you must read "The Dollar Crisis" before you invest in anything - trust me this will help for the rest of your life !!!
Ask HN: Best books/source to learn about investing?
21–30 of 71 posts
Re: Ask HN: Best books/source to learn about investing?
#22The first and best book on investing that you should read: A Random Walk Down Wall Street ( http://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/039306... ). This book has great investing advice; is funny, interesting, and well-written; and clearly explains what's going on behind different investment approaches. In other words, it doesn't just answer the "what" question, it answers "why" and "how". As for specific a…
Looks like a great book, and generally good advice. Thanks!
you must read "The Dollar Crisis" before you invest in anything - trust me this will help for the rest of your life !!!
Re: Ask HN: Best books/source to learn about investing?
#23I really enjoyed Henry Blodgett's "The Wall Street Self-defense Manual: A Consumer's Guide to Intelligent Investing" (http://www.amazon.com/Wall-Street-Self-defense-Manual-Intell...).
It's basically a diatribe against active investing. Buy index funds and hold them.
Re: Ask HN: Best books/source to learn about investing?
#24Jonathan Hoenig's Greed is Good is pretty excellent. http://www.capitalistpig.com/merchandise.html
Re: Ask HN: Best books/source to learn about investing?
#25The best book on investing that I've ever read is this one: http://www.amazon.com/Buffett-American-Capitalist-Roger-Lowe... It's a biography, but there are lots of anecdotes about specific analyses. Nobody can invest like Buffett, but just about everyone can benefit from reading about how he did it.
I'll second that recommendation. Lowe's biography of Buffett is an excellent book -- it's a biography with lessons on investing woven in.
Re: Ask HN: Best books/source to learn about investing?
#26I really like Ben Stein & Phil DeMuth's "Yes You Can Get a Financial Life":
http://www.amazon.com/Yes-You-Can-Financial-Life/dp/14019112...
Very conservative approach to long-term investing, but also helps prepare you for other common life expenses, such as housing and children. A great broad, bottom-line, why-this-really-matters-in-life approach to investing. I wish I had read this book at or before graduating from college.
Re: Ask HN: Best books/source to learn about investing?
#27The first and best book on investing that you should read: A Random Walk Down Wall Street ( http://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/039306... ). This book has great investing advice; is funny, interesting, and well-written; and clearly explains what's going on behind different investment approaches. In other words, it doesn't just answer the "what" question, it answers "why" and "how". As for specific a…
What do you think of ETF's as opposed to regular old index mutual funds?
ETFs are just fine. There are pros and cons to each, but they are minor. Generally, ETFs have lower expense ratios, but you have to pay a commission to buy them (maybe $10 per purchase at a discount broker). Mutual funds are usually free to buy. So if you're going to invest $100/month, go with a mutual fund. If you're buying $5K at a time, an ETF is fine. Never pay more than 2% of your purchase price on a commission, and ETFs sometimes get a bad rap because there are so many slice-and-dice funds - gold mining ETFs, Alabama mid-size business ETFs, etc. Stick with the basics (stocks and bonds, US and international, developed and emerging, large cap and small cap).
Re: Ask HN: Best books/source to learn about investing?
#28For the shortest introduction to sensible, index-based investing, read The Coffeehouse Investor (Bill Schultheis). It shouldn't take more than an hour or two to go through, and it contains all the basics. Then, if you're interested in a more in-depth analysis of the same thing, read A Random Walk Down Wall Street (Burton Malkiel), as suggested by several others in this thread.
Re: Ask HN: Best books/source to learn about investing?
#29Here is a good list:
http://www.bogleheads.org/readbooks.htm
General Investing
# The Four Pillars of Investing - by William ("Bill") Bernstein.
# Wise Investing Made Simple or The Only Guide to a Winning Investment Strategy You'll Ever Need - by Larry Swedroe
# The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing - by Taylor Larimore, Mel Lindauer, and Michael LeBoeuf
# All About Asset Allocation - by Rick Ferri
# The Informed Investor - by Frank Armstrong
# The Little Book of Common Sense Investing - by John "Jack" Bogle
# The Coffeehouse Investor - by Bill Schultheis.
Investor Behavior
# Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes And How To Correct Them - by Gary Belsky and Thomas Gilovich
# Your Money and Your Brain: How the New Science of Neuroeconomics Can Help Make You Rich - by Jason Zweig
# Rational Investing in Irrational Times: How to Avoid the Costly Mistakes Even Smart People Make Today - by Larry Swedroe
Financial History
# Against the Gods and Capital Ideas - by Peter L. Bernstein
# Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation - by Edward Chancellor
# A Random Walk Down Wall Street - by Burton Malkiel
Like others here have mentioned, http://www.bogleheads.org/ is a great forum for Vanguard investors.
Re: Ask HN: Best books/source to learn about investing?
#30you must read "The Dollar Crisis" before you invest in anything - trust me this will help for the rest of your life !!!
I completely agree. The conventional wisdom of buy and hold a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds or index funds is simply bad advise right now.
While stocks do tend to out-perform over the "long-term" there have been multiple 10 year periods when stocks lost big in terms of real inflation adjusted returns. (e.g. 1929-1960, 1971-1983, 2000-present)
As a primer on the current financial crisis, I recommend firing up your favorite search engine and reading up on:
* inflation: understand that inflation is not rising prices, it is inflation of the money supply and debasement of the currency
* fraction-reserve banking and fiat currency (understand the leverage built into banks and financials and its impact on the broader economy)
* petrodollars and their importance to the US economy's ability to run deficits and import it's inflation as well as the rise of the Euro and the opening of Iran's oil bourse with it's promise to trade oil in all the world's currencies.
Other posts have listed some great resources, here are some general tips from personal experience:
* Stick to the classics and understand fundamental valuation
* Remember, there is something to technical analysis for short-term trading and market timing, but most of it can be explained by thinking about the supply/demand situation for a specific stock or asset class. Don't get sucked into the voodoo.
* learn to think about stocks and asset classes in marketing terms (branding, awareness, interest, trends, etc.) and you will gain a big edge over most. If you can figure out where the money is flowing and why within market segments or individual stocks, you stand to outperform.
* invest in what you know. find companies you are interested in and learn their investment story. Read their ipo prospectus if it is a new issue or their last 2 annual reports if they are established.
* never accept a stock tip without an explanation of the investment thesis behind the stock. Do your own research and be able to explain why you hold specific positions.
I am an entrepreneur and as such am generally an optimist. However make no mistake, there are clear and significant downside risks to this economy. There is more downside risk than upside potential over the next 6-12 months and possibly longer. The next 12 months will be an education in itself.