(Part 2) Best foreign exchange books according to redditors

More books!

"The Millionaire Next Door" as I said is a must-read. For real estate, I actually learned a lot more just through Reddit and BiggerPockets than any books I read. Most of the books I read I would classify as entertainment rather than guides. I read this book on short sales after meeting the author on BiggerPockets and it's pretty useful. Tim Ferris' "The Four Hour Work Week" is a good book to read and steal mentality from, but with massive cautions; treat Tim as an eccentric madman and don't take his advice as gospel. He would tell anyone to just start an online business and then fly around the world blowing money. Trying to hype the reader up by encouraging rampant materialism is a big part of his writing style. Don't take the book too seriously, but there's a lot of really good mentality bits you can steal from it, specifically the stuff on the Pareto Principle.

I consider this book purely entertainment, but it was still a decent and easy read. I also read a book on Forex trading (this one) that taught me quite a bit on risk management and chart technicals, but I don't know that it's entirely relevant. I spent a few months trading Forex with extremely low-risk strategies and was averaging 1% a month, but I didn't like the disconnect I felt from the actual business, and I found I could make money faster in real estate (I'm doubling my net worth annually from buying the houses).

If you struggle with weight, read "Why We Get Fat" (or the bigger, harder read "Good Calories, Bad Calories") by Gary Taubes. It's the perfect book for INTJs and will completely spin your mind around on the concept of nutrition without being a dry read at all. It kept my attention the whole way through (Why We Get Fat, that is- GCBC is a dryer read and targeted at doctors, but even more informative). I would say "Why We Get Fat" is the book that had the biggest effect on my life. Even if Taubes simplifies things considerably, you quickly realize just how much nutrition advice is complete crap. I used to try to eat healthy by packing a bunch of bananas to work. No wonder losing weight was hard. (I am skinny now- didn't used to be.)


I'll send you anything else that pops in to my mind; this is just off the top of my head. I read a lot more online than actual books. FlyerTalk has the most credit card churning stuff, and BiggerPockets has the best real estate stuff. I subscribe to /r/investing , /r/realestate , /r/personalfinance , and /r/financialindependence.

Don't take anything as gospel; always analyze for yourself and ask "Why". If everyone tells you to do something a certain way, they're probably simultaneously right and wrong. It's probably the conservative option, it probably has the best risk/reward ratio, you probably can do better, but you'll probably get screwed if you try unless you're better than everyone else.

For example, most people shouldn't use credit cards for rewards. Why? The psychology aspect. It will trick you in to spending more than you would with cash or a debit card, unless you're disciplined enough to not let it. I am. So I use it. I wouldn't tell my poorer friends to get a credit card just for rewards...they'll screw up.

Common knowledge is like that. /r/investing will tell you to use nothing but index funds, or spread your money across 20 stocks. They're right to give that advice. Completely right. Most people try to be clever, but overcentralizing exposes you to too much risk and the vast majority of people who overcentralize in one stock get burned down in the end.

But when I suggested these real estate ideas with a throwaway to /r/investing, I was told "You aren't Warren Buffett" and that I shouldn't try and would lose everything. The groupthink becomes too strong.

My key advice:
Don't take advice as a law; figure out the principle behind that advice, and why that advice is given.


Oh! And learn to play Poker. Seriously...pick up a book or something, or find some serious players who will play serious games without money. (Don't gamble...but learn to judge risk/reward like a gambler. Poker is not true gambling. The best player will consistently win the majority of games.)

My main attempted ventures were foreign currency exchange. It's one of the easiest to get into and relies on a mix of statistical analysis and news analysis.

Sites:

http://www.babypips.com/

Stupid name, but takes everything step by step and has great tutorial for complete newbs.

Books:

Kathy Lien writes really good books on Forex:

http://www.amazon.com/Day-Trading-Swing-Currency-Market/dp/0470377364

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/047077035X/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1464571290&sr=1-2&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=Kathy+Lien&dpPl=1&dpID=51nNzKy09mL&ref=plSrch

My plan was to do some hardcore studying and practice using simulation sites, and once I could consistently turn a profit above 5 or 6% (less fees, etc), I would do it for real.

Good luck!