Yahoo Finance Jaspreet Singh: 25 Books Aspiring Millionaires Must Read
Personal finance expert Jaspreet Singh has read hundreds of books about money throughout his career. After thousands of hours spent reading these books, he shared in a YouTube video the top 25 books he thinks everyone should read if they want to build their wealth.
In making this list, Singh said he included five books that talk about building your personal wealth, five books on personal development, five books about how to earn more money, five books on how to scale your own small business and Singh’s five favorite biographies. Read these 25 books if you want to achieve financial success.
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5 Books About Building Your Personal Wealth
These first five books are all about personal wealth, from first steps to generating passive income.
‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’ by Robert Kiyosaki
Singh said this book was the first time he ever got exposure to money, personal investing, wealth, passive income and real estate investing.
“If you don’t know how to start building wealth, you have to start with this book, because the way that Robert Kiyosaki explains it is so easy for anybody to understand.”
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‘Total Money Makeover’ by Dave Ramsey
Singh said Kiyosaki and Ramsey are the two people that started his financial education journey.
“Dave Ramsey has some great methods on how you can start paying down your debt and how you can start building your wealth with what he calls baby steps,” said Singh. “He lays it down for you step by step with exact things that you need to do right now — that way, you can build your wealth.”
‘The Creature from Jekyll Island’ by G. Edward Griffin
In this book, readers will learn about the Federal Reserve Bank, what your money is and how the Fed operates and what it does. Not only does this help you understand the theory behind money and the economic system, but it also explains why you need to invest to build your wealth.
‘Investing in Real Estate’ by Gary W. Eldred
This book breaks down everything you need to know to get started as a real estate investor.
Some key topics include what it means to invest in real estate, different types of real estate investing and how to get started as a real estate investor.
‘One Up On Wall Street’ by Peter Lynch
‘One Up On Wall Street’ teaches readers how to invest their money in the stock market.
This book covers topics like how to find a good company to invest in, the numbers you should be looking at when you read financial statements and how to analyze a company to ensure you’re investing with a good company instead of a bad company.
5 Books on Personal Development
Working on your personal development is an important part of building up your finances. These five books will help with your mindset and communication.
‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’ by Dale Carnegie
Everybody on Singh’s team has read “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” Not only does this book go over how to make friends, but it helps you succeed in communicating with just about anybody.
“It talks about how you can get somebody to do things for you — not in a manipulative way, but really understanding people’s intentions and learning how to speak and communicate in a very effective manner.”
‘The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’ by Stephen Covey
“The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” teaches readers how to be more efficient and effective in their time using seven different habits.
“The one step that I remember really stuck with me was to start with the end in mind,” said Singh. “If you want to achieve this goal, are you doing the things that are going to help you actually achieve that?”
‘Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus’ by John Gray
This book focuses on relationships, and Singh recommends it because the book talks about how men and women have different languages and what it takes to have a good relationship together.
‘Never Finished’ by David Goggins
Singh praised Goggins’ writing and said if you’re feeling stuck, reading this book is guaranteed to light a fire under you.
“The kinds of crazy things he has gone through… it will really inspire you and make you want to think bigger and really stop making excuses for yourself.”
‘The 48 Laws of Power’ by Robert Greene
Singh recommends “The 48 Laws of Power” as a book worth reading, especially if you want to be in the business space or succeed in the corporate world.
Key topics covered by the book include how you succeed with the way that you do things, understanding how to speak with people and the types of things you should say and should not say.
5 Books About How To Earn More Money
The more you can increase your income, the faster you can become a millionaire. Singh’s next five book recommendations offer advice on making more money.
‘That Will Never Work’ by Marc Randolph
“That Will Never Work” tells the story of streaming giant Netflix and how its founders were repeatedly told their idea would never work.
In this book, the founders talk about their failures and how they built Netflix from nothing because they wanted to solve a simple problem: the late fees that you had to pay when you rented movies from rental chains like Blockbuster.
‘Billion Dollar Brand Club’ by Lawrence Ingrassia
As a marketer, Singh said he loved “Billion Dollar Brand Club.” This book talks about companies like Warby Parker and Dollar Shave Club and how they disrupted their industries and did something nobody thought was possible.
Many of these companies started out with few financial resources but were able to get the word out without spending a ton of money and shake up the industry — while making a lot of money doing it.
‘Shoe Dog’ by Phil Knight
“Shoe Dog” is about Knight’s journey in building a million-dollar shoe company: Nike.
