when I was training at Merrill Lynch, The Intelligent Investor, a book written by Benjamin Graham, was a key part of the instructional material. The book is still relevant today as it's based more on investment principles than on specific strategies. An excellent resource for understanding the foundational elements of investing.
and had questions like this, 401k, mutual funds, IRA, options, calls, shorting, etc. my father (a stock broker) suggested two Peter Lynch books.
One up on Wall Street and Beating the Street.
both were good, basic enough, I was able to understand it, but also advanced enough there was practical worth.
Possibly outdated now but such easy reads they may provide a good glimpse into the fundamentals that ruled the day before we got here.
The websites mentioned are all also good.
I also recommend one that I read for work, but I found is also VERY appropriate for investing and it's called crossing the chasm. it's mostly about marketing and R&D, but it helps to know how to evaluate where a company is in the growth arc. There are many follow on works by the author, all worthy, and I suggest all of them, Inside the Tornado is a must read.
Lastly, it's insane what modern education does to prepare the next generation in these areas and life skills in general (insert old man yelling at cloud gif) but when I was in high school I had to take financial management in my junior year and it included many of these basic concepts, plus useful skills like balancing a checkbook. Kids today don't know what a checkbook is, but the concept of balancing spending money vs how much money you have hasn't gone away. only many young adults don't understand it. And I felt like I was still under-prepared. it's worse now.
It’s old school, but it is most effective way. Got both my kids to learn that way. Investing books - ( New Window )
Nice list. this guy (Burton G. Malkiel) from the book A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing I have met many times. He is very nice and really charitable with his time. He was a dean at Yale in the 80's and his son was on my hockey team. Great kid, great family and his dad, like I said..
First I applaud those young people on wanting to learn about investing and taking responsibility for their financial future. You start young and consistently put money into solid investments the power of compounding is amazing.
The list of books is awesome. I would add a book on Diversification as well.
Also somewhere along the journey they might want to go to a CFP (Certified Financial Planner).
I finally went to a CFP a few months ago as the next phase, that being retirement, distribution of assets, estate planning and taxes is an another level.
Planning,saving and investing in my 20s enabled me to be able to retire at 56 with financial freedom.
There was another thread with the same question on BBI just a few weeks ago. As a result of the advice on that thread I read "The Simple Path to Wealth" by JL Collins. This is a very good starting point for someone who knows nothing about investments. He explains the basic concepts of saving, investing and avoiding debt and he explains the current types of tax advantaged accounts including 401k's,Roth and regular IRA's. He explains the current investment vehicles, stocks, bonds, index funds, and mutual funds.
There's nothing wrong with with the other books recommended here, but they are dated. The principles may be valid but they were written before the existence of index funds and in some cases retirement accounts.
In the real world its probably not a good idea for small investors to buy individual stocks, particularly inexperiences ones. They need to know of modern tools that do not require them to do so.
I'll second the JL Collins rec. He also does some podcasts and youtubes for current information....he's a good listen.
Another good site is the Scott Burns' website. Scott writes well, and the topics are interesting.
Be careful with John Bogle's books. While his ideas were generically sound, his best writing was done 25 years ago when Bonds were a valid part of a portfolio. Following his Bond advice over the past few years would have been a mistake.
Simple rule dollar cost average into SPY the s&p 500 index fund.
It is hard to beat that.
Investing books - ( New Window )
One up on Wall Street and Beating the Street.
both were good, basic enough, I was able to understand it, but also advanced enough there was practical worth.
Possibly outdated now but such easy reads they may provide a good glimpse into the fundamentals that ruled the day before we got here.
The websites mentioned are all also good.
I also recommend one that I read for work, but I found is also VERY appropriate for investing and it's called crossing the chasm. it's mostly about marketing and R&D, but it helps to know how to evaluate where a company is in the growth arc. There are many follow on works by the author, all worthy, and I suggest all of them, Inside the Tornado is a must read.
Lastly, it's insane what modern education does to prepare the next generation in these areas and life skills in general (insert old man yelling at cloud gif) but when I was in high school I had to take financial management in my junior year and it included many of these basic concepts, plus useful skills like balancing a checkbook. Kids today don't know what a checkbook is, but the concept of balancing spending money vs how much money you have hasn't gone away. only many young adults don't understand it. And I felt like I was still under-prepared. it's worse now.
Nice list. this guy (Burton G. Malkiel) from the book A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing I have met many times. He is very nice and really charitable with his time. He was a dean at Yale in the 80's and his son was on my hockey team. Great kid, great family and his dad, like I said..
The list of books is awesome. I would add a book on Diversification as well.
Also somewhere along the journey they might want to go to a CFP (Certified Financial Planner).
I finally went to a CFP a few months ago as the next phase, that being retirement, distribution of assets, estate planning and taxes is an another level.
Planning,saving and investing in my 20s enabled me to be able to retire at 56 with financial freedom.
There's nothing wrong with with the other books recommended here, but they are dated. The principles may be valid but they were written before the existence of index funds and in some cases retirement accounts.
In the real world its probably not a good idea for small investors to buy individual stocks, particularly inexperiences ones. They need to know of modern tools that do not require them to do so.
Another good site is the Scott Burns' website. Scott writes well, and the topics are interesting.
Be careful with John Bogle's books. While his ideas were generically sound, his best writing was done 25 years ago when Bonds were a valid part of a portfolio. Following his Bond advice over the past few years would have been a mistake.