Top Money Books Millionaires Read

Today we continue reviewing information from my first 100 millionaire interviews.

We’ve already covered several topics including the numbers detailing their successes, 13 surprising facts about millionaires, millionaire wealth stories, and millionaire investing strategies.

We’re going to add to these by discussing books that have had the most impact on millionaires.

To reiterate from past posts, this is NOT a scientific survey of what millionaires read and I’m not pretending it is. It’s a summary from millionaires I’ve interviewed.

Millionaires Read a Lot

It’s no surprise that millionaires read a lot. If our own interviews were not enough to confirm this, a quick trip around the web confirms it.

Here’s a smattering of what I’ve found on the topic…

From the Huffington Post:

Want to know one habit ultra-successful people have in common? They read. A lot.

From CNBC:

“Reading dramatically correlates with higher education and income, as well as overall happiness,” writes Bell. “Those who read seven or more books per year are more than 122 percent more likely to be millionaires as opposed to those who never read or only read one to three [books].”

From Dave Ramsey:

President Harry Truman once said, “Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” One of the reasons millionaires become millionaires is because of their constant desire to learn. To them, leadership books and biographies are much more important than the latest reality show or who got kicked off the island. When they have free time, they use it wisely—by reading.

From Success magazine:

Among wealthy people, 88 percent read 30 minutes or more every day.

Fromthe bookRich Habits – The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals which lists reading as a vital part of habit #3: “I will engage in self-improvement every day”:

Successful people read for self-improvement. They are perpetual students. Each day they devote blocks of time to better themselves by studying subject matter that will improve them in some way and better enable them to perform their jobs.

From The Next Millionaire Next Door which hints at reading being vital to investing success saying:

Millionaire investors spend time building knowledge and expertise in managing investments. They spend on average 10.5 hours per month studying and planning for future investments.

I could go on but I think you get the point. One common trait wealthy people have is that they read.

Since reading seems to be a (vital?) part of their success, wouldn’t it be great to know the money books they like best?

I certainly think so.

Missing a Key Question

There’s only one problem: I didn’t ask my first 100 millionaires what books they love (something I’m rectifying in future interviews). I know. Ugh.

That said, starting with interview #38 I inserted the following question that did generate some book mentions:

How did you learn about finances and at what age did it ‘click’? Was it from family, books, forced to learn as wealth grew, etc.?

In addition, many millionaires volunteered books they liked as they told their stories.

But this was still not enough information. So what did I do? I sent the millionaires the following email:

Hey! I hope this message finds you well!

I’m sending you this email because you were one of the first 100 millionaire interviews I did on ESI Money.

While doing a summary of the first 100, I wanted to do a post on the books that influenced your finances the most.

But duh, I forgot to ask that question!!!

Now some of you did tell be your favorites, but not enough to really make a post out of.

So I would greatly appreciate it if you would take 10 minutes and simply tell me:

What are the top three money books that made the most difference in your life?
Why/how did they make a difference?

Of course, perhaps there were none. If that’s so, please let me know that as well.

Thanks for your help!

ESI

And I received a lot of great responses!

So between the emails and the original interviews, I now have a wealth of information (pun intended) on what millionaires read.

Books Read by Millionaires

Before we get into the books themselves, let me state that there were many comments like “I read Dave Ramsey books” or “I like books from the Rich Dad series.”

Unless a book was mentioned by name, I did not count these in the results below. They were just too vague. I only included responses where a specific book was named.

I also want to note that while I might simply say “books” below, we are talking about money books specifically. I’m not really interested if they read Jane Eyre or Batman novels.

Here are the findings…

1. Millionaires have wide-ranging tastes in what they read.

Overall, there were 56 different books mentioned by the group.

The grand total mentions was 114 (not all responded, but those who did often mentioned several books, many of which over-lapped.)

It’s no surprise that they read broadly and have various interests. Their stories illustrate different paths to a million dollars. The same diversity is realized in their favorite money books.

