What are good books to learn about finance and economics?
January 22nd, 2008 | by admin |Surely Funke asked:
I have no background in either finance, economics, or accounting, but I’d like to (1) get a better understanding of economic news, (2) know how to invest my money, and (3) understand the basic financial aspects of running a business.
I have no background in either finance, economics, or accounting, but I’d like to (1) get a better understanding of economic news, (2) know how to invest my money, and (3) understand the basic financial aspects of running a business.
What are some good books to read to quickly get a good grounding in these areas? Maybe some review books?
4 Responses to “What are good books to learn about finance and economics?”
By Ricardo V on Jan 23, 2008 | Reply
rich dad poor dad
By salvatore c on Jan 27, 2008 | Reply
Like he said, that book’s a bestseller, more info here
and also this
By fineguesser on Jan 30, 2008 | Reply
lots of good resources. there is a series of books called “the Protable MBA” They have one on finance and accounting. It’s very good for gaining a basic understanding. There are also 3 intro to financing and accounting videos put out by “The Standard Dieviants.” The videos are NOT the “Personal Finance” ones. They are the ones that are for college students and they cover typical 1′st year accounting matters. Between those two resources you should get a good idea how the financial aspects of industry are run but you will not have enough knowledge to be ready to invest. To invest, which is not the same as trading, you’ll need to be able to interpret the meaning of the line items in financial statements. For example is a current ratio of 1.25 good or bad for a particular company. To know the answer you’ll need to understand the industry. You could read the Wall Street Journal to start gaining that ability. HBS publishing has some good books and a sreies of case studies that can help you overcome this last huddle. HBS stands for Harvard Business School. Don’t worry about the writing being too heavy. It’s not. They might be egg heads but they write in a way that’s easy to understand. Last book I’ll recomend is “Freakonomics.” It’s fun and it will give you a view of the use of the tools of the science of economics that’s not usually understood. Don’t read ‘Freakonomics’ until you’ve read some of the other stuff or you might get a skewed view of the science. Good Luck!
By Cool Dude on Jan 31, 2008 | Reply
“Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy, Third Edition (2007)”, by Thomas Sowell. Dr. Sowell is probably the most knowledgable level-headed Economist out there. Check out his extensive writings on Economics and other social issues.