My 3 favourite books on money
Table of Contents
Introduction
A few years ago, I found myself exhausted and frustrated. After grinding for government exams for nearly 3–4 years without getting the results I had hoped for, I felt stuck and directionless. That’s when my Mama ji handed me a book—Rich Dad Poor Dad.
It was the very first self-help book I had ever read, and it completely changed the way I saw money, work, and life as a whole. It opened my eyes and pushed me to question everything I was doing. For the first time, I started asking myself:
- Is preparing for government exams even worth it?
- Is working only for money truly fulfilling?
- Isn’t it more important to enjoy the work I do every day?
- Shouldn’t work contribute positively to humanity, not just to my bank account?
- And above all, what’s the point of success without good health, the foundation of everything else in life?
That book didn’t just give me answers—it gave me clarity. It shifted my mindset and showed me a different way to look at success.
So here are the top 5 lessons I learned from Rich Dad Poor Dad.
My first book on money: Rich Dad Poor Dad
1. Who is your Rich dad?
Robert Kiyosaki (author of the book) introduces two father figures in his life—his biological father, the “Poor Dad,” and his best friend’s father, the “Rich Dad.” Poor Dad was well-educated, believed in traditional schooling, and always emphasized getting a secure job with good pay. Rich Dad, on the other hand, had little formal education but understood money, business, and investing. Instead of working for money, he believed in learning how to make money work for you. Robert’s life was deeply shaped by this mindset, and it became the foundation of his financial success and philosophy on wealth.
In my own life, my mama ji plays the role of my “Rich Dad,” while most others around me act as “Poor Dads/Moms.” They often give me unsolicited advice—telling me to play it safe, work hard, and chase stability, because that’s all they know about money. But with my mama ji, the conversations are different. We discuss business, the stock market, passive income, and the global economy. We don’t talk to prove who’s right; we talk to understand and grow. That’s why I’ve learned that if you have a “Rich Dad” figure in your life, you should be truly grateful—and if you don’t, you can still find one in books, videos, and on the internet.
2. A Job vs. Long-Term Freedom
This is the 2nd lesson I learned:
“A job is really a short-term solution to a long-term problem.”
When I was preparing for government exams, I used to believe that once I cleared the exam, my life would be set forever. I thought I wouldn’t have to worry about money again—I could pay my bills, feel secure, and survive comfortably. But that belief was shattered after reading this book. I realized that while a job solves immediate problems, it comes at a cost: time away from loved ones, sacrificing interests and hobbies, and sometimes even mental peace. On top of that, inflation eats away at the salary, and the job doesn’t solve the deeper, long-term problems—those related to time, purpose, fulfillment, and peace of mind. That’s when I understood that while a job is useful, it isn’t the final answer. The real solution lies in building long-term systems—skills, investments, businesses, or passions—that bring true independence and lasting fulfillment.
3. Escaping the Trap of Fear and Desire
“Fear and desire control most people—they work hard out of fear of not having enough and then spend out of desire for comfort or status. According to Rich Dad, true wealth comes when you break free from this cycle and focus on learning how money functions, rather than just earning it."
This one insight was quite thought-provoking for me. I realized that people are afraid of being broke, not being able to pay bills, or losing security. That fear pushes them to work hard at jobs, often without questioning if that’s the best path. And once they earn money, desire takes over—they spend on comfort, luxuries, or status symbols, thinking it will make them happy. This creates a never-ending cycle: work hard → earn money → spend → fear comes back → work harder again. What Rich Dad taught is that real wealth isn’t about how much you earn, but about how much you understand money. When you learn how money works—through investing, building assets, and creating passive income—you no longer live controlled by fear and desire. Instead, you use money as a tool for freedom.
4. Rich or Broke? It Comes Down to This:
“If you want to be rich, you need to be financially literate”.
Being rich isn’t just about earning a high income — it’s about knowing how to manage, grow, and protect money. Many people make good money but still struggle financially because they don’t understand concepts like assets vs. liabilities, cash flow, debt, and investing.
Financial literacy is the skill of understanding how money really works:
- how to make money,
- how to keep it,
- and how to multiply it.