2. Millionaires love certain books disproportionately.

While there’s a wide range of books listed, seven of the books received over half the mentions.

Here are the top seven books listed in order, along with my thoughts and quotes from millionaires:

#1: The Millionaire Next Door

Is this a surprise to anyone?

The Millionaire Next Door is the money book that made the largest impact on my life, a book that I’ve reviewed highly, one I’ve included in my list of the only five money books anyone needs to read.

Millionaires like it as much as I do.

While their votes demonstrate this, their comments add even more love.

Here’s one that summarizes many others I received:

Like many others, the Millionaire Next Door would be by far number 1 and have re-read it multiple times throughout the years. It reinforced that there were multiple ways to accumulate wealth, to always live below your means, that you didn’t necessarily have make a high income to be a millionaire and that many millionaires were “hidden” living middle class lifestyles. I think your blog is the current version on the Millionaire Next Door and one of the reasons I was open to sharing my family’s story.

How kind. It’s hard to imagine being put in the same group with such a book.

Here’s another one:

I didn’t read The Millionaire Next Door until I was solidly on the path to financial independence. However, before I read this, I considered us to be the cheap people in our neighborhood. This book helped me to understand that the folks who are buying all the fancy stuff are usually the folks that really don’t have any money. The wealthy are generally the folks living frugally and not worrying about trying to keep up with the Joneses and just show off their material crap. It actually gave me comfort to understand that we’re on the right path and doing things the right way.

And a similar comment:

The Millionaire Next Door is a very fundamentally important book. It displaces so many untrue but commonly held beliefs that surround how wealth is created. I think it’s message is incredibly empowering. It shows you that mostly everyone can achieve significant wealth if you are willing to make basis, smart decisions. I have actually read this cover to cover twice about 15 years apart.

Finally, here’s a thought about the book being the granddaddy of the financial independence movement:

The Millionaire Next Door This is a classic. I read it when I was in high school and it really opened my eyes. It is not about how much you spent but how much you saved. This book set me on the “FI” path before I knew what FI was.

This was my personal experience as well. I read it when the book first came out and tell people, “I did what it advises and I became wealthy as a result.” Pretty simple really.

#2: Your Money or Your Life

Another of my top five books and contender for starter of the FIRE movement.

Here’s a representative comment:

Your Money or Your Life takes frugality to the next level. I learned from this book that a penny saved is worth a lot more than a penny earned. You pay taxes on the penny earned. You need transportation in order to earn the penny. Earning the penny can be stressful, etc.

This one offers a bit more detail:

The fundamental message in this book is so profound. Some of the sections come across a bit “hippy” but the message is so deep. Whether you realize it or not, you are trading your life energy every day. You need to do so mindfully or you will get to the end of this wonderful life disappointed.

And another:

I loved the mindset change this book gave me. The idea that my time was too precious to waste on anything but things that made me feel happy and uplifted, was liberating. It helped me focus more on what I was running to vs. what I was running from.

One more:

It gave me a great perspective on how to measure success in my life, and not just net worth.

You get the point. The book does an awesome job of relating time and money and showing that you spend your life (time) on so many worthless things. It’s a great perspective-builder!

#3: Rich Dad Poor Dad

This one was a surprise for me.

I’ve read it (of course) but it didn’t really do much for me (and thus didn’t make my top five list).

In addition, there’s been a lot of less-than-positive chatter from money bloggers about the book — is it a real story or made up, is the author legitimate or just a great salesman, etc.

One millionaire addressed these issues head on:

You can put down Robert Kiyosaki and say that he’s a fraud or that he makes more money from his seminars than his real estate. However, this was the book that was the light bulb for me. This was the book that made me realize that it’s possible for the everyday person to attain wealth. Although this was more of a motivational book than a step-by-step guide, it became the inspiration for me to get off my butt and try different things to get out of the rat race like real estate and starting my own businesses.

