Best introduction in investing books according to redditors
We found 1,291 Reddit comments discussing the best introduction in investing books. We ranked the 294 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 1,291 Reddit comments discussing the best introduction in investing books. We ranked the 294 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing by Taylor Larimore is a great introduction to investing. It might look silly, but it's not a silly book.
It's intended for "normal people" with no background in economics. It explains the basics of the stock market, funds, ETFs, bonds, etc., as well as the basics of investment — risk management, compound returns, value investing/fundamental analysis, etc. — in simple, understandable terms.
"Boglehead" is a humorous term for people who espouse the investing philosophy of John C. Bogle, founder of Vanguard — the largest and most consumer-friendly provider of mutual funds in the U.S. — and creator of the first commercially available index fund. Bogleheads usually recommend a simple "three-fund portfolio" as a diversification strategy, based on the idea that index funds by design will, over time, give non-professionals the best returns, as opposed to individual stock picking.
Bogle himself wrote a bunch of books. The Little Book of Common Sense Investing is supposed to be great.
I used to sell annuities as a broker, yes this is the main reason. You are better off investing in a Roth IRA or some other retirement account first, then - if possible when you retire - obtain a variable annuity with a principle/income protection (just in case the market crashes, but you get more dough when it goes up, than fixed).
Long story short, read Bogleheads Guide to Investing or Bogleheads Guide to Retirement; sources:
The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118921283/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_d006Bb505YNH1
The Bogleheads' Guide to Retirement Planning https://www.amazon.com/dp/0470919019/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_z006Bb4QAZKBM
These two books are more than enough to give anyone the knowledge in terms of investing and retirement planning. Or just hit me up with questions, please note that I haven’t been licensed in almost a decade, because I had chosen not to renew my series 6 and 63. Anyway, I hope my post helps.
Edit: damn autocorrect.
A checking account is for paying your bills, that is it. You are correct 20K is way too much. IMHO the best place to put it is into a mutual fund of an IRA. Now that you no longer have an active 401K you want to talk to a retirement specialist about setting up such an account. You can roll your old 401K over into it as well.
You don't want your emergency fund in a vanilla savings account either. Put it in a money market account ( not the mutual fund kind ). You will only get a few shekels in interest, but the money will be liquid.
Read a copy of Get A Financial Life. It is written for people who aren't interested in reading about money, but it teaches you the basics of personal finance.
A very good reddit for advice on personal finance:
/r/personalfinance
Since you are going to own a small business you might want to read up on money management for that too.
Buy and read these books (first):
Bogle on Mutual Funds https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/111908833X/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Bogleheads Guide to Investing
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1118921283/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The Four Pillars of Investing
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0071747052/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
After reading those, download Robinhood and put $100 in (no more) and play around for like 6 months before even thinking about trying to play with larger amounts.
-- OR - skip Robinhood and download "Betterment" and just slowly put money in there and build some wealth.
Happy Learning.
Rich Dad Poor Dad catches a lot of flak, but it's actually really good at teaching the absolute basics in an easy-to-follow manner. Like, learn what a Cash Flow Statement is, increase your asset column, learn basic accounting language, separate emotions and money, minimize taxes. Just glean the overall principles he's teaching and don't blindly follow his specific strategies.
The Richest Man in Babylon is another great, easy to read, investing 101 book.
And The Millionaire Next Door is a research-based book on Millionaires in America and what kind of habits and mindsets got them to their current wealth. It's a wonderfully refreshing read after being brainwashed by tv and movies saying that millionaires won it or stole it and live lavish lives. Most actual millionaires are pretty frugal and hard working with modest lives.
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And here are some resources to help you learn all the new words and concepts:
-- Microeconomics
-- Macroeconomics
-- Finance
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And when you get pretty familiar with the basics and want to start messing with stuff, I've enjoyed the Think or Swim paper money route. They give you $200,000 in fake money to play around with and invest and practice your strategies. It helps you get acquainted with the research and the interface and the fees for investing. It's a wonderful tool.
And then The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham is supposed to be a pretty good comprehensive guide the advanced basics (is that a term?) of investing.
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Or if you want to skip alllll of this and just hire someone, I've read in those subreddits that you want to find a fee based financial adviser. Which you can do here.
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I hope I've helped man! It's a lot of fun to learn about. I wish you all the best.
First things first: ground yourself. You make great money, and, besides some irrational fears about things collapsing left and right, seem to have your shit together. Stop being afraid of what could happen with the economy or the stock market in the short term, and prepare your personal finances for the long haul. After all, that's your stated goal: "make sure my little one is reasonably comfortable when he turns 21 and my wife and I aren't too broke when we retire."
> investment related seem to be very different now in 2016
No, not really. The fundamentals of modern money management and investing are more or less the same today as they were in the 1930s -- spend less than you earn, save money for emergencies, and buy and hold investments for retirement. This is really, really easy to do. Buy a copy of The Boglehead's Guide to Investing. Read it cover to cover, take the best bits and leave the rest. It'll give you a solid rubric onto which you can act.
> at least 40% of my income is going to the various taxes in Japan without any apparent benefit to me or my family
"Apparent" here is the operative word. Emegency and public services are funded, the streets get cleaned, the roads get paved, the sidewalks are kept is usable shape, and a good chunk of your medical coverage is paid for by the taxes you pay in Japan. Without the civilization built around you you'd have a bigger problem than paying taxes. Taxes aren't always merely pissing away money with absolutely no return.
TLDR; stop being chicken little, read a book, educate yourself, and you'll sleep better with a fool-proof plan for your financial future.
You really need to read the personal finance wiki.
First, get some tax advantaged savings going. You have a lot of options, but picking any option is better than picking no options. While you are educating yourself, here are some alright choices you can make for this year:
Open a ROTH IRA
Does your company have a 401K? You need to get money into it.
At the end of the year, you will have reduced your pre-tax income by $18500 and you will have $5500 in an account you can withdraw from tax free after you turn 59.5 years old. The ROTH IRA will grow tax free from now until when you retire.
NEXT STEP: GET EDUCATED
A good introduction is this:
https://www.amazon.com/Neatest-Little-Guide-Market-Investing/dp/0452298628
Lays it all out in basic understandable terms, and also provides brief summaries of the most significant people in investing: Buffett, Graham, etc
A lot of people downvoting renting and saying getting a mortgage is a sound personal finance decision need to wake up. Here is an amoritzation schedule on a 30 year $160,000 loan (loan amount after 20% down on a $200k house; a decent house in the midwest) with a 3.8% interest rate. You wind up paying $108k in interest. You do not make money on a property you are living in. You barely wind up paying more on the principal than you do in interest 12 years into the loan.
Golgatem has no fucking clue what they are talking about and apparently also does not have the faintest idea of the "true" costs of home ownership are. The reason so many people lost their homes in the real estate crash/recession was because they approached things the way Golgatem did. Get your heads out of your asses and stop thinking just because you were born in 'Murica you're entitled to a nice house with a picket fence. You should be aiming to have a positive net worth not renting a bunch of shit from the bank.
I would recommend you check out Get a Finance Life: Personal Finance in your 20s and 30.
You should read A Random Walk Down Wall Street.
The main takeaway is that nobody can consistently beat the market and you will likely come out behind if you try. Instead, you should invest in the entire market and go along for the ride. And diversification lowers risk.
VTSAX is an index fund for the entire US stock market so it's very diversified.
VTIAX is the complimentary fund for the rest of the world outside the US stock market.
Both are actually components of the Vanguard Target Retirement funds (along with their US and International Bond funds)
Rather than use a Target Retiement fund, I follow the "lazy portfolio" concept of self-managed investing for retirement...
https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Lazy_portfolios
Specifically, the three-fund lazy portfolio...
https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Three-fund_portfolio
...which includes VTSAX, VTIAX, and VBTLX as the three funds.
Another reason people sometimes prefer VTSAX over Target Retirement funds is when the fund is held in a taxable brokerage account. Target Retirement funds include bonds and bonds aren't considered "tax-efficient" investments so it's not optimal to hold them in a taxable account. It's better to hold bonds in a traditional 401k or traditional IRA.
More info...
https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Tax-efficient_fund_placement
Edit corrected the years to nearly 70 from nearly 60. Did anyone else know it's 2016 and not 2006?
>The rich pocket the money
Here's a book for them
Your rent is really quite high, but it's Vancouver so I get it.
One thing that looks possibly missing is budgeting for longer term or infrequent regular expenses. This might be things like:
Perhaps not high on your list, but if it's your thing, setting some monthly budget for charitable donations is a good idea. Alternatively, just have a budgeted "flex" category that can include this, so that you aren't off-budget for random purchases ( within reason ).
Move-out expenses: I've got about a $1000 bill for IKEA furniture in the 1 bedroom place I live in now. This did not include a bed ( additional ~$800). You can certainly do this cheaper (kijiji etc.), but budgeting $2000 or so would be a comfortable start. It sounds like you have the savings to do so. You'll want a good set of cookware, cutlery, plates, and kitchen knives as well, which could set you back a couple hundred, depending on quality and sales.
Retirement savings: Typical suggestion is 10-20% of your pre-tax income. Since you have a defined benefit pension, you could aim for the low end, if you expect to stay in this position long enough to get full value out of the pension. $600 / month would not be a bad starting point. At 7% yearly growth, starting from zero, this would get you to savings of 1.5 million at age 65. 4% withdrawal rate gives a retirement income of $63,000 a year which inflation adjusts to about $30,000. Disregarding the DB pension, if you include CPP of ~$7000 / year, this would give you enough in retirement to more than cover your current expenses.
For your current savings, you should keep an emergency fund of about 3 - 6 months income in a regular savings account that is easy to access. This is to cover you if something unexpected happens like you lose your job, or have to take extended time off to help a family member, or have some unexpected bills. As somebody who owns neither a car nor a house, your "unexpected bills" are likely to be less frequent and smaller, so you could aim for the lower range of this. I would keep at least $20,000 for an emergency fund though.
For the rest of it, you need to decide what your long term goals are. If you intend to buy a car in near future (5 years), then you should keep an appropriate amount of money in a savings account, or other guaranteed instruments (such as GICs). GICs often (sometimes?) pay more interest than savings accounts, but have specific maturity dates. If you pull the money out before then, you forfeit all / some of the interest (depending on the terms of the particular GIC). If you think you will buy a car in 3 years, don't buy a GIC with a 5 year maturity date. If you intend to buy a house in the future, basically the same story. Keep the appropriate down-payment savings in a savings account or GIC so that there is no chance of losing it before you need it. Stock market investments are great in the long term, but for short term savings there is too much fluctuation, and you could be underwater when you need the money.
If a car, house, or other large purchase (Planned big vacation, wedding, etc?) is not coming in the near future, then you should invest the rest for retirement. I recommend you pick up the book "A random walk down wall street" for more information about how you should be investing for retirement. The short version is to get a low-fee online brokerage account (I use TD direct investing), buy ETF index funds, and just hold them. No day-trading or "I think this will go down tomorrow, I'm going to sell and buy it back then!".
Hold my beer
Firstly, have a read of the investment order for new investors.
Then, if you have an emergency fund and no debts (besides HECS/HELP), then
These are where a lot of the info in the above site came from, minus the Australian-ised part. I'd recommend them too, they're excellent.
JL Collins Stock Series
Road Map for Investing Success
Passive investing guide - Monevator
Bogleheads
If you prefer books to sites (often laid out better), then
The Simple Path to Wealth - JL Collins
The Bogleheads' Guide to the Three-Fund Portfolio
Realize that you always need to be learning and taking in new information. You will never "master" the market, nobody else has mastered it either, so take others' opinions with a grain of salt.
As much as people joke around here it can be a good way to spur new thought. If someone says the market will crash in 3 days? Why? Do you agree? If so, why? What data can you come up with to support that? (Etc, etc). Your goal should be to become knowledgeable enough to look at the economic landscape and come up with a personal opinion about what will happen next.
Once you have an informed hypothesis on what will occur then you make investments based on those convictions.
Web resources:
http://markets.wsj.com/
http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/stocks/futures
https://www.tradingview.com/
http://seekingalpha.com/
WSB Cheatsheet = www.3xetf.com
Read. All the famous investors started reading at a young age and read ferociously (ok maybe not all but most).
Go to the library if you can, they generally will have all the quality investing tomes, without some of the "get rich quick manuals" which only benefit the authors.
Here is a few books to start with:
Most of this stuff is investment theory. To be a successful investor as an average American, without a job in the finance industry, you probably don't have to read all of those books. If you really want to get into investing, that's a good place to start.
Also, the Bogleheads book is a great one to start with because you can decide if you really are interested in investing. If not, that book is good personal financial advice regardless who you're getting paid. It will benefit the regular American.
"Dow 36,000: The New Strategy for Profiting from the Coming Rise in the Stock Market", 1999
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0812931459
"Dow 40,000: Strategies for Profiting from the Greatest Bull Market in History", 1999
https://www.amazon.com/Dow-40-000-Strategies-Profiting/dp/0071351280
"Dow 100,000: Fact or Fiction", 1999
https://www.amazon.com/Dow-100-000-Fact-Fiction/dp/0735201374
Qualifications: grew up in a very modest (i.e. lower) part of town, parents worked in blue-collar professions, and started buying a rental property in the 1960's, then dad passed away (with four kids). Now definitely intergenerational wealth, all kids went to college in STEM, parents in their 90's (step-dad helped build up RE holdings to 36 units) with holdings in the 8-figures. No I haven't inherited any of it (yet) but well into middle age myself, make very good money (and will leave it at that), and have a few RE holdings.
> I'll have manager experience. I'm also reading a book called "real estate investing for dummies" and I just finished "rich Dad poor Dad"
Good for you, I didn't start reading books on anything finance related until well into my 20's, and then I read a lot of very good books. I don't think much of Kiyosaki, frankly, but as Brian Tracy said 'to earn more you must learn more'. So don't stop, keep on reading, and especially books over blog posts and short pieces. Why? Books will have more complex ideas and more research to back it up.
