Best Stock Market Books of 2022

The stock market sits at the beating heart of the American economy. Fortunes are made and lost every day as shares of stock trade on The New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, and other markets. Some of the most successful investors ever are known for their love of reading, and for good reason. You can learn a lot about the fundamentals of the stock market from books and use that knowledge to build the right investing strategy for your unique goals and needs.

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To help you get a leg up on the volatile industry, we compiled a list of the best books that will give you insights into your stock market investments and beyond as you learn how stocks work, how to avoid the biggest risks, and how to build a growing portfolio with your own investment dollars. These books belong on every investor’s bookshelf. Whether you are new to investing or a longtime veteran, any of these reads can boost your investing IQ and help you reach your long-term investment goals.

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Best Overall: The Intelligent Investor

If you’re only going to read one book about stocks, “The Intelligent Investor” is the book to go with. Originally released in 1949 by Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffett’s college professor, this title remains the single best book on investing to ever hit the shelves.

While the book is a bit dense, its concepts help investors follow Graham’s popular “value investing” philosophy. The idea is to find long-term strategies that keep your portfolio safe and solid while others are busy trading and taking big risks. Finding these successful investments requires evaluating the company’s fundamentals, or financial performance, over market swings. Through the rises and falls of the stock market over the last 70 years, this book has held up as the go-to resource for investors looking for long-term investment success.

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Best Overall: The Little Book of Common Sense Investing

Most experts, including the wefinder24 Financial Review Board, agree that John C. Bogle’s best-selling financial guide is akin to an investing bible. No matter your age, this book is a must-read before you start investing. First published in 2007, this 2017 edition includes two new chapters on asset allocation and retirement investing options.

“The Little Book of Common Sense Investing” provides a framework for building a low-risk portfolio and teaches you how to make the smartest investment decisions. Bogle also explains the importance of index funds and advises readers to ignore investing fads and focus instead on constructing a broad and diversified portfolio.

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Best for Beginners: A Beginner’s Guide to the Stock Market

Young investors who do not have experience with the stock market will learn the ins and outs of the market with this guide. Matthew R. Kratter breaks down the types of stocks and how they work, while explaining how to analyze stocks to find ones that should perform well in the short-term and long-term.

One key area this book addresses is the mistakes beginning investors often make and how to avoid them. “A Beginner’s Guide to the Stock Market” also dives into investing strategies and the methodologies that are ideal for new, aspiring investors, making this a great first read among investing books.

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Best for Financial Basics: Broke Millennial

“Broke Millennial,” as recommended by members of the Wefinder24 Financial Review Board as one of the top picks for young investors, addresses what many other investing guides fail to acknowledge: understanding personal finance and addressing your spending habits are crucial if you want to become an effective investor.

Erin Lowry explains how to take control of your finances, even if you don’t make much money, and how to begin investing. Young investors will learn tips for how to stretch their paychecks and how to get started on building a retirement fund at an early age. Unlike many traditional financial guides, this book is written by a millennial for millennial in simple terms that novice investors will grasp quickly.

Best for Rental Property Investing: The Book on Rental Property Investing

Young investors might immediately think of the stock market when building an investment portfolio, but it is not the only place you can invest your money. Rental property investing can help diversify and grow money, if you know what you’re doing. This book covers the entire process of buying and renting properties, while offering advice on choosing the right property, deciding between selling and renting, and flipping houses.

The author, Brandon Turner, provides a complete framework for growing wealth with real estate investing. “The Book on Rental Property Investing” explores the basics of the financial impact of being a landlord, and it touches on common landlord challenges and how to overcome them.

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Best for Investing Basics: The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need

Learn how to get started building an investment portfolio with $0 using this guide. Finance writer and co-host of the PBS series “Beyond Wall Street: The Art of Investing,” Andrew Tobias walks young investors through the importance of building a financial foundation for investing and focuses particularly on establishing a healthy savings account.

Readers will find sound investing advice that can be applied to all aspects of their financial lives in this guide. “The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need” was originally published in the 1970s and was completely updated in 2016 with more commentary on modern-day investing, including the author’s thoughts on the 2008 financial crisis.

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Best Skill-Building: How to Make Money in Stocks

In “How to Make Money in Stocks: A Winning System in Good Times and Bad,” William J. O’Neil showcases his CANSLIM Investing System  a seven-step guide for minimizing risk and maximizing gains. You can trust O’Neil’s advice, as this book is based on a 100-year study on stock market winners, helping over two million investors build wealth. With this expanded version, you’ll find proven techniques for identifying winning stocks, as well as tips on spotting the best stocks, mutual funds, and ETFs. You’ll also learn ways on avoiding the 21 most common investor mistakes. Overall, this book provides great strategies for wisely investing in stocks. BUY ON AMAZON

Best Reference: Berkshire Hathaway Letters to Shareholders

Each year, editor Max Olson adds more of Warren Buffett’s letters to shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway to this compilation. Buffett’s letters tell the story of how a small, failed textile business turned into one of the biggest conglomerates in the world under his leadership. Sprinkled in the book, you can find tidbits about the economy, investing, management, and more.

The lessons here track the company from $18 per share in 1965 to $297,600 per share as of the 2017 letter. If you can invest like Buffett, you should be on track to great investment success.

Most Insightful: Market Wizards

Learn about the stock market from the experts themselves with the book, “Market Wizards.” In it, the world’s top traders share their secrets of success with author Jack D. Schwager. Throughout interviews with dozens of “superstar money-makers” across most financial markets, including Bruce Kovner, Richard Dennis, Paul Tudor Jones, and more, Schwager sets out to understand what separates these traders from unsuccessful investors. You’ll hear straight from the experts in this interview-style book, though the author also boils down their responses into a set of principles you can apply in your own trading career. Plus, this book is filled with anecdotes, including one about a trader who turned $30,000 into $80 million.

Best Conceptual: A Random Walk Down Wall Street

The updated version of this Wall Street classic helps investors understand important stock market concepts including exchange-traded funds (ETFs), emerging market investments, derivatives, and more. From Princeton economist Burton Malkiel, this book popularized the “random walk hypothesis.”

The random walk hypothesis states that one cannot consistently beat the markets, so it makes more sense to build a balanced portfolio that matches market performance. This idea also supports the efficient-market hypothesis.