The 40 best finance books to read in 2024

“The best book about money ever written,” according to Diary of a CEO’s Steven Bartlett, and who are we to argue? This global sensation was published in 2020 and has gone on to sell over four million copies. It’s easy to see why: Housel is a consummate story-teller, and these are stories that will change how you think about wealth, greed and happiness forever. Far from being mere cash, money is perhaps the ultimate human construct – and conundrum – that we face.

Morgan Housel’s follow-up to The Psychology of Money does not disappoint. Everyone wants to predict the future, but everyone’s bad at it. That’s because the focus is usually on what will change – billions are spent every year trying to forecast it – yet no one can know for sure. However, there’s a small number of things that never change, and identifying them can give you a reliable advantage – not just in investing, but in business, life and more. In Same as Ever, international bestselling author Morgan Housel reveals them through twenty-three unforgettable stories.

There are books that make personal finance a nightmare of self-denial and checklists. Then there’s No Worries, a compulsively readable guide to living a stress-free financial life by simply getting a small number of things right, enabling you to flourish no matter your situation. This is the ultimate book for doing well with money for those who don’t want to spend their lives thinking about it.

Over seven years, Lee Freeman-Shor allocated twenty-five to 150 million dollars to forty-five of the world’s top investors, on the condition that they only invest in their ten best ideas. Surprisingly, despite their expertise, most of these ideas failed to make money, with a coin toss proving a more effective decision-maker. Yet many of these investors still profited significantly. How? The Art of Execution reveals a crucial, often overlooked aspect of investing. Through real-life data, case studies, and stories from Freeman-Shor’s perspective as their fund manager, readers learn the secret habits that make or break investment success.

The 4-Hour Workweek is the book that put passive income, personal outsourcing and remote work on the map. Published in a world where a 9–5 glued to your desk in an office seemed inescapable, Tim Ferris redefined the possibilities – and did so without the gimmicks or empty promises that so often cloud this topic. By following the blueprints in this practical and approachable book, you can learn how to live more and work less right now, instead of waiting decades until retirement. While some of the resources have inevitably dated since publication, the principles remain timeless – and the outcomes empowering.

For a refreshingly straightforward guide to stock market investing, look no further than The Naked Trader by Robbie Burns, one of the UK’s most popular financial writers (and the only one to have turned a few thousand pounds into £3m largely while trading in his pyjamas). Written in plain language and peppered with real-life examples, this book demystifies the often complex world of buying and selling shares for a living. It shows how anyone can do it – and enjoy a life of financial independence – without spending all day glued to a screen. The Naked Trader’s Book of Trading Strategies is a great companion book for those inspired by Robbie Burns.

The book that launched a thousand finance memoirs, Michael Lewis’s first work as an author is still one of the best of its kind. An eye-opening journey through the chaotic world of 1980s Wall Street, from the intense dynamics of the trading floor to shifts in global finance, Lewis’s storytelling paints an unforgettable picture of greed, ambition, and economic change. The audio version is produced by Malcolm Gladwell’s innovative audio production company, Pushkin Industries – augmented with archival clips, original score and sound effects, as well as a bonus podcast episode.

Tom Hougaard is a renowned high-stakes trader known for turning £25,000 into over £1m in a year by trading the financial markets. Unlike typical trading books focusing on strategies and money management, this book offers a rare glimpse inside a trader’s mind. The result is fresh, honest, vulnerable – and deeply informative. Hougaard argues that success in trading isn’t just about technical knowledge but understanding, and managing, the psychological impact of the markets.

Billion Dollar Whale is the story of the astonishing fraud committed by Jho Low, a Wharton School graduate, who stole billions of dollars from a Malaysian investment fund, leaving the global financial system reeling. This pacy narrative recounts Low’s audacious scheme and the uses he put the stolen funds to – including financing The Wolf of Wall Street (of all films), opulent parties, and luxury real estate. Today, Low remains an international fugitive, evading charges in multiple countries, while investigations continue.