Without financial literacy, money slips away no matter how much you earn. With it, even a small amount can grow into wealth over time.
5. “How Long Could You Survive Without Working?”
“Wealth is a person’s ability to survive so many number of days forward—or, if I stopped working today, how long could I survive?”
This line redefines wealth not as how much money you make, but as how long you can live without working and still maintain your lifestyle.
- If someone has a high salary but also high expenses, the moment they stop working, they can’t survive for long — meaning their wealth is actually low.
- On the other hand, someone with passive income, savings, and low expenses could survive months or even years without a job — making them truly wealthy.
So, wealth = time. It’s not about the size of your paycheck, but about the freedom your money gives you to live without depending on daily work.
One quote from the book that stick with me:
Some cling to old ideas and when they struggle, blame technology or the economy.
What they fail to see is that old ideas are their biggest liability.
My second book on money: The Almanack of Naval Ravikant
After reading Rich Dad Poor Dad, I felt deeply empowered. The book sparked my curiosity to learn more about money—specifically, how to make it work for you instead of spending your whole life working for it. That journey led me to another transformative book: The Almanack of Naval Ravikant.
This book distills the wisdom, principles, and philosophies of entrepreneur and investor Naval Ravikant. Although not written by him directly, it is a compilation of his thoughts, tweets, interviews, and podcasts, put together by Eric Jorgenson.
The book revolves around two central themes: wealth and happiness. Naval emphasizes that true wealth isn’t just about money—it’s about freedom: the ability to control your time and live life on your own terms.
Here are the top five lessons I learned from this book:
1. Leverage: The Secret to Doing More with Less
The first big lesson I learned from the book is the power of leverage. Naval explains leverage as a way of doing more with less—using tools, systems, or resources to multiply results without multiplying effort. It’s not about working harder but about working smarter. This completely shifted how I look at productivity. For example, content itself is a form of leverage—when I make a video once, it can continue to reach people even while I sleep. Similarly, technology, money, or even other people’s expertise can act as leverage, allowing us to scale our work without burning out.
What struck me the most is how leverage gives freedom. Instead of being stuck in a cycle of trading time for money, leverage allows us to create assets that keep working for us. For me, this means I can think about outsourcing editing in the future, using better tools, or even automating tasks so I can focus on creativity and storytelling. Naval’s idea of leverage taught me that success isn’t just about effort, but about building systems that work even when I don’t.
2. Earn with your mind, not your time
The second lesson I took from the book is to earn with your mind, not your time. This really opened my eyes because most of us are taught to trade hours for money through traditional jobs. But the problem with this model is that time is limited—you can only work so many hours in a day, and there’s always a ceiling to how much you can earn. Naval explains that real wealth comes when you shift away from this cycle and start using your knowledge, creativity, and skills to build things that can scale and earn for you even when you’re not actively working.
For me as a creator, this means that the effort I put into making videos, writing scripts, or building my online presence is not just about the hours I spend, but about creating assets that last. A single video can continue to reach new viewers and add value long after I’ve uploaded it. That’s the beauty of earning with the mind—you build systems, content, or products that compound over time, giving you freedom from the limits of hours. Naval’s words reminded me that the smartest work isn’t always the hardest—it’s the work that keeps working for you.
3. From Trial and Error to Passive Rewards
The third lesson I learned from the book is beautifully captured in the phrase:
“Solve by iteration. Get paid by repetition.”
What this means is that the path to success is rarely perfect on the first try—it’s about experimenting, learning, failing, and improving until you find what works. Whether it’s building a product, starting a business, or even creating content, the early versions are never flawless. But with every iteration, you refine the process and move closer to the right solution. This made me realize that mistakes and failures are not roadblocks; they are simply stepping stones in the “figuring it out” phase.
Once you’ve solved the problem through enough trial and error, that’s when the magic happens—you can repeat it, automate it, or scale it. And every repetition pays you, even when you’re not actively working. As a creator, I see this clearly: I might make dozens of videos before one truly resonates, but once it does, that video keeps working for me long after it’s uploaded. The same principle applies to entrepreneurs and investors—once you refine your strategy, it can pay you over and over. This idea taught me that success isn’t about instant perfection, but about persistence in solving and then letting repetition create lasting rewards.
