Content Editor, Dunham | 2025 ThinkAdvisor Luminary Award Winner | 2026 Wealthies Finalist — Thought Leader of the Year | Macroeconomics, markets, geopolitics & global trends
Updated February 2026: Some of the better books for financial advisors in 2026 cover market cycles, behavioral finance, practice growth, and emerging trends like AI and crypto. This updated list features titles like Mastering the Market Cycle by Howard Marks and Scaling Up by Verne Harnish, chosen to sharpen planning, investing, and client-communication skills for the year ahead.
Now - a year later - if you’ve finished that list and need fresh inspiration, you’re in luck.
With 2025 just around the corner (now over), I’ve curated a newcollection of must-read books designed to sharpen your skills in financial planning, investing, and practice growth. These titles cover everything from market cycles and scaling a business to Artificial Intelligence and geography - knowledge to help you grow in the year ahead.
I firmly believe reading is critical to success in any field, especially in building a competitive edge. And while others might skip these books, think of it as an investment in yourself that makes you more valuable. As Warren Buffett famously said:
"Read 500 pages every day. That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest."
Of course, 500 pages every day is a tall task. But that doesn't mean don’t read.
Thus, whether you’re a seasoned advisor or just starting out, these titles will help you stay ahead of the competition.
So, treat yourself - or a fellow financial advisor - to the gift of knowledge this year.
Here are this year’s top picks by category:
Financial Planning
Financial Freedom: A Proven Path to All Your Money Goals by Grant Sabatier - Step-by-step strategies for helping clients achieve financial independence and build lasting wealth.
Advice That Sticks: How to Give Financial Advice That People Will Follow by Dr. Moira Somers - Practical insights into the psychology of financial planning to help clients trust and follow your advice.
Investment Strategies
Mastering the Market Cycle by Howard Marks - A must-read for understanding market cycles, with insights to help advisors make smarter timing decisions during booms and busts.
Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb - A deep dive into strategies for thriving in volatile markets - an essential read for times of uncertainty which are becoming an issue in an era of information overload (more information potentially means more volatility).
Behavioral Finance
The Behavioral Investor by Daniel Crosby - Crosby explains how cognitive biases affect financial decisions and provides tools to help advisors guide clients toward better choices.
Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein - How small, strategic actions can drive big improvements in clients’ financial behaviors.
Building Your Brand
This Is Marketing: You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn to See by Seth Godin - Godin explains how to connect with your target audience by understanding their needs and creating value-driven marketing strategies that resonate.
Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne - A must-read for financial advisors seeking to differentiate their brand and find untapped opportunities in a crowded market.
The Referral Engine: Teaching Your Business to Market Itself by John Jantsch - This book provides a roadmap for creating a referral-based practice, perfect for financial advisors looking to grow through word-of-mouth marketing.
Practice Management
Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don’t by Verne Harnish - For financial advisors looking to scale their practice, this guide offers frameworks to expand sustainably while maintaining quality service.
The Financial Advisor’s Success Manual by David Leo - An actionable roadmap for growing your client base, streamlining operations, and potentially boosting profitability.
Emerging Trends
The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking by Saifedean Ammous - This book explores the origins of Bitcoin, its role in the global financial system, and its potential to revolutionize traditional banking. For financial advisors, it provides an understanding of how cryptocurrencies can be utilized in portfolio diversification and long-term financial planning.
AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order by Kai-Fu Lee - A look at how artificial intelligence is transforming global finance and what advisors need to do to stay ahead.
Broadening Perspectives: Various Interesting Books
The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail—but Some Don’t by Nate Silver - Silver’s guide to the art and science of prediction is invaluable for advisors navigating market trends and uncertainties.
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond - A fascinating look at how environmental and societal forces shape civilizations and influence financial systems.
How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff - A timeless classic that shows how statistics can mislead and how you can critically evaluate data.
The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World by Simon Winchester - A sweeping history of precision, from the Industrial Revolution to modern technologies, exploring its role in innovation, manufacturing, and the balance between perfect precision and appreciating natural imperfections, craftsmanship, and cultural values.
Wrapping Up
These must-read books cover everything you need: financial planning, investments, behavioral insights, emerging trends, and even the science behind market cycles.
Each one gives you practical tools to sharpen your skills, grow your knowledge, and develop your practice in 2026.
So, which one are you picking up first?
Frequently Asked Questions About Best Books For Financial Advisors
What are the best books for financial advisors to read in 2026? Howard Marks' Mastering the Market Cycle and Verne Harnish's Scaling Up top the list for 2026, covering market timing and practice growth. Round out your reading list with picks on behavioral finance, personal branding, and fast-moving trends like AI and crypto. Together they give advisors a well-rounded view of both client psychology and business strategy.
What are the best behavioral finance books for financial advisors? The Behavioral Investor by Daniel Crosby and Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein are the two to start with. Both dig into how cognitive bias drives client decisions and hand advisors practical tools for steering clients toward smarter choices, especially when markets get shaky.
What books help financial advisors grow their practice? Scaling Up by Verne Harnish and The Financial Advisor's Success Manual by David Leo are built for this. Both lay out frameworks for expanding your client base, tightening up operations, and growing your book of business without letting service quality slip.
Are there good books on AI and cryptocurrency for financial advisors? Yes, two worth picking up. AI Superpowers by Kai-Fu Lee walks through how artificial intelligence is reshaping global finance, and The Bitcoin Standard by Saifedean Ammous lays out the case for crypto as a diversification tool. Both help advisors talk confidently about trends clients keep asking about.
Disclosures
This communication is general in nature and provided for educational and informational purposes only. It should not be considered or relied upon as legal, tax or investment advice or an investment recommendation, or as a substitute for legal or tax counsel. Any investment products or services named herein are for illustrative purposes only and should not be considered an offer to buy or sell, or an investment recommendation for, any specific security, strategy or investment product or service. Always consult a qualified professional or your own independent financial professional for personalized advice or investment recommendations tailored to your specific goals, individual situation, and risk tolerance. All examples are hypothetical and are for illustrative purposes only.
Dunham & Associates Investment Counsel, Inc. is a Registered Investment Adviser and Broker/Dealer. Member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services and securities offered through Dunham & Associates Investment Counsel, Inc.
Must-Read Books for Financial Advisors to Kickstart 2026 (Updated) | Dunham
