I am in my early 20s and am looking to get a jumpstart on my financial future. Which do you think are the best books to have on that subject?
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Young Broke & Fabulous by Suze Orman-without a doubt.
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First, I would make sure you have at least 3 months salary saved up in the bank or in a money market fund for an emergency fund. (Some people say 6 months.) Financial disasters like getting layed off or sick happen to all of us.\n\nSecond, I would pay off all high interest debt. Pay off everything you can except the house mortgage and student loans. Paying off debt is one of the best investments you can make. You will have more money in the future because you won't have credit card bills to pay.\n\nThird, if you have money left, start investing in stocks, bonds, and money market funds. You want to buy a diversified portfolio of stocks, as individual stocks are too risky. For most folks this means buying mutual funds. I like Vanguard.com, other people like Fidelity, TIAA-CREF, and DFA. Buy no-load, low cost funds. If you are like most people you will invest part of your money conservatively, in money market funds and bond funds, and part aggressively in stock funds. Vanguard.com has an on-line questionnaire which will give you an idea how aggressive you want to be. \n\nInvesting in a mutual fund IRA for retirement may give you an income tax break. Talk to your tax adviser. You may also be able to invest in a stock mutual fund via a 401K plan at work. Buying a house instead of renting will make you a lot of money in the long run. \n\nBelieving advice you get on Yahoo answers can be risky, so read these websites for further information. If you find it too confusing, contact a professional financial advisor. They will charge you significant commissions, however.
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You could start by educating yourself. Read on the "Rich dad, poor dad" series of books by Robert Kiyosaki. Its a good book to start if you are naive to investing.\n\nThe first books in the series discusses about "financial intelligence". His perspectives are a real eye opener. From here, you develop an "eye for investing".  And believe me, there are so many investment opportunities, if only you are learned enough to see them.\n\nThe later books in the series, the "advisor series", gives more practical ideas on where to invest according to your competencies or interests. \n\nLooking to retire at age 52? That's too late! You can do it by age 37! Or even by age 36. You just need a good mentor.\n\nPlease do a google search on Robert Kiyosaki so you can judge for yourself based on the book reviews from the various critics and financial gurus.\n\nOn mutual funds, time deposits, saving accounts, bonds, etc.: Look for interest rates that keep you 6 points above the inflation rate. Lower than this and you might fall short on funds after your target retirement age.  \n\nMy personnal preference? Online stock trading! It works for me!
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"Great Expectations" was a really good book for a first for me.\ncheck it out see if ya like it.
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The best one I have found for a beginner investor is titled "The weekend millionaires secrets to real estate investing" by Mike Summey and Roger Dawson. It will take you step by step on how to make a plan and how to put it into action. I only wish I would have found this book sooner than I did.
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bobbrinker is really an idiot, so is that Suzie Orman.  I recomend "thestreet.com", go out and get Jim Cramer's books, also pick up a copy of Leeb's "the oil factor", you may want to pick up a copy of Rich Dad/Poor Dad, and also Harry Dent's "the next great bubble boom", and Jim Rogers "hot commodities"  Once you have read those, then you'll have a good entry level understanding of how the equity markets work, and the current forces driving those markets. Also, read the Wall Street Journal daily.  If you do all of these, then you'll be able to have an intelligent conversation with your broker, and possibly be ready to start investing on your own if that is what you choose.  Good luck.
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Think and Grow Rich, Napolean Hill.\nhttp://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0449214923/sr=1-1/qid=1137111500/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-0168774-3443901?%5Fencoding=UTF8\n\nBag the Elephant, Steve Kaplan\nhttp://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1885167628/qid=1137111547/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-0168774-3443901?s=books&v=glance&n=283155\n\nReal Money, James Cramer\nhttp://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743224892/qid=1137111607/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-0168774-3443901?s=books&v=glance&n=283155\n\nAfter reading those three you will recognize opportunities, form winning business models, and be on your way to earning real wealth in business.
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Yes everywhere! Check with your local library if you want to save money. \n\nAnything by Robert Allen is a good start. William Nickerson is the grandfather of investment (that's where Robert Allen learned from). Carlton Sheets is next, he used to put on seminars for Robert Allen's programs.
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I remember Finance 101.  How I miss it.  Systematic risk - fun stuff.  Fortunately, CAPM, Black Sholes, and other financial models are something that only get heavily used at the college level.  When you join the workforce, the best thing to learn is how to kiss butt.