4. Your Hourly Rate: The Hidden Key to Freedom
"Value your time at an hourly rate, and ruthlessly spend to save time at that rate. You will never be worth more than you think you’re worth. No one is going to value you more than you value yourself."
This is about valuing time, because how we treat our hours ultimately defines the value of our life. Naval says to value your time at an hourly rate—even if no one is paying you that yet. This completely shifted my perspective. When I ask myself, “If my time was worth ₹1,000 or ₹5,000 an hour, would I still do this task?”—it forces me to think differently. Suddenly, spending hours on small, repetitive things feels wasteful, because time is more precious than money. It made me realize that the real wealth is not just in money, but in how much freedom and quality you can create with your hours.
Another part of this lesson is to ruthlessly spend to save time. If something can be outsourced, automated, or solved with money at a rate below what you value your time for, then spend the money and save the hours. This isn’t about laziness—it’s about focus. Freeing yourself from low-value work means you have more energy to invest in what only you can do best: thinking, creating, and growing. Naval’s words reminded me that no one will ever value me more than I value myself. If I treat my time as cheap, the world will too. But if I start acting like my time is truly valuable, my actions and decisions will align with that belief—and that’s what eventually shapes the results I create.
5. Spend Money to Save Time, Not Time to Save Money
“You don’t get rich by spending your time to save money. You get rich by saving your time to make money.”
The fifth lesson I learned is this powerful truth: “You don’t get rich by spending your time to save money. You get rich by saving your time to make money.” This line made me realize how often we trade our most valuable resource—time—for tiny amounts of savings. Time is finite; once it’s gone, it never comes back. Money, on the other hand, is renewable—you can always earn more. If we spend hours cutting corners to save small amounts, we lose the chance to invest that same time into something that could create far bigger returns. Naval’s wisdom taught me to see every choice as an opportunity cost: what am I giving up by using my time this way?
Instead of chasing small savings, the smarter path is to invest time into building skills, businesses, or systems that can increase income and create long-term wealth. For me, that means putting my hours into making better content, learning storytelling, and finding ways to scale my work, rather than obsessing over saving pennies. This shift in perspective feels liberating—it’s not about being careless with money, but about being intentional with time. True wealth comes not from cutting costs, but from creating value and using time to open doors for bigger opportunities.
Favourite quote from the book
“If you don’t know yet what you should work on, the most important thing is to figure it out. You should not grind at a lot of hard work until you figure out what you should be working on.”
My third book on money: The Millionaire Fastlane
After reading The Almanack of Naval Ravikant, I was eager to continue exploring different perspectives on wealth creation. That’s when I picked up The Millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco—a book that completely challenges the conventional advice of “work hard, save for decades, and retire at 65.”
DeMarco introduces the idea of the Fastlane, a path where you can build wealth quickly by creating scalable businesses and systems, rather than trading your time for money. He contrasts this with the Slowlane, the traditional route most people are told to follow, which often keeps them trapped in mediocrity.
The book is bold, unapologetic, and eye-opening. It makes you question the beliefs you’ve been taught about money, time, and freedom.
Here are the top five lessons I learned from the book:
1. Time vs Money: The Mindset That Defines Your Path
This is a crucial insight I learned from the book:
“Fastlaners are frugal with time, while Slowlaners are frugal with money.”
At first, it sounds simple, but it’s deeply profound. Most people are taught to pinch pennies, save for decades, and wait for retirement to enjoy life. That’s the Slowlane mindset—where money becomes the focus and time is sacrificed. You trade your most valuable years for a paycheck, believing that if you just save enough, one day you’ll finally be free.
Fastlaners, on the other hand, flip this equation. They see time as the ultimate currency and design their lives around maximizing it. Instead of exchanging hours for money, they build systems, businesses, or assets that can scale beyond their personal time. This shift doesn’t mean they’re careless with money—it means they value time far more because money can always be earned back, but time never can. That single realization can change how you approach every decision in life.
