These five books are worth reading:
1)
Who Moved My Cheese?
By Spencer Johnson, M.D.
It is the story of four characters who live in a maze and look for cheese to nourish them and make them happy. Two of the characters are mice and the other two are “littlepeople, ” who are just like human beings, except they are the size of mice and live within this “maze.” The entire story is a metaphor. “Cheese” is a metaphor for the things that you desire in life – that which makes you happy. Each individual has his own idea or perception of what his “cheese” is, whether it be a good job, money, love, or good health. The “maze” is a metaphor for where an individual looks for his “cheese.” This can be the individual’s workplace or company, his family, spouse, or community. In the story, the characters are faced with unexpected change. The mice are able to adapt to the change and move with the “cheese.” Only one of the “littlepeople, ” named Haw, however, is able to successfully deal with, and adapt to, the change. His counterpart, Hem, is left feeling confused, defeated, and unmotivated to adapt to the change – that is, he is unwilling to move with his “cheese”.
2)
The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People
By Stephen Covey
In The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People Stephen R. Convey presents a holistic, integrated, principle-centred approach for solving personal and professional problems. with penetrating insights and pointed anecdotes, Covey reveals a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, honesty and human dignity-principles that give us the security to adapt to change, and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates.
3)
The Alchemist
By Paulo Coelho
The Alchemist presents a simple fable, based on simple truths and places it in a highly unique situation. Brazilian storyteller Paulo Coehlo introduces Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who once dreamt of a distant treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. And so he is off leaving Spain to literally follow his dream. Along the way he meets many spiritual messengers, who come in unassuming forms such as a camel driver and a well-read Englishman. In one of the Englishmans books, Santiago first learns about the alchemists men who believed that if a metal were heated for many years, it would free itself of all its individual properties, and what was left would be the Soul of the World. Of course he does eventually meet an alchemist, and the ensuing student-teacher relationship clarifies much of the boys misguided agenda, while also emboldening him to stay true to his dreams.
4)
The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari
By Robin S. Sharma
This inspiring tale provides a step-by-step approach to living with greater courage, balance, abundance and joy. A wonderfully crafted fable, The Monk Who sold His Ferrari tells the extraordinary story of Julian Mantle, a lawyer forced to confront the spiritual crisis of his out-of-balance life. On a life-changing odyssey to an ancient culture, he discovers powerful, wise and practical lessons that teach us to:
Develop joyful thoughts
Follow our life’s mission and calling
Cultivate self-discipline and act courageously
Value time as our most important commodity
Nourish our relationships, and - live fully, one day at a time.
5)
Rich Dad Poor Dad
By Robert T. Kiyosaki
Robert T. Kiyosaki had a unique opportunity to find out. Robert’s father was an educator and public administrator. When Robert was a young boy, he and his friend, Mike decided they wanted to learn how to become rich. They started by trying to make(counterfeit) money.
Robert’s father explained to the boys this was illegal. He also admitted he did not know how to become rich, but suggested the boys ask Mike’s father how to go about it. So Mike’s father, an independent businessperson, became a mentor to Robert, his’Rich Dad.’
This book is the fascinating story of how the Rich Dad taught Robert the lessons he needed to learn to make himself financially independent. Robert has learned that our educational system is pretty good at producing employees, but not very good at producing people who are good at managing their finances wisely. He now teaches people how to apply the principles of becoming rich. In addition to publishing the information in this book, he has developed a game, CASHFLOW(tm) 101 to help people develop their financial intelligence.
Some of the ideas Robert presents reinforce those in other books we have reviewed. Like The Millionaire Next Door, Robert points out the difference between having a big salary and building wealth. Like The Richest Man In Babylon, Robert emphasizes the importance of paying yourself first. In his opinion, it’s more important to systematically invest a portion of your income than to pay your bills or to pay your taxes.(A controversial concept.)
Robert also has a definition of an asset versus a liability that is different from conventional accounting. Investors generally focus on accumulating assets and avoid liabilities. Simply stated, assets generate income or cash. Liabilities consume cash. Rich people accumulate assets. People who aren’t rich accumulate liabilities. Some things that look like assets are actually liabilities - for example: a residence, a car, a boat. When we accumulate these things, we are not really accumulating wealth, we are consuming it. If we haven’t accumulated sufficient assets and we acquire these’toy’ liabilities, we are putting the cart before the horse. Instead, we should emphasize regularly acquiring stocks, bonds, tax lien certificates, rental real estate, and other investments. We also need to learn to build value and get some tax shelter by building our own business.
Robert acknowledges that it is possible to use the principle of compound interest and regular saving to achieve financial independence. The problem with this approach is it’s a long, patient one. Most people get started too late for it to work.
The rest of us must develop our financial intelligence, make risk our friend, and accelerate our financial growth. Although diversification is appropriate for preserving accumulated wealth, the investor usually must take the additional risk of focused investments in order to initially accumulate wealth. Bigger returns require accepting more risk.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad is the kind of book that opens your mind to new possibilities.
Hope all these books help you, happy reading!