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If you’ve got no idea which finance job would suit you best, worry not we’ve compiled a list of ten of the most popular financial jobs.

Auditor – there are two types of financial auditors, internal and external. The principle difference between the two types is who the employer is. If you wanted to be an external you would be employed by one of the big city financial firms. While internal auditors normally work within the company. As a consequence only companies of a certain size can justify employing internal auditors.

Banking – there are dozens of branches on every high street in every town, and that’s only the frontline staff for customers. By the time you’ve factored in all the behinds the scenes staff and the people working at head offices, the scope jobs offered by banks is huge. As well established companies, they offer some great benefits for employees with reliable job security.

Underwriter- insurance is a dynamic and interesting sector to work in. Underwriters are ultimately responsible for working out how much your premium is. Whether its car, holiday, health or any other kind of insurance there are specialist underwriter jobs which can provide engaging job opportunities.

Private Equity – though hugely complex, those working in private equity usually work funding business start ups. Often they are looking for a portfolio of investments where the individual projects might be quite risky but collectively creates a rewarding investment. Private equity typically attracts two types of people, industry experts who are able to identify the companies that offer the best chance of proving successful and those with more of a financial background who are responsible for managing the portfolio and the investments.

Payroll – the most important person in any company is the person responsible for payroll, they make sure you get paid! The larger and more complex the structure of the company the more difficult the role becomes. A good understanding of payments as well as the various tax and pension laws is vital for anyone thinking of pursuing a career in payroll.

Accounts Assistant- for many people it’s difficult to know where to start when looking for a career in finance, especially if you have no specific qualifications or experience. An Accounts Assistant job may be an ideal opportunity. These entry level positions offers a chance to experience many of the different disciplines which are involved in finance, which may help you decide where you would like to specialise.

Credit Controller – Accounts Receivable is one of the most popular departments to work in within a busy account department. Credit controllers roles can vary enormously but normally they job is based around ensuring that invoices created by the company are paid in a timely manner.

Financial Director – When it comes the Finance the FD is the top dog. Of course the size company makes a huge difference, but whether it’s a SME or a FTSE 100 company FDs are normally in charge of everything financial in the company. With these positions comes great responsibility but usually the experience of FD enables them to carry out their roles with confidence.

Management Accountant – Of all the disciplines of accountancy management accounts is among the most popular, usually they focus more of forecasting the future than assessing the past like auditing.

Business Analyst – while you get many different kinds of business analysts specialising in different industries, there are a significant number of financial business analysts who fulfil a role not dis-similar to management accountants. They are given responsibility for analyzing the needs of their businesses customers and stakeholders to highlight financial business problems and suggest solutions.

As I was arranging the numerous personal finance books I’ve accumulated over the years, I couldn’t help but wonder how I can put everything together in such a tiny little space. Then I asked myself, if I had a very small book shelf that can accommodate only 10 of these books, which books would I choose? I had to think really hard because I love reading books and I’ve learned a great deal about life and money through ALL of them. These 10 books are special in that they have completely altered the way I view money and life! They have inspired me to learn more about money and pursue financial freedom! May these same books help you achieve your financial dreams!

Here are Rich Money Habits’ top 10 best personal finance books of all time!

#10. 8 Secrets of the Truly Rich by Bo Sanchez

This one is special because it’s written by a preacher – and a famous Filipino preacher at that! Bo Sanchez is a best-selling author of inspirational books in the Philippines. This is his first book that openly talks about money, business and investing.

What I particularly like about this book, is that it tackles one of the most critical obstacles in making money – that is, how to reconcile money and religion. Living in the only predominantly Catholic country in Asia, it is very important for me to align what I believe in whether it be on religion or money. Otherwise, I’ll just be confused and end up going nowhere.

The book is full of stories on how daily money habits make you rich or poor. It describes the most common perceptions we have about money. We were taught that money is the root of all evil. When we watch our favorite TV shows, rich people are often portrayed as greedy. They only got rich through “drug” dealing or some other “illegal” means. Due to this stereotyping, some us unconsciously don’t want to be rich! Who would want to be the “bad” guy in our own soap opera called life?!

As a result, there is conflict inside of us. Some of our internal dialogs are

“I want to be rich…BUT not so rich that my friends would hate me and I would no longer have friends.” err…who wants to be loner?!

Or the most common,

“I want to be rich…and I’m so desperate the only way for me to get rich is by winning a million dollars through lottery.”

The great tragedy is never realizing that you don’t have to be a crook, or be greedy, or become unfriendly, or win a lotto ticket to be rich – you only need to build rich money habits!

#9. Multiple Streams of Income by Robert G. Allen

This is one of the books I bought when I was in the US. Since I love reading personal finance books, I ordered a bunch of them online. I was able to get them cheaper because I looked under the “used” books section. Surprisingly, most of them are in relatively good condition and look almost new!

