UK: Personal finance book for a twenty-something
Try this as a starter - my eBook served up as a blog (http://www.sspf.co.uk/blog/001/). Then read as much as possible about investing. Once you have money set aside for emergencies, then make some steps towards investing. I'd guide you towards low-fee 'tracker-style' funds to provide a bedrock to long-term investing. Your post suggests it will be investing over the long-term (ie. 5-10 years or more), perhaps even to middle-age/retirement? Read as much as you can about the types of investments: unit trusts, investment trusts, ETFs; fixed-interest (bonds/corporate bonds), equities (IPOs/shares/dividends), property (mortgages, buy-to-let, off-plan). Be conservative and start with simple products. If you don't understand enough to describe it to me in a lift in 60 seconds, stay away from it and learn more about it. Many of the items you think are good long-term investments will be available within any pension plans you encounter, so the learning has a double benefit. Work a plan. Learn all the time. Keep your day-to-day life quite conservative and be more risky in your long-term investing. And ask for advice on things here, from friends who aren't skint and professionals for specific tasks (IFAs, financial planners, personal finance coaches, accountants, mortgage brokers). The fact you're being proactive tells me you've the tools to do well. Best wishes to you. Public sector and private industry retirement plans, taxation and estate planning would be the most substantial differences between the two countries. The concepts for accumulating wealth are the same, and if you are doing anything particularly lucrative with an above average amount of risk, the aforementioned differences are not very relevant, for a twenty something. I would always recommend the intelligent investor by Benjamin Graham the mentor of warren buffet once you have a basic knowledge ie what is a share bond guilt etc  In terms of pure investment the UK is fairly similar the major difference is the simpler tax structure, ISA allowance and the more generous CGT regime. I will definitely recommend the following books The above books will open lot of eyes to exactly know what you are doing with your personal finances in a day to day basis.These books will surely be in the top of my list which I will be giving away to my kins in my later stage. The concepts are universally the same, feel free to skip the chapters which were US based. I live in UK and I read most of the above books in late twenties, it surely made lot of changes and also drastically improved my personal finance acumen. I wish I have read these books in my early twenties. "Consultant, I commend you for thinking about your financial future at such an early age. Warren Buffet, arguably the most successful investor ever lived, and the best known student of Ben Graham has a very simple advice for non-professional investors:  ""Put 10% of the cash in short-term government bonds and 90% in a very low-cost S&P 500 index fund. (I suggest Vanguard’s.)"" This quote is from his 2013 letter to shareholders. Source: http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2013ltr.pdf Buffet's annual letters to shareholders are the wealth of useful and practical wisdom for building one's financial future. The logic behind his advice is that most investors cannot consistently pick stock ""winners"", additionally, they are not able to predict timing of the market; hence, one has to simply stay in the market, and win over in the long run." As you are in UK, you should think in terms of Tax Free (interest and accumulated capital gains) ISA type investments for the long term AND/OR open a SIPP (Self Invested Pension Plan) account where you get back the tax you have paid on the money you deposit for your old age. Pensions are  the best bet for money you do not need at present while ISAs are suitable for short term 5 years plus  or longer.
"Your question is very broad. Whole books can and have been written on this topic. The right place to start is for you and your wife to sit down together and figure out your goals. Where do you want to be in 5 years, 25 years, 50 years? To quote Yogi Berra ""If you don't know where you are going, you'll end up someplace else."" Let's go backwards. 50 Years I'm guessing the answer is ""retired, living comfortably and not having to worry about money"". You say you work an unskilled government job. Does that job have a pension program? How about other retirement savings options? Will the pension be enough or do you need to start putting money into the other retirement savings options? Career wise, do you want to be working as in unskilled government jobs until you retire, or do you want to retire from something else? If so, how do you get there? Your goals here will affect both your 25 year plan and your 5 year plan. Finally, as you plan for death, which will happen eventually. What do you want to leave for your children? Likely the pension will not be transferred to your children, so if you want to leave them something, you need to start planning ahead. 25 Years At this stage in your life, you are likely talking, college for the children and possibly your wife back at work (could happen much earlier than this, e.g., when the kids are all in school). What do you want for your children in college? Do you want them to have the opportunity to go without having to take on debt? What savings options are there for your children's college? Also, likely with all your children out of the house at college, what do you and your wife want to do? Travel? Give to charity? Own your own home? 5 Years You mention having children and your wife staying at home with them. Can your family live on just your income? Can you do that and still achieve your 50 and 25 year goals? If not, further education or training on your part may be needed. Are you in debt? Would you like to be out of debt in the next 5-10 years? I know I've raised more questions than answers. This is due mostly to the nature of the question you've asked. It is very personal, and I don't know you. What I find most useful is to look at where I want to be in the near, mid and long term and then start to build a plan for how I get there. If you have older friends or family who are where you want to be when you reach their age, talk to them. Ask them how they got there. Also, there are tons of resources out there to help you. I won't suggest any specific books, but look around at the local library or look online. Read reviews of personal finance books. Read many and see how they can give you the advice you need to reach your specific goals. Good luck!" "I've recommended this book a few times on this site, and I'm going to do it again. Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties by Beth Kobliner  Most of the personal finance advice books and blogs I have found focus too much on investing, or are more about ""lifestyle"" than finances, and left me unimpressed.  I like this book because it covers most of the major personal finance topics (budgets, rainy-day fund, insurance, retirement, and non-retirement investment).  I have not found another book that covers the topics as concisely as this one. It is no-nonsense, very light reading.  Even if you are not a book person, you can finish it in a weekend.  It is really geared for the young person starting their career. Not the most current book (pre real-estate boom), but the advice is still sound. Keep in mind that is is starting point, not the ultimate answer to all financial questions." "First off, I highly recommend the book Get a Financial Life.  The basics of personal finance and money management are pretty straightforward, and this book does a great job with it.  It is very light reading, and it really geared for the young person starting their career.  It isn't the most current book (pre real-estate boom), but the recommendations in the book are still sound.  (update 8/28/2012: New edition of the book came out.) Now, with that out of the way, there's really two kinds of ""investing"" to think about: For most individuals, it is best to take care of #1 first.  Most people shouldn't even think about #2 until they have fully funded their retirement accounts, established an emergency fund, and gotten their debt under control. There are lots of financial incentives for retirement investing, both from your employer, and the government.  All the more reason to take care of #1 before #2! Your employer probably offers some kind of 401k (or equivalent, like a 403b) with a company-provided match.  This is a potential 100% return on your investment after the vesting period.  No investment you make on your own will ever match that.  Additionally, there are tax advantages to contributing to the 401k.  (The money you contribute doesn't count as taxable income.) The best way to start investing is to learn about your employer's retirement plan, and contribute enough to fully utilize the employer matching. Beyond this, there are also Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) you can open to contribute money to on your own.  You should open one of these and start contributing, but only after you have fully utilized the employer matching with the 401k.  The IRA won't give you that 100% ROI that the 401k will. Keep in mind that retirement investments are pretty much ""walled off"" from your day-to-day financial life.  Money that goes into a retirement account generally can't be touched until retirement age, unless you want to pay lots of taxes and penalties.  You generally don't want to put the money for your house down payment into a retirement account. One other thing to note:  Your 401K and your IRA is an account that you put money into.  Just because the money is sitting in the account doesn't necessarily mean it is invested.  You put the money into this account, and then you use this money for investments.  How you invest the retirement money is a topic unto itself.  Here is a good starting point.  If you want to ask questions about retirement portfolios, it is probably worth posting a new question." 9 Capital in The Twenty First Century by Thomas Piketty   8 The Art of Strategy by Dixitt and Nalebuff   7 Against the God's by Peter Bernstein   6 The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb   5 The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham   4 Money: Master the Game by Tony Robbins   3 Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman   2 The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman   1 The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg    ... Kind of meh choices really. "In the UK there is a School Rewards System used in many schools to teach kids and teens  about finance and economy. In the UK there is a framework for schools called ""Every Child Matters"" in which ‘achieving economic well-being’ is an important element. I think is important to offer to offer a real-life vehicle for financial learning beyond the theory." I was wondering if someone could recommend a textbook  I'm taking a course right now in foundations of finance and we're dealing with subjects such as utility functions, risk aversion, prudence, temperance, Arrow-Debreau securities, portfolio theory, and more  I'm finding the textbook we're using (Intermediate Finance, Danthine &amp; Donaldson) a bit hard to understand Thanks. The reality is that just about any book is available freely as a PDF unless it is especially niche. This isn't my money so I don't mind spending it to have something physical. However, happy to hear if you have other interesting recommendations. I started my career over 10 years ago and I work in the financial sector. As a young person from a working class family with no rich uncles, I would prioritize my investments like this: It seems to be pretty popular on here to recommend trading individual stocks, granted you've read a book on it. I would thoroughly recommend against this, for a number of reasons. Odds are you will underestimate the risks you're taking, waste time at your job, stress yourself out, and fail to beat a passive index fund. It's seriously not worth it. Some additional out-of-the box ideas for building wealth: Self-serving bias is pervasive in the financial world so be careful about what others tell you about what they know (including me). Good luck.