There’s no doubt this book has more of a focus on the accumulation of assets than many other money books. One millionaire noted this:

This book really taught me the importance of accumulating income producing assets. I never did get into real estate but I did get into the stock market. In my mind a stock paying a dividend is a lot less work than an apartment paying dividend. I read this in high school as well. Because of this book in addition to others I opened a Roth IRA at the ripe old age of 16.

Here’s one with a different takeaway:

Rich Dad, Poor Dad was one of the 1st books that I read when I started to get really serious about personal finance. I think that fundamental message that I took away from this work is how important it is to work smarter than harder. Working hard is important and fundamental but if you do not work wisely you are making it very challenging to succeed. You need to make sacrifices so that your money can work hard for you. It the 1st personal finance book that I had my oldest son read while in college.

Again, a surprise for me but there’s no doubt this book has had a major impact on millionaires.

#4 (tie): The Automatic Millionaire

This book didn’t make my top five list but made the honorable mentions.

My main issue with this one is that it can be summarized in one sentence — so why do we need a whole book?

But millionaires disagreed and found tons of value — many loving it’s simple yet powerful message.

Here’s a comment that encapsulates the general sentiment:

I loved David Bach’s simplicity on how to build wealth. The good news is that I was automating our savings at this time. However, I loved this book so much, I gave my copy away to a friend trying to get on the right track and have been recommending it to others as well. This is the perfect “starter” book for everyone struggling to get their finances moving in the right direction.

#4 (tie): The Richest Man in Babylon

Another one from my list and actually the book I recommend most these days.

I suggest it often because it’s simple in content, a quick read, and is written as a story which makes it easier to swallow for folks newer to money concepts.)

Interestingly enough, while so many people mentioned it, no one sent me comments.

#6 (tie): The Simple Path to Wealth

This one was a surprise for me as well.

Not because it’s a bad book — it’s a very good book, in fact.

But it’s so new compared to the others. They have had many decades to become well-known and popular while this book was published only a few years ago.

My guess is that this book will become the standard investing book for the FIRE community and replace the popularity of The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing one day.

For millionaires, looks like that day has already come.

#6 (tie): Think and Grow Rich

A classic for sure.

It’s been a few decades since I’ve read this book, but millionaires had a lot of great things to say about it.

For example:

Think and Grow Rich is a very good read on how one should think about money. The big take away is to have the right “millionaire mindset”, and some how, you will start to attract money, and also the right people will come to help you achieve financial success.

And another:

Just positive messages to influence and grow your abilities and riches will come.

I remember it being just what they said — positive and inspirational.

The Next Level

I’m not going to comment on every book millionaires listed (or else this post would be the size of a book!) but I will list them all.

This section includes all the books that were mentioned more than once, but not as many times as the top seven:

The Rest

Here’s the list of books with one mention (not all strictly personal finance, but books that can influence wealth in one way or another):

3. Not all millionaires are readers.

When asked what books influenced them, several millionaires said “none.”

In fact, this was the third most popular answer after The Millionaire Next Door and Your Money or Your Life.

Here’s one millionaire’s response:

None. I’ve read a lot of investing books, but none of them really made a difference in my life.

While all of them have had some good information, so many have been either so basic or so technical that I either lose interest or struggle to find applicability to my life. As an example, I’m reading Chris Hogan’s “Retire Inspired” and just finished a section “What is a 401k”.

I think it’s a great book for someone with limited financial exposure, but was looking for something that actually was a little deeper and geared more towards the advanced/expert level.

For me personally, the material that I am reading that is making a difference are blogs from people such as yourself. It’s much easier to read a section, ruminate on what I read, do research and ask questions verses slogging through page after page of entry level topics as I have to do in books. There are always those nuggets found in books, but I can’t trudge through 400 pages looking for it.

Here’s another one — a very interesting perspective:

There were no money books that I found in time. That said, who knows what books the people I learned from read? I bet they were good ones!

Well said!!!

