In 2022, the month of April will be recognized as National Financial Literacy Month for its 19th year. Financial literacy is having both the knowledge and the competence to manage your personal and household finances in order to set and reach meaningful goals.
The New Jersey Department of the Treasury has very recently launched a free financial wellness platform for all adult state residents, NJ FinLIt.
This platform features dynamic tools and courses, delivering a highly personalized and interactive learning experience, including the Your Money PersonalityTM financial behavior assessment, which analyzes each user’s financial “personality.” The site is compatible with Google Translate to provide information in multiple languages. The platform also provides:
- Financial education courses with personalized action plans on topics including budgeting, mortgages, health care, college savings, student loan repayment, banking, credit, financial planning, long-term care, and more;
- Retirement and home affordability analyzers;
- A suite of student loan and higher education tools; and
- Personal finance calculators and a real-time budget tool.
Personal finance books can help you sharpen up on personal finance basics—how to manage and pay off debt, paying for college, planning for retirement, how to invest, budgeting tips and more—and can help you become savvier, more directed, and more confident in handling your finances and making your money work to meet your goals.
Here are some of the latest titles in our collection covering a wide gamut of personal finance topics, which impart the latest advice, tips and information to help you with your money management skills. Some of the titles were on order at the time of going to press.
The Anxious Investor: Mastering The Mental Game Of Investing by Scott Nations
A revelatory new guide to building wealth amidst stock market crashes and uncertain economic conditions, drawing upon financial modeling, behavioral psychology, and market history to offer practical advice to everyday investors.
Balance : How To Invest And Spend For Happiness, Health, And Wealth by Andrew Hallam
Hallam demonstrates how you can optimize your income for maximum happiness by investing responsibly and living according to your values. He shows you how to enjoy life more and stress less, and use money to care for the environment and help your children succeed–while defining “success” in a way that works for you. Balance results when your money, connection, health, and purpose are all aligned.
The Basics Of Bitcoins And Blockchains : An Introduction To Cryptocurrencies And The Technology That Powers Them by Antony Lewis
Gain an understanding of a broad spectrum of Bitcoin topics including the history of Bitcoin, the Bitcoin blockchain, and Bitcoin buying, selling, and mining. Learn how payments are made, and how to put a value on cryptocurrencies and digital tokens. Learn about blockchain technology, find trustworthy and balanced insights into Bitcoin investing and investing in other cryptocurrency, and more.
The Bogleheads’ Guide To Investing by Mel Lindauer
A DIY handbook that espouses the sage investment wisdom of John C. Bogle. This witty and wonderful book offers contrarian advice that provides the first step on the road to investment success, illustrating how relying on typical “common sense” promoted by Wall Street is destined to leave you poorer. It includes new information on backdoor Roth IRAs and ETFs as mainstream buy and hold investments, estate taxes and gifting, plus changes to the laws regarding Traditional and Roth IRAs, and 401k and 403b retirement plans.
The Elements Of Investing : Easy Lessons For Every Investor by Burton Gordon Malkiel
investment legends Malkiel and Charles D. Ellis deliver straightforward, digestible lessons in the investment rules and principles you need to follow to mitigate risk and realize long-term success in the markets.
Estate Planning Basics by Denis Clifford
Covers the basics of estate planning, including wills, trusts, and health care directives. It prepares readers to start planning their estate, with or without an attorney.
Finance For The People : Getting A Grip On Your Finances by Paco De Leon
De Leon, founder of the financial firm the Hell Yeah Group, debuts with a zippy guide to “see your relationship with money in a new light.” He begins with a breakdown of “why we’re weird” about money (classism plus confusion plus “limiting beliefs”), then gets into the basics of personal finance, offering an introduction to saving (aim for 10% of take-home pay), investing (if it’s an intimidating concept, “not feeling like you belong has its perks”), and credit scores (“Yes, kids, just like with social media, we are the product. Surprise!”), debt and more. Often-funny drawings help to illustrate the points, and De Leon’s breezy tone marries well with her practical advice.
Financial Adulting : Everything You Need To Know And Do To Be A Financially Confident And Conscious Adult by Ashley Feinstein Gerstley
From budgeting and consumer activism to retirement investing and paying down debt, you’ll learn everything you need to know and do to be a financially savvy adult.
Investing Explained : The Accessible Guide To Building An Investment Portfolio by Matthew Partridge
Maximize your chances of investment success with this accessible and profitable guide which pulls away the curtain to put you on a level footing with the professionals – and points out where the pros can get it wrong. Benefit from an overview of behavioral psychology (and how you can profit from the irrational behavior of others), advice on fintech apps and cryptocurrencies, and the impact of a political or economic crisis on your investments.
Miss Independent : A Simple 12-Step Plan To Start Investing And Grow Your Own Wealth by Nicole Lapin
From automating your savings to easy, no-stress investing strategies, Nicole will teach you how to take your financial knowledge and portfolio to the next level and start you on your journey to your ultimate destination: true financial independence.
Money Magic : An Economist’s Secrets To More Money, Less Risk, And A Better Life by Laurence Kotlikoff
Kotlikoff , an economics professor at Boston University, offers an accessible guide to sound financial decision-making based on the premise that “even the most responsible, prudent, financially well educated, and psychologically balanced people make major mistakes” when it comes to managing their finances. Tips come for such tricky but critical life choices include deciding when to retire (plan with “the oldest age to which you could live” in mind), whether to borrow for college (don’t, he advises), and how to navigate divorce (do “a cost-benefit divorce analysis”).
1001 Ways To Pay For College : Strategies To Maximize College Savings, Financial Aid, Scholarships, And Grants by Gen S. Tanabe
A resource for college bound students and their parents on college financial aid, scholarships, loans, and grants. Provides strategies for finding and winning scholarships, tax credits, asking for more financial aid, saving, student loan forgiveness, financial aid applications, state financial aid, military service, adult students, graduate students, and internships.
Archana, Adult Services & Acquisitions Librarian