“I think you should read everything you can. In my case, by the time I was ten, I’d read every book in the Omaha public library about investing, some twice.”
In case you’re wondering, that quote came from someone who was once the world’s richest man and is currently worth $164 billion — Warren Buffet.
According to Buffet, he spends 80% of his daily work hours reading and thinking. In fact, the Oracle of Omaha even goes as far as studying annual financial reports.
If one of the wealthiest people in the world spends so much time engrossed in books and recommends it for everyone else, I think we should pay attention. In keeping with Buffet’s advice, we’ve compiled the top five trading and investment books you can add to your library this year.
Whether you’re a beginner trader looking to get a grasp of the forex market or an expert stock investor desiring to improve your strategies to match Wall Street gurus, there’s something for you on this list. Let’s dive into the five must-read investment books that can sharpen your financial skills in 2025:
Forex Trading: The Basics Explained in Simple Terms – Jim Brown
When it comes to the mechanics of forex trading, who better to listen to than someone with up to two decades in the business, from the days of manual charting to the current era of automated trading?
Jim Brown first encountered the currency trading market in 2002 at a stock trading meeting. Intrigued by the possibilities of making money from this relatively new venture, he dived into it.
After a few profits, a handful of losses, and some guidance from forex gurus, he eventually developed and simplified his own trading systems to make them understandable for beginners.
The knowledge he has gained over the years is packed into books like Forex Trading: The Basics Explained in Simple Terms.
This 200-page manual offers straightforward and clear guidance into the forex market. Jim covers subjects like crucial considerations for choosing a broker, the ins and outs of technical and fundamental analysis, and trading psychology. As a bonus, he also adds downloadable indicators for the MT4 MetaTrader platform.
If you’re a newbie trader struggling with analyzing the market or using a trading calculator on platforms like Exness, this book is worth considering.
Trading in the Zone: Master the Market with Confidence, Discipline, and a Winning Attitude – Mark Douglas
Mark Douglas is one of the first forex trading coaches to explore trading psychology. He has focused on the concept for much of his career and has written books on it, including the best-selling classic: The Disciplined Trader.
In Trading in the Zone, Mark continues the conversation around trading psychology. With each chapter, he focuses on helping traders develop the mental attitudes and habits required to conquer the market.
The book covers an extensive range of topics, such as developing consistency as a trader, thinking in probabilities to make informed trading decisions, the impact of beliefs on trading, and how to work with your beliefs.
Emotions and mindset affect the trading strategies of newbie and expert traders. Regardless of your expertise in analyzing the market using tools like the Exness forex calendar, mastering the mental side of trading and investment is critical to success.
Mark Douglas’s Trading in the Zone is a handy and reliable tool to help you develop the winning psychology that separates successful traders from the rest of the pack.
The Intelligent Investor – Benjamin Graham
Benjamin Graham’s expertise in the finance market earned him quite a number of titles during his lifetime. Many called him the greatest investment advisor of the twentieth century, while he’s also widely known as the father of value investing.
The American financial analyst and accountant passed down his knowledge through books and college tutoring.
One of his most famous publications is The Intelligent Investor — a book Warren Buffet (one of Graham’s well-known disciples) has called the best book on investing ever written. In the 600-page best-seller, Graham explores the frameworks for value investing.
He helps investors see stock investing from a long-term perspective, rather than focusing on speculative strategies, with an emphasis on research, in-depth market analysis, and discipline.
In 2006, the book was revised to fit modern market realities, with contributions from Warren Buffet and Jason Zweig.
One Up on Wall Street – Peter Lynch
Do you think it’s impossible to be as good as—or even beat—the investors on Wall Street? Well, reading Peter Lynch’s One Up on Wall Street will challenge that belief and show you how to spot opportunities in the market even before the experts notice them.
How do you do this? Lynch’s logic is simple: you only need to pay attention.
Peter Lynch is famously known for managing the Magellan Fund during his time at Fidelity Investments. Between 1977 and 1990, he grew the fund from $18 million in assets to over $14 billion. By 2003, it had achieved the best 20-year return of any mutual fund in history.
Putting his in-depth experience in the industry on paper, Lynch discusses how casual investors can find companies and products that he calls tenbaggers—average stocks that have the potential to increase tenfold in the long term.
He offers simple and easy-to-understand strategies to analyze company financial statements, focusing on which numbers can point to profitability and growth.
The Psychology of Money – Morgan Housel
Financial decisions for most people are rarely ever logical. Instead, they’re fueled by emotions, personal bias, and individual beliefs. This fact is the basis of The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel.
Across 19 short and insightful stories, Morgan shares lessons on how people view money, helping us identify our biases and attitudes.
Exploring emotions like greed, fear, and pride, The Psychology of Money will reshape your approach to finances, eliminating limiting and destructive beliefs on your pathway to investment and wealth building.
Conclusion
Looking to develop long-term and fail-safe investment strategies like Warren Buffet? The secrets might just lie within the pages of a book. Even Buffet himself has confessed that he discovered many of the principles he applies within hardcover pages. If you’re on a journey to become the next Wall Street billionaire, we recommend picking up one of the publications in this article to fast-track your progress.
Markus lives in San Francisco, California and is the video game and audio expert on Good e-Reader! He has a huge interest in new e-readers and tablets, and gaming.