Thinking of something to read? Reading books is definitely more than knowing about amazing stories and fantasies or getting inside the lives of your favorite figures; it can also be the seed to your financial success!
So go ahead and add some reads on personal finance to your reading list for the year 2016. If you are wondering where to start, below are some suggestions of the latest bestsellers in personal finance.
Author/s: Laura Vanderkam
The Gist of It: You probably saw one of those posts about how you will have to sacrifice some aspects of your life (school/career, family, relationship, friends, etc.) in order to succeed in another on your Facebook news feed. However, whoever posted those things probably either do not know anything about time management or have not read this book.
Take it from the stories and testimonials of women who somehow managed to find some solutions to the work-life balance problem. Let these serve as proofs to finally debunk those myths you heard and probably demotivate you in even trying to balance.
In this book, Vanderkam provides us with 1,001 days’ worth of accounts by women who proved to themselves and the world that even as dutiful and responsible mothers, they can also be successful entrepreneurs.
Author/s: Margaret A. Neale and Thomas Z. Lys
The Gist of It: Opportunities are everywhere, but not all of us are able to see them every time, let alone grab them. However, by the end of this book by Neale and Lys, change is definitely going to come in your life.
How exactly will this book help me recognize and take the opportunities in your life? As made obvious by its title, the two authors make use of the recent researches and studies in Psychology and Economics. What this book teaches all of us is that opportunities do not just come to us; we have to know when we can get them and to actually do something to take them for ourselves.
One way to take the best opportunities in life is by negotiating. Given the assumption that everything can be discussed, this book provides lessons that not only people in the world of business will find valuable. It gives us tips on how we can negotiate – from haggling for that lampshade to sealing a big business deal – by understanding the psychology between the actions and responses of people in deal-making.
Author/s: Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
The Gist of It: If you are a fan of Freakonomics, you will definitely enjoy this compilation of the best blog posts by the same authors, Levitt, and Dubner. Truly, there’s a reason why their book is a best-seller and was even turned into a film.
The said book addresses, with entertaining wit and humor, the weirdest questions on life and finance with economic principles and phenomena. What makes this amazing is how academic the discussions are no matter how otherworldly the topics are; the topic covers from why flight attendants are not tipped, to when to rob a bank, as predicted.
It being a compilation of past blogs make reading it a great learning experience without being too flashy with economics jargon that may scare away those who are new in the field; in other words, it is a light and easy read that is fun and fruitful at the same time.
Author/s: Gretchen Rubin
The Gist of It: This quote by Stephen Pressfield pretty much sums up how important our habits are, especially when it comes to our career and financial progress: “The difference between an amateur and a professional is in their habits. An amateur has amateur habits. A professional has professional habits. We can never free ourselves from habit. But we can replace bad habits with good ones.”
This thinking is not new at all. However, it leaves us pondering how exactly are we going to change our habits. This is where Rubin’s book becomes quite insightful. Operating under the premise that more positivity and happiness leads to more progress in aspects of your life (including financial progress), Rubin provides up to 21 strategies that her readers can use to make more positive changes in their lives.
This includes one step that we have always emphasized in our past posts: giving yourself some time and budget to indulge or in short, giving “treats” to yourself.