The book was my first exposure to having multiple streams of income. For someone who worked as an employee most of his life, I thought I could only earn from one stream of income – my job! I realized having only one stream of income is not a very good idea because there’s also only one way money can come to me – through my paycheck!

Having multiple streams of income is NOT necessarily having a second job, or even a third! Multiple streams of income building systems so that money can flow through your life. It means, investing both your time and money to learn how to build those systems.

One way could be through real-estate investments where you get a “stream” of income from the monthly rental of your tenants. Another “stream” could be getting portfolio income like “dividends” or “interests” from your stocks or bonds investments. And yet another “stream” could be from royalties you receive from publishing a book or a music recording if you’re a singer. Having a LOT of “streams” where money can come to you is certainly better than relying on just your “job” to make money. The challenge is how to utilize what you have like time, skills, and money to setup these streams of income.

#8. Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker

The great thing about the book is it makes you realize what money habits you have developed since the day you were born. It brings out those subconscious thoughts that are hindering you from achieving financial success. Some of the internal dialogs with yourself could be.

“I am not good enough. I’ll never be amount to anything financially.”

Or you might say

“I’m poor because my parents are poor…and my grandfather is poor…and my great grandfather is poor…so I will always be poor…”

You might not be saying it out loud. You might only be thinking about it. Worse, you might not even be aware of it. And you wonder why you’ll not getting anywhere. As T. Harv Eker aptly put it

“…if your subconscious ‘financial blueprint’ is not ‘set’ for success, nothing you learn, nothing you know and nothing you do will make much of a difference.”

#7. The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss

The book speaks about the “New Rich”, a group of people who have the time, money and mobility to spend only 4 hours a week to generate money and live the life they want. The rest of their time is spent on things they love to do like dancing in Buenos Aires, scuba diving in Panama or basking in the Hawaiian sun.

Who wouldn’t want to spend only 4 hours of his time working instead of the usual 40 hours a week? Who wouldn’t want to have the luxury of time to do the things you really love? Who wouldn’t want to take a very long vacation in the beaches of Hawaii while your business is taken care of and money is still coming in?

For employees, it offers practical tips on how to negotiate with your boss for a work-at-home arrangement. It also provides ideas on how to plan your own “mini” retirements so the money is still coming in, without you around. It even discusses how you can “outsource” your life!

The 4-hour workweek is easy to read. The ideas are presented in a simple and uncomplicated manner that you think you’re reading a comic book. The book is conversational and funny. Reading it is like speaking with the author face to face. You might even find yourself occasionally laughing at his jokes. (I know I have)

#6. Rule #1 by Phil Town

I picked up this book out on a whim when I was at a bookstore in Malaysia. The book explains investing in a very simple and understandable manner. It is not intimidating in any way. After reading this book, it made me realize that I did not need to be afraid of investing. I just need to learn how to do it right.

Rule # 1 is “Don’t lose money.”

Whether the market is going up or going down, don’t lose money. Whether it is a bear market or a recession, don’t lose money. Whether you have billions or just a couple of hundred dollars in investment, don’t lose money.

The book discusses some of the basic myths about investing and provides simple strategies for successful investing while spending only 15 minutes a week. It tells about the five key numbers that really count when determining the value of a stock or business. It even mentions valuable internet tools and the advantages of managing your own investments to achieve your investment goals.

I know there may be other books on investing out there, but so far, this is the only one I’ve come across that made me understand the world of investing a little bit better.

#5. The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason

I came across the Richest Man in Babylon from reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. It tells about the ancient secrets of money. The book coined the phrase “pay yourself first”. In ordinary terms, it means – SAVING. But it is more than that. The book tells that in any trade you’re in, you CAN still “pay yourself first”. Once you have “money” in savings, you can then have that “money” work for you.

But how can you save when your little money is not even enough to survive on? How can you set aside 10% of your income when you’re living on 110% of it? How do you “pay yourself first” when the creditors are coming after you?

Paying yourself first is certainly not easy. It takes tremendous discipline. That’s one of the reasons why it is not popular. But once you get the rich money habit of controlling your money instead of it controlling you, your confidence builds up, you’ll think that if you can do this then you can do anything. And as with anything related to money, it touches everything. Your health improves. You become successful in what you do. People will wonder why you’re always brimming with confidence. You become the richest man in every sense of the word.

Isn’t it better to walk into a store knowing you can buy anything you want because you have the money (saved)? Doesn’t it give you peace of mind knowing that if some emergency occurs, you can readily rely on your saved “emergency fund”? Would it be nice to be able to help your family or those closest to you “financially” for a change? That’s the dream. And it starts with paying yourself first.

