Learning from mentors and others who have journeyed on a path of interest is a vital and efficient driver of personal growth. As a part of our own quests for knowledge about FIRE, we have each read many books. This page collects those that we have found most important to our own paths towards achieving financial independence, and which we strongly recommend.
Essential: Our Top Picks
The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins is widely regarded by many in the FIRE community as the most impactful book to their own journey. This fast and easily digestible read is chock-full of investment guidance that you will understand immediately and can readily apply. There is no better starting point to your FIRE journey than this book.
The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss is a book that will help you understand quickly why so many people love his work. You will not find a better source to help you transform your life than this one. Learn how to reframe “work” on your terms, and generate passive income streams that can power and advance your FIRE aspirations.
Quit Like a Millionaire by Kristy Shen will show you how the author retired with a million dollars at the age of thirty-one without a huge windfall that enabled it. Learn how to cut down on spending without decreasing your quality of life, build a million-dollar portfolio, fortify your investments to survive bear markets and black-swan events, and use the 4 percent rule.
The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley is a profoundly insightful book for a very easy read. Dr. Stanley studied wealth and the habits of the wealthy for many years, capturing his observations in this work and others. Learn how frugality, living below one’s means, and investing, truly powers the path to financial independence. Don’t dream of FI, achieve it!
The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel offers re-thinks and new insights on common assumptions and the stories we tell ourselves about money and spending. Proof that our relationship to money runs much deeper than numbers, spreadsheets and math. A new personal favorite and must-have in the financial library for both Eric and Jason.
Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon presents ten transformative principles that will help you discover your artistic side and build a more creative life. Eric describes the author’s approach as an operating system for making things, which has contributed substantially to his own financial and professional freedom.
Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got by Jay Abraham is the author’s collected experience from advising the US’s top companies. In this book, Jay explains just how easy it can be to find and/or create new opportunities for wealth-building in any existing business, enterprise, or venture. Eric used it as inspiration and a road map for creating a diverse set of passive income-earning assets.
How to Get Rich by Felix Dennis is a great tool to learn how to embrace entrepreneurship as seen through the example of a college dropout who became one of the richest people in the UK. In this book, Felix reveals why a regular paycheck is like crack cocaine, why great ideas are vastly overrated, and why “ownership isn’t the important thing, it’s the only thing.” Both Jason + Eric came from humble beginnings, and without an operating system for dreaming big, it’s easy to be content accomplishing small goals. In this book, Felix reminds us to dream bigger.