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I am also a 27 year old female, and I've learned some harsh lessons about financial realities.  I'll share with you what worked for me.\n\nI have a binder full of lined paper.  On the first page of the binder I have a budget.  You may ask yourself, how does one create a budget?  \n\nThe way I did it was to first list the things I have a fixed amount I need to spend per month: Rent, Car payments, Magazine subscriptions, Car insurance.  Then I figured out how much I would need PER PAYCHECK to save for this (don't say per month - if you do this, you're setting yourself up for failure).  I need $400 per paycheck for rent, $200 for car, $50 for insurance, $5 for registration, etc.  ANYTHING you spend money on goes down on paper.\n\nNext, I put down the things I need, but that aren't fixed.  For instance, groceries, gas, car repair, health (SO very important to have a large reserve, as I recently found out).  I guess how much I'm going to spend on this per month.  Don't forget, that a budget is ALWAYS evolving.  You get raises, bonuses, and (hopefully not) pay cuts all the time, so be prepared.\n\nFinally, you need to have some money to yourself.  I seperated these into clothes, gifts, massage, and books for myself, but you can always change that around.  Put a fixed amount per check into these funds.\n\nHere's the most important part: RECORD what you're spending on the other sheets of paper.  If you buy a pair of shoes, that goes in the clothes budget.  If you buy a gallon of milk, that goes in the groceries budget.  I guarantee you'll be shocked by some of the purchases you make. (I was spending $500 on groceries for two people in a month - that's absurd.  I now REALLY watch what a shop for, and I make sure I'm not throwing things away because they got old - I use everything!)\n\nOk, now we're ready to set aside some money to save!  Generally people say to save 10% of your gross income.  With the above method, the car repair and health funds are sort of "oh no" accounts that you're not going to be touching unless you have a situation, so I count that as part of the 10%.  Aside from this, calculate 10% of your net income ($800 = $80) and have it direct deposited into a different account.  This should not be accessable by check OR atm card!!!!  Once you have about $2,000, you should be able to move it into a money market (some people call money markets "High Yield Savings Accounts") without having to pay any fees.  You'll earn about 2%-4%, depending on the rates at the time.\n\nDon't forget that you'll want to fund some sort of retirement account out of this!  Make sure you try to set asside the maximum possible into retirement accounts so you don't regret your misspent youth.  I'll let you know that I've done calucualtions that say I need 2 million (caluculating for inflation) dollars to retire at age 65.  Yes, that is $2,000,000.  I urge you to look for a program called "Smart Women Finish Rich" in your area.  You'll learn TONS from it, and hopefully be inspired to start saving money.
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Do you want to actively manage your money (i.e., keep track of your asset allocation, etc) or would you prefere to put the money away and only check on it every once in a while?  \n\nIf you want to actively manage your money, I'd recommend fidelity or vanguards websites for some planning tools.  \n\nIf you would rather let your money go on autopilot, I'd consider what is called a life-cycle fund.  You pick what year your target retirment date is, and the fun automatically adjusts to the asset allocation that is appropriate for you.  What this means is that as you age, your investments get a little more conservative because you have a shorter time frame until you retire.  By doing this, you may give up a little bet of potential investment return, but you'll spend very little time managing  your investments.\n\nGood luck!
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You can go to suzeorman.com There are a few things under the resources links.  I bought her book "The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke"\n and it's great. there was a whole section on buying a home.  good tips
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Read "Get a Financial Life" by Beth Kobliner
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It sounds like you have everything you need for now, so maybe you could look to the future... retirement account perhaps?\n\nSounds boring, but if you start investing now, you will either have a lot of money when you retire, or you can retire early.  If I didn't need anything immediately right now, like a car or a tv or something for my house, knowing I could retire earlier would be nice.
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I believe if you go to money.cnn.com, then click on personal finance, you'll see something about "best places to live" and "best places to retire".
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Yahoo Q&A is a fun place to ask and answer questions.  However, I strongly recommend that you not take financial advice from people on here.  You don't know their intentions or qualifications.  It might be great advice, it might be awful advice.  I would recommend that you start reading quality books such as 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' to get a better understanding of this.
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Put the money where it can give you the most value at this particular point in your lives.\n\nConsider this order: Emergency fund (3-6 months of living expenses), high interest rate loans, retirement.\n\nMortgage is a long term debt, if it is comfortable for you at this time, leave it. Car? - does it run? Have you had trouble with it? Do you do the regular maintenance on it? If it works, and has no sign of giving up, then continue using the car - should you need to upgrade, consider recently used.\n\nChildren's college fund? Make sure your retirement is good first, then look after the children. It makes no sense to make sure their college education is great, and then have no where to go come retirement.\n\nInvesting in stocks - this is probably where your retirement money will be going. Stock investing is a 10year activity.\n\nWhat would I do with it? I would use it on whatever is the most important thing to me at the time I had the money. Emergency fund, high interest debt, retirement, family, entertainment, work.\n\nGood luck\n\nI am available - you can contact me directly via my website