When I first started I read The Wall Street Journal Guide to Understanding Money and Investing [0]. It's probably a bit dated now, but if you're just starting i

When I first started I read The Wall Street Journal Guide to Understanding Money and Investing [0]. It's probably a bit dated now, but if you're just starting it gives a pretty good overview of the basic terms like what is a stock, a bond, options, futures, put, call, stop, limit, short, etc. Another similar book is How To Read the Financial Pages[1]. Again, probably a little dated, but I don't think much of the terminology has changed. I would still recommend index funds for the best returns, but if you want to follow the financial news it helps to understand the lingo. [0]http://www.amazon.com/Street-Journal-Guide-Understanding-Investing/dp/0684869020/ http://www.amazon.com/Street-Journal-Guide-Understanding-Inv... [1] http://www.amazon.com/Read-Financial-Pages-Peter-Passell/dp/0446606707/ http://www.amazon.com/Read-Financial-Pages-Peter-Passell/dp/...