You don’t need a murder to make a thrilling piece of Nordic noir. This true story of the world’s biggest con – leading to a financial collapse the equivalent of three Enrons (the infamous US energy company which filed for the then largest ever bankruptcy in history in 2001 after accounting irregularities) – is almost impossible to believe. Jared Bibler moved from the US to Iceland in the 2000s, just in time to live through the country's financial meltdown in 2008. His own finances wiped out along with hundreds of thousands of fellow Icelanders, he landed a new role: as lead investigator into the dizzying crimes that had brought it about. His work led to Iceland being the only country to jail the CEOs of its major banks in the wake of the global financial crisis.

The Secret Wealth Advantage is a strategic guide to making astute financial decisions by understanding the economic cycle that influences periods of boom and bust. Akhil Patel uses historical data and engaging anecdotes to explain the cycle’s dynamics, its impact on the economy, and why it often goes unnoticed. More than just theoretical insight, Patel provides practical advice for navigating each phase of the cycle, allowing readers to invest wisely, preserve wealth during downturns, and master what can seem like a chaotic financial world.

Renowned finance blogger Nick Maggiulli tackles crucial financial questions with a data-driven approach in Just Keep Buying. This debut book is an intellectually thrilling debunking of many traditional beliefs in personal finance, offering evidence-based strategies for building wealth. Find out why saving less could be more effective, why you should never wait for market dips, and how you can actually thrive in market crashes – and much more.

A darkly comic and revelatory account of the 2021 crypto boom, Bloomberg reporter Zeke Faux’s journey takes him from luxury parties in the Bahamas to uncovering a crypto-fuelled crime ring in Cambodia. The book brilliantly blends humour with detailed reporting, providing a captivating narrative on the rise and fall of a $3 trillion illusion. And if this hasn’t convinced you, it’s safe to say Number Go Up boasts perhaps the best opening two sentences to a finance book of all time – you’ll have to read it to find out.

If you want to understand Warren Buffett’s approach to business and investing, this is what you need to read – with the man himself recommending it as the most comprehensive survey of his methods and thinking. A thorough and accessible compilation of insights over multiple decades of outperformance – packed with the wisdom and turns of phrase that led to him being acclaimed by many as the “Sage of Omaha” (the Nebraska city where Buffett and his company, Berkshire Hathaway, are based).

Poor Charlie’s Almanack is the selected wisdom of investor and businessman Warren Buffett’s sharp-witted vice chairman, the late Charlie Munger. Edited by Peter D. Kaufman, this book shares Munger’s profound knowledge across multiple disciplines, including finance, business, history and philosophy. It’s not just an investment guide; it’s a comprehensive manual on ethical living, rational decision-making, and continuous learning.

A beloved modern classic, The Simple Path to Wealth started as letters from financial expert and author, JL Collins, to his daughter, explaining the remarkably simple – but almost universally overlooked – ways she could ensure a life of financial freedom. These are simple steps anyone can take that will equip them to work and live on their own terms at any time, and in any place – most people just don’t know about them. The letters became a blog, the blog became a book, and over half a million copies later it continues to fascinate readers and change lives.

The perfect pairing with his first book, The Simple Path to Wealth, Pathfinders is JL Collins’s collection of the most inspiring and interesting stories of his readers pursuing (and achieving) financial independence. From a restaurant employee on minimum wage who will be able to retire before he turns 45, to two teachers who never made a six-figure salary combined but retired as millionaires in their 30s – these stories are proof it can be done, and practical help for you at any stage on your own financial journey.

There are lots of books that explain how experts make millions investing in stocks and shares. Free Capital reveals a more elusive and intriguing set of subjects: ordinary private investors who have built colossal fortunes entirely on their own, including some within a tax-free ISA. Often speaking anonymously, Thomas gained unique access to these investors – and shares their stories and strategies in real depth in Free Capital.

Can you distinguish skill from luck? Nassim Taleb’s engaging first book investigates this with the vivid and deeply read style that has become his trademark. A veteran trader and risk expert, Taleb upends nearly every conventional belief about talent and chance in an intellectual tour de force, through fascinating stories and a cast of engaging characters from Odysseus to George Soros.