Millionaires and Money Books

So, what have we learned in this review? My thoughts:

Most wealthy people are readers. This reading, in turn, probably helps them learn and grow which then makes them better money mangers. Or maybe it’s just a coincidence that the wealthy read a lot. 😉
They like a wide variety of money books. Much wider than I would have guessed, in fact. I found some books I need to read!
There are seven books that seem particularly impactful. If you are strapped for time and can only read a few money books, the top seven is probably a great place to begin.
Millionaires and money bloggers seem to be on the same page. Just look how similar the millionaires were to what money bloggers said were their favorite books.

That’s the list. I’m sure there will be some discussion on which ones are “best”, so let’s get to it!

See any books that made a big impact on your life? Or maybe one that did that’s not listed?

Any there that you’ve never heard of but would like to read? (Like I said, there are some I need to check out!)

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Comments

The Physician Philosopher says
February 22, 2019 at 4:00 am
Interesting collection! I’ve read many of them, but certainly not all of them. I need to read The Simple Path to Wealth. Just haven’t gotten around to it, yet.
As someone who has authored a personal finance book, I can attest to how much work goes into it. Maybe the book I recently wrote will be on a list like this someday!
TPP
Reply
- Ed says
  February 22, 2019 at 7:27 am
  TPP, no doubt it involves a lot of work. I have learned most of what I know through books, podcasts, forums, blogs, YouTube, and conferences. Unfortunately, college teaches very little about personal finance these days.
  You, WCI, ESI Money, PoF, Dave Ramsey, and many others have been influential to my knowledge about personal finance, and for that I thank you.
  I have yet to read your book as I’ve been swamped with school and work lately. But I can assure you it is on my “to read” list and will hopefully read it before FinCon this year 🙂
  See Also
  Warning: Beware Of These Rental Scams - The Money Minimalists
  I am sure it is great!
  Ed
  Reply
  - The Physician Philosopher says
    February 22, 2019 at 5:30 pm
    Thanks, Ed! Just trying to be one of the voices filling the void.
    Hope you enjoy it!
    TPP
    Reply
  - Tia Lemon says
    May 30, 2019 at 9:00 am
    What is POF? and WCI while I am at it…
    Reply
    - ESI says
      May 30, 2019 at 9:47 am
      They are other blogs: Physician on Fire, White Coat Investor, etc.
      Reply
Sharon says
February 22, 2019 at 8:43 am
I really loved Jane Bryant Quinn’s “Making the Most of Your Money”. I checked it out again and again from my library during 1990-1994. I didn’t act on all her advice, but her book was a great read, and it made me feel like there was a friend in my corner to whom I could go for help on almost any financial topic. At the same time, I was also buying and reading several books by Larry Burkett. I used his basic budget categories to figure out how to live on my $7.25/hour plus benefits (1990 dollars). Back in those days, I don’t remember there being as many sources of information as there are now.
Reply
Phillip says
February 22, 2019 at 4:11 pm
I’m not much of a reader of books yet I’m pretty close to your average MI interviewee. The only one I read on your list is A Random Walk Down Wall Street and that was a long time ago. I’m a big reader of articles and blogs but very rarely read books.
Reply
Scot Scherwitz (SA) says
February 22, 2019 at 10:25 pm
Peter Mallouk – the five mistakes every investor makes and how to avoid them. The focus is on the benefit of index fund investing, a good read
Reply
Ed Brooks says
February 23, 2019 at 6:51 pm
All great books. I’ve read a few of them., The Millionaire Next Door, Rich Dad, etc. The earliest I read – I think – was a Suze Orman book that got me really thinking about personal finance.
However, after some of the more basic personal finance-type books, the ones which have impacted me most were those which got much more into the weeds, at which point I felt like I was starting to understand the economic system better, i.e., The Black Swan (Taleb), The Intelligent Investor (Graham), The Smartest Guys in the Room, When Genus Failed, More Money Than Gold, The Big Short, Liar’s Poker, etc.
In fact, I think anything written by Michael Lewis are great primers and beyond, re: personal finance and how best to compete in the broader market economy.
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Wealthy Doc says
