Don’t let another year pass without putting yourself on the path to financial freedom with these best personal finance books of 2017
My wife and I just had our annual talk about our finances and goals for the next year. I enjoy the conversation because it brings us closer together, talking about the future and how we’ll get there together.
One of the best parts of the talk is looking through Amazon and picking personal finance books and others we want to read during the year. We’ve been reading books about personal finances for years but we always pick up something new.
I wanted to share a list of my favorite personal finance books as well as some of the money books we’re planning on reading in 2017.
Best Personal Finance Books to Get Started in 2017
Some personal finance books make money complicated and too many people avoid getting on track because they don’t think they’ll understand finances. My favorite books on personal finance do just the opposite, making managing your money as simple as possible to help open up financial freedom to everyone.
Start with these top personal finance books that will help you put together your goals and what money means in your 
life. Get these basics and you’ll be ready to fine-tune your financial life in all the individual topics.
How to Be a Financial Grownup: Proven Advice from High Achievers on How to Live Your Dreams by Bobbi Rebell and Tony Robbins
Bobbi taps into her huge network as a TV anchor and personal finance columnist to share their stories of success in money, life and business. The book is a complete life plan for some of the biggest personal finance decisions from managing debt, investing, buying a home and shaping a successful career.
It’s one of the best money books on ‘Adulting’ before the term was even a thing and includes lessons from success stories like Tony Robbins, Ivanka Trump, Jim Cramer and more than 20 others.
Soldier of Finance: Take Charge of Your Money and Invest in Your Future by Jeff Rose, CFP
Jeff is one of the most well-known personal finance writers. He’s a Certified Financial Planner, author and a Forbes columnist as well as a veteran. He brings his hard-fought Army training to financial planning in a no-nonsense guide to getting out of the money trap in which too many people suffer.
The book is divided into 14 modules for practical ways to evaluate your situation and commit to your goals. The book is laid out in a way that takes you through the most important needs in personal finance from cleaning up your credit 
to setting a budget and investing.
You Only Live Once: The Roadmap to Financial Wellness and a Purposeful Life by Jason Vitug
Jason just completed his second coast-to-coast workshop teaching people how to achieving their best possible life through smart money moves. The book is the perfect combination of living for today but still planning for tomorrow. It will help you accept past decisions and build goals for tomorrow while aligning your lifestyle with your budget.
Best Personal Finance Books to Make More Money
Spending is fun, too much fun! Too many personal finance books focus exclusively on debt and spending less to manage your financial health. There’s a point where you’ve cut all you can and need to concentrate on making more money. That’s where the side hustle and passive income books come in to help.
The Passive Income Myth: How to Create a Stream of Income from Real Estate, Blogging, Stocks and Bonds by Joseph Hogue, CFA
Freelancing and the side-hustle has changed my life, helping me to achieve financial freedom and work anywhere in the world. I just closed up my best month ever in November, making $5,030 on self-publishing and blogging along with another $4,600 from freelancing.
Unfortunately, the work from home trend has attracted all the scammers and infomercial frauds trying to sell you their ‘secrets’. All the courses and memberships are sold as passive income miracles where all you need to do is follow their advice and you’ll never have to work again.
That’s why I wrote this book, to cut through the B.S. and passive income myths in real estate, blogging, stocks and bonds. Some of these can be great businesses but are far from passive and you’ll have to work at it. The book is a no-nonsense look at how much you can make from each source, how passive the income is and how to get started.
Starting Point: How to Create Wealth that Lasts by Kevin L. Matthews II
One of the biggest problems with even the top personal finance books is that they assume everyone can increase their income immediately or can cut spending to the bone. A lot of Americans just don’t have those options.
Starting point addresses the most common problems to building wealth and develops a guide that anyone can follow in a simple strategy and regardless of income.
2017 Top Personal Finance Books for Investing and Retirement
As an investment analyst of more than a decade, I love talking about investing and helping people make money off their money. Investing without understanding your retirement goals and spending needs is like heading out on a road trip with no destination. Whenever you’re reading about investing, think about what it means for your retirement plans and vice-versa. Putting the two together will help develop a responsible investing plan and meet 
your retirement goals.
