Get started on the right financial foot with these reads
Reviewed by Thomas Brock
To emphasize financial literacy in the United States, more schools are teaching the basics of personal finance from kindergarten through 12th grade. However, in 2024, only 27 states and the District of Columbia require that students complete coursework to graduate from high school, according to the Council for Economic Education. Of those states, 18 require a stand-alone course in personal finance, while 9 allow personal finance integrated into another course. That leaves 23 states with neither requirement.
For teens who want to know more about money matters—or parents eager to see them learn—numerous books are available. Investopedia found seven books among the best of the best. All help fill in the gaps in a teenager’s knowledge and set them on a solid footing for financial challenges or opportunities. Most of these books are also available in ebook formats.
Best Overall: How to Money: Your Ultimate Visual Guide to the Basics of Finance
Best-selling author and frequent TV guest Jean Chatzky teamed up with Kathryn Tuggle, Chatzky’s HerMoney team, and illustrator Nina Cosford for this colorful and inviting personal finance compendium, published in May 2022. Chatzky is also the author of Not Your Parents’ Money Book: Making, Saving, and Spending Your Own Money, published in 2010 and aimed at readers ages 10 to 14.
How to Money covers budgeting, credit, investing, and taxes, with a refreshingly engaging tone. While the book is billed for readers aged 12 to 18, some young teens might find it a little intimidating because of its ample text and 256-page length. However, many will likely find it a useful reference to dip into for questions about a particular financial topic.
Best for Reluctant Readers: I Want More Pizza
Image Source / Amazon
Perhaps the most digestible personal finance book for teens, Steve Burkholder’s I Want More Pizza packs a lot into its 108 pages. Widely used in schools, the 2015 book is cut into four “slices:”
- You (goals, priorities, etc.)
- Saving (why and how to save)
- Growing Your Savings (including investing)
- Debt (including credit cards and paying for college)
Many young readers, and more than a few parents, will identify with Burkholder, who shares his personal story of saving $5,000 by mowing lawns and working at McDonald’s in high school, only to lose every last penny of it in the stock market before he was out of college. It was a costly lesson, but one that helped fuel his interest in better understanding personal finance and explaining it to others.
Best for Inspiration: Rich Dad Poor Dad for Teens
Image Source / Walmart
This entry, updated in 2012 from its first publication in 2004, in Robert T. Kiyosaki’s mega-selling Rich Dad, Poor Dad series, co-authored with Sharon L. Lechter, CPA, was cited by several members of Investopedia’s Financial Review Board as one of the best books for teens.
Lea D. Uradu said, “The author provides commonsense steps that anyone, even a teenager, can follow to empower themselves financially.” Eric Estevez recommended it for providing “really useful information for a generation on the brink of making important financial decisions,” adding that, “Robert has a track record of breaking down complex financial concepts into simple explanations.”
Rich Dad Poor Dad for Teens includes insight on managing assets, managing debt, and moneymaking opportunities for young people. While some online reviewers have faulted the book as overly simplistic, other readers may find Kiyosaki’s upbeat approach to making and managing money inspiring. Kiyosaki co-authored the 2008 book Why We Want You to Be Rich: Two Men, One Message with former President Donald Trump.
Best for College-Bound Teens: Paying for College, 2024: Everything You Need to Maximize Financial Aid and Afford College
It’s no secret that a college education is one of the biggest and most daunting expenses that many teens and their parents will face. This annually updated guide by Kalman Chany and Geoffrey Martz, along with the Princeton Review, covers the most important sources of financial aid, including scholarships, grants, and federal and private student loans.
The book also includes instructions for filling out the FAFSA. Because financial aid rules and tax laws change frequently, college-bound teens will want to make sure they have the latest available advice when they’re ready to apply. The 2024 edition of Paying for College was published on Sept. 19, 2023.
Best for Understanding Credit and Debt: Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping by and Get Your Financial Life Together
Erin Lowry’s popular 2017 book covers saving, budgeting, and investing. However, it is especially focused on debt, including student loans, credit cards, and other financial burdens that can hit young people especially hard.
Financial writer Erin Gobler told us that the book is her “go-to recommendation for people who are dipping their toes into personal finance for the first time, including teens. The author distills information in a way that’s easy for someone to understand. She doesn’t go overboard on the jargon, meaning someone who’s just getting started can easily understand it.”
Lowry’s book has already inspired three other sequels: Broke Millennial Takes on Investing: A Beginner’s Guide to Leveling up Your Money (2019), Broke Millennial Talks Money: Scripts, Stories, and Advice to Navigate Awkward Financial Conversations (2020), and Broke Millennial Workbook: Take Control and Get Your Financial Life Together (2023).
Best for Older Teens: Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties
Beth Kobliner’s best-selling book—now in a revised fourth edition, issued in 2017—is aimed at readers in their 20s and up, but its accessible style may appeal to older teens. Kobliner covers topics like goal setting, handling credit, investing, and even saving for retirement.
Kobliner once appeared on Sesame Street to explain saving, spending, and sharing to Elmo. and developed the “Money as You Grow” initiative, a series of articles and activities available on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) website. Her other books include one for parents, Make Your Kid a Money Genius (Even If You’re Not): A Parents’ Guide for Kids 3 to 23, published in 2017.
Best for More Financially Advanced Teens: I Will Teach You to Be Rich
Ramit Sethi’s I Will Teach You to Be Rich, released in 2019, isn’t specifically for teens. However, two of our reviewers recommended it in that category, with one of them naming it their pick for best overall book on personal finance. Writer Eric Rosenberg noted that “Ramit makes personal finance fun and accessible with his no-apologies look at how to make yourself rich.”
Sethi’s book covers credit cards, banking, and investing but with an irreverent emphasis on enjoying money. Sample headline: “How to spend extravagantly on the things you love and cut costs mercilessly on the things you don’t—without making an annoying budget.” I Will Teach You to Be Rich is a little sophisticated for young teens, but it could be a solid choice for older or more precocious ones.
Final Verdict
For a comprehensive overview of personal finance, How to Money: Your Ultimate Visual Guide to the Basics of Finance by Jean Chatzky and her co-authors would be hard to beat. Steve Burkholder’s I Want More Pizza might be the best choice for teens who want (or need) to know the basics but cringe at the idea of anything resembling homework. Books on more specialized aspects of personal finance are also worth exploring, with Kalman Chany’s Paying for College being a good example.
Why Trust Investopedia?
Reviewer Greg Daugherty has covered personal finance topics for more than 30 years, including stints as a senior-level editor at Money magazine and Consumer Reports. He is also the author or co-author of two books on personal finance for adults. In addition, he’s the proud father of two financially literate kids. Daugherty credits his early interest in personal finance to a long-ago gift from his father: a copy of Sylvia Porter’s Money Book, a 1970s bestseller that’s now out of print.
To compile our list, Daugherty and his Investopedia colleagues combed the bookstores, both online and off, checking out libraries, consulted publisher websites, and surveyed experts, including members of Investopedia’s Financial Review Board. We based our final judgments on the authors’ credentials, the quality of advice that the books had to offer, and how suitable they would be for teens of various ages and levels of sophistication.
We also paid particular attention to how current the information in each book was. Because tax laws, financial products, and the overall economy can change so frequently, few books go out of date faster than those on money-related topics.
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