Regarding your game plan: you did not indicate what you are interested in doing, and what you do well, and what people will pay you to do, and what the world needs. Take a look at this ikigai graphic. Not sure if you know that welding or sales is this for you, and of course there are other things you may grow into. But hey if you have a good idea that this is the path you want to take, good for you!
I came here to say about sales, few salespeople are on Reddit, they are very busy making lots of money to talk about it. In my own (technical) sales field base runs from $65K up to $120K with another 40% commission, but you need to have the right background (STEM college degree, experience as a customer, and aptitude for outside sales) so barriers to entry are high. So yes, six figures in your late 20's is achievable, and it does take a lot of hard work, no doubt!
Of course owning your own business as a contractor, or becoming a top welder, or tons of other things you could do, I know of plenty of people who do very well.
Regarding the end goal, admirable, and I say your thinking is in the right place. The road to FI is varied - real estate is a very good method (the way my parents went, they bought low and held onto their properties in a HCOL area), investing into index funds another good method (again read books like Boglehead's Guide to Investing, or another favorite of mine on the sidebar called The Richest Man in Babylon) The amount these books can make you over five or ten years is a lot. Over 15 or 25 years is huge.
> Even if I don't get to enjoy it
I see many piling on here saying 'you should enjoy it' but I didn't interpret this comment in that way. You realize it's a road not many take (too many live way beyond their means, and don't have savings / passive income / true wealth to show for it). Yes there's sacrifice, and it takes a long time to build up $1,500 in monthly passive income much less $15,000, but people do this and often you cannot tell. (For example, look up the book The Millionaire Next Door.)
Are you on the right path? Definitely YES. The path to financial independence starts with a mindset, and the fact you are asking the question puts you out in front of all the peers of yours who are thinking about lots of other things, which you know all too well.
Will you make mistakes along the way? Of course, we are all human. The important thing is mindset, and the great thing of being younger is that you have time to make other choices, and learn along the way.
> OP needs to seek out a trained financial adviser.
Don't. Financial advisers are mostly just salesmen, and most sell shitty products with high fees. It's impossible to navigate which ones are good and which ones aren't unless you know finance yourself, in which case, you will no longer need a financial adviser and can invest yourself for the lowest fees (use Vanguard for the lowest fees).
It's really not all that complicated to invest if you play the game of diversification and just try to get the average market return. Trying to beat the market is another game (a game which we who are interested in bitcoin are playing) and takes another level of sophistication.
Just read these two books and you'll know all you need to know to invest your own money well for the lowest fees. That is if you're playing the simple diversify-and-get-average-market-return game.
The Investor's Manifesto: Preparing for Prosperity, Armageddon, and Everything in Between
A Random Walk down Wall Street: The Time-tested Strategy for Successful Investing
I'm rereading the book Get a Financial Life which taught me about a lot of the things I never learned at school or from my parents. It's a good place to answer your questions about what to do with your money, and these are the basics you can teach your son over the years. It helped me out immensely ~10 years ago, would recommend. Maybe it's even at your library for free.
PDF
Updated version for Kindle through Amazon
It's a solid starting point. At times it feels like a sales pitch for Vanguard, but it's still not bad advice. It does have good info on the basics though.
If you're just looking to learn instead of fulfilling a degree requirement then it is a probably more useful to pickup a book and do it yourself.
Some useful subs:
Some useful books:
The takeaway is that when it comes to investing there is no secret that will make you rich overnight. Picking random stocks hoping they suddenly shoot up is no different than gambling. Even the most well paid people in finance with all of their years of schooling cannot consistently beat the market.
Investing is a long term commitment.
"cannot tell the future or predict the market"
"when the price drops back down again"
Can't have both. You're trying to time the market if you do it and will lose in the long run even if you get lucky a few times. It's like playing Blackjack, the house has an edge (in this case, I guarantee you whoever is on the other side of the trade knows more than you do).
If you're saving for the future, you do not change your behavior with the movements of the market. Otherwise you're just another day trader.
I suggest you read A Random Walk Down Wall Street and try to perish these thoughts from your mind.
A fucking book.
No kids, mortgage, etc? If so then in order or priority:
At this stage saving money (accumulation) is way more important than asset allocation (stocks, bonds, CDs, etc.)
Buy this book and read it
Get A Financial LIfe. A personal finance book for people who don't like reading about money and who are just starting out in the world.
In general you should establish an emergency fund before you move onto other financial projects. Ideally, you should be able to live off of your emergency fund for 3 months should you lose your job or otherwise be unable to work.
Check out The Simple Path To Wealth. Can't recommend the book enough.
If you want to know how Warren Buffett invests just read "The Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham https://www.amazon.com/Intelligent-Investor-Definitive-Investing-Essentials/dp/0060555661
After that read "Security Analysis" by Graham and Dodd. With these 2 books alone you will have a deep understanding of how to invest like Buffett.
https://www.amazon.com/Security-Analysis-Foreword-Buffett-Editions/dp/0071592539/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=security+analysis&qid=1565532515&s=books&sr=1-2
TLDR: Benjamin Graham was Buffett's mentor, taught him how to invest, and wrote everything down in his books so that you can do the same. Also you could just buy BRK.B (or BRK.A if you've got the cash) shares and let Buffett do all the work for you.
Sub about Value Investing /r/SecurityAnalysis/
Some background info if you're interested... after Warren Buffett graduated from Penn he applied to Harvard for graduate school but was rejected and ended up at Columbia University instead. Ben Graham was one of his professors at Columbia. Graham was incredibly intelligent, he grew up poor in NYC and received a full scholarship to attend Columbia and by the time he graduated he was offered tenure as a professor in 3 separate departments (Mathematics, English, and Philosophy) but he declined those offers and went off to Wall Street instead where he was credited at the time for creating systems on how on invest based off of specific signals and criteria instead of blindly gambling in the market. Graham later returned to academia because he wanted to write a book on the investing techniques he created. This is when Buffett and Graham crossed paths at Columbia. Buffett studied Graham's investing style and it obviously worked out well for him, he credits Graham to this day as being his mentor and says he still reads The Intelligent Investor every so often.
A Random Walk Down Wall Street
I'd read A Random Walk Down Wall Street first. Then Intelligent Investor before Security Analysis.
The first book I read when I was a n00b was The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing. It's pretty simple and basic and made for total beginner's.
Also, you may want to read Reminiscences of a Stock Operator at some point.
Also, check out Robert Shiller's Financial Markets course.
Stock Charts is a good online introduction to technical and fundamental analysis.
Have fun!!
Edit: correction
Unless you need complicated estate planning advice, there is no reason not to DIY.
Read this book: https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/1118921283/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2/134-5701116-1803216?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1118921283&pd_rd_r=753f1a8f-a96d-11e9-ae12-fbad7273ae80&pd_rd_w=HT0vn&pd_rd_wg=FztaG&pf_rd_p=a2006322-0bc0-4db9-a08e-d168c18ce6f0&pf_rd_r=FT6KAPX3YW3PYSFVN14X&psc=1&refRID=FT6KAPX3YW3PYSFVN14X
Or TL/DR version: https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Three-fund_portfolio
If you are just setting up a Roth IRA and want to get started, go on Vanguard/Fidelity/Schwab and buy a target date fund close to your retirement date. Done.
Paying loads and buying high cost mutual funds is beyond silly in 2019.
Read "A Random Walk Down Wall Street" (http://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/0393340740)
\> This is not a financial problem, this is a trauma problem.
Perfectly said.
OP, in therapy you can talk about your experiences growing up with financial worries. A good therapist can help you explore how those experiences affected you and help you identify the narratives you tell yourself as a result.
It sounds like the financial hyper-awareness has actually served a very useful purpose for you so far. You did well in school and worked your way into a good career. But there's a saying: "What got you here won't get you there." Now your anxiety around finances is holding you back, and you would be better served by spending less energy worrying about finances while still putting a plan in place to responsibly manage your finances.
A therapist can also help you retrain your thinking. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is one type of therapy which is aimed at retraining negative automatic thoughts. You identify negative thoughts and write them down, then apply techniques from the CBT toolbox to understand why those thoughts are distorted and replace them with more adaptive thoughts that better reflect reality.
The key point is that your brain won't let you simply choose to stop thinking a negative thought, because there's usually a kernel of truth. You need to replace the negative thought with a new thought that also true but is more adaptive.
So for example, when you think:
\> I'm suddenly gonna lose all my money at the blink of an eye
You can write that thought down, then look at a list of cognitive distortions and identify things like "all or nothing thinking" and "jumping to conclusions". From there you can identify potentially useful CBT techniques. Some techniques work better for certain types of cognitive distortions. So you might try techniques like exploring "What's the worst that would happen? How would I need to react if I actually lost all my money?", or you might try keeping count of unwanted thoughts to make yourself better at noticing them as they appear. There are dozens of techniques.
I'll note that studies have actually shown that CBT from a book can be just as effective as CBT with a therapist. I'd recommend finding a therapist if you're able, because they can help in ways that a book can't. But it's worth mentioning for anyone who isn't able to see a therapist, or isn't sure whether their therapist is any good.
You can just open up the book, start reading, and do the exercises. The key is that you can't just skim the book. You have to actually do the work and write down your answers.
Here's a good book on CBT:
https://www.amazon.com/When-Panic-Attacks-Drug-Free-Anxiety/dp/076792083X
Here is a good blog post on how to find a therapist:
https://blog.valerieaurora.org/2016/04/17/howto-therapy-what-psychotherapy-is-how-to-find-a-therapist-and-when-to-fire-your-therapist/
Finally, one way to feel more in control is to learn more about managing your finances. I'd recommend reading a good book on personal finance, like this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/1118921283
And then I'd recommend writing out an "investing policy statement". Basically it's a written statement describing your financial goals and long term plan of how to attain them. You're effectively writing instructions for your future self. This can help put worrying to rest. For example, you can consult the statement to remind yourself that you planned to save $___/month toward a house and $___/month toward retirement. If you are meeting your goals, you shouldn't feel guilty about spending money on things you enjoy.
Here's a blog post describing an investing policy statement:
https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/how-to-write-an-investing-personal-statement/
Pyramid scheme recruiters know who to target: anyone who's young, naive, or struggling with money. I know at this point that's pretty much an entire generation's worth of people in Vancouver, but don't underestimate the power of desperation.
Here's a quick cheat sheet to figure out if the new person you just met is a pyramid scheme/MLM recruiter:
But seriously, when in doubt, just use google.
The younger you start savings the better off you'll be. Even if it's just a little every day.
http://www.businessinsider.com/amazing-power-of-compound-interest-2014-7
READ: The Richest Man in Babylon
READ: Rich Dad Poor Dad
Do this, and you'll be ready to be on your own.
throwaway (despite the name) is legit.
If you want to know more about the stock market and why index funds are where it's at, check out A Random Walk down Wall Street. You learn things like 80% of "managed" mutual funds perform worse than index funds. not only that, managed funds charge much more in the way of fees, effectively charging you more to lose money. He also investigates if the stock market is correlated with fashionable skirt length in women or the superbowl champion (yes these are real theories).
If you want to learn more about personal finance, check out The Richest Man in Babylon. To this day one of my favorite books. If you let money be your master, you will always be a slave. If you are the master of your money, no one can ever own you. fuck yeah.
My stepdad is a financial advisor and he recommends this book for young people: Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in your 20s and 30s.
The Bogleheads' Guide To Investing. First book I read about investing, does a great job explaining concepts and actually teaching IMO, especially for someone not familiar with investing. Can read it from front to back cover and learn a lot.
https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore-ebook/dp/B00JUV01RW
YNAB flow chart.
First off - either in YNAB, Google Sheets, or with pen & paper - write out EVERYTHING you spend money on. Check your bank statement to help you. This
is what mine looks like.
Now, dig deeper if you haven't already . Don't just estimate how much you will spend on gifts - set a budget for those people you enjoy gifting to. What does that look like - how much are you spending? write it out! Set a budget for anyone you gift to! Here is mine.
Have Credit Card debt? Make sure to stop using those RIGHT NOW! Begin paying those off ASAP.
TIP: not sure how much your bills will cost you? OVER budget! My Electric bill is $22 a month in non summer months. but my bill come summer and the AC is on comes out to be $50-60 per month. So i budget $40 year round. This evens out. Be conservative on all your numbers.
Great! Forgetting anything? Add it when you think of it.
"Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship."
Once you have your expenses laid out - make sure you are spending less than you are making. YNAB won't help you if you don't help your self realize what your financial priority is. Is it makeup and shoes or is it Saving 6 month worth of an emergency fund & eventually a house. Be wise. Only you can help you.
Now that you know how much 1 month of living costs you and your debit is paid down or off - multiple the 1 month by 3months. Say the month costs you 3K x 3 = $9K Emergency Fund. Now you have a financial goal . /r/personalfinance can really help you determine what goal fits you best. This was just an example. I personally am trying to grow a 6 month E-fund.
Determine how quickly you can afford to meet that goal of a 3 month emergency fund. Will it take you 4 months or 12 months? How ambitious are you? Are you willing to not buy clothes for a few months? Again, this is where you have to determine YOUR goals and what track you want to be on. This has nothing to do with YNAB but read Rich Dad Poor Dad. Figure out what you want to do and want in life.
Once you have your expenses broken down into a monthly budget. Input that data into YNAB. Rent, Electric, Internet, - assign a monthly goal - why not? You know how much you need each month so assign the goal.
This is what my YNAB currently looks like. Organize yours how you see fit. I like to organize based on Priority and Due Date. It's just what works for me.
