Key Post: Investment Books to read?

I was thinking would it be useful for people to post a list of recommended books people could read about investing in general, to shares, options etc.

I just spent the last few days looking to see if there was such a list on AAM but couldnt find one. I want to do some reading into investments as I dont want to shell out cash for some course that I'd be unsure of what I'd get out of it.

The list could start off with general beginners guides books such as the AAM guide to investments and savings and work its way up to more advanced topics.

It would be also good to get peoples feedback on books posted as well.

Some books that have appeared on a few different threads were:

'the intelligent investor' by Benjamin Graham

'One up on wall street' by Peter Lynch

'The warren buffett way' by robert hagstrom.

A Random Walk Down
Wall Street by Burton Malkiel

Anyway one else have any they would recommend or add to the list?

Re: Investment Books to read?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0684813505/002-1952674-9031237?v=glance&n=283155

Contrarian Investment Strategies in the Next Generation (Hardcover)
by David Dreman

half way reading through this. very good in telling the behind the scene at stockbroker

How to read the financial pages / Michael Brett read that two years ago. very good for a begineer.

Re: Investment Books to read?

evoke said:

very good in telling the behind the scene at stockbroker

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On this topic, I thoroughly enjoyed http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0471770884/sr=1-1/qid=1156258755/ref=sr_1_1/002-3777079-5560846?ie=UTF8&s=books ('Reminiscences of a Stock Operator') - very enjoyable book, and useful to remind oneself that there is no such thing as 'this time it's different'...

Re: Investment Books to read?

another one - The City: Inside the Great Expectations Machine by Tony Golding. A good overview of how modern financial markets work.

Re: Investment Books to read?

the bull hunter dan denning
also
the neatest little guide to stockmarket investing by jason kelly is a great book for the novice which gives a good synopysis of all the master's approaches (lynch, buffett, o neill etc etc) and has good info on the nuts and bolts of investing online

Re: Investment Books to read?

Robert Kioysaki (sp?) Rich Dad,Poor Dad.

Philip Fisher, Common stocks and uncommon profits

'The warren buffett way' by robert hagstrom. is excellent

DISCLAIMER: I have not read all of the following books, they were recommended to me but I will vouch for the recommender’s credibility.

FOR INVESTORS

ACCOUNTING AND FINANCE TEXTBOOKS

You must start with a basic understanding of accounting, which is the language of business.

INTELLIGENT INVESTOR
SECURITY ANALYSIS
Benjamin Graham

COMMON STOCKS AND UNCOMMON PROFITS
CONSERVATIVE INVESTORS SLEEP WELL
Philip Fisher

ONE UP ON WALL STREET
BEATING THE STREET
Peter Lynch

YOU CAN BE A STOCK MARKET GENIUS
THE LITTLE BOOK THAT BEATS THE MARKET
Greenblatt

MARGIN OF SAFETY
Klarman

VALUE INVESTING
Greenwald et al.

MONEY MASTERS
John Train

FOOLED BY RANDOMNESS
Nassim Nicholas Taleb

[broken link removed]

Letters to shareholders by Warren Buffet available at
http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/
Or Larry Cuningham has organized them by topic in a book called THE ESSAYS OF WARREN BUFFET.

[broken link removed]

Any of the white papers available at Tweedy Browne

FOR TRADERS

THE CROWD
Gustav LeBon
The semi-ancient foundational classic on the Mass Mind.

HOW I MADE 2 MILLION IN THE STOCK MARKET
Nicolas Darvas
Classic lessons on trend-trading breakouts, plus many other valuable insights. He's lucky he did not get caught putting it all on "red".

SUPERPERFORMANCE STOCKS
Richard Love (out of Print)
The classic mentioned by Mark Minervini in his STOCK MARKET WIZARDS interview

MARKET WIZARDS
NEW MARKET WIZARDS
STOCK MARKET WIZARDS
Jack Schwager
Absolute "must" reading.

HOW TO TRADE IN STOCKS
Richard Smitten (Jesse Livermore)
Offers a specific set of methods for trend followers. Obvious mistakes in several places but a classic nonetheless.

REMINISCENCES OF A STOCK OPERATOR
Edwin LeFevre (Livermore)
The trend following classic

TRADING IN THE ZONE
THE DISCIPLINED TRADER
Mark Douglas
Psychology for traders from an individual who went completely bankrupt and came all the way back. These are classics that belong in every trader library.

INTERMARKET ANALYSIS
John Murphy
A recent book with many useful insights about intermarket correlation.

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS OF THE FINANCIAL MARKETS
John Murphy
Classic reference work on TA. Up to date.

INATTENTIONAL BLINDNESS
Arien Mack
There is no perception without attention. Learn it cheap here, or learn it the hard way. Either way you need to get this concept.

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS OF STOCK TRENDS
Edwards and MaGee
For a basic foundation in technical analysis.

STOCK TRADER’S ALMANAC
For thoughts on timing the market

THE MASTER SWING TRADER
Farley

TOOLS AND TACTICS FOR THE MASTER DAY TRADER
Velez and Capra

PERSONAL FINANCE

THE AUTOMATIC MILLIONAIRE
David Bach

RICH DAD, POOR DAD
Robert Kiyosaki

THE MILLIONAIRE NEXT DOOR
Stanley & Danko

THE TRUTH ABOUT MONEY
Ric Edelman

BEHAVIOR AND PSYCHOLOGY

Read books by Elder, Van Tharp, and Douglas for the psychological side, creating a trading plan, expectation, etc.

Get a grip on Behavioral Finance before you get in too deep with trading.

The markets are made efficient by traders. Trading requires an "unnatural" set of responses to price events. Learn the common emotion-driven mistakes, and avoid them like the plague. Then learn to take advantage of these repeating patterns of the crowd.