Jack D. Schwager’s Market Wizards books are legendary, and Unknown Market Wizards, the last entry is the series, is no different Instead of interviewing hedge fund and Wall Street greats as he does in previous works, Schwager introduces the reader to a motley collection of traders delivering substantial returns in total obscurity: the Unknown Market Wizards. The new paperback edition also turns the tables for the first time, as Jack is interviewed in Market Wizards-style himself. This book should be on every trader’s shelf.

Discovered and published by his son in 2010, this account of life in an industrial town in Ohio during the Great Depression is “the best economics book ever written”, according to Morgan Housel, the international bestselling author of The Psychology of Money. Written as he experienced the tumultuous events following the 1929 stock market crash, young lawyer Benjamin Roth provides a uniquely personal perspective on a dramatic period of financial history. The result is not just a historical document but something that will resonate with all readers.

Superstar fund manager Terry Smith is a boxer in his spare time and his prose in this collection of his best investment writing holds no punches, with fighting words on every page and flashes of sardonic humour. Best of all, it offers the kind of clear thinking and logical approach to analysing companies that makes you feel smarter after reading it. For Smith, what matters is whether companies can generate cash and do useful things with it. The more cash, and the more useful the things, the more interested you should be.

Paris Wood’s groundbreaking book provides practical strategies for building generational wealth, avoiding financial pitfalls, pursuing education debt-free, and achieving early financial independence. With real-life stories – such as the extreme saver who retired at 30, the woman who worked 25 years in the wrong career, and how the author herself used the tools she shares in the book to create "job freedom" when she was laid off  – and clear advice, it’s tailored for Black women at any stage, from young professionals to those seeking new, empowering financial paths.

Ever wanted to lead a more prosperous, worry-free financial life? Jonathan Clements argues that there are five crucial ideas that will get anyone there, and How to Think About Money is his guide to them. Lauded by both readers and investment icons like Jack Bogle, this book will unlock a lifetime of smarter financial choices with a single afternoon of reading.

Legendary financial journalist Max Gunther wrote a number of classic finance books in the 1960s and 70s. This one reveals the principles of financial success relied upon by generations of super-rich Swiss speculators. These axioms were handed down to Gunther by his father, the latest in a long line of investors. Ultimately, it’s a guide to embracing risk intelligently – with applications not just to investment but business, life and love.

How did Bill Gross – the “Bond King” of this book’s title, who at one time presided over a financial empire of $300bn – attain his crown? As with any struggle for a throne, the story isn’t always pretty, but it is always engrossing. Starting as a card-counting gambler in Vegas with just $200, Gross’s story is one of transformation and revolution – both personal and in the once-staid bond market. Mary Childs’s account of his journey is an important chronicle of the making of the modern financial world.

Engines That Move Markets is a captivating journey through history that unravels the cyclical nature of technological revolutions, from electric lighting to the internet. It highlights how initial scepticism often evolves into investor enthusiasm, leading to market booms and eventual busts. Investment partner Alasdair Nairn’s research provides invaluable lessons for evaluating emerging tech sectors and firms, as well as memorable and surprising stories from the forgotten pages of financial history.

First published in 1923, this lightly fictionalised account of legendary trader Jesse Livermore’s life and work is an enduring classic. Thanks to its timeless insights into market psychology, it remains as relevant today as a century ago – even though its evocative world of New York ‘bucket shops’ and ticker tape has vanished forever. Livermore’s trading career did not end happily – but anyone can learn from his story to approach the markets with the right mindset.

As traditional investment portfolios face new challenges, this book highlights the growing importance of spreading investments across multiple areas like private equity, hedge funds, and digital assets. Huber provides a uniquely detailed analysis of these alternatives, their risks, returns, and integration into portfolios that will be able to stand the test of time as technology and innovation transform both financial markets and the world around us.

Investing in funds is popular with those who want to build the value of their savings towards retirement or another goal. But sadly many of these investors give in to sloppy thinking, biases and the temptation to skimp on research. Joe Wiggins’s book shows not only how to overcome such pitfalls, but how to enjoy the process – and profit handsomely from the results. Discover why you should fear (not seek) smooth fund performance, why the best stories tend to lead to the worst investments, and why past performance is not only no guide to the future but the least effective way to make investing decisions.

