Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing
What the Rich Invest In, that the Poor and Middle Class do Not!
by Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon L. Lechter, C.P.A.

Kiyosaki is a favorite of mine, so when I saw this next book in the Rich Dad series, I couldn’t help but pick it up. When we think about investing, we think about our future, and when we learn the tools, language, and facts of investing at the levels that Kioysaki is talking about, we begin to understand how we may use that knowledge for the benefit of our loved ones and our communities.

If you’ve played Monopoly, you know the formula for success, and Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad” (his friend’s father) told him that formula: buy four green houses and then sell them and buy one red hotel…. keep on going until you control the whole board.

Kiyosaki’s tone is light hearted and positive: he is wry when he speaks of his “poor” days as a student and just returning from the military, and he is energetic and adamant that readers who follow a straightforward formula will automatically bring you from the 90% level to the top 10% level.

A great read, and a good way to remind you of your own investment plan.

How to Retire Early and Live Well
With Less than a Million Dollars
by Gillette Edmunds

This book is well worth it for those of you who need a back-to-basics approach to minding your money. Gillette Edmunds retired at age 29 and spent his days mastering his ability to manage and grow his own money. His net worth more than tripled and he was able to hone his ideas into a set of time-tested rules. His point is that the typical retirement plan (stocks, mutual funds, bonds, cash) is not set up for someone who is a full-time investor and who needs to see returns for the rest of their lives.

The parts on asset allocation in markets that are unfamiliar to most investors are well-written, timely, and easy-to-understand.

It’s worth a trip to your local bookstore’s personal finance section to get a copy of it!

Millionaire Women Next Door
The Many Journeys of Successful American Businesswomen
by Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D.

One of our best ways to succeed is to understand and integrate the methods of other successful women, and Dr. Thomas Stanley shows us how through his groundbreaking research on women business owners in the United States.

Based on his surveys of women owners of million-dollar and multi-million dollar companies, he provides a “how-to list” for how to become a successful businesswoman. These stories are truly inspiring and include case studies of women business owners who overcame challenging family situations as well as women who rose above their fears and doubts to become self-confident and happy in their abilities.

Here’s the typical self-employed millionaire businesswoman:

• 49 years old, married, with children
• typically wakes up at 5:58 am and goes to sleep at 10:32pm
• works about 49 hours and 18 minutes a week
• exercises for 3.5 hours per week
• household total annual realized (taxable) income is $240,217 (median),
  [this is more than five times the median for all US households]
• household net worth of just under $2.9 million
• 98% are home owners. One in five has a balance under $100,000 on a mortgage.
• significantly more likely to develop a detailed accounting system for tracking all household expenditures
• research stocks to acquire, hold stocks longer, use investment advisors more, and have well-defined short- and long-term investment-return goals
• support causes by donating nearly 7% of our annual incomes
• frugal (top amount spent on a suit = $400, pair of shoes = $139, house = $299,990)
• took on a leadership role before becoming a teenager
• goal oriented (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, lifetime)

Read more in the book!

http://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Women-Next-Door-Businesswomen/dp/0740745328