Whoa! Daughter asked investing book...

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Flyfish1

Recycles dryer sheets
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Wow! My college grad daughter working her first job and living in her first apartment asked for a book on investing. I've got very few books left in my house to give her. Any suggestions from the crowd? She has a degree in finance, so she knows a little already.

BTW: I'll get her the book and one for my not so financially interested daughter.
 
Honestly, I think mindset is almost more important than choosing the right fund. And a degree in finance does not guarantee the LBYM mindset.


I'd start with The Millionaire Next Door. When she is just starting her post-college adult life is the time to get good habits in place, learn to live frugally and be satisfied with what you have, not always be striving to have more or keep up with your friends and coworkers. Learn to live on 80% or 70% or less of your income and save the rest and it almost doesn't matter where you put it. A total market fund or a target date fund and you're good to go. You don't really need a book for that.
 
Probably not what you had in mind, but it seems like I learn something new every month when I read Kiplingers.
 
How did you get her interested in investing? Have been working to get older daughter (26 y.o.) interested. She’s a mechanical Engr making good coin and all she does now is put her bonus money in her checking account and call it good.

Gave her the contact info several times for our guy who has done well for us but that got zero traction.
 
1242Vintage said:
How did you get her interested in investing? Have been working to get older daughter (26 y.o.) interested. She’s a mechanical Engr making good coin and all she does now is put her bonus money in her checking account and call it good.

Gave her the contact info several times for our guy who has done well for us but that got zero traction.
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This is a CCP from M* diehards forum.
"Knowing nothing about investing might be a benefit. You won't have to unlearn many popular beliefs propagated by Wall Street and the media that aren't true."

"Take the time to learn the basics of sound investing. It's really pretty simple stuff."
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Couple thoughts:
Any kid that speculates about saving for their retirement @ 26 should be parentally educated about IRAs & or Roth accounts.

Or, you could start a retirement account in their name & numbers that you'd depend on for said child's retirement @ that age, not informing them as such ;)(Balanced-fund)

Or you can make it a contest, who's account set-up does better annually?

I'd forget the -advisor-or-our guy-reference since we all know its not advised by those that know better.
All things being equal, and you're already set for life of course.

Good luck & Best wishes....
 
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bolt said:
Any kid that speculates about saving for their retirement @ 26 should be parentally educated about IRAs & or Roth accounts.

Or, you could start another retirement account in their name & numbers that you'd depend on for said child's retirement @ that age informing them as such ;)

Make it a contest, who's account set-up does better annually?
All things being equal, and you're already set for life of course.

Good luck & Best wishes....
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Thanks.

I’ve talked to her about IRA and Roth a few times and it didn’t stick. Even gave her all the contact info for our financial guy to make it easy and simple.

I like the contest idea to get her started. She is ultra competitive and would likely engage to see if she can do better financially than the old man.
 
I'd say sending her to any kind of "financial guy" is a bad idea...most are sales people and looking for commission or fees.

The best idea I saw was Millionaire Next Door. You pair that with rule 1: minimal fees, rule 2: minimal fees, and rule 3: minimal fees, and you're 90% of the way there

The contest... Not a fan. This isn't a sprint. All that winning an investment sprint means is that you found a lucky risk. But it could easily go against you. Diversify and always have something to complain about.
 
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It's nice that your daughter is interested in investing at such a young age.

It also doesn't hurt to find a young man from a wealthy family that's marriage material. It can be a good start in life.
 
I have no recommendations on books. I would suggest that she join this site and read every post for a few months before making any big moves. It should cover many real life issues to be thinking about in her choices.
 
Had the same question from my 20 year old not long ago. Try these two. My kid opened an account at Schwab and invested shortly thereafter.

Beginning Investors by William Bernstein https://www.amazon.com/If-You-Can-Millennials-Slowly/dp/098878033X?dchild=1
This is short, but has recommendations for further reading.

We’re Talking Millions by Paul Merriman. The first 6 chapters are good foundational info. (website undergoing an update. Look for it Monday @ PaulMerriman.com)
 
“The Simple Path to Wealth” by blogger JL Collins. He wrote it specifically for his daughter of the same age as yours. Excellent and, as the title says, he keeps the investing part simple and focuses on all the benefits of a high savings rate and financial independence as soon as possible.
 
My go to recommendation is "Your Money and Your Brain" by Jason Zweig.
 
nap470 said:
Wow! That's an expensive book in paperback at $494.90. And really expensive in Audio CD at $869.97. :)
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I buy the used copies for $6. :)

Also a fan of The Millionaire Next Door. But, IMO, its not really an investment book. Bernsteins, "If you can" is also very good and as someone else has mentioned, its free.
 
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Flyfish1 said:
Wow! My college grad daughter working her first job and living in her first apartment asked for a book on investing. I've got very few books left in my house to give her. Any suggestions from the crowd? She has a degree in finance, so she knows a little already.

BTW: I'll get her the book and one for my not so financially interested daughter.
Click to expand...
I'd start with something like Four Pillars of Investing by Bernstein.

Send it to her cloud reader or Kindle. I usually purchase a few titles each year to hand over. I stay away from the number crunching titles and look for currently popular books I hear about on this forum.
 
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Flyfish1 said:
Thank you - I sent her a Kindle copy from Amazon.
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Great choice....that's what I was going to suggest. "The millionaire Next Door" Is a must read also IMO. Not finance, but a great book on learning to save and LBYM. As Bernstein says "Even if you can invest like Warren Buffet if you can't save you'll die poor."
 
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I highly recommend "The Wealthy Barber." Or, the book from SNL: "Spend Less Than You Make."
 
Markola said:
“The Simple Path to Wealth” by blogger JL Collins. He wrote it specifically for his daughter of the same age as yours. Excellent and, as the title says, he keeps the investing part simple and focuses on all the benefits of a high savings rate and financial independence as soon as possible.
Click to expand...

+1

There are other good books, several of which I have given to my adult kids including If You Can... and ChooseFI, but The Simple Path to Wealth is imo the best of the bunch on the fundamentals of investing.
 
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