The relationship between money and happiness is famously chequered. This book brings a vital and deeply researched new take on the question of whether one can buy the other, driven by the conviction that true wealth – financial and emotional – lies within reach of most of us, as long as we have the right framework.

The road to financial independence doesn’t have to look the same for everyone. This diverse collection of 30 individual journeys to wealth and freedom shows the varied yet achievable routes that can get you there – from the fierce frugality of Kristine, who started again in her 40s after a divorce, to the slow and steady of Greg, who turned a childhood habit of saving into a lifetime of prudence and prosperity. Compiled by former Wall Street Journal columnist Jonathan Clements, the results are both surprising and encouraging.

How many finance books start with a detailed list of the author’s investment mistakes? Described by the author as partly autobiographical and heavily biased – in other words, enjoyably candid and opinionated –, this book by fund manager Richard Oldfield is a terrific read. Come for the self-effacing humour, stay for the deep insights on the true nature of investment success, and take away learnings on what you can (and can’t) do to put the odds in your favour.

The world of crypto can seem like a financial Wild West (see Number Go Up elsewhere on this list). But as with any asset, there have always been – and always will be – ways of making money consistently that don’t rely on random speculation or madcap schemes. In this insider’s view of successful cryptocurrency trading, Glen Goodman shares how to trade cryptocurrencies using time-tested and risk-controlled methods taken from the world of traditional trading – and demonstrated by years of his own highly profitable real-life crypto trades.

In this landmark book, behavioural finance expert Dr. Daniel Crosby uses a lifetime of research and data to distil the practical rules of behaviour that anyone can follow to enjoy better results as an investor. Discover the behavioural foundations of wise investing, simple strategies for mitigating behavioural risks, and how to harness human nature for effective equity investing.

Things haven’t been easy when it comes to finances for young people – low wages, high housing costs, the economic impact of Covid-19, and that’s just to start. In Own It!, Iona Bain – BBC’s Morning Live residential financial expert, and one of the top millennial voices on money – helps readers tackle all these issues and more, showing how any young person can establish wealth and transform their life starting with nothing, beginning today.

How did an energy firm admired by investors and feared by rivals become a byword for fraud and scandal? The tipping point for the firm in question, Enron, was a Fortune article by Bethany McLean, questioning its earnings methods. What followed was a rapid descent into one of the largest bankruptcies in US history, shattering American confidence in a system that enriched executives while devastating small investors. McLean returns here in book form – along with co-author Peter Elkind – to tell the unbelievable true story in full.

There is a hidden world in investing: the realm of the chief investment officer. These influential figures – managing trillions in assets on behalf of endowments, pensions, family offices, and more – largely operate out of the public eye. This book provides unprecedented insight into their practices, skills, decision-making frameworks, and portfolio management strategies.

How I Invest My Money is a collection of essays offering rare insight into the personal investment strategies of twenty-five financial experts, including portfolio managers, financial advisors, and venture capitalists. These professionals share how their backgrounds, families, and life struggles influence their financial decisions, highlighting the deep connection between money and values. Enhanced with illustrations by Carl Richards, it not only provides financial guidance but encourages readers to reflect on how money aligns with their own life goals and values.

Berkshire Hathaway is the conglomerate run by Warren Buffett and the late Charlie Munger, with a toe in everything from insurance to boxed chocolates, as well as significant stakes in companies such as Apple and Coca-Cola. . I’s much more than a holding company and its history has lots to teach any investor or business leader. This weighty tome from Adam Mead tells the complete story, starting from its early days in the textile industry up to the present day, drawing on Warren Buffett's letters, annual reports, SEC filings, and meeting transcripts, along with subsidiary financials. A business epic.

Is extraordinary performance in investing sustainable? Only if you can identify companies with advantages that do not decay over time – but strengthen. That possibility lies at the heart of this impressively researched book from investors at the renowned AKO Capital, the long-term-minded investment firm founded by two Norwegian investors in 2005 (one of whom recently moved to manage the Norwegian Government Pension Fund, the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world). The book reveals the traits that show a company’s potential for enduring success, using real-life case studies with a crispness and depth that has drawn praise from readers and professionals alike.