Debt Free Millennials: best personal finance books for beginners: your guide to financial literacy

Hey guys, it's Justine and I am so pumped to share with you today my best picks for personal finance books for beginners. If you are just starting out and taking a serious look at your finances, look no further than these books that I'm about to go over. Also, I'm feeling extra inspirational today. I don't know if you guys can see my shirt here, but, uh, gold digger. I always get a lot of stares and laughs whenever I wear this t-shirt, so I thought this was appropriate for talking about personal finance books that are my favorite. These books are all within my personal library and they're what really jump-started my own debt-free journey and really starting to think about money seriously and using it as a tool to further me along in life, how to get out of debt, how I thought about money, and what I was going to do with it in the future. So let's dive in. All right, so hands down my absolute favorite book that I return to again and again is Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. This book was written in the 30s, but it's still relevant today. This book is all about mindset, getting your mind set for riches, stop thinking like a poor person, and start thinking like a wealthy person. And you can see I've actually got a whole bunch of different notes flagged in here, and I wanted to share one with you that kind of stuck out to me as I was rereading this. I'm super excited to go back into this. It says, no alibi will save you from accepting the responsibility if you now fail or refuse to demand riches of life. The acceptance calls for but one thing, the only thing that you can control, and that is a state of mind. A state of mind is something that one assumes. It cannot be purchased, it must be created. I think so often we get in this mindset that, oh this other person just is so lucky, like they had the money just fall into their laps, or they didn't have to struggle with the job. This book flips it on its head, and I really love what Napoleon says in this. It just really gives you that desire to go after your goals, no matter how big or small they may be. And the version that I have is updated with more real world examples from people like Arnold Schwarzenegger, how he was able to go from bodybuilder to movie star to governor. And then it also gives examples about people like Michael Jordan, companies like FedEx, people in businesses that are really making moves because they had the mentality that they weren't going to say no until their goals happened. Absolutely favorite freaking book. I actually want to reread it right now, so maybe that's gonna happen. Definitely pick this one up. All right, my next favorite book for beginners when it comes to personal finance is My Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey aka Uncle Dave. Now I read a book, a previous version of this book, when I was first starting my debt-free journey after I graduated from college, and in my opinion, this is the quintessential book for starting your debt-free journey. His baby steps are really simple to follow. He talks about what cash envelopes are, what a sinking fund is, and then how to build a basic budget. He doesn't drop a whole bunch of financial fancy lingo, but when he does, he actually explains it and gives really good examples inside of this book. All right, the next book that I really thought was interesting is The Millionaire Next Door. This is The Surprising Secrets of the Wealthy by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko. This book, this particular version, was written in 96, but I loved how they were able to deep dive into their research about what American millionaires look like, and it made me flip the image of what I thought wealthy should look like. You know, you have this picture of who a millionaire is and what that person drives, what that person wears, and what kind of house they live in. This book just completely changed my mind on what that looked like and how I could act and behave just like these millionaires in this book, because I'm on my own journey to millionaire status. I mean, we kind of have to be. As millennials, we have no other choice. If we want to retire like the way we want to retire, I think all of us have to have at least a million dollars in retirement, and this book covers all of those habits that we can follow today. It also talks about how millionaires handle financial situations with their children, whether they support them or not, and what the outcome is, and I really like the statistic that they put in their research. Less than 24 percent of millionaires buy their cars new. Think about it. Millionaires are not walking into the dealership and buying the latest, newest model. They're actually buying them used, so used is not a bad thing, guys. I really like it. You guys should definitely check this one out. All right, my last book that I recommend for beginners when it comes to personal finance is The Little Common Sense Book of Investing by John C. Bogle. John Bogle is also the founder of Vanguard. If you guys don't know what Vanguard is, please look it up. It's one of the biggest investment firms here in the U.S., and I love this book because it really is a little book. It's only 216 pages, and I didn't feel like Bogle was really putting in a whole bunch of stuff that I didn't understand. It's very simple. He talks about what an index fund is and how it consistently beats the stock market over and over. Also, side note, Warren Buffett endorses this book. You can see his quote is right on the front of the book. If Uncle Warren is endorsing this, I think I'm going to take his advice. Now, I'm not a personal finance advisor, so y'all better read my disclaimer. Justine Nelson is not a licensed financial advisor but a savvy financial educator who wants to share her personal knowledge. This video references an opinion and is for information and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Conduct your own due diligence or consult a licensed financial advisor or broker before making any and all decisions. Any investments, trades, speculations, or decisions made on the basis of any information found in this video, expressed or implied herein, are committed at your own risk, financial or otherwise. Now, I'm not a personal finance advisor, so you should definitely consult with one before you make any big drastic changes in your investment portfolio, which I know is a huge term for us, but all it really means is it's putting together your money and figuring out a way of how you're going to best grow it for the future. That's it. You're just figuring out the best way and putting together a plan to grow your money for the future. That's what they talk about in this book and I highly recommend it. Alright, so the links for each of the books are dropped below. Take a look at any one of them and add them to your library today. I think they are awesome reads that really get my brain working and thinking about money in a different way, in a positive way, and it's something that we all need to start incorporating right now. If you were serious about the money game, you absolutely should get your hands on some good reads and get yourself educated. If you'd like more resources on money strategies and how to do things to better yourself on your debt-free journey, head over to debtfreemillennials.com and click on the resources button. I have an entire page listed with all the tools and resources, including these books, listed on my website that I personally use and now recommend and I am constantly referring to them over and over again. And then I also update that page for any new tools that I find so that you guys are the first to know. If you like this video, please consider subscribing to the Debt Free Millennials channel where we talk about all things money and millennial and we'll catch you guys in the next video. Get yourself some coffee and dive into these books right meow.