In times of economic stress, it is good to know the basics of personal finance.

Many people turn to books for help, so we decided to go back and review three of the most popular finance books of the past 15 years: Suze Orman's The Nine Steps to Financial Freedom (Currency); Dave Ramsey's The Total Money Makeover" (Nelson Books); and Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad, Poor Dad (Plata Publishing).