March 3, 2019 at 8:37 am
I’m a bit of a bookaholic and a learning junkie. I have read almost everything on this list. I learned something from all of them.
Since I said “almost” I now have a few more on my reading list!
I grew up dirt-poor and am now FI, so there may be something to this.
“Leaders are readers.” The CEO of my hospital network reads more than anyone I know.
And as Warren Buffett said, “The more you learn, the more you earn!”
Reply
117 says
March 3, 2019 at 9:42 am
Interesting.. although I certainly condone reading as much as one can, to always be growing- I don’t have a favorite “Money” book. The Richest Man in Babylon was at least somewhat entertaining from my recollection. I’m listening to Millionaire Next Door now and honestly it’s kind of boring.
WRT Millionaire Next Door- sure all these next door people are millionaires and I’m sure most live lives they want… but damn, why be so frugal your entire life just for the sake of being secure? I mean you gotta damn live and experience life to it’s fullest. At the end we are all going to the same place. Maybe I value things way different. I think even Dave Ramsey put it best by saying something like “If you will live like no one else, later you can live like no one else”. I interpret that to mean being smart when you are not wealthy so you can enjoy life more when you become wealthy. On the flip side the UAWs are just ridiculous on the other end of the spectrum as portrayed in this book. I mean this book just covers the extremes IMO.
Anyway enough of that… There is tons of good information out there… maybe after 55 years on this planet some of the basics are too obvious for any of these books to be mind blowing. LOL.
In summary I’m most like the guy in your article that posted “None”. Blogs and research are the most important for me.
Ironically- a book that I did like was “The Compound Effect”. It’s relevant to many things, but not just money. It’s the one book I strongly encouraged my kids to read. Must read IMO.
Reply
Tonya says
March 9, 2019 at 6:42 pm
Rich Dad Poor Dad was a good book if you want to become wealthy the way he indicates. Personally, I came from a home with an entrepreneurial father who never quite made enough money (and what he did make was sporadic), which has led me to desire security above all else. I have no desire to run my own business or necessarily to become rich. Obviously I’m not a millionaire and likely never will be as a teacher, but I’m happy and love the consistent paychecks, insurance, and the retirement benefits that are to come.
I bought Automatic Millionaire but couldn’t make it through more than a few chapters. It didn’t contain any information I hadn’t read in dozens of other places. I already know I have to have my savings and retirement taken out automatically before I consider it money I can spend. I pretty much have everything in my life on auto-withdrawal.
Millionaire Next Door has always been a favorite, and I have my financial literacy students read it in class (each student is assigned a section to read and present a summary). I love the concept that what you see is not necessarily what you get and that many millionaires got that way in dull/normal fields.
Reply
Tom S says
April 7, 2019 at 9:39 am
Like other commenters have said, I’ve read a few of the books mentioned here, but can’t say any of them changed the way I have always thought about saving or investing. What they did do is validate and reinforce many of the thoughts and behaviors that I already had adopted.
So where did those come from? I’d say equal parts from my parents, the local culture in the Midwest where I grew up (frugal), and perhaps some innate aspect of my character (not all my siblings think about ESI the way I do).
This isn’t to say that I’m some sort of genius at any of this. Quite the opposite – I feel quite lucky that my natural inclinations happened to align with many of the prescriptions contained in these books. And where there isn’t alignment, I’ve struggled to make the recommended changes, even though I know they are probably the right thing to do (e.g., establishing passive income stream via real estate or owning a business).
Conversely, I wonder how many people are on the FIRE path got there after reading about what to do and made major changes to their lifestyle, saving and spending habits. Seems to me people are gonna do what people are gonna do – very hard to make them change. Or?
Reply
Dan says
June 11, 2019 at 1:26 pm
Millionaire Fastlane – MJ Demarko
Poor Charlie’s almanack – Charlie Munger
Economics course – any good economics course / book
