Explore the 13 Best Books for Financial Advisors

As a financial advisor, we know you’re busy. Between managing your business, taking CE courses, and meeting with clients, you don’t have time to waste on yet another book that promises results but doesn’t deliver. To help you out, we’ve compiled our top book recommendations into one convenient list.
Check out the list below for top-tier books that will revolutionize the way you do business as a financial advisor.
1. The Sustainable Edge by Ron Carson & Scott Ford
Best book for financial advisors looking for work-life balance
The Sustainable Edge: 15 Minutes a Week to a Richer Entrepreneurial Life is one of our favorites. It helps advisors focus on their most important work each week, so they can create a life that gives them true fulfillment. The book is divided up into nine chapters—each of which ends with worksheets and templates to help you improve productivity.
It’s hands down one of the best books for new financial advisors or seasoned professionals who are looking to maximize productivity.
Ron Carson and Scott Ford, the authors, are household names in the financial industry. Ron is the founder and CEO of Carson Wealth, which has $15 billion in assets under advisement. Scott is the CEO of Cornerstone Wealth Management Group and ranks in the top 1% of all LPL financial advisors.
2. Radical Candor by Kim Scott
Best book for financial advisors who want to be better communicators
If you’ve ever struggled to give effective feedback to your growing team, or clearly communicate a difficult topic, Radical Candor is just the book for you. Kim Scott provides helpful insights about how to combine genuine empathy with candid feedback to create strong working relationships with your team and improve workplace productivity.
For financial advisors, being able to successfully navigate complex and sometimes emotionally difficult conversations is a must. Use the techniques in Radical Candor to transform how you interact with your staff and clients. Do you need to tell your client they’re not on track to retire on time or they’re spending too much? This book can help!
3. Getting Things Done by David Allen
Best book for financial advisors who have too much to do and too little time
It’s nearly impossible to have a clear head when there are a million things on your to-do list and you feel pulled in every direction. Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity is all about giving you the tips, tools, and tricks you need to be your most productive self. After all, many financial advisors aren’t as successful as they wish because they struggle with time management. This book changes that.
Getting Things Done is written by David Allen, one of the world’s leading experts on organization and productivity. He’s spent the past 30+ years working as a management consultant and executive coach to large companies such as New York Life, the World Bank, and the U.S. Navy.
4. Radical Relevance by Bill Cates
Best book for financial advisors who want to sharpen their marketing message
Radical Relevance is an amazing book that helps advisors articulate what they do best and whom they serve. In today’s digital world, prospects and clients are overloaded with noisy marketing messages. This book helps you pinpoint your value proposition and stand out from the crowd.
It’s one of the best books for new financial advisors who don’t want to waste years figuring out who their A+ clients should be. You’ll get it right the first time.
Bill Cates has helped over 20,000 financial advisors get quality clients. He’s a Hall of Fame keynote speaker and one of our industry inspirations at Indigo.
Wondering how to choose the best niche for your firm? Check out our webinar with Bill Cates as our special guest on how to choose a specialty and create a radically relevant marketing message.
5. Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown
Best book for financial advisors who want to explore the role of psychology in financial behavior
It’s no secret that psychology plays a huge role in how clients think about and interact with money. Even the CFP Board has added Psychology of Financial Planning to the mandatory curriculum for new financial planners. As such, it’s crucial for financial advisors to hone their skills in recognizing and navigating emotional conversations.
In Atlas of the Heart, New York Times bestselling author Brené Brown explores 87 distinct human emotions. She states that the more language we have to describe our own emotions, the more we can connect with and recognize those emotions in others. Use her atlas of human emotions to better understand your clients and connect with them on an emotional level—without letting emotion rule your conversations.
Though not directly related to the financial industry, this book provides top-tier insights about the interpersonal skills needed to be a successful financial advisor.
6. The Million Dollar Financial Advisor by David J. Mullen, Jr.
Best book for financial advisors who want to be top producers in the industry
Ever wonder how the top financial advisors became so successful? The Million Dollar Financial Advisor interviews 15 mega-successful advisors who generate at least $3 million in business annually. The author, David J. Mullen, Jr., condensed their stories down into 13 step-by-step lessons that teach you how to build a winning practice—whether you’re a new or experienced financial advisor.
