The Thriller
Well-Known Member
I've been wanting to do some of my own investing but am not sure where to begin. Do y'all know of any good books on investing?
Best books on investing
- Thread starter The Thriller
- Start date
Duck Rodgers
Well-Known Member
5 rules for stock investing - Pat Dorsey
Intelligent Investor - Ben Graham
Anything by Peter Lynch
Intelligent Investor - Ben Graham
Anything by Peter Lynch
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It depends on your initial knowledge level. If you are starting from scratch, you need a resource that can introduce you to the basic language of the discipline. It is like any other undertaking in that you have to learn the language and definitions so you can build upon your knowledge base. If this is the case, than Lefty's recommendation would be an excellent starting point. Once you are comfortable with the basics, you have to learn about and decide which types of investing strategies you are going to pursue. Again, Lefty's recommendation may cover many of these different types of strategies and may provide the necessary foundation to further your inquiry. Depending on what style and strategies you want to pursue than you can begin to read the various books associated with each strategy. Of course there is some redundancy and some excellent books touch upon various strategies, but in general, the books that are considered "classics" tend to focus on a certain strategy.
IMHO there are only 3 resources worthy of "Hall of Fame" credentials:
The Intelligent Investor by Ben Graham
Reminiscenses of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefevre
All Letters to Shareholders by Warren Buffett You can do this at the Berkshire web site, through a book compiling all the unedited letters, or in a more organized fashion in a book by Lawrence Cunningham
There is a simple test that will save you a considerable amount of time. Once you feel you have the basics down, grab Graham's book and if you aren't totally engrossed by it and find yourself reading it several times over the course of a week or two, stop immediately. Go get Bogle's book on passive/index investing and learn to build and rebalance a simple index based portfolio and go live your life enjoying other things. You will save yourself a considerable amount of money and frustration.
As footnote, you must ultimately pick a strategy that works. By working I mean, that has solid statistically based research supporting it across multiple time frames and market cycles. Also, whatever strategy you desire to pursue has to be adhered to, particularly when it is not working.
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Do you mean William J. O'Neil from IBD fame?
Lynch is universally considered one of the great stock pickers of all time and he has the track record to back it up. With that said, compared to the others generally lumped at his level, Lynch's performance has some anomalies which one can argue might put him a notch below some others.
Yes. Investing in momentum stocks based on basic accounting metrics is possibly the worst advice you could give a new investor.
I am aware. I was joking about the speculation that his record was built on insider information. I don't actually have an opinion on that though.
I would dare say that, in aggregate throughout history, investors (both retail and institutional) have lost more money in momentum stocks than in any other financial endeavor in human history. This is more fascinating given the fact that "momentum" is one of the few persistent factor tilts in the markets.
That was lazy of me. Bill O'Neil recommends investing in financial momentum. 5 year CAGR, ROE, etc. with a reasonable p/e.
He's very convincing until the young investor buys a commodity stock at the peak or a finance company right before **** hits the fan. He might as well rename his books how to get sucked into value trap after value trap.
He's very convincing until the young investor buys a commodity stock at the peak or a finance company right before **** hits the fan. He might as well rename his books how to get sucked into value trap after value trap.
Hello, pearl. I hope all is well.