Financial independence is an powerful movement that is inspiring people all over the world. Beginners can jump right into the excitement by reading the best financial independence books on the market today.
If you are interested in FI or FIRE (financial independence retire early) this list of books is a great place to start your journey!
Also, if you want to increase your chances of success, join The Financial Independence Community on Facebook.
Best Financial Independence Books for Beginners
Choose FI: Your Blueprint to Financial Independence
This book was written by Chris Mamula but is based off of the ChooseFI podcasts by Brad and Jonathon. ChooseFI is a huge financial independence blog that has turned many people into FI fanatics.
If you listen to the ChooseFI podcast, you’ve likely heard a lot of the information in this book already. However, this is a great book to have so that you can have all that valuable information at your fingertips.
This book is inspirational and makes you question the traditional advice people give, which is why it makes our list of the best financial independence books for beginners.
Readers will learn about mindset and values, questioning “required expenses”, traveling with rewards, college education, investing strategies and controlling risk.
Financial Freedom: A Proven Path To All The Money You Will Ever Need
Author Grant Sabier went from having $2.00 in his pocket to becoming a millionaire in 5 years. His story is amazing. However, this book doesn’t focus as much on his own personal success but instead focuses on helping readers reach financial freedom.
This book is filled with visual aids, charts and graphs to help you make sense of money. Grant explains how to find your exact FIRE number and provides tools to help you reach it.
Towards the middle of Financial Freedom, you’ll learn the difference between minimum spending vs. maximizing savings to improve your mindset. This is important to learn early on because people aggressively pursuing FIRE can become fatigued if they don’t develop the right mindset.
Everyone in the financial independence community knows that learning how to earn money is just as important as saving money. Grant also teaches people about the importance of side hustles and how to earn more money in a 9-5.
You’ll also learn about investing in stocks, bonds, and real estate. I especially like how Grant talks about the importance of waiting to leverage debt until you are ready. His relatable outlook really adds to the overall authenticity of this book.
Passive Income, Aggressive Retirement: The Secret to Freedom, Flexibility, and Financial Independence (& how to get started!)
At age 27, Rachel Richards was making $10,000 a month in passive income and was able to quit her job. In her book, she explains how to reach retirement without penny pinching.
Passive Income, Aggressive Retirement talks a lot about passive income streams and the importance of having multiple streams of income. In fact, she outlines 28 different passive income models and how to create them.
Additionally, readers love the in-book interviews with other successful financial experts like David Osborn, one of the most successful real estate franchise owners in the world.
To learn more about passive income and gain knowledge from some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world, this book is for you.
Playing with FIRE by Scott Rieckens
Anyone who has been in the FIRE community for a while undoubtedly heard of Playing with FIRE. This is not only a book, but a documentary.
This book is completely unique compared to other books on this list. Playing with FIRE follows the life of a family actually living and reaching financial independence.
Additionally, Scott Rieckens addresses an issue that many people experience: getting a spouse on board. Oftentimes when someone discovers FI, one spouse gets excited while the other one thinks they married a crazy person. Scott shows people how he got his wife on board by being an example himself.
This is one of the best financial independence books for not only beginners but for anyone who wants a look inside the life of a FIRE family.
Set for Life by Scott Trench
Scott Trench is the CEO of the popular real estate blog Bigger Pockets. This book focuses on real estate investing and lowering housing costs.
Housing costs are usually the biggest expense for people. If you were to reduce or get rid of your housing costs, how much wealth could you build?
Set for Life lays out a step-by-step plan for anyone who wants to build wealth with real estate.
The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins
The Simple Path to Wealth is one of the most recommended books for beginners learning about financial independence because JL Collins is the best at simple and easy explanations.
This book focuses largely on investing. Readers will learn a lot about the power of index funds and other investment tools.
Furthermore, you’ll discover which investing stage you are in and how aggressively you should be investing. Collins provides actual numbers and percentages that he believes people should have in their investment portfolio.
If you are looking for a simple investment book to reach financial independence, you’ll want this one in your collection.
Quit Like A Millionaire by Kristy Shen & Brice Leung
Kristy Shen is known as being the youngest retiree in Canada. In Quit Like A Millionaire, she shares her story of success.
We believe this is one of the best financial independence books because it’s filled with visuals and charts to help beginners understand the FI movement.
Kristy discusses saving money, paying off debt, home ownership vs. renting, index fund investing, and buying assets. Also, you’ll learn about the percentage rules of retirement accounts and how to handle crashes in the market.
This book aims to convince readers that they should be reaching for financial freedom. If you’re looking to be inspired, pick up Quit Like a Millionaire.
Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin & Joe Dominguez (Updated 2018)
Your Money or Your Life is great because in addition to money, you’ll also learn how to value time.
First, you will be prompted to take a deep dive into your past and really face what financial choices you have made. This is a real eye opener as beginners start their journey.
Observing your past isn’t meant to shame you, instead, it’s to bring your choices to your attention so you can learn from them. Dwelling on past financial mistakes will only hold back people reaching FI.
This book brings to light the value of time in a way that people usually don’t think about.
How would you respond if I asked you, “How much do you make an hour?” Would you take your salary and divide it by the number of hours you work?
That’s how most people would answer that question.
However, the authors point out that there is a lot extra time you aren’t accounting for such as the time it takes to get ready, the time you put into thinking about your job, time it takes to get to your job and more.
When you include all those things, you’ll find your true hourly wage.
Readers are then asked to track where their money is going every month. Creating a budget will drastically help people change their relationship with money.
Lastly, you’ll learn about the “Crossover Point” and investments. The Crossover Point is when your savings and investment income generate enough money to cover your expenses. This is the definition of financial independence and what readers strive for.
We hope this list equips you with everything you need to know to gt started on your journey to FI. Is there a book that changed your life? Leave it in the comments!
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