Books for basics

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26th Sep '20 by plank

19 comments 823 reads

Hello

I have a very basic knowledge about investing and am looking for books to give me a reasonable understanding and a good foundation about investing.

There is so much out there it is impossible to know where to start.

Thanks

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About the Author

Plank

Premium Member

19 comments

shipoffrogs

26th Sep '20

The Warren Buffett Way by Robert G Hagstrom is easy to understand and tells you how the greatest evaluates companies to invest in.

This was one of the first books I read. I have read many since, but nothing comes close to this. Read it twice.

There are updated editions available but you could pick up second hand copies on a well known shopping site for pennies.
Good luck.

sharw

26th Sep '20

As you say there are too many to choose from. My three favourites are:

The Zurich Axioms by Max Gunther - trying to get the risk/reward balance right
One Up on Wall St. by Peter Lynch - a fund manager's 'How I did it' but written for beginners
Market Wizards by Jack Schwager - a series of interviews with successful investors/traders by the end of which you realise that there is no one successful way - you have to work out what will suit you.

whatmore1951

26th Sep '20

The most important thing by Howard Marks

Sovereign Individual

26th Sep '20

I would recommend all of the below but a great resource available for free is Warren Buffett’s letters located on the Berkshire Hathaway website:

Zulu principle - Jim Slater

Intelligent Investor - Ben Graham

Value Investing - Bruce Greenwald

Invest in the best - Keith Ashworth-Lord

The little book that beats the market - Joel Greenblatt

Investing the Templeton way - Lauren C. Templeton

100 Baggers - Christopher Mayer

The Dhando Investor - Mohnish Pabrai

Education of a value investor - Guy Spier

I’d also second One Up On Wall Street by Peter Lynch and Most Important Thing by Howard Marks.

Good Luck.

William K

27th Sep '20

The Financial Wisdom channel on Youtube reviews books on trading and investing. Alternatively check out the thread on this site. The reviews are 10-15 minutes. You might find something on there that appeals to you in addition to the other recommendations on this thread. I personally think that Random Walk on Wall Street by Burton Malkiel is a great place to start even though I don't agree with all of his conclusions.

Patxi

27th Sep '20

There are certainly some great books on investing already recommended here. However, I feel that many of them are aligned to a particular investing style, or a method used by one of the 'greats' (that worked well for them at a particular time / market conditions). Many will suggest The Value Investor but to be honest it is a long, dull read and I doubt it meets your requirements. I suspect it falls into the same category as Hawking's Brief History of Time - many copies sold but only a small number read from cover to cover.

I suggest 3 books that are really aimed at the novice investor:

The Naked Trader by Robbie Burns

How to Make Money in Stocks by William J O'Neil

and finally a lesser known book, but one that spells it out in plain English many things I wish I had been told about investing when I was starting out, Excellent Investing: How to Build a Winning Portfolio by Mark Simpson

bryaz

27th Sep '20

i just love your trading name i am sure you will find what you want take a look on this site plenty of freebies

HHR

27th Sep '20

In my opinion two things are needed to be a successful investor ;

i) a sound method
ii) the right psychological makeup

I have read most of the books mentioned above and I would concur in recommending these as a good match against method and a good partial match against psychology.

To these I would add two excellent books that address just the psychological aspects of investing ;
- Thinking Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0141033576/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=thinking+fast+and+slow&qid=1601211247&sr=8-1)

- Mistakes were made but not by me - Carol Tavris (don't be put off by the catchy title, it's a book with a high degree of scientific rigour) (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mistakes-Were-Made-but-Not/dp/1780662653/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=mistakes+were+made+but+not+by+me&qid=1601211301&sr=8-1)

plank

27th Sep '20

Thank you

plank

27th Sep '20

Thank you I will look these up

plank

27th Sep '20

Thank you

plank

27th Sep '20

Thanks - I have looked at the Jim Slater and Benjamin Graham books before but found some of it over my head. I need to persevere.

plank

27th Sep '20

I saw the channel recently and really liked it. Thanks I will look at the link too.

plank

27th Sep '20

Thanks I have just downloaded The Naked Trader on Audible on a 2 for 1 sale.

Anthony127

28th Sep '20

You may wish to consider the Great Investors by Glen Arnold. This contains biographies of many of the leading investors. The advantage of this book is that you can ascertain which of the Great Investors style and methods best suits your own temperament and personality, and then further study their methods.

A book which I recently re-read was 'The Joys of Compounding' by Gautam Baid. This focused on the power of compounding both your investments and lifelong learning, and I found it to be a very inspiring book.

Enjoy you investing.

Terry Dickens

28th Sep '20

I have been investing for over 15 years, and have a small library of investment books, over 100 now.
Some great books mentioned below, but I did not see the all-time classic " Reminiscences of a Stock Operator" by Edwin Lefevre published by John Wiley and sons. Originally published nearly 100 years ago. Some say one of the most highly regarded financial books ever written. I have read it three times now.

Another not so well known book is "Online Investing " 2ed edition by Jon D Markman, published by Microsoft Press. It is a bit old now but a good read especially the section on Screening.

Good reading and profitable investing.

Terry Dickens

28th Sep '20

Edward Croft

28th Sep '20

I think for beginners... these three to five are highly recommended:

The Naked Trader by Robbie Burns - great book for getting started safely and effectively in UK Stock Markets. Robbie uses Stockopedia a lot in his seminars and actually has screenshots of the site in his latest 5th edition - it's the first edition we're featured in - but please note I recommended this book for years before we featured in it.

The Little Book that Beats the Market by Joel Greenblatt - this explains classic "quality + value" investing from a Ben Graham / Buffett point of view. It also lays a nice foundation for thinking about ranking stocks - and thus the StockRanks - which are essentially inspired by this little book. Only 120 pages too.

How to Make Money in Stocks by William J O'Neil - probably one of the most eye opening books I ever read on markets and the first to make me realise that a high PE doesn't matter as long as [enter condition here]. I probably read it 20 years ago now. If it weren't for this book, the whole concept of "quality + momentum" investing wouldn't have bled it's way into my thinking. The second half is a bit of a sales pitch for IBD so be warned.

I also highly recommend the Zulu Principle by Jim Slater - it's a bit dated now, but the low PEG strategy is perennially excellent for UK stocks. Also One up on Wall Street by Peter Lynch - just buy it.

An under-rated recent gem is High Returns from Low Risk by Pim Van Vliet.... Insider Buy Super Stocks by Jesse Stine is another.

Honestly I could go on and on... haven't even got into the geekier ones I love... Robert Haugen, James O'Shaughnessy, Eric Falkenstein.

DWit199

29th Sep '20

There is a great quote in Carol Tavris' book. I have taken the liberty of changing its context from alien abduction to investing.

All of the investors I interviewed followed the same trajectory: once they started to suspect they'd found a story stock, there was no going back....Once the seed of belief was planted, once a story stock was even suspected, the investors began to search for confirmatory evidence. And once the search had begun, the evidence almost always turned up.

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Plank

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