If you’re looking to strengthen existing client relationships, build a strong referral network, and learn how to be successful regardless of market conditions, then this book is for you.
7. Atomic Habits by James Clear
Best book for advisors who want to streamline their practice
You know you need to be better about managing your time, following up with clients, and reaching out to leads, but building good business habits is just as hard as breaking bad ones. That’s where Atomic Habits by James Clear comes in. With over 15 million copies sold, this book challenges you to reclaim control over your habits and finally achieve the goals you set for yourself and your practice.
As a leading expert on habit formation, James Clear explains the Four Laws of Behavior Change and provides practical strategies for getting rid of ineffective behaviors once and for all. If you’re ready to streamline your business and improve productivity, this book is for you!
8. The Marketing Guide for Financial Advisors by Claire Akin
Best book for financial advisors who want to win new clients in today’s digital world
We meet with advisors every day who are frustrated by the fact that old marketing techniques don’t work anymore. To make matters worse, many of these advisors have been burned by expensive marketing schemes that don’t produce results.
In The Marketing Guide for Financial Advisors, Indigo founder, Claire Akin, demystifies marketing for financial advisors and gives concrete steps on how to hone your niche, generate leads online, stay engaged with clients, improve your social media presence, and more. She also breaks down each major digital marketing channel and provides actionable tips on how to use each one to grow your AUM.
It’s one of the top books for financial advisors who are sick of wasting money on marketing and are ready to find out what really works today. You can read it as an e-book on digital marketing services, or you can buy a paper copy through Amazon.
9. Storyselling for Financial Advisors by Scott West & Mitch Anthony
Best book for financial advisors who want to connect with prospects through storytelling
The financial services industry gets a bad rap for being dull and boring. Storyselling for Financial Advisors teaches you how to connect with your prospects through stories instead of spewing out a long list of facts, statistics, and numbers.
Financial advisors can leverage the techniques in this book to calm their clients’ fears, eliminate their doubts, and improve their lives. Plus, it features concrete examples of how to alter your message to fit your target audience, so you can effectively communicate with women, the affluent, and those over 50.
10. The Art of Selling to the Affluent by Matt Oechsli
Best book for financial advisors who want to attract and retain wealthy clients
If you’ve ever wanted to crawl into the minds of your affluent clients to figure out what makes them tick, then this book is for you. The author, Matt Oechsli, includes a breadth of statistical data that reveals how affluent people think, feel, and react to challenges they face on a day-to-day basis. The author then uses this data to show you how to tighten up your marketing message so you can attract, service, and retain affluent clients for decades to come.
11. The Go-Giver by Bob Burg & John David Mann
Best book for financial advisors who want to give back
Many business owners think that they need to be successful before they can give back. The Go-Giver turns that logic on its head. Instead of giving after you’ve achieved success, this book challenges the idea that being a giving person is what leads to success in the first place.
Unlike other suggestions on the list, this one is a bestselling fiction novel. It follows the story of a character named Joe who learns that giving is the secret to living a rich, full, and fulfilling life. If you’re looking to find more meaning in your business or personal life, we highly recommend this book.
12. The E Myth Revisited: Why Most Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber
Best book for financial advisors who want to increase revenue
Most of the advisors we work with know financial planning through and through, but they haven’t built their businesses in a way that is scalable or delivers the same quality of service to each client. The result is that they’re burned out and unable to grow past a certain revenue. This book explains how to overcome that.
The E Myth has sold over 5 million copies since publication and is listed on Amazon’s Best Seller list for Entrepreneurship Management.
13. So You Want to Be a Financial Planner by Nancy Langdon Jones
Best book for new financial advisors
So You Want to Be a Financial Planner is one of the best books on becoming a financial advisor. It’s written by Nancy Langdon Jones, a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional. Both Bob Veres and Michael Kitces write forwards for the book, so you know it’s a good one.
In the book, Nancy goes over the building blocks of a financial planning career. She also gets into specific topics like how to set up shop and deal with dreaded regulatory stuff. If you’re looking for any financial planning books for beginners, this is your ticket!
That’s a Wrap on the Best Books For Financial Advisors!
Are you looking to hone your skills as a financial planner, RIA, or independent advisor? We hope you read some of these 13 top books for financial advisors. If you’re looking for additional marketing insights, we would love to hear from you! Schedule a free strategy call to find out how you can level up your marketing game.