Newbie looking for some investment reading

[PeteW]

I need some advice on good reading material that's not to overwhelming for a newbie. To date I've read many web based articles on investing some I understood and some I did not.

I've recently read The New Coffeehouse Investor by Bill Schultheis which I found very easy to read and understand. In looking for something that delved a bit deeper I chose All About Asset Allocation, Second Edition by Richard Ferri which I'm currently reading (slogging through). It's a fine book, but I have to admit I'm struggling especially with all of the graphs and data. After reading about half of his book I'm afraid I'm not ready for it. I'm understanding maybe a third of the subject matter. I intend to finish it as it's a good book and some of it is sticking, but I need to find something more my level. My purpose for posting is to ask for some reading suggestions that maybe more on my Newbie level.

 

[mickeyd]

I always recommend Bogleheads Guide To Investing to anyone who asks my suggestion on this subject. It's destined to become a classic.

 

[Covbro]

I'm currently reading "Saving for Retirement without Living like a Pauper or Winning the Lottery" by Gail Marks Jarvis. She an excellent writer and teacher. She makes investing for retirement very easy to understand.

 

[odhinn]

What are you trying to learn, specifically? How to trade options? How to become financially free? How to make cash flow? How to invest in real estate? Investing is a broad category and can get very technical, so best to be clear what your goal is before you start.

Given the current artificially pumped up market, I'd be very leery of putting significant money in the stock market right now, assuming you're thinking to buy and hold and invest for long term capital gains, but that's just my opinion.

Many people don't like him, but I recommend Kiyosaki's Increasing Your Financial IQ if you're truly a financial newbie. He makes some good points that many people of the mutual funding buying public have never considered.

 

[W2R]

I would suggest reading several books (of your choice), from the Bogleheads' very excellent list:

Investment Books

Some of them are simpler than others. You could look through many of them at Barnes and Noble, or read samples on Amazon.com, and pick a few that do not seem overwhelming to you.

 

[Tyro]

I need some advice on good reading material that's not to overwhelming for a newbie.

Hate to state the obvious (and please don't take it personally), but...

Investing for Dummies, Second Edition

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Investing, 4th Edition

Tyro

 

[PeteW]

Thanks for the help so far. "odhinn" raised a good point when he asked where my interest lay. Based on my understanding thus far, I'd say that I'm leaning toward being more of an index oriented investor. I'm looking to develop a portfolio that mostly utilizes low cost index funds and ETFs and disciplined rebalancing once a year or so . What I want to learn is what asset allocations make the best sense for me and why. I'm pretty ignorant when it comes equities, bonds, foreign markets, etc. These are the things I'm looking to educate myself in.

 

[NanoSour]

Like many things in life, the "KISS" principle applies to investing as well. Don't get "bogle"ed down with the asset allocation question. As a new investor you might want to look at a simple 3 fund lazy portfolio and just start building it up. Check out this link.

Lazy Portfolios - Bogleheads

I've been investing for 30 years and these simple portfolios still work for me. It's really not complicated at all. Good luck.

 

[walkinwood]

There are two books that I usually recommend & that I loved.
- William Bernstein's The Four Pillars of Investing
- Burton Malkiel's A Random Walk down Wall Street.

After you read one or both of those books, read a book or two by Bogle or Swedroe or Ellis to determine your portfolio makeup.

Imho, you're approaching this the right way. All the best.

 

[PeteW]

Thanks, I'm sure these are all good suggestions. I'm pretty certain they'll keep me out of trouble for a while.

 

[Jager]

For conventional, mainstream investing I'd recommend the classic The Intelligent Investor, by Benjamin Graham. To the extent there is a secret to investing, it's in those pages.

To leaven that with a bit of history, to point out that "the mainstream" can oft times be a way to lose your shirt, I commend Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises, by Charles Kindleberger.

To see how the sausage is made, I recommend Liar's Poker, by Michael Lewis.

And before you read anything else, just to set the stage, I'd suggest spending a few enjoyable hours with A Fool and His Money: The Odyssey of an Average Investor, by John Rothchild.

 

[Accidental Retiree]

Daniel Solin's books "The Smartest Retirement Book You 'll Ever Read" and/or "The Smartest Investment Book You'll Ever Read."

Both are simple and straightforward, so a good place to start.

 

[growing_older]

Whatever you do, stay away from Kiyosaki. His Rich Dad Poor Dad is brilliant marketing, but terrible advice and he himself has been widely discredited.

Robert Kiyosaki taken down by CBC - DailyFinance

Rich Dad, Poor Dad now a bankrupt dad: Best-selling author files for corporate bankruptcy after losing $24m judgement | Mail Online

Ryan Beckland // Against the Passive Life: Why Kiyosaki was Wrong

The Get Rich Slowly Forums • View topic - Kiyosaki exposed

Ripoff Report | Robert Kiyosaki | Complaint Review: 846840

 

[dunkelblau]

Thanks for the help so far. "odhinn" raised a good point when he asked where my interest lay. Based on my understanding thus far, I'd say that I'm leaning toward being more of an index oriented investor. I'm looking to develop a portfolio that mostly utilizes low cost index funds and ETFs and disciplined rebalancing once a year or so . What I want to learn is what asset allocations make the best sense for me and why. I'm pretty ignorant when it comes equities, bonds, foreign markets, etc. These are the things I'm looking to educate myself in.

From what I read, it's hard to go wrong with a Vanguard Target Date fund. I understand they do all of the diversification and time tracking automatically so you just buy and add to a single fund. No need to understand the mechanics behind this, although I'm all for getting educated if you're interested in it. Just that I wouldn't expect to gain any advantage in returns from the effort, that's all.

And not to belabor the point, but my feeling is that we need to be vigilant about our information sources. I believe everything we read online was written with an agenda, and it's up to the reader to figure out what that is in order to properly interpret the message. People who have been reading online for years or decades understand this, but for those who are new to this experience "let's be careful out there".

 

[PeteW]

Sorry I kind of dropped out of the conversation. I guess I missed the notification that there had been other posts since my last reply. I appreciate everyone's suggestions. Currently I pushing through with Rick Ferri book on Asset Allocation, but I've also been digging into the bogleheads
wiki pages. It's a terrific site with loads of information. I've also found Investopedia.com to be pretty helpful. And last but not least i now have a long reading list. Before you know it I'll at least be less than clueless.

Thanks,
Pete

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