The Best Finance Books Every University Student Should Read

Learning how to manage your budget is one of the biggest lessons that students must go through when moving away to university and living alone for the first time.

There is such a wide scope covered by finance and the economy for you to understand whether that is understanding finance and the economy on a wider or learning how to budget on a smaller, personal level and a day-to-day basis.

For a lot of people, education about personal finances comes later in life, but for university students and those who have recently graduated, there is no better time to learn about financial matters to give yourself the best chance to live debt free and have savings in the future.

We’ve put together a list of some of the best finance books that are great support in understanding finance, debt management, and how to control your financial independence for your future.

Broke Millennial by Erin Lowry

This book is about young people who are just beginning their financial journey. It offers insightful advice on how to start a monthly budget as a starting point.

From there, it helps the reader to learn how to manage their finances, how to budget effectively, avoid credit card debt, and know more about sound investment management.

The whole idea of the book is to help students prevent the mistakes that many people experience in their 20s and 30s.

Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez

This book breaks things down into nine simple measures that young people can follow to have financial independence in the long run.

It gives advice as to how young adults can aim for great personal finance and stay clear of debt without requiring a tight budget to live by.

Some of the ethos behind the message focuses on ecological methods, such as how good financial management in live helps to better environmental preservation and a reduction of waste.

You Only Live Once: The Roadmap to Financial Wellness and a Purposeful Life by Jason Vitug

Vitug is a financial expert, and in his book, he explains the importance of prudent management of your money as a foundational block for a healthy, well-lived life.

It provides a clear roadmap for students and young adults on how to create and reach short-term and long-term targets that are genuinely achievable.

With a few clear ideas, students can learn how to prioritise their spending, pay off student loans and build for a debt-free future.

Your Money Life: Your 20s by Peter Dunn

One of the greatest finance books for young people, it looks at the importance and best ways to pay off student debt, how to avoid debt that is pointless, and how to be as effective as possible with budgets and financial plans.

Alongside learning how to portion out your spending into different bills, leisure activities, grocery shopping, and savings, it helps build sound knowledge of credit scores and what impact debt has on your life.

The Big Short by Michael Lewis

You may have seen the incredible film adaptation of this book, starring Christian Bale, Brad Pitt, Ryan Gosling and Steve Carrell, that won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.

The source material is magnificent though, a non-fiction book about the four outsiders in the high-finance industry that predicted the big housing market crash in America in the 2000s and how they bet against it.

Money: A User’s Guide by Laura Whateley

This is a great introduction to understanding your personal finances. It is an engaging read that is really simple for readers to follow, with the story of how the author moved to London in her early 20s at a time when the economy crashed and how she coped with what came next.

The book has plenty of tips on budgets, dealing with debt and even how to manage renting (something that isn’t talked about enough to students and young adults).

Money: Know More, Make More, Give More, by Rob Moore

This is a finance book that is more about an ideal and a way of thinking than specific tips on how to budget your finances.

The pace is fast and the whole philosophy of the book challenges the reader to completely change the way they think about money and how they discuss it.

The goal is to understand more, to give more, and to make more money in a wider approach that changes the way you live your life, rather than going into the minutiae of everyday finance.

Millionaire Teacher by Andrew Hallam

Investing your money with the aim of making a big return can be daunting to the extreme. If you have ever wondered how to go about investment opportunities, this is a book written by a High School English teacher who invested money and became a millionaire.

It takes on a low-risk approach to investment when compared to other types of ‘get-rich-quick’ investment stories, so it is interesting, and has a central theme of the ‘nine rules of wealth’.

We are always looking at ways in which we can support you with advice and guidance on how to budget as a student, how to build your credit score for a positive future, and a whole host of other financial matters. It is challenging as a student to live within your means and to learn how to budget, but it is very important, as this will shape how you live your life post-university. Understanding a wider range of matters involving the economy and how to live an independent financial life that works for you could also be a key component of your life moving forward. We hope this selection of the best finance books will give you a good way into this world.