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I'd recommend Ben Graham's "The Intelligent Investor". One doesn't have to buy individual stocks, or follow the strategy proposed in the book, but books like th

I'd recommend Ben Graham's "The Intelligent Investor". One doesn't have to buy individual stocks, or follow the strategy proposed in the book, but books like these will keep you from doing something dumb like, say, buying into the S&P 500 when its P/E is >30, and give you some perspective on and a valuable defense mechanism against all the stupid investment advice out there.

pragmatic 16y ago
The Intelligent Investor is good, however, it's a bit dated. It's from an age when values could be found by carefully checking the companies books (and or paper files) and finding it owned a utility that had a book value worth more than the stock of the owning company. Even Graham has said that for most people a low cost index fund is the way to go. Competing against a computerized/connected/inside information Wall Street is very hard and because of transaction costs (higher to the individual than the institution) winning stock trading strategies are non-trivial. However, Claude Shannon (famous computer science guy) was a pretty good investor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_criterion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_criterion Fortune's Formula http://www.amazon.com/Fortunes-Formula-Scientific-Betting-Casinos/dp/0809046377 http://www.amazon.com/Fortunes-Formula-Scientific-Betting-Ca... details some of Shannon's methods and covers some other interesting stories like LTCM, Mathematician Edward O. Thorp's black jack schemes and later his creation of the one of the first "computerized" hedge fund.
- samuraicatpizza 16y ago
  > The Intelligent Investor is good, however, it's a bit dated. I found this edition helpful in that regard: http://www.amazon.com/Intelligent-Investor-Definitive-Investing-Practical/dp/0060555661 http://www.amazon.com/Intelligent-Investor-Definitive-Invest... Each of Graham's chapters is followed by another chapter of interpretation/reflection on his advice in a modern context.
- deleted 16y ago
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pragmatic 16y ago

The Intelligent Investor is good, however, it's a bit dated. It's from an age when values could be found by carefully checking the companies books (and or paper files) and finding it owned a utility that had a book value worth more than the stock of the owning company. Even Graham has said that for most people a low cost index fund is the way to go. Competing against a computerized/connected/inside information Wall Street is very hard and because of transaction costs (higher to the individual than the institution) winning stock trading strategies are non-trivial. However, Claude Shannon (famous computer science guy) was a pretty good investor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_criterion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_criterion Fortune's Formula http://www.amazon.com/Fortunes-Formula-Scientific-Betting-Casinos/dp/0809046377 http://www.amazon.com/Fortunes-Formula-Scientific-Betting-Ca... details some of Shannon's methods and covers some other interesting stories like LTCM, Mathematician Edward O. Thorp's black jack schemes and later his creation of the one of the first "computerized" hedge fund.

samuraicatpizza 16y ago
> The Intelligent Investor is good, however, it's a bit dated. I found this edition helpful in that regard: http://www.amazon.com/Intelligent-Investor-Definitive-Investing-Practical/dp/0060555661 http://www.amazon.com/Intelligent-Investor-Definitive-Invest... Each of Graham's chapters is followed by another chapter of interpretation/reflection on his advice in a modern context.
deleted 16y ago
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