Notice "Gift Giving" This way doesn't work for everyone - some might say it's over kill but it's what works for me! It's what i need to realize my financial priority. I assign every gift a Goal by date - Generally 1 month before i plan to give the gift so i have 1 month to shop. Example i budget xmas for atleast November so i have 1 month to shop for gifts.
TIP: Don't buy anything makeup, shoes, etc impulsively. Add and Itemize everything to a Wish Farm Category . Hands down one of the best things I did. Makes you realize how many things you thought you wanted but for sure can live with out because there is other things you NEED.
If you have any questions let me know. YNAB has changed my life for the better - got me on the right track and I know you are on the right track just because you have posted on this sub but you have to commit to using YNAB DAILY!!!!! Every time you a financial transaction happens - log it! Every time you have inflow of cash (get paid) Assign every dollar to your true essentials not things that don't help you.
Don't neglect the YNAB blog - they have a bountiful amount of information on the proper way YNAB works.
Ich habe jedes dieser Bücher gelesen und kann es empfehlen. Ich würde jedes davon wieder kaufen und wieder lesen.
Felicitaciones, cuida mucho la plata y retirate jóven que la vida es para vivirla!
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/02/22/getting-rich-from-zero-to-hero-in-one-blog-post/
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-simple-math-behind-early-retirement/
https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/1118921283/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486170196&sr=8-1&keywords=bogleheads+guide+to+investing
Start by buying yourself a copy of the Boglehead Guide to Investing. It will be the best $20 expense you'll ever have in investing. Beyond that, we don't know much about you or what your investing goals are.
It really depends which kind of saver/investor you are.
My recommendation is to start from with the bogleheads wiki:
and then read their book:
you will find the majority of relevant info there. you can worry about the specifics later.
Has anyone read The Index Card? I just listened to the Freakonomics podcast featuring the author and it seems like it might be a better primer to give away as gifts to my nieces/nephews compared to Dave Ramsey (I like most of his concepts, not the evangelizing).
A Ramdom Walk Down Wall Street
"The neatest little guide to stock market investing" might be what you're looking for. I haven't read it but I just picked it up off my book shelf and it looks like it covers the basics of how and why the markets work, common valuation ratios, brokers, how to make different types of orders...
If their stock dropped 61% because apple pulled out - they don't have a bright future. You sound like the kind of person interested in investing in coal.
Edit: Educate yourself: https://www.amazon.com/Security-Analysis-Foreword-Buffett-Editions/dp/0071592539
The past is not an indication of the future in investing. You are speculating, one of the worst things you could do as an investor - here, educate yourself some more: https://www.amazon.com/Intelligent-Investor-Definitive-Investing-Essentials/dp/0060555661
Before you even go to a financial advisor or one that any Redditor might post to recommend as friends, go borrow these books from the library for a read so the investment world makes sense to you when you do talk about money with a planner and want to make sure you're getting good advice:
http://www.amazon.com/Intelligent-Investor-Definitive-Investing-Practical/dp/0060555661
http://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/0393081435
http://www.amazon.com/Warren-Buffett-Way-Second/dp/0471743674
If you're really lazy, at least read the first one.
If you're really, really lazy. Follow this blog for a bit http://canadiancouchpotato.com/
After that, only then should you take referrals and recommendations. Go to a few, and armed with some knowledge, you'll be much prepared to sift through advisors that are trying to bullshit you for front-loaded commissions, etc.
Judging from the broadness of your question, I'd suggest buying (or checking out from the library) a couple of books about investing. Start with the basics like: Charles Schwab, Peter Lynch, and Burton G. Malkiel. Right now, education is probably the best investment you can make (besides enjoying your life).
Ninja edit: It's good to be thinking and asking about investing, but, if you are serious about investing a serious chunk of money, learn the basics for yourself. You'll be better prepared to make the best decision for your money and your lifestyle.
Disclaimer: I'm mid20s guy with less invested in shares than I have in my super. The following is what I did to get started in investing which sounds like you're about where I was a year or two ago.
First of all; depending on your circumstances be aware that ING Direct's or ME Bank's savings accounts are currently giving 3.00% interest which might be better than your term deposit if you don't want to go whole hog into shares right away. (ING Direct also does $50 bonus referral codes so expect a flood of PMs now that I've mentioned this)
-----
As for books:
/r/FI's wiki makes some good recommendations from what I've read of them
>Investing
>* The Bogleheads Guide to Investing
The lowest barrier to entry would be that "acorns" app but I strongly recommend taking the couple days to make a CMC account or some other online brokerage with low fees and buy ETFS through that instead so that you're actually learning how it all works and not just pressing buttons on an app. Link it up with free Sharesight account for pretty graphs and easy tax reporting and that should teach you more about "having a share portfolio" than the majority of the population.
Obviously this subreddit and /r/fiaustralia in the sidebar are worth keeping an eye on for insight from people with more skin in the game than me.
-------------------
Now, the other option is you want to ACTIVELY trade that $1k. If you've read some of Bogle's explanations on why that's a bad idea, realised you'll be competing against people with much bigger budgets and a full time job anaysing these things and understand that even at CMC's low $13 flat fee you're losing 1.3% of your $1k packet with every trade then you'll need advice from someone other than me.
Personally the best investment I think I have made so far was my $1k of "beer money" that I threw into bitcoin. Not because it made a good return, but because after months of careful analysis, frequent trading and keeping an ear to the ground on new alt coins I turned my 3.5 bitcoin into 1.05. I didn't end up losing a cent thanks to other factors but seeing how badly my "high risk, high gain, actively managed portfolio" went I'm ecstatic that I learned my lesson with $1k and not with my self-managed super fund at 57 y/o like several people I know.
TL;DR: Anything by John Bogle
A Random Walk Down Wall Street
https://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-down-Wall-Street/dp/0393352242/ref=dp_ob_title_bk
I'm kind of in the same boat. The folks at /r/personalfinance suggested A Random Walk Down Wall Street, which I'm about 20 pages into. It gets updated every so often, so the info should be pretty current. Seems pretty good so far.
You owe it to yourself to understand what you are actually buying when you "invest in the market." A Random Walk Down Wall Street cannot be recommended highly enough. Check out the newest edition from your local library.
You'll hear this a thousand times but read A Random Walk Down Wall Street. It has a good overview of America's market history, specifically the last decade. Make sure you buy a revised version.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0393352242/ref=dp_ob_neva_mobile
Some people may suggest Intelligent Investor and Securities Analysis but I found them very dated.
Also here is the r/personalfinance reading list:
https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/readinglist
In your situation (single, making $350K/year), plowing most of your income into savings makes perfect sense. Income is much more volatile than it was a generation ago. Peter Gosselin.
Andrew Tobias (The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need) suggests practicing delayed gratification--you get a surprising amount of satisfaction from having something to look forward to, not just from the thing itself. You want to have a standard of living that gradually increases over time, not one that's flat or declining. It doesn't make sense to have EVERYTHING RIGHT NOW, because then you wouldn't have anything to look forward to.
I like to use a hypothetical budget. Pretend that you make only $65K/year, and you're saving 10% of that (putting $6500 into an RRSP). According to this tax calculator, your after-tax income would be about $53,000. $6500 of that goes into savings, leaving $47,000 for spending. Then figure out how you want to allocate that money. Over time, you can gradually increase your hypothetical budget.
The other reason for restraining your spending with a hypothetical budget is that it makes it far faster to achieve financial independence (the point at which your investment income, at a 4% or 5% nominal return, is enough to cover your annual spending).
Dating may also be easier if your lifestyle isn't too extravagant. It's probably easier to relate to someone who has a regular middle-class lifestyle, not some crazy rich-person lifestyle.
For more on how rich people often maintain a regular standard of living, see The Millionaire Next Door.
More specific budgeting advice: you may want to review your transportation budget. If you buy a new car for $30,000 every five years, you probably want to allocate $6000 each year, not zero for four years and then $30,000 in year five. Your repairs and maintenance budget also seems low.
There are a few schools of thought. On one side is the BRRRR method, where you leverage your properties to build your portfolio. Its riskier, but allows you to build quickly.
Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat: The BRRRR Rental Property Investment Strategy Made Simple https://www.amazon.com/dp/1947200089/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_JQSHDbXM4BE7R
The other end of the spectrum is Dave Ramsey's method, of paying cash in full for all your properties. It ties up your cash, but, if the market takes a down turn, you can afford to rent it out for the then market rates. Its far less risky, and slow to start, but most of your rental income is profit. And once you get a few paid for properties, the income starts rolling and you can build as big as you want.
The Total Money Makeover Workbook: Classic Edition: The Essential Companion for Applying the Book's Principles https://www.amazon.com/dp/1400206502/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_8SSHDbWCFDPG8
This one was on a list of recommend books
The Book on Rental Property Investing: How to Create Wealth and Passive Income Through Intelligent Buy & Hold Real Estate Investing! https://www.amazon.com/dp/099071179X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_yoSHDbKZR7WT0
Boglehead's Guide to Investing
Ich hab's nicht gelesen - vielleicht The Bogleheads' gGuide to Investing? Oder eines der anderen Bücher auf dieser Liste?
A lot of people feel strongly that Bogleheads.org provides a sound strategy. They have a book as well.
Read this First - This is an infograph that summarizes every financial blog/book I've looked at.
Books I've read that have been very helpful
Books I haven't read but ppl reference:
Sites to Reference:
Reddit: (Search Top Posts All Time)
/r/financialindependence
/r/Personalfinance
/r/FinancialPlanning
yaaaaa... this kid is the classic example of a money burner
He has minimal work experience as an 18 year old. Fortunately for me i joined when i was 23 so i was a little more level headed about spending but im worried for him
someone else here linked this book and since i know he wont read it, maybe i will to give him some tips along the way
The best thing you can do is read and then read some more! Find those articles about investing and start learning the language. You can probably find what you need from a couple of books at the library or you can find them on Amazon but if you need help understanding it, then get help. You can call an investment broker in your area and schedule a meeting. They will usually spend some time with you for free in hopes that you will invest with them in the future.
[Mandatory link to Bogle type book] (https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/1118921283/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1526318235&sr=8-3&keywords=jack+bogle)
> How easy/difficult is it to get a hold of stocks like Apple, Amazon and Walmart?
Very easy, perhaps too easy. You can start with Robinhood, but it's not an app for serious investors IMHO (E-Trade is, however).
What I've done so far is reading "The Simple Path to Wealth" by J.L. Collins. The book basically details how low-cost broad-based Index Funds (VTSAX in particular) are a safe bet and how they can help you get moderately wealthy over the course of several years. It's not exciting or "sexy" but the thing is, just like most things in life worth doing, there are no shortcuts.
100% this. Actually, an entire a book has been written on this exact subject!
The most efficient way to pay off post college debt is to maximize your post college income. Focus and invest in yourself during college. Any work or income during college will likely be meager and not make much difference (My savings during college and grad school were basically pennies to what I earned afterward). If you are interested in reading you can start for free from the bogleheads wiki or one book I like is The Simple Path to Wealth
I thought the pronunciation was very clear! And thank you, adding to Overcast by feed url worked.
I just finished JL Collins book The Simple Path to Wealth before this one and highly recommend his stuff as well. The book is largely pulled from the content of his blog posts.
https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Path-Wealth-financial-independence/dp/1533667926
They've updated Security Analysis too.
Put it in something like this.
Se queres ganhos a curto prazo compra antes raspadinhas.
A longo prazo A Random Walk Down Wall Street
Save a buck and borrow it from the local library. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118921283/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_FytlDbJFB2DME
I did not know about the 3fund book but think it would be silly to buy it :) it is going top tell you to balance for risk between a total market, total international, and total bond. It might talk about a split total bond/ total international bond... https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Three-fund_portfolio. But hey might be worth a read if your library had it.
DO NOT buy a new fucking car. This is the most common mistake I see newly enlisted kids make. If you do buy a car, make it something affordable like Honda or Toyota sedan. Learn how to work on it yourself - most AF bases have an auto hobby shop with tools and everything you need, even people to help you out. It's a great way to save money, make some friends, and learn some skills that will last you a lifetime.
And for God's sake put something in your TSP, at least 5% into the target date fund, especially your Roth TSP if you you manage to work for a tax free income at some time.
Take your first paycheck and spend $15 on The Bogleheads Guide to Investing. You'll thank me later.
Finally, open an account with USAA and do all your banking there, as well as all of your insurance. USAA access alone is something a lot of us want but can't get.
Another common mistake that newly enlisted make is getting married way too young or having babies way too young. Keep it in your pants. Some of these kids are divorced with 2 kids by 25 years old. Don't be that guy. And don't take up smoking cigarettes.
/endrant
Great job! Now go read this book, open a Roth IRA at Vanguard, and auto invest into VTSAX Mutual Fund for the next 40 years, and you will be unfathomably rich. Dont bother with bonds, simply VTSAX and maybe a spinkle 10% at most of VTIAX for some international companies.
​
https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/1118921283/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1WLP27B3ZCKPW&keywords=bogleheads+guide+to+investing&qid=1565873408&s=gateway&sprefix=bogleheads+retirement%2Caps%2C138&sr=8-3
​
​
https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/index.php
​
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bogleheads/
You, sir, need to read The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing. That or just read around the Bogleheads wiki. This page is a good place to start.
>i am ready to open a Roth IRA and Brokerage, so i did with Fidelity.
>...
>i feel like just dumping all my money into Vanguard Target Retirement 2060 isn't the best idea
It's perfectly OK to have your investments in a target date fund while you learn more. Given your Roth IRA & brokerage are with Fidelity, the Freedom Index target date funds will be just fine (the Freedom funds without "Index" in the name are more expensive).
>i do want to actually learn a little more than "just dump your money in this target date fund"
The Bogleheads Wiki is a great place to start. There are links to a high-level page on lazy portfolios and specific pages for the Three-fund Portfolio, etc. The page on tax-efficient fund placement will likely be useful as your brokerage account increases.
