My Reading List

Over the course of my personal study on the topics of finance, real estate, and personal development, I have had the opportunity to read many books. I have learned something new from each book I’ve read. If you’d like to increase your personal knowledge on these topics, I highly recommend taking some time to read and study the following books which are presented in no particular order. Click on the images if your are interested in ordering a copy or exploring further reviews at Amazon.com.

Books addressing motivation, dealing with people and developing a business mindset.

Not a get rich quick book, but rather a motivational approach by two life coaches that teaches that you can do much more than you are currently undertaking.

An easy, quick read. I found it both an enjoyable and eye-opening look at how millionaires approach life and think on a grander scale than the middle class.  I expect this book to be one which I will reread on a periodic basis.

The Rich Dad book that started it all for Robert Kiyosaki. An easy read that held my attention. It wets the appetite for exciting possibilities and challenges some common beliefs about what are assets, and what are not.

The essential follow-on to “Rich Dad, Poor Dad.” While it’s not necessary to read RDPD first, I found it provided a nice backdrop with which to read “Cashflow Quadrant.” You won’t find much in the way of step by step instructions to establish your future wealth, but you will find a good discussion on the differences between Business Owners, Investors, Employees and the Self-Employed and the mindset each brings to the earnings arena. I found it to be a good self-examination and introduction to changes I want to make in my life.

A timeless classic that sits on my desk as a ready reference. My copy is completely marked up with notes and underlining. A must read for anyone who interacts with people on a regular basis. It should be issued to all newlyweds, college graduates and leaders everywhere.  This book is on my annual reread list. A brief outline of the main points in this book can be found here.

The title of this book should be Networking 101. A good book covering the basics of establishing, organizing and maintaining your network of contacts.

Leadership:

One of the most enjoyable aspects of my military career has been the leadership situations I have found myself in along the way.  Building a team and accomplishing a goal that you’ve set for your organization is one of the most rewarding feelings I have experienced.  John C. Maxwell has been leading and teaching leadership for many years.  This book boils his experiences with leadership down to 21 laws or truths of leadership.  His ideas are well thought out and well communicated.  Definitely worth reading and keeping close by for periodic reference and review.

Investing and Retirement:

I stumbled across this book quite by accident. I was skimming through the blog 7million7years and found it identified as one of the books that shaped some of the investing strategies of the author of that blog. Intrigued, I picked it up at the local library and finished it in a week. The book is full of meat and potatoes! Lots of good hands on stock analysis that is understandable and executable as well as a discussion on how to use typical investment chart tools to help you decide when to buy and sell. I’m playing around with the investment strategy espoused in the book. It’s basically a twist on value investing and I enjoyed the book so much that I bought my own copy to mark up and use as a reference. We’ll see how effective the strategy is.  Oh and what is Rule #1,  you ask?  Quite simple….”Don’t lose money!”

I picked this book up as companion read to Rule #1 above.  I found it helpful to round out my understanding of Value Investing.  Buy good stuff cheap!  That’s something I try and practice every day on my search for success.  On the down side, the book provides more of an overview of this strategy and didn’t offer much in the way of helping me get my hands dirty value investing.

If you don’t know where to start, John Bogle has some great advice. A fixture at Vanguard for many years, he is the Godfather of the index mutual fund. He makes a convincing case for investing in index funds.

How much do you need for retirement? This book addresses that question in a round about way. It doesn’t pose much, if any, math to the reader, but rather gets you thinking in terms of what retirement means to you. Is it a retirement community and a golf cart in Arizona or is it something all together different? I did enjoy this book, but I think it is probably aimed more at individuals a bit closer to retirement than I.  I’ll probably read it again when I’m 60.

Real estate related:

Investing strategies and analysis methods pertaining to multi-family residential property.

Investing strategies that focus on single-family residential property and using lease-purchase options to rent/sell them.

Similar approach to investing as “Buy Low, Rent Smart, Sell High”

A good look at many of the details involved with owning, investing in and managing real estate.  I especially enjoyed the discussion on pros and cons of holding real estate in a variety of business entities.

An easy read on real estate investing that starts off with a valuable lesson on setting and communicating your goals.  Although the author centers his discussions on the purchase and management of commercial properties, many of the lessons learned and best practices identified have applicability to residential property as well.  A couple of great chapters in the latter half of the book walk the dog analyzing the operational performance of a property and how to appropriately value and improve the performance.

Other good books I’ve read:

While a bit off topic from this blog, it was a great read. Sometimes you just have to read for pure enjoyment and this book delivers. It lived up to all the hype and was an entertaining and quick read.