Reply
Pat Jackson says
September 1, 2019 at 10:46 pm
Agree with the list, especially “The Millionaire Next Door”. I never looked at someone with a fancy car or big house the same again.
Additional books that had a huge influence for me:
Robert Allen “Multiple Streams of Income”. Passive income was an unknown concept to me before this book. We started successfully investing in rental properties.
Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace”, “Complete Guide to Money” & “The Legacy Journey”. Believe it or not, he gives the best advice & guidance for married couples understanding each other & working together for success. If the #1 reason for divorce is money problems, and you eliminate that obstacle, you are more likely to stay married. And “The Millionaire Next Door” proved that financial success is more common without divorce. Really got us working together on the same page.
Rabbi Lapin “Thou Shall Prosper”. Learned a lot from this book, but most important was how to be honest & open with our son to be financially independent and successful. And it worked.
“Estate Planning”. Wow! This explained how we were at risk of losing the 50+ yr family business if my FIL died (taxes) or remarried then died (ownership transfer), etc., etc. Got an estate attorney the same week to get the documents done ASAP.
Reply
random says
September 3, 2019 at 7:19 pm
2 books i was glad to have read when i started earning.
Personal Finance for Dummies.
really good introduction to the wold of investing, importance of starting early and what stocks and bonds are .(so life changing for me i always recommend it)
Millionaire Next Door.
so inspiring for me. it took years but i am now a PAW. my car is a 14 and a half y/o pickup.
Random Walk …
read it but didn’t really inspire or influence me
rich dad poor dad… really felt like fiction. but did have a good point or two.
read a lot of money related magazines.
i read those books in 1997. net worth negative (car loan). now about 3.3M( no home equity included) at 53 y/o. alas with lifesyle creep will still need 4 to 5 yrs of compounding. did nothing special, lived below my means, saved 25 to 30% gross income and invested( you dont have to be smart, just participate and be in it for the long haul with no market timing.
Reply
Ricky says
October 14, 2019 at 3:08 am
Hey ESI,
I really like this article. In fact I subscribed before I was done reading the article and I hardly ever subscribe to blogs / websites.
I read the “The Richest Man in Babylon” right after a really poor investing decision and made years ago and I realized I needed to read more money books. haha
One more thing… Am I missing something or you have two #4 on your list? Not that it really maters anyway, just curios.
Thank you,
Ricky
Reply
- ESI says
  October 14, 2019 at 6:55 am
  There are two #4’s. There was a tie in the number that named both those books.
  That’s why I put a small “(tie)” next to each of them. 😉
  Reply
Financial Fred says
October 5, 2020 at 7:43 pm
Interesting list, thank you for sharing. I have read a lot of these book and this is a great list. I do have to say I was a little surprised to see that there wasn’t more biographies on the list. Of note, I didn’t click on each link this is from recognition, e.g. The Snowball and Poor Charlie’s Almanac.
I say this as I think biographies have been great for me to learn from. I know some of the biographies I have read, such as The Snowball, have taught me so many lessons. Not only are they interesting to read but in a way it is like a mentor.
Biographies will help you sorround yourself with people better than you so you drift in that direction. I know some people may think biographies are long but instead of reading those you could read interviews with millionaires such as the interviews on this site.
Never stop learning and trying to improve!
Reply
Ken M says
August 7, 2021 at 8:55 am
I’ve been more interested in the “FI” in FIRE than the “RE”, and have been recommending to folks trying to start the following:
The Little Book of Common Sense Investing – Jack Bogle – Great book on why you should just own an index vs individual common stocks and go passive rather than active investing.
The Gone Fishin’ Portfolio – Alexander Green – A good all around book on why you should asset allocate and it even gives you a model portfolio with actual Vanguard/Fidelity index funds and ETFs you should select. That how too approach was really mentally very helpful to me during the financial meltdowns.
People need a philosophy on investing, and the above two points them in the right direction.
Reply