DISPOSITION EFFECT

http://disposition-effect.behaviouralfinance.net/
Sell your winners and keep your losers. Way to go !!

ILLUSION OF CONTROL

http://illusion-of-control.behaviouralfinance.net/
"The illusion of control is the tendency for human beings to believe they can control or at least influence outcomes which they clearly cannot."
Go ahead-- tell the market what to do.

PROSPECT THEORY

http://prospect-theory.behaviouralfinance.net/
You have profits. Why gamble??

HERDING AND LEAD-FOLLOWING CROWD BEHAVIOR

http://herding-crowd.behaviouralfinance.net/
Everyone wants validation. Especially when making a financial decision. Stand apart. This one is tricky to execute on.

CONTAGION

http://contagions.behaviouralfinance.net/
Buy the fear, sell the greed. Easy to explain. Harder to do.
Let's rewind to 1987 and buy stocks after the crash. And hold them.

ROBERT SHILLER

The DEAN of Behavioral Finance. The shaman of financial psychology. The link below is typical of his work. See also IRRATIONAL EXUBERANCE, by Robert Shiller.

Human Behavior and the Efficiency of the Financial System
http://mental-compartments.behaviouralfinance.net/Shill98.pdf

PERIODICALS

Outstanding Investor Digest
Wall Street Journal
Barron's
Fortune
Investors Business Daily



Also, it may be a good idea to start a reading group; we all buy a book, read it and analyze it chapter by chapter.

I would add Winning the Loser's Game by Charles Ellis.

RedJoker said:

DISCLAIMER: I have not read all of the following books, they were recommended to me but I will vouch for the recommender’s credibility.

RICH DAD, POOR DAD
Robert Kiyosaki

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This website does a good job of explaining a lot of what is wrong with "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" - I would suggest that anyone reading or following that book have a look at it.

Foxtrot said:

This website does a good job of explaining a lot of what is wrong with "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" - I would suggest that anyone reading or following that book have a look at it.

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This is one of the books I have read, although it was a few years ago.

1) There are a lot of problems with this book, the advice isn't practical and some of his examples are like get rich quick schemes (flipping houses).

2) This book should be read as a motivational book, and it is. Many people have gotten a lot from this book but it is more appropriate for a lay person than an expert.

I don't want to get into a debate about this book in this thread; I believe there have been a few threads here about it and if you want to bump one of them than I will respond there.

In addition -

Just One Thing & Bulls Eye Investing by John Maudlin are excellent.

Also, Tomorrow's Gold by Marc Faber.

Also Jim Rodges book on Commodities.

Agree Warren Buffett Way is very good - also Contrarian Investing by Dreman.

Re Pernsonal Finance -

"Safe Strategies for Financial Freedom" is excellent. The chapter/strategy on reducing debt brilliant. I paid off a car loan using this technique. Can outline here if anyone is interested.

Also very good chapter on basis for position sizing/ risk on trades. investments.

Would advise buying a few, but only buy what you are going to read. I sometimes buy & leave the book idle for months, which tends to knaw away at the back of my head! But hey, thats just me.

I would throw in The Little book of Value Investing by christopher brown. Simple easy to understand. Sets out in plain english why trading is irrefutably a waste of time compared to fundamental investing especiallyy for the private investor. A real Buffetteer and wise old dog. A good follow on to that is The Little Book of common sense investing by John Bogle. More focussed in index funds and not as appealing as the 1st book but still good solid investing and down good and hard on crystal ball hugging graph obsessed fortune tellers.
I agree on The Warren Buffett Way. The intelligent investor is a bit heavy though.

Actually I would also recommend the Harvard Business Review. Investing properly involves understanding businesses as the owners would (though obviously not quite as detailed in every case.) the HBR online site has an archive of over 2000 articles which you gain access to for $195 a year. Unbelievably good stuff in there on everything pertaining to how to analyse not shares prices, or stock tips or god forbid arbitrary graphs, but businesses. And thats afterall what you're buying a little part of when you invest in shares.

If you’re cost-averaging into your funds each month, you might like to read ‘Value Averaging: The Safe and Easy Strategy for Higher Investment Returns’ by Michael E. Edelson.
http://www.amazon.com/Value-Averaging-Strategy-Investment-Classics/dp/0470049774

I read an Alvin Hobbs book....
Basic... but that is what I was looking for....
I asked on a forum what MM's were and was told lovely chocolate coated things....
N

Investment Classics (Books) can be subscribed for free on the [broken link removed] website...

My hubby and I recently read

Buffet The Biography by Roger Lowenstein

An abolutely fascinating read, which turns the dry information into a gripping novel. Buffet was a protegé of Ben Graham (The intelligent Investor) and the book critiques Graham's model all the way through, saying it is fundamentally sound but perhaps a little risk averse and one needs to move with the times also. Having studies efficent market theory in university and having serious doubts about it, I was thrilled to have those doubts supported by Buffet!

Hubby never studied or worked in Finance and really really enjoyed the book. A great book for a beginner.

You could all save yourselves a lot of time and money by reading "http://www.amazon.com/Wall-Street-Self-defense-Manual-Intelligent/dp/0977743322 (The Wall Street Self Defense Manual)" by Henry Blodget. If nothing else, you'll learn a huge amount about the financial "services" industry and how it works (or doesn't).

I'm surprised there hasn't been more noise about this book but when one considers he has a (not too flattering) chapter on the role of the financial press, maybe I shouldn't be.....

eldra said:

Investment Classics (Books) can be subscribed for free on the [broken link removed] website...

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Off subject but - These are running a free 1 hour workshop tonight also.