The best finance books I’ve read in 2025 - Limerick financial planner

AT the end of each year, I always like to share with you the financial books I’ve read and enjoyed over the past 12 months.
And maybe one of them might be worth a read over the Christmas period, or one could be a good gift if you’re stuck for an idea for someone.
The descriptions of each book aren’t mine, they’re from the book’s publishers, although I’ve added in some of my own comments throughout.

The 5 Types of Wealth – Sahil Bloom
After years of research, and thousands of interviews with people from all walks of life around the world, Sahil Bloom has created a simple blueprint for true fulfilment based on five types of wealth: Time, Social, Mental, Physical, and Financial. Brought together, they create a life of meaning, connection and happiness.
In this book you’ll learn how to make time for what matters most, find your purpose and grow within it, boost health and vitality, achieve financial freedom and define your version of “enough”.
No matter what path you’re on, this method is simple, science-backed and practical where every page gives you tools you can use to build your dream life right now.

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The Soul of Wealth – Daniel Crosby
This is probably my favourite book of the year. And it was the winner in the axiom business book awards in 2025 in the personal finance category.
We all know that true wealth is about far more than money. Wealth is friends, family, health, a vocation, command of your time, leisure, and whatever else is important to you. And yet, we are all guilty of acting as if money alone is wealth and an end in itself.
In The Soul of Wealth, Daniel presents 50 short essays which explore what wealth really is and provides practical suggestions for how to change your thinking and your actions in small, powerful ways, for a wealthier life.
We learn: How you spend your money reveals your values, that money can buy happiness if spent well, what makes a good financial plan, how to master delayed gratification for the ultimate wealth hack, why anything worth doing carries some risk.

Strong Money – Dave Gow
Dave Gow retired at 28, after a decade of working as a forklift driver. He didn’t win the lottery, inherit a fortune, or get lucky in the stock market. Instead, he discovered a simple set of principles that helped him spend less and invest more, all while increasing his happiness.
If you’re fed up with the rat race and wish you could live a life of freedom and fulfilment, his story will show you the path. In this book, you’ll learn the mindset that helped Dave build wealth and retire at 28, proven tactics to optimise your spending for more savings AND more enjoyment, how to easily build a portfolio of passive-income-producing investments, the secrets for living a happy and satisfying life while working towards your financial goals.

The Barefoot Investor – Scott Pape
This is the only money guide you’ll ever need. That’s a bold claim, given there are thousands of finance books on the shelves.
Yet there’s a reason this book is in one in every 20 Australian homes.
You’ll find out how to create an entire financial plan that is so simple you can sketch it on the back of a serviette and you’ll be able to manage your money in 10 minutes a week.
This book is full of stories from everyday people (all happen to live in Australia by the way) ―single people, young families, empty nesters, retirees, all who have applied the Barefoot Steps, freed themselves from crippling debt and achieved amazing, life-changing results.

The Stoic Path to Wealth – Darius Foroux
The Stoics understood that if you can control your reactions and manage your emotions, you can achieve success. The same principles apply to our financial lives today.
The only way to beat inflation and grow your wealth is by investing. The greatest investors approach the markets with discipline, emotional distance, and self-mastery lessons that the Stoics have been teaching us for thousands of years.
Combining ancient wisdom with practical investment strategies drawn from analysis of the greatest investors of all time, The Stoic Path to Wealth will teach you how to: cultivate an investing edge by managing your emotions and developing your unique skills and talents, develop the discipline to ignore short-term market fluctuations and avoid living in the future, foster a mindset that allows you to enjoy what you have and avoid greed, create a sustainable approach to trading.
As financial markets become increasingly unpredictable and chaotic, The Stoic Path to Wealth offers the key to weathering any economic storm while building wealth that will last a lifetime and beyond.

Money on your Mind – Vicky Reynal
Do you find it difficult to stick to a budget? Do you hide purchases from your partner? Do you often argue about money with your family?
One of the most important relationships we have is with money, yet we are often unaware of what drives our habits and feelings related to it. Money can be a cause of anxiety, shame and conflict in our everyday lives. A complex web of emotional factors, past experiences and personality all determine the money choices you make and how you feel about them. But how can you overcome these emotional hurdles to make better financial choices?
Financial Psychotherapist Vicky Reynal dives into different money behaviours such as overspending, underspending, money secrets and self-sabotage to uncover how our past experiences impact our relationship with money.
Reynal reveals how an emotionally absent parent can result in comfort shopping, how bullying in school can lead to overspending, and how absorbing a parent's lack of boundaries can stop you from making rational financial decisions. Through a mix of case studies, client stories and expertise in psychotherapy, Money on Your Mind will help you unpack and understand what is driving your financial behaviours for an improved and healthier relationship with money.

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The New Savage Number – Terry Savage
During a time when looking to the future is more important than ever, author Terry Savage offers street smart advice for the many soon-to-be retirees wondering how much longer they will have to work to make up for the losses in their retirement accounts. The New Savage Number provides the strategic guidance and hands-on techniques necessary to plan a successful, satisfying retirement.
Throughout the book, Savage helps you figure out how much money you need to retire-your savage number-and how to invest to reach that goal. Then, as retirement looms, she guides you through the process of planning withdrawals so the money lasts your entire lifetime. In between, Savage offers practical advice on everything from getting personal finances organized to insuring retirement plans against the disastrous need for long-term care. An informative, engaging book that future retirees of every age can utilize, The New Savage Number
Written with every retirement bound individual in mind, The New Savage Number, Second Edition provides you with the tools needed to rescue your retirement.

Pathfinders – JL Collins
Pathfinders brings together scores of amazing and insightful real-life stories from real people on the journey to financial independence, providing practical encouragement and inspiration for anyone who wants to join them.
Lighting the way in the real world to The Simple Path to Wealth, these are fascinating, heartfelt, often surprising tales: of struggles overcome and the rewards that followed, of enterprising solutions to unexpected problems, of sacrifices made and the kindness of strangers, of surprisingly simple steps and the amazing places they can take you
Pathfinders is the ultimate companion for your own journey to financial freedom and the true and lasting wealth that lies at the end.

Liam Croke is MD of Harmonics Financial Ltd, based in Plassey. He can be contacted at liam@harmonics.ie or www.harmonics.ie