2026 has been another rollercoaster of a year to start, as the onset of the Iran War triggered a sharp selloff of nearly 10% in the first quarter, only for us to witness a 15%+ rebound in the subsequent two months, forcing advisory firms to both once again manage their early-year expenses, while meeting an uptick in demand for client conversations to navigate through the market volatility. At the same time, vendors leveraging AI continue to make the case that their increasingly capable tools will help advisory firms lift productivity and manage their costs… even as the pace of new AI rollouts leaves many advisors paralyzed in trying to figure out what to buy and when (as it seems like a new-new even-better-sounding provider emerges every month or two!). Yet for the time being, advisory firms still face the same core challenges they always have – delivery of services to clients, capacity of advisors and support staff as they grow and try to scale, and leveraging whatever technology they can to make all of it work better together (hopefully!).
But now as the summer approaches, we enter what for most advisors is still a season of respite – when most advisors take more time off (if only because clients are harder to pin down for summer meetings in the midst of summer vacations)… 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 one or two 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, 2022, 2023, 2024, and a fresh round last year in 2025.
And now, I’m excited to share my latest Summer Reading list of top books for financial advisors in 2026, from what it really takes to achieve rapid-growth scaling (i.e., to actually 10X instead of 2X’ing), to a pair of books on how to more effectively scale yourself by ‘buying back your time’ and becoming a more effective manager, and a fascinating look at the history of the financial planning profession (as told by Bob Veres, who has ‘seen it all’ as a witness along the way!) along with another book on the broader history of money itself, to thinking through what it really takes to differentiate on a great client experience (beyond ‘just’ being highly competent as a financial planning professional and delivering great service), and how to instill more confidence, capability, and financial competency in our kids by teaching them the virtues of learning how to create value for others around them.
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!
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