Financial Literacy Books For Kids: Best Books On Investing
10 Financial Literacy Books for teens that teach about investing
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“It is better to be roughly right than precisely wrong.”
-John Maynard Keynes
Financial literacy books for teens can open up a world of knowledge and help them explore the topic of money on their own terms. When it comes to investing, books can be a great place to start teaching no matter how novice or advanced your teen may be around the subject.
Investing as we teach it is one of the three main ways people can choose to consistently earn money. Besides investing, kids can also chose the path of Skills for Hire (a traditional Job working for someone else) or you can earn money through Skills for Self-Empowerment (entrepreneurship), or it can be some combination of the three.
Now, Investing has its pluses and minuses just like the other two paths. Being an investor is hard (just ask our founder!), there are lots of potential “asset classes” or things to invest in (i.e. stocks, bonds, real estate, etc), and it takes a good amount of emotional as well as financial intelligence to be successful (managing your emotions can sometimes be most of the battle!).
However, on the positive side, if you learn how to do it well and gain an understanding of how investing works, you can unlock the power of compound interest which can your money grow faster over time (kind of like a snowball gaining steam rolling down a mountain).
As a starting point to any investing discussion, we wanted to give parents, grown ups and teens who are interested a look at 10 books that we found to be great places to start.
We also included several of our favorites that may be a bit more on the advanced side but we leave it up to you to decide how much or how little you want to dive into the field.
Lastly, the list below is by no means exhaustive (we left out a fair amount that we love!) but as always feel free to leave us a comment with others that you may have found helpful or shoot us a note here!
The Motley Fool Investment Guide for Teens
Age Range: 13 years to 17 years old
Authors: David Gardner and Thomas Gardner
Our Take: This is more a wholistic guide for teens around money vs. stickily investing focused but we liked how it encourages teens to think holistically about their lives and about things like plans, goals, spending, and saving in addition to investing.
When it comes to investing, they give some basic teaching as to how to look at stocks and mutual funds (a mutual fund is a fancy term in this case for a bunch of individual stocks put together that you can invest in).
The language is simplistic and easy to understand, so as a starting point we thought this was a great option for teens which they can build upon with more advanced knowledge.
About The Book: The Motley Fool has made investing fun and easy for millions of people. Now, it custom designs its wit and wisdom for today’s money-savvy teens.
The Motley Fool Investment Guide for Teens helps teens stand out from the ho-hum mutual-fund crowd, build a portfolio of stocks they can actually care about, and take advantage of the investor’s best friend—time—to watch their profits multiply.
The Modern Guide to Stock Market Investing for Teens
Age Range: 13 years to 17 years old
Author: Alan John
Our Take: Similar to the above, we liked how this book explored a range of money topics such as personal budgeting, saving money, and making money in addition to investing.
Also similar to the above, this book would be best for someone who is completely fresh to the subject of investing and wants to use it as a starting point to potentially learn more.
There are a bit more stock market specific examples in this one and they do a good job of keeping the language simple which is good for a novice.
About The Book: Investing is the best thing teenagers can do to build long-term wealth and become financially free because each dollar invested as a teen will become worth exponentially more.
This book, written by a fellow teen, covers everything a teen will need to know to understand and have success in the stock market, as well as provides an introduction to related topics including personal budgeting, saving money, and making money.
We'll also explore concrete, real-life examples, and learn from the world's most successful investors.
Rich Dad Poor Dad for Teens
Age Range: 13 years to 15 years old
Author: Robert T. Kiyosaki
Our Take: Robert Kiyosaki adapts his best selling book, Rich Dad Poor Dad, for teens in a thoughtful way here teaching them some of the key terms around money through sidebars and quizzes throughout the book.
Learning about things like assets and liabilities is important and the book does a great job also talking about ways your money can work for you while introducing the concept of entrepreneurship to kids.
While we disagree that entrepreneurship should be the right path for everyone (we think you should live the life you want to live), getting to know the concepts talked about in the book can really help teens who are starting out better understand the true language of money.
About The Book: You’re never too young to learn the language of money… and the lessons that rich dad taught Robert.
Like it or not, money is a part of our everyday lives and the more we understand it, the better the chance that we can learn to have our money work hard for us—instead of working hard for money all our lives.
