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I love to receive and give books as gifts and I am hoping Santa would give me The Complete Calvin and Hobbes this year. With Christmas just around the corner, here are some gift ideas for the financially inclined person on your list:
Starters:
Spend Smarter, Save Bigger: We spend a lot of time discussing investment topics on this blog but the basic step of saving money is arguably far more important. Margot Bai’s recent book (full review) offers a number of ideas for saving money.
The Wealthy Barber: David Chilton, the best-selling Canadian author, covers the basics of financial planning in an easy-to-read format.
Investment Beginners:
The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: John Bogle, the founder of US mutual fund giant Vanguard has written one of the best introductions to investing (full review).
Advanced:
Your Money & Your Brain: If you’ve ever asked yourself how we tend to make stupid money decisions, you should read this book. Money magazine columnist Jason Zweig brings the world of behavioural finance (full review) to the lay reader.
A Random Walk Down Wall Street: Hundreds of books are written on investing every year but this classic was first published in 1973 and is now in its 9th edition. Prof. Burton Malkiel makes the case for investing in index funds for the average investor.
The Intelligent Investor: First published in 1949, this book by Benjamin Graham is considered the bible of investing.
Four Pillars of Investing: William Bernstein’s scholarly work (full review) will make you question even the most widely held investment beliefs.
The Warren Buffett Way: Robert Hagstrom reveals the “secrets” of the world’s greatest investor.
Unconventional Success: David Swensen is a storied money manager but his advice to most investors is simple: stick with index funds.
Please note that all the links are affiliate links. Also, if you haven’t done so already, you may want to enter your name in the third anniversary giveaway. With three prizes up for grabs, you chances of winning are pretty good!
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![[Front Cover of Intelligent Portfolio]](http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/images/books/intelligent_portfolio.jpg)
![[Front Cover of Unconventional Success]](http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/images/books/unconventional_success.jpg)
10 responses so far ↓
1 Jeff Bachiu // Nov 26, 2007 at 8:56 am
I have read a few of the books that you’ve recommended. I found “The Wealthy Barber” to be full of good info, but the story/novel format got old pretty quickly. Also, the “Random Walk” seemed to hit the right notes for me. A book that I’ve been hearing about more recently is “Your Money or Your Life”. Does anyone have any experience with this book?
2 Canadian Capitalist // Nov 26, 2007 at 10:03 am
Jeff: I’ve read Your Money or Your Life many years ago. If you haven’t read it, I’d definitely recommend reading. Maybe I’ll check it out of the library to review it again.
3 telly // Nov 26, 2007 at 11:25 am
Some good choices CC. There are a couple I’ve not read yet so I may just add them to my Christmas list.
I agree, Your Money or Your Life is a must read. Trent over at the Simple Dollar did a Book Club reading of it that I really enjoyed.
4 Neil Galloway // Nov 26, 2007 at 12:26 pm
I have not read Your Money or Your Life, I will definitely check it out. I’m a big fan of The Neatest Little Guide To Stock Market Investing (Jason Kelly) for someone just starting out.
The Intelligent Investor is boring as heck if you haven’t had much exposure, but I really appreciated it later in life when I picked it up again. You can tell someone to just read a few of the different chapters as well since it is broken off nicely.
5 FourPillars // Nov 26, 2007 at 1:00 pm
I’m getting Bernstein for Christmas (yes, that’s right - I don’t even own a copy)
Mike
6 Canadian Capitalist // Nov 26, 2007 at 1:23 pm
Neil: I haven’t heard of the Jason Kelly book. I’ll try to see if the library has it.
Mike: I recently purchased the Four Pillars book. I refer to it often enough that I could justify the purchase. From the list, I am missing just two books: Wealthy Barber and Unconventional Success.
7 FourPillars // Nov 26, 2007 at 2:01 pm
From the list, I am missing just two books: Wealthy Barber and Unconventional Success.
Is that a hint??
8 Canadian Capitalist // Nov 26, 2007 at 2:31 pm
No, the hint is in the first line and I’ve let my wife know that Costco has it at a low, low price
I don’t think I’ll pony up for the Wealthy Barber, but I’ll buy Unconventional Success at some point.
9 christmas ideas // Nov 28, 2007 at 6:34 pm
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10 christmas gift ideas // Dec 3, 2007 at 10:03 pm
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