Personally, I recognized there is value in simplicity. To that end, I work toward a version of a Three-fund portfolio myself. While I do not tilt toward small caps or specific sectors (like REIT), I do have a portion of my bond holdings in an intermediate tax-exempt fund.
Take your time. Consider developing an Investment Policy Statement. Read a book or two. Of course, posting here and/or the Bogleheads forum are great for providing context & examples or clarifying concepts along the way. Let some of the concepts sink in and ruminate before actually changing your portfolio.
Go read The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing and you'll be set to get started investing. It's well-written and easy to understand.
You need to go read some financial management books.
Here's one to start.
Assuming you're in the US and presumably in a low tax bracket, you should be putting money into a Roth IRA.
Sidenote: My company offers 100% 401K matching, no vesting period, and offers good low cost/fee funds. Yet I still have co-workers that don't fucking do it, despite being literally a 100% return on investment for just plopping money in there.
Welcome to the states! It sounds like you and your husband are doing quite well for yourselves. Saving for the future and being financially independent is a great goal to strive for. Maxing out your IRA and 401K is a great idea as it'll save money on taxes. Beyond that, I recommend low-cost mutual funds for nonpre-tax savings - a good book to read that's great for beginners would be The Boglehead's Guide to Investing. I also recommend checking out /r/personalfinance
As to worrying about lifestyle creep, there are a few tricks I like to do to keep me from spending needlessly. The first is to envision how long it would require me to work to be able to afford something. For example, you make $55k/yr or about $27.50 pretax, so if you see a new pair of shoes that are $125, you'd need to work for a little more than 5 hours to be able to afford them. Are they still worth it to you?
Another trick is to wait several weeks from buying large, expensive items. I like to set a price point for myself and if it's over that ($250) I need to wait several weeks to buy it. If I forget about it or find 2 weeks later I don't need it than I just saved myself money - it's saved me from buying a lot of needless electronics. This takes some will power, but I believe that you can do it.
I really like Investopedia University. It's free and very informative and they will have pages with short videos/articles explaining terms and concepts as well. A good start would be their Financial Concepts and Index Investing entries. Also wanted to add their Retirement Plans page. You'll mostly want to read about Traditional and Roth IRAs, and Qualified Plans.
The biggest tip I could give is to just keep reading, I found I was actually interested in this stuff so it was easy to read all about it. If you don't understand something make the effort to learn and then continue. It doesn't have to be complicated, index investing is a great way to build wealth over the long term.
I never really read any actual books, because honestly the best advice for 90% of people would be to just invest in index funds, and there's plenty of free information online, but you can read The Boglehead's Guide to Investing.
Bill Ackerman has a good video that does a good job of breaking it down.
On What to Read
Here are some suggestions on books and websites:
The Millionaire Next Door by Stanley and Danko - https://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Next-Door-Surprising-Americas/dp/1589795474
If You Can by William Bernstein - http://efficientfrontier.com/ef/0adhoc/2books.htm
Free version is here - https://www.dropbox.com/s/5tj8480ji58j00f/If%20You%20Can.pdf?dl=0
The Investor's Manifesto. Preparing for Prosperity, Armageddon, and Everything in Between by William Bernstein - https://www.amazon.com/Investors-Manifesto-Prosperity-Armageddon-Everything/dp/1118073762
The Bogleheads Guide to Investing - https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/1118921283
The Coffeehouse Investor - https://www.amazon.com/Coffeehouse-Investor-Wealth-Ignore-Street/dp/0976585707
The Bogleheads' Guide to Retirement Planning - https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Retirement-Planning/dp/0470455578
The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio by William Bernstein - https://www.amazon.com/Four-Pillars-Investing-Building-Portfolio/dp/0071747052/
Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey - https://www.amazon.com/Total-Money-Makeover-Classic-Financial/dp/1595555277
Personal Finance for Dummies by Eric Tyson - https://www.amazon.com/Personal-Finance-Dummies-Eric-Tyson/dp/1118117859
Investing for Dummies by Eric Tyson - https://www.amazon.com/Investing-Dummies-Eric-Tyson/dp/1119320690/
The Millionaire Real Estate Investor per red-sfplus’s post (can confirm this is excellent) - https://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Real-Estate-Investor/dp/0071446370/
For all the M.Ds on here and HNW individuals, you might want to check out https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/ and his blog – found it to be very useful.
https://www.irs.gov/ or your government’s tax page. If you’ve been reading, you know that millionaires know more than your average bear about the tax code.
https://www.reddit.com/r/TheRedPill/comments/7vohb3/money/
https://www.reddit.com/r/TheRedPill/comments/3hzcvn/financial_advice_from_a_financier/
https://www.artofmanliness.com/2017/09/22/4-money-tips-4-personal-finance-legends/
Personal Finance Flowchart from their wiki - https://i.imgur.com/lSoUQr2.png
Additional Lists of Books:
https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Books:_recommendations_and_reviews
https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/books-4/
Subreddits
https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/
https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/ - I would highly encourage you to spend a half hour browsing their wiki - https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/index and investing advice - https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/investing
https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/
https://www.reddit.com/r/SecurityAnalysis/
https://www.reddit.com/r/finance/
https://www.reddit.com/r/portfolios/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bogleheads/
MRP References
https://www.reddit.com/r/marriedredpill/comments/40whjy/finally_talked_to_my_wife_about_our_finances_it/
https://www.reddit.com/r/marriedredpill/comments/67nxdu/finances_with_a_sahm/
https://www.reddit.com/r/marriedredpill/comments/488pa0/60_dod_week_6_finances/ (original)
https://www.reddit.com/r/marriedredpill/comments/6a6712/60_dod_week_6_finances/ (year 2)
https://www.reddit.com/r/marriedredpill/comments/3xw015/how_to_prepare_for_a_talk_about_finances/
https://www.reddit.com/r/marriedredpill/comments/30z704/taking_back_the_finances/
https://www.reddit.com/r/marriedredpill/comments/2uzukg/married_redpill_finances_and_money/
https://www.reddit.com/r/marriedredpill/comments/3637q5/some_thoughts_on_mrp_and_finances/
https://www.reddit.com/r/askMRP/comments/8dwaqt/best_practices_for_finances_within_marriage/
https://www.reddit.com/r/marriedredpill/comments/588e5o/gain_control_of_the_treasury/
Final Thoughts
There are already a lot of high net worth individuals on these subs (if you don’t believe me, look at the OYS for the past few months). This should be a review for most folks. The key points stay the same – have a plan, get out of the hole you are in, have a budget, do the right moves for wealth accumulation. Lead your family in your finances. Own it.
What are YOU doing to own your finances? Give some examples below.
I'd recommend listening the Freakonomics episode The Stupidest Thing You Can Do With Your Money. And also reading this book: The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing.
Both will tell you about passively managed index funds. Most actively managed funds fail to beat them. Warren Buffett bet $1 million that an index fund would make you richer than if you entrusted it with hedge fund managers, and he won.
If you want to keep it simple but effective, just like OP did, read this: The Simple Path to Wealth The simple path to wealth - JLCollins
Steve Blank's Four Steps to the Epiphany and Guy Kawasaki's Art of the Start are both pretty good books on the subject.
The Mixergy podcasts are helpful as well, they're interviews with entrepreneurs in all sorts of different businesses. They usually have pretty good information on their whole business process from start to finish.
Other than that, depending on the business you're starting check out blogs of companies/people in similar areas of business. Startup Digest curates news from various startup blogs every week and sometimes they have pretty good information.
From a local viewpoint, Martin Hawes's books I find pretty solid. Very much a get rich slow approach that gels with my money personality though.
The Millionaire Next Door is quite America-centric with some of their specific advice, but it's a good one to read to get into the FIRE headspace
The Index Card I would also recommend
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely understand you are young and need guidance. I was 17 when I started investing as well.
I can give stock recommendations all day but I can give you two really good pieces of advice right now.
1: Read. Read everything you can. The Intelligent Investor by Ben Graham is the bible of value investing. Warren Buffet himself said that this was the best book on value investing he's read. Read this book. Also, read Rich Dad Poor Dad This was the single most influential piece of literature I've ever read.
2: Be extremely careful who you take advice from. Just because people are older doesn't make them smarter. You want to find people who have exactly what you want for yourself. These people are worth taking advice from. The average person is an idiot, and they all think they know the right way, and yet they all are slaving away at jobs they hate that "don't pay them enough". This could even be your parents or friends. It may be hard to reject their advice. They may not even realize that they don't know what they are doing. Again, you want to learn from people who have exactly what you want.
I've read a lot of business books in the past year. These include:
7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Rich Dad Poor Dad
Think and Grow Rich
How to Win Friends & Influence People
Secrets of Closing the Sale
How to Master the Art of Selling
The E-Myth Revisited
The Compound Effect
The Slight Edge
The $100 Startup
The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur
I have 4HWW waiting to be read, in addition to about 15 other books that are sitting there, waiting to be read.
The $100 Startup is very inspiring, especially for people who have no chance at securing a "normal" job (I dropped out of college). The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur is also very informative. But out of this list, by far, my two favorite books are The Compound Effect and The Slight Edge. #1 going to The Slight Edge. Read this book. Maybe it won't apply to everyone as much as it did to me, but it totally changed my attitude towards life.
Read these -
https://www.amazon.com/Intelligent-Investor-Definitive-Investing-Essentials/dp/0060555661
https://www.amazon.com/Security-Analysis-Foreword-Buffett-Editions/dp/0071592539/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0071592539&pd_rd_r=NQ9JQNS97TSCDHPSDTEM&pd_rd_w=LxdWn&pd_rd_wg=9nDBB&psc=1&refRID=NQ9JQNS97TSCDHPSDTEM
It's not hard to understand once you understand the driving principles. This dip/crash was predictable.
Your advice is biased by personal experience and anecdotes (2008). Real estate is not the great investment vehicle you make it out to be and even if it were, you could just buy REITs. Investing in a diverse portfolio has always outperformed all other investment types when viewed over the medium and long term and this even includes recent market crashes. Here are two books which used evidence collected from the inception of the stock market system to prove me right:
https://www.amazon.ca/The-Four-Pillars-Investing-Portfolio/dp/0972488987
https://www.amazon.ca/Random-Walk-Down-Street-Tenth/dp/0393340740/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1458589681&sr=1-2&keywords=random+walk+down+wall+street
edit: punctuation.
Another which had a great impact on me was Burton Malkiel's A Random Walk Down Wall Street...
https://www.amazon.com/Intelligent-Investor-Definitive-Investing-Essentials/dp/0060555661/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1491278610&sr=8-1&keywords=the+intelligent+investor
https://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-down-Wall-Street/dp/0393352242/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1491278661&sr=8-1&keywords=random+walk+down+wall+street
So to buy A Random Walk Down Wall Street in bulk, these bastards are charging 17.16 a copy, around $5 more than what it would cost individually on friggin' Amazon.
[Something something EMH is crap]
https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0393352242/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?ie=UTF8&refRID=5TTKGAJF1M8TNC11TN79
Hi, former Wall Street-er here. Sounds like you're more interested in fundamentals investing instead of technical? If so, read:
The last two are fairly specific to the equity research career, but if you're doing fundamentals investing you'll be using the same principles.
If instead you're interested in technical investing, Getting Started in Candlestick Charting is my go-to.
I recommend 'the only investment guide you'll ever need' by andrew tobias. I read this about 20 years ago and am now financially independent and retired early thanks to its advice. He updates the book regularly.https://www.amazon.com/Only-Investment-Guide-Youll-Ever/dp/0547447256. You can read the other reviews on amazon to see that its helped a lot of people. The book is aimed at the beginner but gives very solid advice. (I went on to read a ton of financial books over the years and the advice is backed up by many other excellent financial books). The book is aimed at the beginner and concentrates on what you need to know. I like the fact that he's very direct in his approach. For example for some very advanced and risky investments, he says 'don't even think about it'. Its written in an easy to read, kind of humorous style and you can read it in a few hours. He deliberately only puts one graph in the book. It worked for me.
I'm biased towards https://www.amazon.com/Only-Investment-Guide-Youll-Ever/dp/0547447256
and
https://jlcollinsnh.com/stock-series/
​
Investopedia helps to understand the specifics, but really ask yourself, what do you want to do with this knowledge? That's an easier question to answer than "how does all of wall street, finance, and banking work?"
First step is to determine your time horizon. From there, you can determine how much risk you want to take on. If you wont need the $2,000 until retirement, then you can afford to be rather risky and go 100% into a stock market index. If you're going to need that money at graduation, then you're probably better off putting that money into a savings account and investing in some personal finance books.
I recommend The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need as recommended by Mark Cuban.
http://www.amazon.com/Only-Investment-Guide-Youll-Ever/dp/0547447256
Released just last year, I really like Bigger Pocket's book on rental property investing. Very specific when it needs to be with an active investor who is walking the walk as the author.
https://www.amazon.com/Book-Rental-Property-Investing-Intelligent/dp/099071179X?ie=UTF8&ref_=asap_bc
Also the Bigger Pockets podcast is an excellent resource.
A Random Walk Down Wall Street directly contradicts The Intelligent Investor.
I'd like to recommend another book, more advanced than The Intelligent Investor. Security Analysis.
Although a challenging read, this book is extremely helpful: Security Analysis: Sixth Edition, Foreword by Warren Buffett (Security Analysis Prior Editions) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0071592539/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_iRlnDbSBKEB1T
The Intelligent Investorand Security Analysis are not the same book.
If you don't want to make a career out of trading, a helpful rule of thumb is a 90 / 10 principle popularized by Andrew Hallam in his text Millionaire Teacher: Stick 90% of your capital in tax sheltered, virtually passive forms of investment like index mutual funds or ETFs with an IRA wrapper and stick the other 10% in whatever investment vehicle you want to learn.
