The nickel version of A Random Walk Down Wall Street (which many folks here have recommended) is on Philip Greenspun's site: http://philip.greenspun.com/materi

The nickel version of A Random Walk Down Wall Street (which many folks here have recommended) is on Philip Greenspun's site: http://philip.greenspun.com/materialism/money http://philip.greenspun.com/materialism/money I'd like to call out one small part of that essay: "In every office there is at least one sorry loser checking the market every ten minutes, going home at night to read financial reports, running charts, and buying software to manage his complex portfolio. If he were a managing a $10 billion mutual fund, perhaps this effort would be worth it. But to try to beat the index by 2% with a portfolio of $50,000? That's $1,000 extra/year. Even assuming that he can get that extra 2%, he would have earned far more per hour working the night shift at the local 7-Eleven. Your time is valuable. If you must be greedy, then be greedy and smart and take a consulting job. Or enjoy the extra time with your friends and family. Don't waste it trying to beat the market."