Personal Finance Book Recommendations

In the US I read various books, including my favorites, David Bach's "Smart Women Finish Rich" and "Smart Couples Finish Rich", to get a grasp on investment and specifically retirement options.  They explained IRAs, 401(k)s, various investment vehicles, etc.  and he gave his opinion on how much (relative to your income) you should try to saving for various purposes.

Now that we are moving the UK I have no idea how anything financial works.  For example, I know that there are lots of different kinds of ISAs, but I don't really understand what they are or what the rules are.  Has anyone read a good UK personal finance book?  A straight retirement book would be fine too.  I'm look for something relatively easy to understand, but it doesn't need to be super dumbed-down. 

TIA.

just to repeat - a cash ISA is fine because interest rates are generally competitive.  However an American should NEVER invest in a unit trust, investment trust or OEIC.  Indeed most readers of this forum are not domiciled within the UK, so could and should bank offshore.

I am not aware of any easy read on this topic.  The best way to start is almost certainly to read the Money sections of Saturdays and Suindays papers each week so that you can gradually absorb the language.

Thanks for the hint guya.  I've checked them out a few times, I'll have to be more consistant in my reading.  I'm also reading the Motley Fool website on a somewhat regular basis.  That can be pretty helpful too.

Now that we are moving the UK I have no idea how anything financial works.  For example, I know that there are lots of different kinds of ISAs, but I don't really understand what they are or what the rules are.  Has anyone read a good UK personal finance book?  A straight retirement book would be fine too.  I'm look for something relatively easy to understand, but it doesn't need to be super dumbed-down. 

I've been doing this too in the past year... as annoying as she is Suzie Orman has become my friend.  I made a personal goal to start investing in my future by my next birthday. By then, I will have my US debt/student loans paid and have earnings from my job.

Now that I have moved to the UK I am a bit lost. I went to  the bookstore and looked in the money section. There are a few books... all the way from dumbed down to high investing. I settled on one simple book but it is in my bookshelf in London and I am in CA at the moment. Perhaps once you get here you can just browse like I did and find something that suits your fancy.

I hate being money dumb. I have learned some lessons the hard (and expensive) way!!

Thanks for writing this topic.

The Financial Services Authority website has a section for consumers.

www.fsa.gov.uk/consumer/

The Daily Mail also has a website on finance:

www.thisismoney.co.uk

Regulations, particularly regarding retirement, are currently changing; I think it's best to look at websites or read/watch the news, which are more up-to-date, rather than read books.

General things like dealing with risk, keeping a budget,  etc., are the same in the US and the UK.

thanks for the websites sweetpeach!

The Financial Services Authority website has a section for consumers.

www.fsa.gov.uk/consumer/

This site is exactly what I was looking for!  Thank you so much for posting it.  Now, I just need to find some time to flip through the learning guides.