults. Through the writer’s follies and his analyses of current financial attitudes, as well as “punch lists” in each chapter that offer action items, readers learn about managing debt, buying a house, writing a will and otherwise preparing for a comfortable retirement.
INVESTED
How Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger Taught Me to Master My Mind, My Emotions, and My Money (With a Little Help from My Dad)
By Danielle Town and Phil Town
319 pp. William Morrow. (2018)
When Danielle Town realized she needed to gain control of her money, she turned to her father, Phil, the best-selling author of the personal finance book, “Rule #1: The Simple Strategy for Successful Investing in Only 15 Minutes a Week!,” to teach her about investing. They turned their conversations into a successful podcast called InvestED, which educates listeners on value investing, a strategy popularized by Warren Buffett. This book is the culmination of that project. Written by Town with her dad, “Invested” tells the story of her financial education and lays out a 12-month plan for readers to learn the basics of investing — including when to buy and sell, and for how much — and become more confident in navigating the stock market.