2. Scale vs. Magnitude — The Two Forces Behind Real Wealth
This is the second lesson I learned from the book:
“Scale creates millionaires. Magnitude creates millionaires. Scale and magnitude creates billionaires.”
Scale means reaching a large number of people, while magnitude means delivering deep value that allows you to charge higher prices. If you only focus on scale—selling something cheap to thousands—you can still make a good profit. Likewise, if you focus only on magnitude—selling a high-value, high-ticket offer—you don’t need many customers to earn big. Both approaches can make you a millionaire in different ways.
But when you combine scale and magnitude, that’s when you enter billionaire territory. The most impactful businesses—like Apple, Tesla, or Netflix—reach millions (scale) while also delivering life-changing value that justifies premium pricing (magnitude). This lesson made me realize that building wealth is not just about selling more, but also about increasing the depth of value you provide. The key question is: How can I help more people, while also creating enough value to charge more for what I offer?
3. How the Rich Use Compound Interest
This is the third lesson I learned from the book:
“Compound interest doesn’t make you rich—it keeps you rich.”
Most of us are taught the traditional Slowlane approach: start investing small amounts early, wait decades, and eventually retire comfortably. While this sounds safe, the reality is that time becomes the bottleneck. If you’re starting with very little money, compound interest grows too slowly to make a meaningful difference in the short term. Waiting 40 years for wealth means sacrificing the best years of your life just to “maybe” enjoy it later.
Fastlaners, on the other hand, flip the sequence. They don’t rely on compound interest to create wealth—they build businesses, systems, or assets that generate large sums of money first. Once that wealth is created, then compound interest becomes powerful, because it’s working on a big principal amount. A crore invested at 6% is far more impactful than a few thousand invested over decades. This lesson opened my eyes to a crucial truth: wealth creation happens fast through entrepreneurship and scale, while wealth preservation happens slow through smart investing. It’s not about rejecting compound interest—it’s about using it at the right stage of your journey.
4. The Power of Intelligent Risk: Limited Downside, Massive Upside
This is the fourth lesson I learned from the book:
“True wealth comes from taking intelligent risks, not reckless ones.”
An intelligent risk is when the downside is limited, but the upside has the potential to be massive. For example, imagine spending a few months learning a new skill that could open up better career opportunities. The worst-case scenario is that you don’t end up using it much, but the best-case scenario is that it completely changes your earning potential and future. That asymmetry between risk and reward is what separates intelligent risks from blind risks.
What stood out to me is that intelligent risks require both courage and prudence. It’s not about avoiding risk altogether (because no wealth is created without it), but about choosing opportunities where the downside is tolerable, but the upside is transformative. This lesson shifted my perspective: instead of fearing risk, I now see the importance of seeking opportunities where the downside is small, but the upside can be life-changing. That’s how real wealth is created.
5. “Passion Isn’t a Business Plan”
This is the fifth lesson I learned from the book. Many people are told to “just do what you love, and the money will follow.” But in reality, passion alone isn’t enough to build a sustainable business. Imagine someone who loves baking and decides to open a small bakery. They might create the most delicious cakes, but if the bakery is in a poor location with little foot traffic, or if they don’t price their products properly, the business won’t generate enough income to survive. Passion gives you energy and persistence, but without a profitable model and market demand, it won’t pay the bills.
What this taught me is that business is not about you—it’s about the value you create for others. Passion is the fuel that keeps you going, but the engine is solving real problems that people are willing to pay for. A bakery thrives not just because the owner loves baking, but because it consistently delivers value—like convenience, quality, or uniqueness—that customers actually want. This shift in perspective made me realize that while passion is important, it has to be aligned with demand, strategy, and financial planning for it to become a successful business.
My favourite quote from the book:
“The ultimate wealth is having the free time to live how you want to live.
It’s about being both lifestyle rich as well as time rich.”
These were some of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned about money. These three books have not only deepened my understanding of money, but also reshaped the way I think about work and life. To share more of these insights, I’ve created a PDF where I’ve compiled the Top 40 money lessons that I learned from these books. I truly hope it adds value to your journey as much as it did to mine.
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