Winning the Loser's Game by Charles D. Ellis
Winning the Loser's Game is considered by many to be the classic analysis of investing. Excellent financial planning is the premise of this bestseller. Individual investors can achieve far greater success working with financial markets than against them. The latest edition of this concise yet comprehensive classic offers updated strategies to leverage the power of time and compounding, protect against down cycles, and more.
A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton G. Malkiel
The eternal truth of this updated investment classic, originally published in 1973, is simple; you can't beat the market! Well, technically, you can beat the market, but not profitably, because the transaction costs and tax penalties of your brilliant trading will eat up the extra returns. You might beat the market by pure luck but you can't deliberately beat the market, because you can't predict future stock prices. You can't predict them by divining Wall Street's crowd psychology; or by charting trends in stock prices; or by doing lots of research on companies' business prospects. You can't predict them from hemlines or Super Bowl winners which he says, makes no sense. In fact, according to Efficient Market Theory, which states that all knowable information about a stock's value is already reflected in its share price, you can't predict them at all. Malkiel, a Princeton economist and professional investor, backs it all up with statistics, charts and studies. He gives an entertaining review of the history of market bubbles, panics and delusions of omniscience, from the Dutch tulip craze to the Beardstown Ladies. This edition looks at new wrinkles and provides a lucid overview of novel investment vehicles. Standing by his notorious claim that a blindfolded chimpanzee throwing darts at the NYSE listings could pick stocks as well as the Wall Street pros, Malkiel advises investors to buy and hold a diversified portfolio of funds that passively mirror the market. He sees no place for actively managed funds. His witty style and persuasive arguments will delight readers but alas, leave Wall Street unmoved.
Your Money Or Your Life by Joe Dominguez & Vicki Robin
There's a big difference between making a living and making a life. Do you spend more than you earn? Does making a living feel more like making a dying? Do you dislike your job but can't afford to leave it? Is money fragmenting your time, your relationships with family and friends? If so, Your Money or Your Life is for you.
From this inspiring book, learn how to
- get out of debt and develop savings
- reorder material priorities and live well for less
- resolve inner conflicts between values and lifestyles
- convert problems into opportunities to learn new skills
- attain a wholeness of livelihood and lifestyle
The Richest Man In Babylon by George S. Clason
This book holds the secrets to acquiring money, keeping money, and allowing money to earn more money.
Readers may already be familiar with George S. Clason's "Babylonian Parables." This book presents a sure path to prosperity and happiness. It offers an understanding of-and a solution to-your personal financial problems. The Richest Man in Babylon is a book you will want to read yourself, recommend to friends, and give to young people just starting out in life.
Facing Financial Dysfunction by Bert Whitehead, M.B.A., J.D.
"It is not hard to recognize some of the most common symptoms of financial dysfunction. Sometimes the symptoms are easy to identify, and sometimes you need to look deeper. Unlike in medicine, when a financially dysfunctional person learns to treat the symptoms, more often than not, the dysfunction will eventually go away.
Here are seven symptoms I see most often in my planning sessions:
1. Mortgage Aversion
2. Inappropriate Risk Reactions
3. Compulsive Spending or Excessive Debt
4. Poverty Mentality
5. Miser Mentality
6. Acute Financial Paranoia
7. Windfall Woes"
Common Sense on Mutual Funds by John C. Bogle
Invoking the words and spirit of Thomas Paine, investor-turned-historian John C. Bogle concedes that his ideas for revamping the mutual-fund industry are perhaps "not yet sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favor." He likens the ills and injustices suffered by investors to those our ancestors suffered under English tyranny. Mr. Bogle is the founder of The Vanguard Group and he makes a strong case for index funds with this exhaustive study of investing.
He begins with primer-like essays on investment strategy, championing mutual funds for their inherent investment value, and then grinding each point home with a bevy of graphs, charts, entertaining anecdotes and common sense. He repeatedly stresses time as a basic tenet for investing, listing some simple rules: "Time is your friend." "Impulse is your enemy." "Stay the course." Then he blasts fund managers, who he says have become marketers rather than managers.
The trade-off between the profits that accrue to fund shareholders and the profits that accrue to the fund management companies seems subject to no effective independent watchdog or balance wheel, despite the fact that the shareholders actually own the mutual funds.It's an interesting concept: smart, reasoned investors can all but secure their financial future, but the system itself, running unchecked by fund managers, needs a major overhaul. And considering the amount of reasoned, historically based support he includes, readers will have a hard time finding fault with the sometimes controversial Bogle. Equal parts instructional and crusade, Common Sense on Mutual Funds deserves the attention it's likely to receive.
Reno, NV 89519
(775) 827-0670
Fax: (775) 827-6481
E-Mail Joe
E-Mail Karen