For example, I put 90% of my capital in a batch of index funds and ETFs predicated on John Bogle's suggestion of "your age in bonds, the rest in common stock" index funds and ETFs by way of an account with Vanguard for my IRA and my company's 403(b) program. Vanguard makes this really easy through their target retirement funds, which automatically adjust the ratio of stock / bonds over time. I'm really interested in value investing; so, I take long positions in individual stock that meets the criteria Benjamin Graham identified in Security Analysis and The Intelligent Investor with the other 10% of my capital via a brokerage account with TD Ameritrade--this isn't tax sheltered like my retirement accounts but it's basically an ongoing education in investing since TD Ameritrade offers a ton of instructional materials on topics like options, commodities, etc. and I want to see my money grow.
Let's take a look at what this could look like for your situation. Starting with $5k and doing something like what I'm doing, you would:
Any follow up questions?
Glad you read intelligent investor first.
Next is Ben Graham's Security Analysis
This book is really excellent and gets a lot more technical with the numbers.
Securities Analysis by Graham is good too, also One up on Wall street by Lynch is another great one for investors.
Read A Random Walk Down Wall Street and then buy a market-indexed fund. I use one from ING, but I'm sure there are other options.
Edit: Downvoted by people who think they can beat the market? Or people who don't like to read? Or the mutual fund managers who don't want people buying indexed funds instead of paying inflated commissions for below-market returns?
I can recommend "A Random Walk Down Wall Street". Talks about everything you need to know.
http://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/0393340740/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1458593263&sr=8-2&keywords=random+walk+down+wall+street
Im a big fan of "A Random Walk Down Wall Street". http://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/0393340740
Hey dude, kind of in a similar position as you. Started reading about PF a little more than 2 months ago and wish I had started 10 years earlier, haha!
Take some time and read before jumping into anything! Here's what I started with:
Wealthy Barber
then read
Millionaire Teacher
and now I'm working through
Guide to Investing
and
Random Walk Down Wall Street
You will learn a crazy amount about investing with these few books.
I also keep my eye on the RFD Personal Finance forum along with Canadian Money Forums, the latter being a lot more mature.
Cheers!
Wow. Ok, two things:
The Richest Man in Babylon
A Random Walk Down Wall Street
Check out this book man. I'm just starting as well and its really helped explain things. Well put together and it's pretty cheap.
https://www.amazon.com/Neatest-Little-Guide-Market-Investing/dp/0452298628
Here's a book on stock market investing for newbies that I thought was really great:
https://www.amazon.com/Neatest-Little-Guide-Market-Investing/dp/0452298628
I'll raise you 64,000 points.
30,000,
36,000,
40,000,
100,000, there's a book for everyone!
I dont know why nobody has mentioned this but you can hire a property manager for about 10% of the monthly rent. This could relieve you of a lot of the headaches while simultaneously providing that income boost you're looking for.
Honestly this is a massive undertaking no matter which way you go so I'd like to suggest you to read a book I really enjoyed on rental property investing. I would also encourage you to seek out other books on topics like dividend investing and such so you can make an informed choice.
Anyways, this is the book I recommend- The Book on Rental Property Investing: How to Create Wealth and Passive Income Through Intelligent Buy & Hold Real Estate Investing! https://www.amazon.com/dp/099071179X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_B4v4DbXTMKKGA
In it you will find tips on properties worth investing in, calculations on profitability, tax strategies, property management questions, etc etc. It is a very informative book
I just bought this book.
The investopedia has a bunch of information as well.
You can also simulate trading stock with fake currency but in the real market. I just set up an account with sprinklebit because some guy recommended it.
I would just sell it and take the ~25% loss. You could do a lot worse. If you want a sound investment strategy, read the Bogleheads investment philosophy. They recommend dollar-cost-averaging your way into a diversified portfolio of low-cost, no-load index funds. You might also check out The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing. It is a great introduction to proper investing (not speculating, which is what crypto "investors" are actually engaged in). Your local public library probably has a copy. Even at $11/hr you can save for a comfortable retirement. If you can manage to save up $1000 in your savings account, you can buy an all-in one fund and simply put a fraction of your paycheck into it every month. It's hard to get rich quick, but easy to get rich slowly.
Okay, different beast.
You work in a niche industry and plan to invest in that. While I do believe you might have insights others have not consider the following: IT is hype based and your now profitable niche from which you draw your livelyhood goes bust.
Not only is your company in trouble, other companies that might value your know-how with good pay are in trouble as well ant it's hard to get a foot in the door.
Since you invested your money in the same place your earning potential is impacted as well as your net worth. This is called a concentration risk.
For me personally it would be too risky to invest my savings into something in which I am already heavily invested (with my human capital).
Another perspective: Everything public you know about the companies you want to invest in is already priced in, the stock price reflects the potential and risks adequately. Everything non-public that might move the needle is considered illegal insider information. It does not matter if your friend or your friends friend gave you that information.
I would advise reading up on the reasoning behind passive investing. There are numerous books. If you want to keep a small part of your money in company / industry stock feel free, but you should at least know the tradeoffs.
>Do you have any recommendation as to where I can start (e.g. reading, websites to compare, etc.)?
the usual suspects:
justETF is a good resource to find ETFs. morningstar is also good.
>Is there also some more "direct" ways of investing into stocks without picking them yourself?
Easiest when living in Germany would be to get a depot account in a cheap broker. justETF has a comparison of some.
You may also consider DeGiro or InteractiveBrokers.
I strongly recommend this book. Its an easy read and it has solid, evidence backed advice. https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore-ebook/dp/B00JUV01RW
i enjoyed bogleheads guide to investing
Get enough sleep. Caffeine doesn't replace it. If you already have a healthy sleeping pattern, great! Sleeping helps you retain information. Here's some information to retain.
> A good general rule is to pay yourself first. This means after setting aside money for whatever you have to pay each week/month (rent, phone bills, food, utilities, etc - and work out what this is going to cost each paycheque to set that aside. Eg $40 a month for phone, set aside $10 a week if your paid weekly etc) put this into your savings. Even if it's $20, do it.
Robert Kiyosaki would argue that is paying yourself last.
That being said, what you suggested is EXACTLY what my wife and I did, and it was THE turning point in our finances. We weren't making any more, and it didn't seem like we were spending less, but we had money in savings at the end of the month.
Investing: The Boglehead's Guide to Investing. You don't need any other book. https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/1118921283/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1550686550&sr=8-1&keywords=bogleheads+guide+to+investing
​
Other stuff:
The Gift of Fear, Gavin DeBecker: https://www.amazon.com/Other-Survival-Signals-Protect-Violence/dp/0440508835/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1550686596&sr=8-1&keywords=the+gift+of+fear
​
The Power of Charm: https://www.amazon.com/Power-Charm-Anyone-Over-Situation/dp/0814473571/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1550686575&sr=8-1&keywords=the+art+of+charm
​
http://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/1118921283
Congratulations on being wise enough with your money at such a young age to do your research and ask questions. That's exactly what you should continue doing, as it will pay off in the long run far more than any single investment you can make right now.
Along those lines I would invest a small amount of that money in some basic books about money that will help you develop a fundamental philosophy about your relationship with money and building wealth. Ebook, blogs and apps all have their benefits, but you really should have a basic financial library of physical books you can have on hand.
Your Money or Your Life:
https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780143115762
The Simple Path to Wealth: Your road map to financial independence and a rich, free life:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1533667926%5D(https://www.amazon.com/dp/1533667926/
The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118921283/
The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy https://www.amazon.com/dp/1589795474/
That short list is in no way complete, but will get you started.
As far as websites/blogs/free reads here's a few to consider:
http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Main_Page
https://yourmoneyoryourlife.com/book-summary/
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/blog/
https://www.thesimpledollar.com/
It's great that you have a nice little lump sum of money to invest right now, but the key to building wealth generally won't involve lump sums every now and then and finding places to put them. The key is to discipline yourself to set aside portions of any amount money that comes in and have an automatic system to invest it and let it grow without touching it.
Have a plan for every paycheck, bonus, tax refund, inheritance, bank heist money :) you come into to have a portion funneled into your investments before you're tempted to find other, unlimited, things to do with it.
This is the greatest book probably ever written on that concept:
http://www.ccsales.com/the_richest_man_in_babylon.pdf
Having a goal, a plan for getting there, and the discipline to actually execute it will make you wealthy. Wealth gives you choices, freedom, and opportunity, and the earlier you start building it, the easier it will be to have these things. If you don't appreciate how important those are to living a good life, I guarantee you will in the years ahead.
At some point you will hear the name Warren Buffett (if you haven't already). He's the single greatest investor who's ever lived and my personal favorite. Once you have the basics down, and you might have further interest in investing I would recommend studying him. Even though there are countless books and websites devoted to him, he's already left us nearly everything you need to know about investing right there on his simple company website in the form of his annual letters--basically a free master class on investing, written by a genious who also happens to have great wit:
http://berkshirehathaway.com/letters/letters.html
In a much broader sense beyond investing, there is a book more than a hundred years old that discusses getting to wealth in a very interesting and powerful way. I've used it as inspiration from a standpoint as a business person, but I think it's worth studying seriously for anyone trying to build wealth.
I believe you can still get a free copy here:
http://scienceofgettingrich.net/subscribe.html
If you don't want to subscribe, just Google "The Science of Getting Rich".
And here's a good audio version as well:
https://archive.org/details/TheScienceofGettingRich
No matter what philosophy and path you take, I always include another personal recommendation to set aside a small portion of your portfolio into something "alternative" that interests you and might have the potential to build or at least preserve wealth. For me it's basically precious metals, and more specifically collectible silver and gold coins. I've also collected old paper money, stamps, stock certificates, rare books, and music and movie memorabilia all to a lesser degree. Keeps things interesting, and sometimes you can do pretty well with experience and a little luck.
And best of luck to you!
*Edit: Sp+fixed links, and here's my best TLDL:
Buy physical copies of some basic wealth building books. Consider :
Your Money or Your Life: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780143115762
The Simple Path to Wealth: Your road map to financial independence and a rich, free life:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1533667926/
The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118921283/
Read "The Richest Man in Babylon" and follow the concept of always paying yourself first:
http://www.ccsales.com/the_richest_man_in_babylon.pdf
Warren Buffett is an investing God. If/when you're ready to learn more, just start here:
http://berkshirehathaway.com/letters/letters.html
Read and/or listen to "The Science of Getting Rich":
http://scienceofgettingrich.net/subscribe.html
https://archive.org/details/TheScienceofGettingRich
Diversify a small portion of your wealth with physical assets you can hold and that might have a lifelong interest to you. A quick recommendation would be to start with 5% of your portfolio in precious metals, perhaps a small variety of silver bullion coins and bars. (I'd be happy to give you specific suggestions on these if wanted).
I'm pretty much at the same boat with you (same age, Berlin, cash I'm sitting on) but my mortgage is a bit cheaper (1.04% since I made 50% downpayment I guess). So with 4% Tilgung and this 5% yearly payment, it should be paid off in 10 years, however, I'm still considering If will do it or will make this cash perform better when invested.
I currently have around 12% of my cash invested in ETF, the rest sits in my Tagesgeld. I will gradually increase the investment amount, since I only started last month so I'm still kinda learning before going full speed.
I suggest you to spend some time reading about it before going this path. finanztip.de has tons of info but only in German. The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing is a kind of classic book, a bit focused on US realities, but still gives a good overview of different investment instruments and personal finances.
The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing
It's actually not as complicated as you might think. Read this book and you'll be in good shape.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118921283
Schwab has some etfs with even lower ratios but since the assets under management (AUM) of these ETFS is significantly lower on them I use the above. If you care to check though the equivalents of the above would be:
SCHX - US Large Cap Blend - 0.03%
SCHM - US Mid Cap Blend - 0.05%
SCHA - US Small Cap Blend - 0.05%
SCHE - Foreign Emerging - 0.13%
SCHF - Foreign Developed - 0.06%
SCHZ - Total Bond Market - 0.04%
also check out
https://portfoliocharts.com/
and read this
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1118921283/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
also read this
https://seekingalpha.com/article/15134-the-seeking-alpha-etf-investing-guide
I really like this idea, and it's pretty much what I'm doing. Last year I posted something about this here on r/financialindependence and I've also exposed my lifestyle here.
Since my teenage years, my goal has been to live free. I stumbled upon FI books early on ("Boglehead's guide to investing" anyone!?) and figured hitting FI early on was possible and desirable. I majored to be an Actuary and while studying, I started creating websites and doing other freelance work on the side. These projects took off very slowly, but were enough to pay for random college expenses.
When I graduated, I took a gap year and my freelance work was enough to sustain while traveling through Southeast Asia. At that point, I was netting ~500 to 1000$ a month from 20 hours of work (per month). I loved the lifestyle of working an hour or two every other day. It just became something I did once in a while on the computer instead of (or actually, while) browsing Reddit or FB.
I realized that if I roughly doubled this income, I might be able to sustain this lifestyle permanently. Coming back home (to Canada), I invested a lot of energy expanding several streams of income (mostly freelance work) and eventually it paid off. I even had the luxury of turning down 9-to-5 high-paying actuarial jobs.
Remote work now takes roughly 5 hours of my time each week (and 95% of that can be done whenever I feel like), and it allows me to live in a very low COL area, which ironically might help me reach FI sooner than if I worked in a HCOL city as an Actuary. Although I wouldn't mind living like this for a long time, I'm on track to become financially independent at around 30 y/o (in ~5 years).