That starts with learning the language of money. This book, created from the international bestseller Rich Dad Poor Dad, shares Robert’s inspiring person story but teaches how to make smart choices.
The Teenage Investor
Age Range: 13 years old to 15 years old
Author: Timothy Olsen
Our Take: We liked how this book caters to the novice investor (it was written by Tim Olsen when he was 13), introducing the basics and covering a few different asset classes such as stocks, bonds, and mutual funds.
The advice of starting to invest early and often as a way to build wealth rings true even today and his focus on investing in low cost index funds (fancy term for a basket of stocks not managed by anyone) is a great teacher of diversification and responsible investing for most people.
Our one bone to pick would be the presumption that you cannot beat the market and this should be left for institutional investors who have an advantage.
Here we would disagree (as an individual investor you also have advantages) and we have seen people do it if you want to put in the time and gain the knowledge to do so. However, on the whole this is a great resource and place to start for your teen.
About The Book: At the age of 8, when most kids look no further than baseball cards and video games, young Tim Olsen bought his first stock.
Now, with a diverse portfolio in hand, this13-year-old wunderkind has written The Teenage Investor. Olson explains for teens, Gen-Xers, and their parents how to build wealth in the stock market by starting now.
He then outlines a simple, step-by-step program to begin building a lifelong portfolio. Tim's fresh perspective and wisdom-beyond his-years make
The Teenage Investor a welcome relief from the standard "how to get rich" investment book. Writing with knowledge and insight of a market veteran, he tells young and first-time investors:
How to invest in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds
Unique wealth-building plans for young investors
Methods for building a solid investment portfolio at any age
A Teenager’s Guide To Investing in the Stock Market
Age Range: 13 years old to 18 years old
Author: Luke Villermin
Our Take: One aspect of this book we liked for the novice investor was the step by step road map to opening an online account, purchasing stock, and putting money to work.
We loved the light hearted tone around a lot of the concepts discussed (as we say here at Future Funders, people make financial literacy sound complex but its not! No fancy lingo allowed here).
If you are looking for an unintimidating and informative place to start helping your teen learn about the stock market, we found this book a great place to start.
About The Book: Did you know that you can become a millionaire just by investing the money you make from delivering pizzas one night per week?
In fact, any amount of money you invest in the stock market today will grow to a much larger sum later—the key is starting now!
The average American waits until age thirty-one to begin saving and investing for retirement, and they end up 2.5 million dollars poorer because of it.
In A Teenager’s Guide to Investing in the Stock Market, early-investor Luke Villermin breaks down the Wall Street lingo, levels the playing field, and serves up seven chapters to help young investors.
The below books tend to skew to older teens and above and may be more advanced but we wanted to include them as they were some of our favorites either growing up or reading as young adults.
The Little Book of Bull’s Eye Investing
Age Range: 16 and up
Author: John Mauldin
Our Take: Admittedly hard to find an age range here and these books would require a little bit of knowledge already (there are other great titles to check out in “The Little Book Series” with some others we like being The Little Book of Common Sense Investing and The Little Book that still beats the market), but John Mauldin writes an interesting book around how to think about markets and where they may be headed.
Mauldin is a thoughtful thinker having a media business that is a great place to offer thoughts on economics and markets for the interested investor.
Again, we would note that this book is a great read but would place it more on the list of follow up reads vs. starting out here if you are starting from scratch.
About The Book: To make money in this troubled economy you need to understand where the markets are headed, not where they’ve been.
Clinging to outdated strategies and played out market trends are sure ways to miss out on new investments, and in The Little Book of Bull’s Eye Investing, acclaimed investment expert John Mauldin teaches you how to read the direction of the markets to make decisions that capitalize on today’s investment opportunities.
A practical road map to what’s in store for the markets to help you stay ahead of the curve, the book debunks many of the myths that have come to govern investment logic, particularly the buy-and-hold, relative return vehicles that Wall Street peddles to unsuspecting investors.
Giving you a clear view of the trends shaping the markets right now which are likely to provide investment options for the decade ahead, The Little Book of Bull’s Eye Investing teaches the value of careful research before you put your money to work.
