As I was arranging the numerous personal finance books I’ve accumulated over the years, I couldn’t help but wonder how I can put everything together in such a tiny little space. Then I asked myself, if I had a very small book shelf that can accommodate only 10 of these books, which books would I choose? I had to think really hard because I love reading books and I’ve learned a great deal about life and money through ALL of them. These 10 books are special in that they have completely altered the way I view money and life! They have inspired me to learn more about money and pursue financial freedom! May these same books help you achieve your financial dreams!
Here are Rich Money Habits’ top 10 best personal finance books of all time!
#10. 8 Secrets of the Truly Rich by Bo Sanchez
This one is special because it’s written by a preacher – and a famous Filipino preacher at that! Bo Sanchez is a best-selling author of inspirational books in the Philippines. This is his first book that openly talks about money, business and investing.
What I particularly like about this book, is that it tackles one of the most critical obstacles in making money – that is, how to reconcile money and religion. Living in the only predominantly Catholic country in Asia, it is very important for me to align what I believe in whether it be on religion or money. Otherwise, I’ll just be confused and end up going nowhere.
The book is full of stories on how daily money habits make you rich or poor. It describes the most common perceptions we have about money. We were taught that money is the root of all evil. When we watch our favorite TV shows, rich people are often portrayed as greedy. They only got rich through “drug” dealing or some other “illegal” means. Due to this stereotyping, some us unconsciously don’t want to be rich! Who would want to be the “bad” guy in our own soap opera called life?! 
As a result, there is conflict inside of us. Some of our internal dialogs are
“I want to be rich…BUT not so rich that my friends would hate me and I would no longer have friends.” err…who wants to be loner?!
Or the most common,
“I want to be rich…and I’m so desperate the only way for me to get rich is by winning a million dollars through lottery.”
The great tragedy is never realizing that you don’t have to be a crook, or be greedy, or become unfriendly, or win a lotto ticket to be rich – you only need to build rich money habits!
#9. Multiple Streams of Income by Robert G. Allen
This is one of the books I bought when I was in the US. Since I love reading personal finance books, I ordered a bunch of them online. I was able to get them cheaper because I looked under the “used” books section. Surprisingly, most of them are in relatively good condition and look almost new!
The book was my first exposure to having multiple streams of income. For someone who worked as an employee most of his life, I thought I could only earn from one stream of income – my job! I realized having only one stream of income is not a very good idea because there’s also only one way money can come to me – through my paycheck!
Having multiple streams of income is NOT necessarily having a second job, or even a third! Multiple streams of income building systems so that money can flow through your life. It means, investing both your time and money to learn how to build those systems. Read more »