While I understand that for many, working part time is not an option, trying a lifestyle that resembles "FIRE" (lots of free time, low stress, no financial worries) can really be beneficial. I feel like many blindly aim for FIRE because they dislike work, or like the idea of not having to work, and while I can fully understand why, living for the future is a dangerous gamble. Not because "you might die before" as stereotypical consumers might claim, but because of the terrible mental habits you risk developing. I believe that people overestimate the reliability of postponing happiness for extended periods of time. While the grass is quite green without work, in itself it doesn't do much, it only makes you more of what you already are.
Happiness is largely determined by mental habits. If you are not developing great mental habits RIGHT NOW, they won't magically appear the day you retire. All around me, I see people waiting for retirement to finally travel/invest time in passions/develop skills/etc. I'm skeptical of how well this works in practice. I have the feeling that people would benefit from treating their mental habits with the same care that they show towards their bank account. Surely you don't want this path to mentally cripple you and end up like this.
Like others mention, I wouldn't really call myself "half-retired" though. It's really nothing more than a cooler lifestyle. (subjective, of course).
+1 to Vanguard. Another good book for OP.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1118921283/
Get a Financial Life is my favorite personal finance for young adults.
Bogleheads is the place to go for investing. Very beginner friendly. The videos are super cheesy but very accurate and unbiased.
Page 2 of 3
Now, I am not going to give you specific tips on investing in financial markets. It’s like telling a 6-year-old; “I see you learned to ride a bike, let’s go see what you can do in an Apache Helicopter.” It might be fun to watch but it really is not a good plan and anything the kid may learn would be lost on him as it crashes to the ground.
You heard the familiar adage about “Give a man fish, you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish…..yadda yadda” Instead I will list a few resources that will make your journey an educational, well informed and hopefully, very profitable one:
Step 1: (estimated time to master:2-3 days of intense reading)
First get an entry level book… you know the type, it breaks stuff down so simply, it is almost insulting…yea that type! Check your library, as although these books are fantastic for the very low level learning, once you master it, you might not refer back to this one too often,
Something like this (not a shill for any author or publisher):
https://www.amazon.com/Personal-Finance-Dummies-Eric-Tyson/dp/1118117859
Sure, it may be a bit dry and parts will seem numbingly simple but I guarantee you will learn a few new things, enhance your understanding of things you already know and begin building the most solid foundation you can. Like most things in life, the foundation will determine if your future efforts are sound or just primed for unforeseen disaster.
Step 1a: (estimated time to master:1-2 hours to learn, years of pounding it into your head)
Be able to define and clearly understand the concept of “Compound interest/growth.” I cringe at the number of people who fail to fully grasp this concept and the impact it can have your life and on the value of your portfolio. Study this concept like your life depends on it. Embrace it, love it, make it your bitch. This is the one and true monolith that stands taller than all others when it comes to taking a proper long term view of your investments. It is Wonka’s Golden Ticket. Once you think you are a Comp-Int ninja, learn it some more. Never lose sight of the goal and the primary mechanism that is going to get you to the promised land. Oh, and just to make sure you are beating this concept into your head, learn the meaning of “temporal dissonance” and how it relates to so many others failing to properly reach their goals. 30 years from now, you will thank me.
Step 2. (estimated time to master:1-2 weeks with additional web research to clarify questions and concepts)
Get another book or ten. One is good to start and should be directed more towards understanding actual beginner investment in stock markets.
https://www.amazon.com/Beginners-Guide-Investing-Money-Smart/dp/1477463992/ref=pd_sim_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1477463992&pd_rd_r=M1PDAGCEZ704BBNQ6JDR&pd_rd_w=1YX5U&pd_rd_wg=dLc5n&psc=1&refRID=M1PDAGCEZ704BBNQ6JDR
or
https://www.amazon.com/Investing-Online-Dummies-Matt-Krantz/dp/1119228352/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1484793761&sr=1-3&keywords=online+stock+trading+for+dummies
or
https://www.amazon.com/Stock-Investing-Dummies-Paul-Mladjenovic/dp/1119239281/ref=pd_sim_14_6?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1119239281&pd_rd_r=BZHS9CJZZWBRA86WN3MP&pd_rd_w=WSFFO&pd_rd_wg=rGrkD&psc=1&refRID=BZHS9CJZZWBRA86WN3MP
or find one YOU like…I am not a damn librarian.
When you are finished with this step you should be rather comfortable with most basic stock investing terms. Words like Equity, ETF, Mutual Funds, Preferred stock, Long, short will become part of your conversations at happy hour, chicks will dig you and guys will want to be like you. (I’m sorry, I just assumed your gender and orientation, please reverse that last phrase if it better suits your lifestyle). You will dream of S&P gains and have nightmares about the words: bear, correction and SEC investigation. In other words, you are now shaping up as a solid investor with years of prosperity in front of you. Alas, you are not there yet grasshopper…
(continued)
Cool, well your learning attitude will serve you well!
As a bit more of an overview, the VT ETF contains 8,116 stocks. That means when you buy that, essentially every working stiff on the face of the planet from the janitors to the CEOs is working to make you rich. You collect value in terms of profits coming back to you in dividends as well as gain in value of the stocks.
You feel passionately about weed stocks, but what if oil has an amazing next five years. What about health care? What about autonomous driving cars? What about energy? What about technology? With VT you own all of it, including the up and coming ones you didn't even know about or predict.
And don't trade or try to time the market. Just buy and hold. Take a look at this portfolio growth calculator. VT will grow about 10%/year over time. Your gains can be massive if you can sock away a little more every month.
And read this book. It's $3 on kindle, $7 on paperback, 100 pages and it will make you a millionaire.
The most common answer here will be VTSAX.
The better answer for a 21 year old will be that you should read JL Collins. This book will also recommend VTSAX, but more importantly it’ll tell you why VTSAX is a good choice, and even why investing at all is a good choice. Your library probably has it if you don’t feel like buying it, and you can knock it out in a weekend.
The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins (book)
JL Collins - Stock Series (blog)
There’s nothing in the book that’s not in the blog. The book is just better organized since it didn’t come organically like the blog.
3 great books to read, in descending order of importance:
The Mousedriver Chronicles (Couple of kids out of Wharton starting a company around a mouse shaped like a golf driver)
The Art of the Start (Guy Kawasaki- Entrepreneur's instruction manual.)
The Tipping Point (Malcolm Gladwell- good explanation of how to select the few important things to do to make your snowball into an avalanche.)
Hit me up via pm if you have any further questions. You're where I was about 2 years ago.
From the sounds of it you have no idea what to do with the money, and have no existing savings or investment plans.
This is not intended as a criticism of you, as I reached my 40's myself with just about no plan.
However, what it means is that this £80,000 is like an immediate thing, and it should be only a component of your longterm savings and investment plans.
I.E. you need to sort out your longterm savings and investment plans first, and only then fit the £80,000 in the appropriate slot(s).
IMO you should put the £80,000 in the bank for the next 12 months. Figure o building a plan by the end of the tax year - be prepared, say, to put it all into action in March 2018.
Use www.bankaccountsavings.co.uk to maximise the interest on your savings for the next 11 or 12 months.
I think the first books you should read are Rich Dad, Poor Dad and Your Money or Your Life. IMO you and your gf should each read one of these books in the next fortnight or month, then swap and read the other. Some people get a lot out of these books, others not so much - read the criticism of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, too, but hopefully within the next 3 months or so you should be able to build an idea of your financial goals. Generally financial goals should support life goals, but it's ok to have financial goals that support open-ended life goals. Might be worth taking a look at Martin Bamford's Money Tree and Martin Lewis' Money Diet (I haven't read them, but one of the sub's mods put them in the sub's wiki, he's a financial advisor and I trust him) then dig into Tim Hale's Smarter Investing.
Read this sub everyday and ask questions about anything you don't understand.
These are the books I recommend to start with:
All direct amazon links, no referral links.
The little book of common sense investing by John C. Bogle
The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing
The Bogleheads' Guide to the Three-Fund Portfolio
https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/1118921283/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498626452&sr=8-1&keywords=bogleheads+guide
Invest 18.36 in this: https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/1118921283/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1549887599&sr=8-3&keywords=bogleheads+guide+to+investing That’s only 0.12% of your capital. Then invest some time into reading it. Then come back again.
If you want instant cash flows, certificate of deposits will pay you 450 bucks a year at present rates.
There are lots of good ones, and they all say the same thing - max out your retirement plans and own total market index funds at Vanguard. The Bogleheads Guide is good if you don't mind paying. Some good free ebooks, too, for example Investing In Four Hours will be free Aug 5.
> Got any investing advice for a college student with no real living expenses working part time?
Start here.
Since you're starting out, accumulating an emergency fund first in a savings account is likely your primary goal. Once you get down to step 4, then I would set up automatic investments into an IRA at Vanguard, with 100% of contributions into Vanguard Target Retirement 2060.
>I only ask since it's something I've wanted to learn more about for a while
If you want to learn more about WHY this is a good idea, I highly recommend reading through the Stock Series by JLCollins. He presents it in an enjoyable and not overly technical way to keep it interesting. If you prefer books, then the Bogleheads Guide to Investing is a great resource. Borrow it from the library to save some money!
My best advice as a student is to take full advantage of the career center at your college: resume review, internship opportunities, interview practice, etc. Attaining an internship in your field will give you a huge leg up on everyone else graduating with you.
TL;DR
there are 3-4 books that I keep at least 2 copies on-hand of, because they are informative and I like giving them to people with no expectation of giving them back.
Ok this sounds like I am talking about religious texts - they aren't. They are:
- Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies
- The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right
- The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing
- The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns (Little Books. Big Profits)
​
The first two are must-reads for engineers working in any kind of system, be it computers, electronics, mechanical, or people systems (project management, etc)
​
The last 2 I tend to recommend to people who think that reasonable investment awareness and decisions requires a lot of specialized knowledge and attention
I've read about half of these. Pretty dry reading. I would recommend the following:
The Wealthy Barber
I Will Teach You to be Rich
Bogleheads' Guide to Investing
All About Asset Allocation
The basic point of all of the books above and in the article is that you aren't going to beat the pros in investing, in fact the pros can't even keep up the same record from year to year. Index funds are the way to go. Other books above go over what the asset allocation looks like and also goes over insurance and other things to make your finances sound.
As an aside, I never could stick with a budget until using the software YNAB and now that I'm doing a monthly budget I am seeing massive benefits.
Newer version of the same book. Difference in price is only a few dollars.
Thanks for sharing OP. I bought a highly recommended introduction to the stock market book. It's been enlightening, but it's too in-depth for me to get as much out as needed. I just ordered your recommendation. I'm looking forward to reading it!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118921283/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_wNC-AbC6T6R30
Bogleheads guide to investing. It assumes you have no knowledge of it and at least around where I am it's highly recommended to get started with.
Here you go. This, and Total Money Makeover changed my life (just don't listen to Ramsey's advice on mutual funds and stick with indexing per Bogle). Also, use YNAB to budget every cent that you come across.
TLDR:
a. contribute to your 401k up until company match
b. contribute to your Roth until max
c. go back to your 401k until you hit the limit
d. now you can play with individual stocks
Personal Finance for Dummies
https://www.amazon.com/Personal-Finance-Dummies-Eric-Tyson/dp/1119517893/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=personal+finance+for+dummies&qid=1568165153&s=gateway&sprefix=personal+finance&sr=8-3
Investing for Dummies
https://www.amazon.com/Investing-Dummies-Eric-Tyson/dp/1119320690/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=investing+for+dummies&qid=1568165219&s=gateway&sr=8-3
Same author. I read the older version of Investing for Dummies by the same author something like 15+ years ago. I did not read the personal finance one, but the investing book will put a lot of things into perspective for you. It really would be great if these were studied in highschool and\or college. Always get the latest version. They update it for current tax law. The general ideas are always the same.
Pay down debt or avoid incurring it. No investment is 100% except paying off debt. Don't buy more than you can afford. Diverse mutual funds are good. Pre-tax 401k is good.
I found this a great starting point:
https://www.amazon.com/Investing-Dummies-Eric-Tyson/dp/1119320690
> but I've never ever found a good guide who can really tell me how this all works
I actually would have to recommend Investing For Dummies. Seriously. It's got all the information that someone with little-to-no background would need.
Honestly one of the best books I've read for beginners is investing for dummies. It's very good at explaining risks associated with different types of investments. You don't even have to read the whole thing just what you need to get started.
Investing For Dummies https://www.amazon.com/dp/1119320690/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_D4rVCbK6RTN7F
It is on the reading list but I highly recommend I Will Teach You To Be Rich.
It is geared for someone in their 20s although it can be applied at any age. It's broken down into six weeks where he goes over your credit and banking accounts and then guides you into starting an investment account and setting up a budget. An updated edition of this book is coming out in May but the advice in the book is still sound and relevant.
Edit: Found one more book on that list that seems perfect. Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties.
I also really liked Suze Orman's The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke but it came out in 2005 so some of the content is outdated. This is one of the few books I have seen that really targets the issues young people face with money.
For an easy way to get started, I suggest you begin with one or two mutual funds, preferably index funds.
Bogel's Little Book of Common Sense Investing is short read and a great introduction to investing with index funds.
Collins The Simple Path to Wealth is another great read for someone getting started in investing. It's based on the Stock Series posts from his blog.
If you like to read I have read a few books that have quickly made me realize that most people do not need a financial adviser.
Here are my top 3:
A simple path to wealth: https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Path-Wealth-financial-independence/dp/1533667926/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1511905350&sr=8-1&keywords=the+simple+path+to+wealth
I will teach you to be Rich: https://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-Be-Rich/dp/0761147489/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1511905370&sr=1-1&keywords=I+will+teach+you+to+be+rich
The little book to common sense investing: https://www.amazon.com/Little-Book-Common-Sense-Investing/dp/1119404509/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1511905385&sr=1-1&keywords=the+little+book+to+common+sense+investing
You need to realize that you have 3 very different problems:
The Simple Path to Wealth: Your road map to financial
https://www.amazon.com/Your-Money-Life-Transforming-Relationship/dp/0143115766
https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Path-Wealth-financial-independence/dp/1533667926
https://www.amazon.com/Early-Retirement-Extreme-Philosophical-Independence/dp/145360121X
Are you newer to investing? Not judging, just offering tools to become more knowledgeable!