“It’s a very inspirational story, because you see how [Knight] really took Nike from nothing into a massive company.”
‘Sam Walton: Made In America’ by Sam Walton
Written by business magnate Sam Walton, this memoir chronicles how Walton built global retailer Walmart.
What makes this memoir so inspiring to read, Singh said, is you hear the story of how Walton built small convenience stores and wanted to make them better. He became so laser focused on providing a better service and value to his customers that he was able to open more stores, increase the customer value in each store and continue to grow this brand into building Walmart into what it is today.
‘The Airbnb Story’ by Leigh Gallagher
Singh said this book is interesting because you get to hear about how Airbnb’s three founders had the idea to rent out their apartment, because they were tired of staying at hotels. They wanted to make something fun, where people could feel more connected.
“You see how these guys leverage the power of the internet to start from nothing and build this massive corporation, and you hear the journey of how they did it.”
5 Books on How To Scale Your Business
If you’re an entrepreneur, these next five books can help you learn to bring your business to the next level.
‘Built to Sell’ by John Warrillow
Every entrepreneur needs to read “Built to Sell,” which talks about how you build a real business. This refers to building a business where you can take yourself out of the business to sell it. Singh said this book talks about how you can shift from this side hustle that you’re running to a real business that can run without your being involved.
‘Blue Ocean Strategy’ by Renée Mauborgne and W. Chan Kim
“Blue Ocean Strategy” focuses on how you can find a blue ocean of opportunity.
“What this book talks about is how you can stop competing with other companies,” said Singh. “We have no competitors. We can do something completely different and create what the book calls a blue ocean. It will build a whole new world of opportunity that didn’t exist before.”
‘Delivering Happiness’ by Tony Hsieh
Tony Hsieh, the former CEO of Zappos, talks in this book about how he helped build Zappos into a billion-dollar company. In the process, Hsieh highlights how they were able to formulate and create a company culture that changed how the business worked.
Singh recalled that the moment he started reading this book was when his own company was creating its core values and defining its own company culture. He recommends anyone who has a business read this book.
‘Purple Cow’ by Seth Godin
The premise of ‘Purple Cow’ is: If you were to see a field of cows while driving, and you saw one purple cow, which cow would you remember? Obviously, the purple cow, because it sticks out.
This book talks about how you can create a purple cow mentality in your business. How can you make what you do stand out, so people remember what you do instead of all the other vanilla competition?
‘Jack: Straight from the Gut’ by Jack Welch
Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric, writes in his memoir about the journey he went on to become the CEO and lead and manage GE to become a massive powerhouse. Some key topics he covers include how he managed employees, why he fired employees, how he built difficult systems that allowed GE to excel and how he created a culture of winning, not losing.
If you’re a manager or leading a business, Singh recommends reading this book to understand how you can build a winning business.
5 Favorite Biographies
Singh’s top five biographies offer a look into the lives of successful people.
‘Call Me Ted’ by Ted Turner
Written by CNN founder Ted Turner, “Call Me Ted” details how he went from putting up billboard signs to building CNN.
Singh said this book is hilarious and super crazy at once. “This guy is one of those guys that you feel like you have to shake his hand. When you hear his story and the things that he went through, he holds nothing back.”
‘Elon Musk’ by Ashlee Vance
If you want to get a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the mind of billionaire Elon Musk, Singh recommends reading this book.
“It’s really inspirational, because you see the different way that he thinks, the things that he does and the way that he built his company. You start to see that he does think very differently, and [it] will make you want to think even bigger.”
‘Onward’ by Howard Schultz
What if you don’t know what you want to do in life, how you can make money or if you’re passionate about anything at all? Read “Onward” for a bit of inspiration.
Those who read this book will not only be impressed by how Schultz built Starbucks, but Singh said they will appreciate the art behind the coffee chain and have a better understanding of why Starbucks does the things that it does.
‘Steve Jobs’ by Walter Isaacson
Clocking in at 656 pages, “Steve Jobs” is a long book but is highly recommended by Singh.
This book walks readers through the life of Steve Jobs from an early age into adulthood, as he was able to use thinking differently to take Apple to new heights.
‘Finding My Virginity’ by Richard Branson
Singh said he’s always liked how Richard Branson does things on his own terms, exactly the way that he wants. “If you want to learn more about how you can actually be different, read this book.”
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