Tap Dancing To Work
Age Range: 16 years old and up
Author: Carol Loomis
Our Take: Warren Buffett is one of the greatest investors of all time and whether you ultimately want to copy or at least employ parts of his investing strategy for yourself, learning a bit about his thinking can be helpful.
That is where this book comes in, and it will take you through years of articles around Warren as well as dive into some of his thinking which can be helpful for the more experienced teen.
For anyone looking to get very serious around investing we would also recommend reading Warren’s annual letters here.
About The Book: When Carol Loomis first mentioned a little-known Omaha hedge fund manager in a 1966 Fortune article, she didn’t dream that Warren Buffett would one day be considered the world’s greatest investor—nor that she and Buffett would quickly become close personal friends.
As Buffett’s fortune and reputation grew over time, Loomis used her unique insight into Buffett’s thinking to chronicle his work for Fortune, writing and proposing scores of stories that tracked his many accomplishments—and also his occasional mistakes.
Now Loomis has collected and updated the best Buffett articles Fortune published between 1966 and 2012, including thirteen cover stories and a dozen pieces authored by Buffett himself.
Loomis has provided commentary about each major article that supplies context and her own informed point of view. Readers will gain fresh insights into Buffett’s investment strategies and his thinking on management, philanthropy, public policy, and even parenting.
Common Stocks, Uncommon Profits
Age Range: 16 years old and above
Author: Philip Fisher
Our Take: Another proponent of the value school of investing (finding good value stocks at cheap prices) this book is one of the greats for the more experienced investing teen.
Philip Fisher is one of the greatest investors of all time and the book gives a great window into how you can think about stocks and investing for the long term.
We would highly recommend as advanced reading for the teen looking to increase his or her investing knowledge.
About The Book: Widely respected and admired, Philip Fisher is among the most influential investors of all time.
His investment philosophies, introduced almost forty years ago, are not only studied and applied by today's financiers and investors, but are also regarded by many as gospel. This book is invaluable reading and has been since it was first published in 1958.
The updated paperback retains the investment wisdom of the original edition and includes the perspectives of the author's son Ken Fisher, an investment guru in his own right in an expanded preface and introduction
One Up On Wall Street
Age Range: 16 years old and up
Author: Peter Lynch
Our Take: Peter Lynch is known as a very successful investor and does a great job in this book talking about the advantages that average investors have over professionals and how they can use these advantages to achieve financial success.
The advice is easy to follow and sounds simple at times (sometimes keeping things simple is the hardest thing to do!) and we would recommend the book for teens who are looking to become more actively involved in stock market investing (similar to Philip Fishers book above).
About The Book: America’s most successful money manager tells how average investors can beat the pros by using what they know.
According to Lynch, investment opportunities are everywhere. From the supermarket to the workplace, we encounter products and services all day long.
By paying attention to the best ones, we can find companies in which to invest before the professional analysts discover them.
When investors get in early, they can find the “tenbaggers,” the stocks that appreciate tenfold from the initial investment. A few tenbaggers will turn an average stock portfolio into a star performer.
Lynch offers easy-to-follow advice for sorting out the long shots from the no-shots by reviewing a company’s financial statements and knowing which numbers really count. He offers guidelines for investing in cyclical, turnaround, and fast-growing companies.
The Intelligent Investor
Age Range: 16 years old and up
Author: Benjamin Graham
Our Take: We would not endeavor to read this book unless you have or want to acquire a more advanced knowledge of investing.
While a lot of the principles are fairly simple to understand, the language used and dense nature of some of the discussion might throw off the casual investor.
Ben Graham’s book is widely cited as one of the best investing books of all time given his thinking around securities (he is famously known among other things as Warren Buffet’s teacher) and in the book you will learn the ins and outs for how he thinks about stocks and investments.
This is a must read for the serious teen investor, less so for the casual investor just looking to gain an understanding.
About The Book: The greatest investment advisor of the twentieth century, Benjamin Graham, taught and inspired people worldwide.
Graham's philosophy of "value investing" -- which shields investors from substantial error and teaches them to develop long-term strategies -- has made The Intelligent Investor the stock market bible ever since its original publication in 1949.