Step-by-Step Dividend Investing: A Beginner’s Guide to the Best Dividend Stocks and Income Investments by Joseph Hogue, CFA
This is the second and most popular of my four-part beginner’s investing series of books. I love investing in dividend stocks. They have outperformed other stocks over the long-term and the dividends mean you get paid while you wait for the investment to rise.
The book first reveals the power of dividends and why they are some of the best investments you can make before detailing how to pick the best dividend stocks for your investing needs. Beyond dividend stocks, you’ll also learn how to use real estate investment trusts (REITs) and master limited partnerships (MLPs) to produce even income.
The Military Guide to Financial Independence And Retirement by Doug Nordman
The book is written for service-members, veterans and their families but the easy-to-follow road map can be used by anyone to become financially independent. Before helping you understand your financial goals and how they fit with your retirement needs, the book dispels some of the biggest myths about military transition, finances and retirement.
I’ve known Doug for years and have met few others as approachable or as eager to help others. He brings this attitude to the book with writing that feels like a conversation over a cup of coffee. The book is filled with examples, checklists, recommended websites and a collection of information that makes clear all the complicated ideas in personal finance. Best of all, all profits from sales of the book go to veteran charities.
How to Retire Happy, Wild and Free: Retirement Wisdom that you Won’t Get from your Financial Advisor by Ernie Zelinski
Ernie’s is different from the other personal finance books in the list, focusing more on your retirement life than on the number of zeros in your bank account. By starting with a vision of your life in retirement and what you want to do, you can get a much better idea of how much you’ll need to save.
Having clear goals and a vision for retirement makes it easier to stick to your budget and save. Ernie includes all kinds of interesting exercises like creating an ‘Ultimate Life Adventure List’ and using his ‘The Get-a-Life Tree’ for choosing retirement activities that resonate with your dreams.
Best Money Books for Debt and Financial Fitness
Another personal finance blogger posted some comments from her blog on a Facebook group a few weeks ago, looking for advice on how to respond. The readers were so far in debt and didn’t see any way out that they were actually thinking it would be easier to end it all rather than face the debt.
It was a sobering look at a problem so many people face every day with little options. The Federal Reserve reports that the average household pays a dollar out of every $10 dollars in disposable income just to pay debt. That’s just the average and a lot of people are drowning in debt. It makes these personal finance books on debt so important and must reads for financial fitness.
Dear Debt: A Story about Breaking Up with Debt by Melanie Lockert
Melanie builds her personal experience of paying off $80,000 in student loan debt into an entertaining narrative about making money, saving and everything you need to ditch your debt. More than a personal finance book, this one reads like a personal conversation with Melanie. You relate to her story of overspending and debt even as you start to see how the strategies she used can work to wake up from your own debt nightmare.
Melanie shares several debt repayment strategies for different types of people and different needs. You’ll learn how to spot your spending triggers and avoid temptations while replacing expensive habits for cheaper alternatives. What makes it one of the best personal finance books is that it goes beyond debt-free to develop a financial plan for life after debt as well.
The Recovering Spender: How to Live a Happy, Fulfilled, Debt-Free Life by Lauren Greutman
To anyone that has truly struggled with debt, it can be just as impossible to beat as a disease or hardcore addiction. Lauren has been there, she’s faced her extreme spending habits and took action. Now, she’s sharing her experience nationwide on shows like Good Morning America and The Today Show along with launching this bestseller on Amazon.
In The Recovering Spender; you’ll learn how to take and inventory of your spending, declutter your finances, do an expense audit and curb your spending while defining your value. Lauren was able to beat the stressed-out fallacy of a materially-driven dream for a new one filled with a happier family life and financial freedom.
Whether you’re just starting out or planning on retiring, these are some of the best personal finance books to get your finances on track in 2017. Don’t forget that a fit financial future means making money, budgeting, investing and a range of personal finance topics. Check out a few of these top finance books for everything you need and become your own money guru!