📚 January 2025: Our Book Recommendations
5 Book recommendations to check out this month!
We know you’re always looking for your next good read, so we have some great recommendations.
Every month, you’ll receive team CGF’s top picks of books to help you improve your finances, advance your career, practice self-care, or get lost in a fantasy world.
Here is our list of January book recommendations.
If you’ve read any of these books before? Let us know in the comments!
Note: This book list contains affiliate links from Amazon. Clever Girl Finance is an Amazon Associate which means we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases. These commissions help us grow!
Finance pick: You Need a Budget: The Proven System for Breaking the Paycheck-to-Paycheck Cycle, Getting Out of Debt, and Living the Life You Want
What if you could become better with money by following four simple steps? In Jesse Mecham’s book, You Need A Budget, he makes money management easy. In his book, he breaks down his four rules of giving every dollar a job, embracing your true expenses, rolling with the punches, and, saving money.
These steps are all about helping you be purposeful with your money, adapting to life changes, and having a new perspective on saving money that you’ve probably never heard of before.
If you’re stressed out about money or desperately waiting for your next paycheck, then this book will put your mind at ease and help you live a life of financial stability.
Self-help pick: Stop Overthinking: 23 Techniques to Relieve Stress, Stop Negative Spirals, Declutter Your Mind, and Focus on the Present
Have you ever laid awake at night replaying a conversation you had earlier in the day, wishing you had said something better? Maybe you missed out on a night with friends because you didn't know what to wear, were worried about the parking situation, and were overwhelmed by too many choices.
Like many overstimulated people in this world, you’re probably an over-thinker. Instead of making a decision, you think about scenarios over and over again until your brain is trapped in a never-ending thought loop.
What if you could break that cycle? Imagine living a life where you don't feel stressed out; you feel happy, dare we say excited about life. This life is possible for you with Nick Trenton’s book, Stop OverThinking.
Instead of feeling guilty about what has happened in the past or anxious about what might happen in the future, this book will help you find peace in the present moment.
Personal development pick: Be Your Future Self Now: The Science of Intentional Transformation
If you're into self-help books, you may have heard motivational phrases that encourage you to be your best self.
However, have you heard of being your future self? Simply put, your future self is the person you want to be when you achieve your goals. It is the version of you that has all the things you want.
Most importantly, your future self helps you create your current reality.
Be Your Future Self Now will help you create an expansive vision of your future self and guide you in becoming that person in the present. For you to become your future self, the one with the better job, the version of you with self-confidence, you need to change your behaviors in the present.
Fiction Pick: Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, 1)
If you like an underdog story filled with dragons, then stop what you’re doing and grab a copy of Fourth Wing.
The story follows Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail, a small and frail girl who wants to live a quiet life but is forced to become a dragon rider.
However, becoming a rider first required bonding with a dragon, but dragons don’t bond with the weak. If Violent doesn’t have what it takes, she’ll not only miss out on an opportunity but may be incinerated.
Nonetheless, Violent enters Basgiath War College and uses every wit to graduate or die.
Business pick: Mind Your Business: A Workbook to Grow Your Creative Passion Into a Full-time Gig
Do you have an idea for a business but don’t know where to start? Maybe you’ve started your business but have gotten overwhelmed with too many tasks.
Whether you are at the idea stage or the “is it worth it stage,” Mind Your Business is the workbook for you.
Author Ilana Griffo started her six-figure business as a creative hobby. Now that she runs a successful business, she has created a book that takes you through every step of the business-building process.
This workbook covers everything from identifying your ideal customer to legal guidelines and budgeting, bouncing back after failure, and growing and scaling your business.
If you’re an entrepreneur, hustler, or someone who wants to turn their idea into a dream business, this book will give you the tools and guidance to succeed.
Which book will you be reading?
Let us know in the comments which books have made it on your 2025 reading list so far!
Don’t forget you can stay motivated and get empowered with financial knowledge with our completely free financial courses.
Happy reading!