PERSONAL FINANCE : FIRST STEPS : TIPS . . .

Not that many years ago, personal finance consisted of opening a savings account at a bank, buying 10 shares of AT&T; stock and, for the truly adventuresome, investing $1,000 in a mutual fund. These days, though, individual investors buy foreign currencies, invest in equipment leasing or sell stock options. To help you sort through the “product opportunities” are a flood of books on personal finance.

Among those recommended for beginners are:

“William E. Donoghue’s Lifetime Financial Planner” (Harper & Row, $9.95).

“Marshall Loeb’s 1988 Money Guide” (Little, Brown, $12.95).

“Smart Money” by Ken and Daria Dolan (Random House, $19.95).

For more knowledgeable readers:

“J. K. Lasser’s Personal Finance Planner” (J. K. Lasser Tax Institute, $14.95).

“The Price Waterhouse Book of Personal Financial Planning,” by Stanley H. Breitbard and Donna Sammons Carpenter (Henry Holt, $19.95).

“The Money Book of Money” by Robert Klein and the editors of Money magazine (Little, Brown, $19.95).

“The Only Other Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need,” by Andrew Tobias (Simon & Schuster, $17.95).