Recommended Reading for Investors
If I were a betting man and I went to a doctor, lawyer, or an accountant, and that individual did not have a shelf full of books that were related to his profession, I bet I would leave without further investigation. See, we get an education and then we move into the real world. Then we must continue educating ourselves as we progress through this journey of life.
Investing is no different. You must read. A lot. Like many other vocations in life, reading can bring one a better investing career. Here are some books I personally own and have read. Some of these are books I have seen recommended by experienced investors and are on my reading list. Enjoy.
- The Intelligent Investor Rev Ed. (Collins Business Essentials) Among the library of investment books promising no-fail strategies for riches, Benjamin Graham’s classic, The Intelligent Investor, offers no guarantees or gimmicks but overflows with the wisdom at the core of all good portfolio management.
- How To Make Money In Stocks: A Winning System in Good Times or Bad, 3rd Edition From the school of unemotional investing comes the classic How to Make Money in Stocks, by Wall Street analyst and publisher William O’Neil. Readers new to securities will find it an excellent primer, one that relies on time-honored indicators such as quarterly earnings, market capitalization, and daily indexes. O’Neil’s study of winning stocks stretches back to the 1960s, and he shares his insights here, describing what characterizes a growth stock, when to cut your losses (at 7 or 8 percent, no more), and how to spot a market top.
- Security Analysis Graham and Dodd’s Security Analysis is hands-down the most influential investment book in history. The classic 1951 edition is the first edition of the bestselling investment bible that was written during a time of economic stability and prosperity. It provides investors with techniques and strategies for profitable investing in an economic environment that most resembles today.
- The Warren Buffett Way, Second Edition Starting with $10,000 in 1956 and today worth some $8.5 billion, with significant holdings in Coca-Cola, Capital Cities/ ABC and the Washington Post Company, Omaha, Nebr.-based Buffet is a major player on Wall Street. Financial consultant Hagstrom, who did not interview his subject but obtained permission to quote from his Berkshire Hathaway annual reports, here outlines Buffet’s iconoclastic tenets for investing. Unlike many entrepreneurs who take over companies to sell them off in bits, Buffet buys and holds. He rejects the “efficient market theory”; he doesn’t worry about the stock market; and he buys a business, not a stock. He manages with a small staff, no computers and a “hands off” strategy.
- One Up On Wall Street : How To Use What You Already Know To Make Money In The Market The former star manager of Fidelity’s multibillion-dollar Magellan Fund, Lynch reveals how he achieved his spectacular record. Writing with John Rothchild, Lynch offers easy-to-follow directions for sorting out the long shots from the no shots by reviewing a company’s financial statements and by identifying which numbers really count. He explains how to stalk tenbaggers and lays out the guidelines for investing in cyclical, turnaround, and fast-growing companies.
- The Interpretation of Financial Statements Written just three years after his landmark Security Analysis, The Interpretation of Financial Statements gets to the heart of the master’s ideas on value investing in astonishingly few pages. Readers will learn to analyze a company’s balance sheets and income statements and arrive at a true understanding of its financial position and earnings record. Graham provides simple tests any reader can apply to determine the financial health and well-being of any company.
- How to Be a Billionaire: Proven Strategies from the Titans of Wealth Martin Fridson’s How to Be a Billionaire sets its sights much higher, and therefore seems an even more appropriate (if somewhat less realistic) goal for today’s tycoon wannabes. There are some 200 individuals in the U.S. alone who now breathe this rarefied air, writes Merrill Lynch managing director Fridson, and no reason why those who adopt their philosophies cannot join them. To that end, he studied more than a dozen of the self-made super-rich, including Sam Walton, Bill Gates, Wayne Huizenga, and Warren Buffett. He then synthesized their techniques for success into nine strategies: take monumental risks, do business in new ways, dominate your market, consolidate an industry, buy low, thrive on deals, outmanage the competition, invest in political influence, and resist unions. Dividing profiles of these high fliers into chapters focused on their prevailing principles, he shows how each played a critical role in the growth of an empire.
From the school of unemotional investing comes the classic How to Make Money in Stocks, by Wall Street analyst and publisher William O’Neil. Readers new to securities will find it an excellent primer, one that relies on time-honored indicators such as quarterly earnings, market capitalization, and daily indexes. O’Neil’s study of winning stocks stretches back to the 1960s, and he shares his insights here, describing what characterizes a growth stock, when to cut your losses (at 7 or 8 percent, no more), and how to spot a market top.
Graham and Dodd’s Security Analysis is hands-down the most influential investment book in history. The classic 1951 edition is the first edition of the bestselling investment bible that was written during a time of economic stability and prosperity. It provides investors with techniques and strategies for profitable investing in an economic environment that most resembles today.
Starting with $10,000 in 1956 and today worth some $8.5 billion, with significant holdings in Coca-Cola, Capital Cities/ ABC and the Washington Post Company, Omaha, Nebr.-based Buffet is a major player on Wall Street. Financial consultant Hagstrom, who did not interview his subject but obtained permission to quote from his Berkshire Hathaway annual reports, here outlines Buffet’s iconoclastic tenets for investing. Unlike many entrepreneurs who take over companies to sell them off in bits, Buffet buys and holds. He rejects the “efficient market theory”; he doesn’t worry about the stock market; and he buys a business, not a stock. He manages with a small staff, no computers and a “hands off” strategy.
The former star manager of Fidelity’s multibillion-dollar Magellan Fund, Lynch reveals how he achieved his spectacular record. Writing with John Rothchild, Lynch offers easy-to-follow directions for sorting out the long shots from the no shots by reviewing a company’s financial statements and by identifying which numbers really count. He explains how to stalk tenbaggers and lays out the guidelines for investing in cyclical, turnaround, and fast-growing companies.
Written just three years after his landmark Security Analysis, The Interpretation of Financial Statements gets to the heart of the master’s ideas on value investing in astonishingly few pages. Readers will learn to analyze a company’s balance sheets and income statements and arrive at a true understanding of its financial position and earnings record. Graham provides simple tests any reader can apply to determine the financial health and well-being of any company.
Martin Fridson’s How to Be a Billionaire sets its sights much higher, and therefore seems an even more appropriate (if somewhat less realistic) goal for today’s tycoon wannabes. There are some 200 individuals in the U.S. alone who now breathe this rarefied air, writes Merrill Lynch managing director Fridson, and no reason why those who adopt their philosophies cannot join them. To that end, he studied more than a dozen of the self-made super-rich, including Sam Walton, Bill Gates, Wayne Huizenga, and Warren Buffett. He then synthesized their techniques for success into nine strategies: take monumental risks, do business in new ways, dominate your market, consolidate an industry, buy low, thrive on deals, outmanage the competition, invest in political influence, and resist unions. Dividing profiles of these high fliers into chapters focused on their prevailing principles, he shows how each played a critical role in the growth of an empire.
