The 12 Best Self-Help Books of 2025

It’s for: Anyone who’s determined to develop healthier habits around money.

The concept: A bazillion books out there go deep on ETFs, IRAs, CFAs vs CFPs. This is not one of them. Yes, Bernadette Joy has an MBA, paid off $300,000 of debt in 3 years, and offers familiar financial principles, but she sees herself as a coach, not an advisor, helping others—especially women, first-generation immigrants, millennials, people in debt—for whom the traditional precepts aren’t enough. She starts by tweaking the familiar FIRE movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early) into FINE (“Financial Independence, Next Endeavor”), a more realistic goal that may or may not involve working. She encourages readers to face underlying emotional and psychological aspects that often hold them back, by “healing money wounds” and adding a “revive” section in their budget for small joys. (Otherwise, folks get demoralized—just like dieters who deprive themselves—and fall off the wagon.) Not everyone will agree with her take on, say, the 30-year mortgage, but Joy delivers crucial value to those struggling to achieve financial agency.

A line to take away: “It’s not just about what you need to know. It’s about what you need to do to reach financial independence.”