If you are check out the following:
The Intelligent Investor: this is a classic book on investing, a must read - https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060555661/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_Pgh9Bb44B9X7W
The Simple Path to Wealth: NOT A GET RICH QUICK SCHEME. might not be everyone's cup of tea, but a great quick read. Good for retirement and more of a passive investment - https://www.amazon.com/dp/1533667926/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_6ih9BbYWRWH38
The Simple Path to Wealth by J L Collins
I am reading Get Rich With Dividends, https://smile.amazon.com/dp/1118994132/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_o5YXCb6NNND5B, and I have also created a dividend pie with the intent of reinvesting dividends for 5-10 years then using the account for passive income in retirement. It is also my fun account, as I have a maxed out 401K and IRAs managed by a financial advisor. Also reading Simple Path to Wealth, https://smile.amazon.com/dp/1533667926/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_56YXCbKQRY0AB who agrees with every other Redditor that I can't beat the market, but my intent isn't to beat the market, its to beat my financial advisor.
https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Path-Wealth-financial-independence/dp/1533667926/ref=nodl_
Do you have your local library app? Many libraries have it for free... mine didn’t so I bought it but lots of people in my online group got it from the library
1/2 in Vanguard S&P 500 and the rest in an equivalent fund focused on international companies. Diversity among the largest companies around the world. Vanguard funds have very lost fees so more of your money keeps working for you.
I have been reading this book. I think you would identify with it and like it. I don't necessarily follow all his advice, but a good principle.
The Simple Path to Wealth: Your road map to financial independence and a rich, free life
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1533667926/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Jim Collins just published a book called The Simple Path to Wealth, based on his excellent series of blog posts. It's an easy read and I highly recommend that you check it out.
But until you have a good understanding of how investing works, don't worry too much about it. Put your savings in an online savings account like Ally so you can at least earn some interest. Keep saving, do some reading about investing, and you'll eventually know what to do with your money. You're already ahead of the game just by virtue of thinking about this stuff.
Getting started is easy. It sounds stupidly simple but it is this one step that separates those that have and those that have not; just start making videos!
In my day job I give a lot of presentations on startups, blogging, and what it takes to be 'successful' and, it is very sad to say, people just don't do things.
Starting out do not worry about your 'voice' or what game you want to cover. Don't worry about what topics to talk about or that one video was about HoN and the next about SC2. the only thing that matters is your schedule. Tell yourself twice a week I am going to put up a video - who cares what it is on or about.
Over time you will find your 'voice'. You will find what you like to cover and what you don't. Seriously, the only advice I can give you is just to start making videos. You are going to have haters, that is the fact of the internet. Period.
Here are some resources I link to in my presensations
Guy Kawasaki's 'Art of Start'
Tim Ferris: Dealing with Haters
Gary Vaynerchuck's 'crush it'
These are just a few things to get you pumped. What you do from here is up to you.
GL HF
Yes. Read 3 books: "The $100 Startup" and "The Hard Thing About Hard Things" and "The Art of the Start." And do what they say.
I'm just a junior designer, but oftentimes in academics I was the group leader. So take this with a grain of salt that I may have no idea what I'm talking about but being a leader I always made sure there was clear public directions conveyed in two forms. Often an email before a meeting and then a verbal check in. I found people will often say they didn't get the email or try to wiggle out of commitments so you have to be the driver of change. I found that if I gave clear directions to everyone, and was available and approachable things ran smoothly.
As for reading I would recommend art of the start by Guy Kawasaki. Lots of great chapters about assembling teams and other aspects.
The Art of the Start - Guy Kawasaki
Raising Venture Capital for the Serious Entrepreneur - Dermot Berkery
Mastering the VC Game: A Venture Capital Insider Reveals How to Get from Start-up to IPO on Your Terms - Jeffrey Bussgang
And not specifically about the "money part," but an absolutely invaluable book:
Four Steps to the Epiphany- Steve Blank
And don't neglect reading Paul Graham's Essays, Fred Wilson's Blog, Ask The VC, and Feld Thoughts.
Try this: The Index Card: Why Personal Finance Doesn't Have to Be Complicated
And here's a podcast/interview on the book.
I'd suggest this book as an easy starting place. https://www.amazon.com/Index-Card-Personal-Finance-Complicated/dp/1591847680
Congrats of taking responsibility for learning about finances? As you get older you'll realize that many adults have awful finances, know next to nothing about money, and just hide it very well. The fact that you're asking means you're already ahead of a lot of people.
We read [This] (https://smile.amazon.com/Rich-Dad-Poor-Teach-Middle/dp/1612680011/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485808481&sr=8-1&keywords=rich+dad+poor+dad) in school.
But in my opinion the best way is to make them pay the bills. Take them shopping and let them buy their own groceries for a week and then analyze what they could have done to cut cost or have a more balanced diet. Show them your expenses then have them get a job, rent an apartment and pay the bills (on paper). We did a project like this in college where you ran a company and every week you made choices like which insurance policy to get then next week your truck would break down, a competitor moves in, then your storage facility burns to the ground. (you could get more in depth like if they take out a credit card then don't pay on it bam drops their credit and they cant get the loan on the minivan when baby number four comes along.)
"It's not how much you make, it's how much you
saveinvest."FTFY
> Now if we just say 'tough, your kid your problem' then we're going to have tons of kids growing up in even worse poverty, which are even more likely to become burdens on the system.
Steven levitt in freakonomics argues that the drop in crime rate from the 70's to the 90's was largely in cause of abortion. High crime happens in poverty stricken downtown neighbor hoods where kids are brought up in single family households. He argues because the women have the option to abort the child, that child is not brought into the world and further continues a life of crime. So since no child is born, crime goes down. If we outlawed abortion, yes we would have lots of children running around in adult bodies burdening society, but since we have abortion, theres no child to grow up in destitute environments. (the conservative argument is foster care should take care of these unwanted children, but I would argue there is not enough foster parents capable of taking on these unwanted children, and also it sounds nice to use the state to support foster parents, but there are unintended consequences from subsiding anything, even nice well intention things like foster parents.). I'm willing to compromise and let single mothers have child support from the state for one child, but any further, "your kid your problem". Agian, I think private charity or womens society's should be responsible for supporting the single mom and kid, not the gov't.
This is the crux of our disagreement. We both want to get poverty down to 3-7%, and have nearly 90% of 30-60 year olds in the middle class. I see 70 years of welfare leading to multiple generations stuck in welfare traps. Clearly the results are that gov't welfare does not accomplish its intended goal of bringing people out of poverty. If it hasn't worked in 70 years, I dont see how its going to work in the next 5, 10, 20 years. I'm not a historian, and I may be doing a very shallow analysis, but something was working from 1940 to 1960 to reduce poverty. And since welfare, medicare and medicare didn't happen until the 1960s, one cannot blame these programs for decreasing poverty.
Poverty is a mindset. Did you know that most lottery winners go bankrupt? link. They go bankrupt because they have a poor persons menality. They get $5MM in the lottery, go buy a dream house, their friends cars, pay off their friends debt, travel the world, go on a giant spending spree. They end up 10-20MM in debt and cannot pay off their debt. It doesn't matter if you give them 5MM or 50K. The spend 2-4x the money they receive, and go bankrupt from the debt they incur. Rich people on the other hand, put 10-20% of their money in savings, no matter how little they earn. Rich people only spend 50-70% of the money they earn, and only go into debt for things that appericate in value, like a home, or something they need, like a car. For more on this read "rich dad poor dad" link
I"ll have to get to the rest later. Time for bed
Here you go: https://www.amazon.com/Rich-Dad-Poor-Teach-Middle/dp/1612680011
Problem solved.
Its sounds like both of you ought to bear down on this knowledge:
https://www.amazon.com/Rich-Dad-Poor-Teach-Middle/dp/1612680011
Having two fathers and two mothers competing over your love can be the best thing ever. One teaches you the shrewdness and cut-throat world of winning deathmatches and earning respect through force, the other teaches you the socially optimal solution, how to be poor and find pleasure and joy with a mat and a guitar.
Story reminds me of the writer from Rich dad poor dad: https://www.amazon.com/Rich-Dad-Poor-Teach-Middle/dp/1612680011
intelligent investor is a great read, but for some more in depth stuff i like security analysis
There's one way to consistently make a lot of money investing over a long period of time. It has worked repeatedly for nearly a century, producing numerous billionaires. It's the only approach that enables someone outside of Wall Street to consistently beat the market and get rich (over many years).
The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
https://www.amazon.com/Intelligent-Investor-Definitive-Investing-Essentials/dp/0060555661
Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham
https://www.amazon.com/Security-Analysis-Foreword-Buffett-Editions/dp/0071592539
Margin of Safety, by Seth Klarman [pdf of book, out of print]
https://files.leopolds.com/books/Margin.of.Safety.1st.Edition.1991.Klarman.pdf
Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist by Roger Lowenstein
https://www.amazon.com/Buffett-American-Capitalist-Roger-Lowenstein/dp/0812979273
Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits by Phil Fisher
https://www.amazon.com/Common-Stocks-Uncommon-Profits-Writings/dp/0471445509
Ações mesmo. Mas sem participar de fundos coletivos, e comprando empresas boas, sub cotadas em bear markets e sair fora delas quando der bull, quando todo mundo quer comprar. É menos difícil pro investidor individual fazer isso do que os grandes fundos, pois os pequenos podem se posicionar (e tbm sair fora) com mais agilidade. À medida que o patrimônio cresce além dos milhões, a fricção aumenta junto. Os 15% não seriam um retorno consistente, mas sim uma média de desempenho dividida entre o período total.
The Intelligent Investor
Security Analysis
Daqui uns 15 anos eu volto pra avisar se deu certo.
You're still being quite general, but I'll answer the best I can.
To be honest, as a trader I mainly traded OTC (Over-The-Counter) interest rate products that are not available to trade for retail investors, so you learn most of it on the job, other than pricing and valuing the products themselves, which appears on textbooks, but nothing that can be of much use for a retail investor.
Each financial product is different, so although there are some "transferable" skills, it truly depends on what you are trading, but again, trading is very short-termist so I wouldn't recommend it to a retail investor in spite of all those guru books that sell you that you can be a successful day trader, you can't: you'll just bleed losses, bid-ask spreads, brokerage fees and short-term taxes, plus again there is no way you'll beat full-time pros.
In terms of learning Economics and Finance, I'm afraid I'm of little help because I learned it all during my degree and masters at a very in-depth, specialised level, purely through textbooks. Also, a lot of it is very theoretical and not sure if of much use for an amateur level, or for real life, for that matter.
I did watch quite recently a video by billionaire hedge fund manager Ray Dalio, which explains quite well and succintly how the economy works. For those readers that don't speak English very well, if you go into Bridgewater's youtube account, you can find the video in different languages.
If what you refer to is equity investing, but not anything related to the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH), I quite sympathise with the value investing approach. In that sense, books I'd recommend are:
Oh, and you'll have to learn public company accounting and valuation inside out, as well as get used to reading annual and quarterly company accounts (amongst other things) on a regular basis.
The info sidebar of /r/SecurityAnalysis is probably a good starting point.
Anyhow, the real and only way to learn about investing is to get down to it and put some money on the line. Books will only get you so far.
Two books that would be pretty good starting points (and a 3rd book for extra measure):
The first book you wanna pay special attention to Chapter 8 and Chapter 20, but read it ALL:
https://www.amazon.com/intelligent-investor-book-practical-counsel/dp/0060115912/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1557126552&sr=1-7
This one is more detialed
https://www.amazon.com/Security-Analysis-Foreword-Buffett-Editions/dp/0071592539/ref=pd_rhf_eeolp_s_pd_crcd_0_4/143-0942938-6072313?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0071592539&pd_rd_r=98601957-062a-4d2b-b4e5-10c14a0c824b&pd_rd_w=EmVty&pd_rd_wg=tAgWo&pf_rd_p=36c62ed8-9692-4b91-aa9a-c4b3b85cc759&pf_rd_r=XJ4NTWQMJ5KPRKTHCEZT&psc=1&refRID=XJ4NTWQMJ5KPRKTHCEZT
This third book isn't "reuired reading" but wouldn't be a bad idea to read---it teaches a healthy degree of cynicism about the things you read in financial reports and the things CEOs will tell you on TV---like CNBC etc
https://www.amazon.com/Fooling-People-Complete-Updated-Epilogue/dp/0470481544/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=david+einhorn&qid=1557126776&s=books&sr=1-2
GOOD LUCK!!!!!
You're doing great you now have a very good emergency fund but you need to change where you are putting the money you save moving forward. Change your 401k contributions to 22%, this is about 18k/year (the yearly max contribution). Then open a ROTH IRA and contribute 5.5k annually. These are tax advantaged accounts, make the most of them. For both of these investments and your age you want about a 80:20 stocks:bonds ratio, you can use a target retirement date fund to get this ratio but make sure the fees are low (<0.2%). You mentioned you wanted something more liquid than a ROTH IRA elsewhere but the ROTH is the most liquid tax advantaged account available (You can withdraw your contributions tax and penalty free at any time. Your earnings need to meet certain criteria to not be penalized when withdrawn). Any remaining savings should go into a money market account where it can mildly/safely grow and become a downpayment on a house. If after all this you find you still have extra savings start a taxable investment account that is well diversified. Individual stocks are little more than gambling, sure you might hit it big but you may also lose it all. You're young, play the long game to get rich and you'll maximize your chances to do so.
