Lux Investing

where is a good book to learn about investing for a total beginner?

Public Comments

1. Where? At your local library or bookstore. Look for "Investing for Dummies" by Eric Tyson.
2. Don't buy anything until you've read the investing basics. "Hot To Buy Stocks" many years ago was a good book. Go to your local library. In the long run you may not want to buy individual stocks but buy into mutual funds, where you have great diversification and not have the headache of the ups and down each day of the market.
3. When I first started investing in the early 70s, I read "A Random Walk Down Wall Street" by Burton Malkiel, a Professor of Finance at Princeton. It has been revised in many new editions since them. The book is based on the widely accepted theory called the perfect market hypothesis. Along with most academic experts at universities, I believe that this theory is generally correct, and it has guided my investing over the last 35 years. One advantage of this theory is that it is simple and easy to follow and you don't need to pay fat fees and commissions to brokers and other so called experts to help you.
4. The Bogelheads' Guide to Investing. Good luck!
5. First do NOT buy that crap that John D is selling this is extremely unethical and possibly illegal on his part! The best book I can suggest is Jim Cramer's Mad Money, Cramer is a former manager of a $400 million hedge fund, current host of CNBC's Mad Money and founder of www.thestreet.com. He has made me a LOT of money, I suggest that you watch his show M-F 6 p.m. eastern, read his columns on thestreet.com and read his book, he is full of great wisdom gained from 30 years on the stock market. I know that it sounds like I am his official sales promoter but I just want you to do as well as I have. At the very least go to the street.com and check out the jim cramer tab. Most importantly do not start buying stocks until you have a firm grasp on what you are doing. Also check out some of his basic rules for investing, but keep in mind that these will not guarantee success you still need to do a lot more work towards understanding the market. You can find his rules here http://www.thestreet.com/_tscnav/tsc/cramerbook#rules. Best of luck!
6. The Motley Fool, (FOOL.COM). The site has all the information you would pay for in buying a book in a very lay and understandable way. I learned a lot from reading several books but honestly I could've learned just as much if not more thoroughly from Fool.com.
7. I liked "Learn to Earn" by Peter Lynch. It is aimed at the high school student. Check it out with an Amazon search.
8. Two words, dude; library or bookstore. Try reading Donald Trump's book, he's hell good.