financial-reading-list

Resources on personal finance and investing

Why

Before I dive into this soliloquy, I want to say one thing: PRIVILEGE. I can't in good conscience have any giant reading list on finance, economics, or investing without touching upon this topic. I may be an Indian American immigrant whose parents experienced great financial hardships - but since at least middle school I've lived with a safety net. And frankly, a safety net lets you make and learn from costly financial mistakes without permanent destruction.

Now here I go:

Despite being an economics/engineering major, I was pretty bad with money by the time I graduated college. Being an only child whose parents essentially funded her college education, I never really had to set my own budget, think about investments, or really - plan. This still wasn't an issue for the first two years after college. I had pretty lucrative jobs and didn't actually have to think about money. Then...I quit my job to work on my own startup idea. About 9 months later, and fully burned through all my savings (in NYC of all places), I realized that this shit wasn't going to work. I got a job, with my entrepreneurial desires still burning at the back of my mind, and resolved to improve my financial situation. I decided to actually set out a budget for myself, try to diversify income streams (via side projects, investments, etc.), and learn about financial instruments. I am by no means an expert (seriously. please don't take this list that seriously) but I wanted to just start aggregating the list of books and resources I've started to consult.