Like most people, I was not brought up financially literate. Neither school nor my parents taught me about financial matters, and I’ve had to learn in the school of life. Luckily, I have been spared learning through making really awful mistakes, but I sure wish I had known what I know now at a much earlier age. I have on several occasions sat down with my children and introduced them to financial matters in the hope that they will start of understanding financial concepts and how it applies to their lives better than I did when I moved away from home.

Looking back, this is a list of the items that have helped me the most on my way towards financial literacy, and which I would recommend to anyone starting on a path towards becoming financially literate.

Quicken

A colleague introduced me to Quicken more than 10 years ago. In the beginning I almost religiously entered my income and spending regularly into Quicken and its graphs and reports enabled me to understand how my money was actually used and that was a real eye-opener. There were several categories of spending where my spending habits changed as I was able to see how much I was actually using on the different categories. Whether you buy Quicken, Money, another personal finance program or maybe even use a spreadsheet is not that important, the important thing is that you keep track of your spending.

The Richest Man in Babylon

This book couches its teaching of financial concepts in a story about some men in ancient Babylon which means I’ve been able to read it aloud to my children when they were not yet teenagers, and they liked it.

The most important concept learned from this book is the concept of “paying yourself first”.

The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy

This book is based on research into the profile of millionaires. The research found that the most common profile of a millionaire is an entirely different type of person than the media usually portrays. The book makes it clear that most millionaires are ordinary people like you and me, but they are people who control their spending. I may not become a millionaire, but I can live the same way these people can and at the same time have a go at becoming one. The insights gained from this book have helped me lead a financially literate life.

The 5 Lessons a Millionaire Taught me about Life and Wealth

A short and easy to understand book which distils financial literacy into 5 simple principles. So once you track your spending, and can see the benefit of paying yourself first and have gained an insight into the lifestyle real millionaires have, read this book and you have the tools to be financially literate.