While 2023 got off to a bumpy start for many advisory firms, still smarting from a rough prior year of market returns (and volatile revenue), a relative return to ‘normalcy’ means that for most, the advisory business has reached whatever its new post-pandemic normal will be. Firms that were returning to the office have done so, those that are staying remote are remaining as such, and either way most advisory firms have figured out how to continue to service and retain clients, and are slowly adapting to finding new (or reinvigorating old) paths to grow at least slowly once again. For which the approaching summer season is once again providing its usual respite – a time where most advisors take more time off (if only because clients are harder to pin down for summer meetings as more once again take summer vacations away from home)… and find some time to read and catch up on a few good books!
For those who love to read, though (and especially for those who have limited time and will only get to read just 1 or 2 books over the summer), the perennial question is always “so… what’s a good book worth reading this summer?”
As a voracious reader myself, I’ve always been eager to hear suggestions from others of great books to read, whether it’s something new that’s just come out, or an “old classic” that I should go back and read (again or for the first time!). And so, in the spirit of sharing, a few years ago I launched my list of “Recommended (Book) Reading for Financial Advisors“, and it was so well received that in 2013 I also started sharing my annual “Summer Reading List” for financial advisors of the best books I’d read in the preceding year. It quickly became a perennial favorite on Nerd’s Eye View, and so I’ve updated it every year, with new lists of books in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and a fresh round last year in 2022.
And now, I’m now excited to share my latest Summer Reading list of top books for financial advisors in 2023, from a new framework in how to think about our “Geniuses” in where we do our best work at work, to how to restructure the way we work for a remote (or at least partially-remote) workplace, how to re-set the growth foundation of the advisory business to be more competitive in an increasingly crowded landscape, a masterpiece on best practices in how to scale a (multi-)professional services firm (remote or in-person!), learning to give better feedback to team members, or migrating our own role in the business to be less advisor and more instructor, manager, or executive leader.
So as the summer season and summer vacations get underway, I hope that you find this suggested summer reading list of books for financial planners to be helpful… and please do share your own suggestions in the comments at the end of the article about the best books you’ve read over the past year as well!