#4. The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley Ph.D. and William D. Danko Ph.D.

The book is based on a comprehensive research on the money habits of millionaires. The results are surprising in the sense that majority of those millionaires are not what we commonly expect them to be. As aptly described in the book,

“These people cannot be millionaires! They don’t look like millionaires, they don’t dress like millionaires, they don’t eat like millionaires, they don’t act like millionaires – they don’t even have millionaire names. Where are the millionaires who look like millionaires?”

Many of the “next door” millionaires are first-generation. They did not inherit their riches, they built them. Few of them do not spend more than $100 for a watch. Others don’t even wear a suit to work! They engage in types of businesses which could be classified as dull-normal. Some are welding contractors. Some are rice farmers. Some are pest controllers. Others are coin and stamp dealers.

What separates the “next door” millionaires from the rest is their money habits. They are frugal in nature. They value money. They invest at least 20% of their income. They even have a “go-to-hell fund” which can provide for their expenses for at least 10 years without working at all.

I think the most important lesson from the book is not that we know who the actual millionaires are, but the realization that it could be YOU! If they can do it, so can you! It’s time to build your own rich money habit and be the “millionaire next door”!

#3. Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez

I bought this book out on a whim. I was actually looking for the book “Outliers” by Malcom Gladwell when I saw this book at 20% off.

The book tells about managing not only your money but looking at it in totally different way. Your money is only part and parcel of what your life is. There is also time. There is also your dream! What do you enjoy most? How do you spend your money? What do you do with your time? Would you still do what you do even if you have all the money in the world?

The book emphasizes managing the resources that you have like money and time. It offers very specific tips like monitoring your spending and whether each of those is contributing to your goals or not. It also has some ideas on how to identify exactly what you like to do and manage both your money and time so you can do more of what you love to do and less of what you don’t like to do. It even has some charts to help you picture out and plot where you are and when your freedom day will be.

I think the main message of the book is not to choose money over your life or the other way around – it is to have BOTH.

#2. Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki

As mentioned in my personal finance story, this is one of the books that made me realize I really need to develop rich money habits to achieve financial freedom. The book is a story of growing up learning about money from two different dads: one is rich and the other one is poor. The story unfolds to describe the different money habits of the rich dad and the poor dad, each one producing a different financial result.

The book makes the very complex world of money and business seemingly simple. It is so simple that the ideas can be explained to a child using only sketchy drawings. The drawings illustrate how cash flows from your pocket to the bank when you pay your bills, and how it flows from your company to you when you get your paycheck.

What you do with the money after your receive it determines whether you become rich or poor. Do you use the money to buy assets like real estate investments or setup businesses? Or do you use it to buy liabilities like a brand new LCD TV in 12-easy-monthly-payments-with-zero-interest!

The reason I liked the book is because it inspired me to become better and to view business and money in a totally different way. It expanded my understanding of how money really works! Most of all, it gave me the confidence to dream again!

Now that you are on your own, you’ll be probably haunted by the temptation of spending money on everything your parents didn’t let you spend on before. Take it easy there. You got to make smart moves to stay out of the troubles plaguing most young adults out there.

• Join a local credit union. Avoid signing up for random banks that giving away cheap t-shirts or funky frisbees at the registration. Find out a reliable credit union based in your town. For this, you should consider doing some research on online banks.

• Avoid getting credit cards unless they’re absolutely needed. Avoid being a sucker. The guys who sit behind sign-up tables aren’t there for helping you. They are there for making money.

• Avoid incurring non-academic debts. Though it sounds like a great idea putting that new Xbox on your credit card, it isn’t. You should try to master the art of developing great money skills using cash. Forget about credit.

• Indulge only after you’ve saved. When you feel like you can’t do with out Xbox, force yourself to save enough for it. Cut that extra burger or cigarette to save for it if you have to. And wait till you are able to pay in cash.

• Be on time with your bill payments. It’s a basic piece of advice, but it’ll surprise you how so many young dudes end up losing track of these things. When you pay bills just as they arrive, there will be less chance of forgetting them.

• Keep track of your spending. For this you can consider using a small notebook. Some students find it easier using Quicken. Good records always prevent us from overdrawing at banks or charging beyond our credit limits. This way you will also be able to have clear ideas on your spending patterns.

• Make your budget. But you don’t have to be fancy. At the beginning of every month, make an estimate of the money you’re about to receive. Moreover, decide where your hard earned money should go. And most importantly, don’t spend it if you don’t have to.

• Save the receipts. Just put those into a shoebox or under the bed if you must. Just make sure you’re holding onto them. You have to compare them with the statements that you get at the month end. Some receipts are so important that you should keep for more than a few years.

And finally, keep your vital stats private. Avoid giving out your SSN or credit card details unless the merchant is reliable and well known.