Also read this book sometime before you are 30, https://www.amazon.com/Allocation-Second-Professional-Finance-Investment/dp/0071700781
I recommend reading Rick Ferri's All About Asset Allocation.
I liked this one:
https://www.amazon.com/All-About-Asset-Allocation-Second/dp/0071700781
I enjoyed the book A Random Walk Down Wall Street. It's not entirely apropos your interests, but I think you will find it agreeably skeptical about the prevailing economic mumbo-jumbo. Steven Landsburg's The Armchair Economist is another easy, thought-provoking read. I have not read it, but I am curious about More Heat than Light ("Economics as Social Physics, Physics as Nature's Economics ").
The single best book I've read is, "A Random Walk Down Wall Street." I'm with the OP, fuck Suze Orman.
"Random Walk" is a fairly interesting/easy read for a personal finance book. Malkiel should convince you by the time it's through why index funds are the way to go.
If you want something more challenging after that, try David Swenson's "Unconventional Success" It was a much tougher read for me, I really had to slog through it. But Swenson's record is pretty amazing, and he makes a convincing argument about why it's important to set up a simple approach to diversification. And it really is simple - 6 different categories, rebalance annually, that's it.
See, this to me is the wrong way to think about business.
RIM was leader in enterprise systems until late last year and is still second. They have huge market share. They also hold niche markets like secure smart phones and tablets. From a business perspective, they are in an enviable position.
The problem isn't with their position; it is with their trend. If they had been on an upward trend to the position they are currently in, everyone would be screaming about how great they are. In business it is position that matters more than trend. A trend can change, and effort can be put in to change the trend if you understand it. Many companies have done this. Apple is a prime example of a failed company that turned it around and became a market leader. Twelve years ago everyone thought of Apple the way people think of RIM today.
RIM is in a good position right now, and if they make the right moves they can reverse that trend. iPhones/iPads are fine, but they aren't perfect. They became fashionable and trendy and possibly overhyped. Steve Jobs was part of that trendiness. With him gone, and iPhone losing its "newness", it seems to me the time is ripe to move to change those trends.
I don't know what the right moves are. The question is whether RIM can figure it out, or gamble correctly, to change those trends. They definitely have the makings for it with top notch hardware and OS software, key differentiators and niches, and potential (such as Android apps working on PlayBook and soon phones).
The over-reliance of investors (and "trendy" consumers) on trends is fairly well documented. (My favorite book on the subject right now is The Drunkards Walk, though a A Random Walk Down Wall Street is probably the better known classic.) It's what causes bubbles on the upswing, and undervalued stocks on the downswing. It's also why investors who ignore those trends and invest via risk management principles tend to do much better than trend followers.
I'm keeping an eye on RIM to see what they do. I certainly won't write them off yet.
Investing is about the long, how much risk you're willing to assume, and how much volatility you can emotionally handle.
7% is hard today, 10 years ago 10% wasn't abnormal. Averaging over the years and you get ~7%...so you have to take the downs with the ups.
Check out A Random Walk Down Wallstreet
People who make their living selling financial snake oil want you to think investing is a mystical or incredibly difficult or arcane process. But it's really not. That book breaks it down in plain english and provides a map for investing. It's an easy read.
I would like to recommend as fitting nicely with the 1 doge = 1 doge philosophy of "enthusiastic indifference" the following two references for those interested in economics and currency markets:
Evidence for the fact that the stock market is efficient so to try to beat or time the market is basically impossible:
A Random Walk Down Wall Street
Very helpful community for beginning investors:
Bogleheads Guide for Beginner Investors
Cheers!
Just read the book: A Random Walk Down Wall Street. It basically explains the best way for non-rich people to benefit the most from the stock market.
Read those books and start using that software. You'll absolutely recoup your initial $100. The books will give you a basic education on investing. The software will let you find money in your budget to invest.
You are young, do yourself a big favor and learn to invest on your own. It's easier than you think. The earlier you learn it the sooner it will serve you for the rest of your life.
Here's a great starter (a random walk down wall street): http://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/0393340740/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1373618108&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=random+walk+down+wall+street
Best $15 you will ever spend.
Interest rates have been mostly dropping over the last 30 years, for whatever reason. That means the "risk free" rate of return has been dropping, to near 0. Which means the return on newly-bought competing investments should also drop very low. Which means stock prices paid by newcomers should rise very high. Which is what's happened.
Now, if interest rates were to rise dramatically, I think we'd have a crash, like we did in October 1987. The old classic book, A Random Walk Down Wallstreet explains my reasoning, using 1987 as an example.
Listen to this:
https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/01/23/688018907/episode-688-brilliant-vs-boring
Read this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393352242/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_9PSjDbKQQF2MQ
A Random Walk Down Wall Street. This book should be required reading in high school. It's super simple, doesn't overly complicate investing, and is the one thing people just don't talk about enough. We should all have a certain amount of financial literacy.
maybe give "a random walk down wallstreet" a read. It's written in a way that you can fairly understand it without a background in econ.
https://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-down-Wall-Street/dp/0393352242
Random Walk Down Wall Street
Yeah completely understandable, it's not too complicated, but from an outsiders perspective can look daunting. I can't really recommend any specific financial advisors, but if you have the time to do some reading I can recommend a few things that will help you out. A Random Walk down Wall Street and The Intelligent Investor are great, easy to read introductions to value investing, while this post on /r/AusFinance gives some pretty straightforward and practical advice.
While its not the advice you're looking for right now, do consider it as it may help save you thousands of dollars in the long run.
I agree with the above comments, but you might additionally consider:
Alors j'allais gueuler contre le PEL mais tu l'as déjà fait.
As-tu une limites basse sur ce compte? Un virement minimum attendu? Le seul intérêt du PEL pourrais être l'accès à des taux intéressants à long terme, donc à garder si tu peux conserver le minimum d'argent dessus.
A priori pas de frais pour le fermer, j'avais fermé le mien pour des raisons similaires. Mais il faut que tu vérifies avec ta banque.
Il faut que tu sois conscient que l'AV t'expose à du risque (pas beaucoup mais quand même). Donc de mon point de vue il ne faut pas trop en mettre dessus.
Vu les sommes en jeux, ça ne sert pas à grand chose de diversifier.
Ce qu'il faut c'est maximiser l'intérêt composé.
Cad choisir le meilleur support et mettre de côté régulièrement en repérant le meilleur moment pour faire tes virements et ne pas pourrir ton rendement de la quinzaine.
Quel est le rendement de ton livret jeune? C'est probablement le plus intéressant. Tu devrais avoir 8k dessus.
Et sinon oubli la bourse en direct, c'est de la merde.
Intérêts composés, intérêts composés, intérêts composés.
Je te conseille de lire ceci (existe en français mais la version anglaise est plus à jour):
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393352242/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_0/168-7907036-0075604?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=43GZXMPXXRH3SNG814JX
In my personal opinion, Jason Kelly's book linked below was a great Stock Market 101 book, very easy to read:
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/0452298628/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_6KEpDbFEAJ12Z
I highly recommend it!
https://www.amazon.com/Neatest-Little-Guide-Market-Investing/dp/0452298628
This is a good intro book. Watch investopedia videos as you read the definitions in the beginning. After that its a pretty easy read. He summarizes all the major investors books and strategies, highlights his, and ties them all together.
Buy this book.
by far
https://smile.amazon.com/Only-Investment-Guide-Youll-Ever/dp/0547447256?sa-no-redirect=1
Everything you need to know could fit on an index card, but this book really breaks everything down. You'll be amazed at how simple it is once you understand.
As an example of debt being good, I bought an apartment in a building which was so distressed (and helped turn it around since) that banks wouldn't give a loan. I had to raid my retirement & buy in cash.
So instead of paying 50k upfront & a 100k loan at 2%, I paid 150k upfront.
Had I taken a mortgage I would have paid $2,000 for the privilege of borrowing 100k, but I would have also been able to leave the 100k invested and made $6,000, for a net profit of $4,000.
Debt is a tool, it lets you take opportunities you wouldn't be able to otherwise. If you wait until you can afford something you lose out on it's benefit the whole time you are saving, and if it means you have to instead rent in the meantime you not only lose the benefit, but pay a premium for the privilege.
Inflation reduces the value of a dollar by 2% every year. So 100$ worth of stuff today will cost you 102$ next year. If you are saving you are also chasing a moving target.
Having debt (and paying it off) also proves that you are trustworthy & banks can give you a good rate at 3% instead of 9% when they worry you won't pay it back.
Debt is a tool, and if you use it to buy things which make you money it's a good bet. If you use it to buy things which cost you money/lose value it's a bad bet.
Since I own my apartment now I could take a loan against it (and probably should set it all up now). If I can get a loan at 3.5% I could then invest that money & get 7%, net 3.5%. Of course there is risk involved in this, but over a long enough period you might as well bet on the economy since if it crashes & never comes back you have bigger problems anyway.
If you live in NYC I can lend you my copy of the book. I've bought it for a half dozen young people I care about as it was really illuminating for me & answered soooooo many questions I didn't understand well enough to ask. Everyone I know has a lot of anxiety around their finances, but this will show you how to think about money & what is worth the effort/what isn't worth worrying about.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost
I'm finishing up school as well, and have recently gotten into personal finance. I read blogs like The Simple Dollar and Get Rich Slowly on a daily basis. They have large, search-able archives and are full of free information and tools that relate to personal finance. Wonderful resources.
If you're looking for good books to read I'd like to recommend The Millionaire Next Door. By far my favorite, this book completely changed my thinking about personal finance.
Some others:
The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need
The Boglehead's Guide to Investing
The Automatic Millionaire
See if your library has any! Oh, and here's a longer list from GRS:
Building a Personal Finance Library: 25 of the Best Books About Money
> If Bitcoin climbs to $100,000, then today's $500 swings will look like rain drops.
http://www.amazon.com/Dow-100-000-Fact-Fiction/dp/0735201374
Indeed.
https://www.amazon.com/Dow-100-000-Fact-Fiction/dp/0735201374
Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties by Beth Kobliner
reviews
The Book on Rental Property Investing: How to Create Wealth and Passive Income Through Intelligent Buy & Hold Real Estate Investing! https://www.amazon.com/dp/099071179X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_gzbrDb6QRAYFY
Also aside from reading this, check out the authors channel on YouTube he has some very informative videos about real estate. It’s called bigger pockets.
Also Graham Stephan on YouTube as well is another very knowledgeable and successful real estate investor.
I started out reading rich dad poor dad and it was my gateway drug. Now I’m on a mission to know everything about money.
I second the Bogleheads Guide to Investing:
https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/1118921283
I highly recommend you read this.
https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/1118921283/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=GE2ADHTPDENP58GJ8W1S
Then just open an account at vanguard and invest in their index funds.
Oh hells yeah I do! I give this book to everybody because it's shockingly simple, easy to understand, makes no assumptions about pre-existing subject knowledge, is written clearly and consicely, and its format follows a logical progression that makes it accessible and the best recommendation for a high schooler or a school superintendent with a Harvard PhD, two people I've gifted this book and who both loved it and changed the way they handled their finances.
It's called The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing
I provided an Amazon link, where you can get it for around $15. I can't speak highly enough about this book. If most of your financial knowledge comes from what you've been reading that stock blog you mentioned, this book will change your life. Without any hyperbole, it most definitely changed mine.
I'm not the guy I believe you're replying to, but I think that /u/nullstring means that once you have a job with a 401k, you'll need to reevaluate which (Roth or 401k) you'll max out first.
This book comes highly recommended here and elsewhere if you're interested in learning more.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0471730335 (second edition here http://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/1118921283)
Feel free to pm me if you want.
edit: added second edition
Try to contribute at least as much that is matched by your company into the 401k. Then, if you have extra money left over, put what you can into a Roth IRA. If you find that you can max it out each year ($5500), then increase your contributions to the 401k until the total percentage you're investing is 15% of your annual income.
Stay away from individual stocks. Read The Boglehead's Guide to Investing.
I recommend you read the book The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing before getting started.
Here's an Amazon link, or you can get it at your local library, etc -
https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/1118921283/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=KP78QCEDHFVPPNNRV293
The bogleheads guide to investing is the most science based, matter of fact primer I've found on personal finance. Can be dry at times, feel free to skip the extensive chapter on tax law. I really feel it's a book everyone should read.
https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore-ebook/dp/B00JUV01RW
But you're most likely better off with growth stocks than reinvesting dividends. High-dividend stocks, in general, are established companies with steady earnings. Their stock prices don't move all that much, or at least don't match/beat the market. Of course there are exceptions, but for the most part you're choosing between huge growth potential and huge dividends. Imagine if you'd bought Google (no dividend) 5 years ago versus AT&T (huge dividend). You'd be way better off with Google, regardless of reinvesting that almost 6% dividend.
You really, really should look at index funds/ETFs. You'll get a nice mix of high-dividend stocks and stocks with high growth potential.
Think about it this way: You're young and just starting. This is the best time to be making good investment decisions, because right now is when your money has the most time to grow. If you make dumb decisions now then get smart when you're 35, you've lost 10 years of time. So you want to make the best possible decision now. Don't let youthful confidence make you think you know better than the tried-and-true advise. If investing in high-dividend stocks when you were young was the smartest strategy, that would be the tried-and-true advice... but it isn't. A three-fund portfolio of indexes is.
You're clearly doing the right thing starting young and seeking out advice. I'd suggest spending $15 and a day of time reading Bogelhead's Guide to Investing. It covers all the basics about what to look for, and explains why a three-fund portfolio is smart... so you can know for yourself instead of taking random internet advice. Pretty small investment of time/money to set yourself out on the right foot when it matters the most.
There's lots of useful information at The Boglehead's Website, especially The Getting Started Guide.
I've also found the following books incredibly helpful as well:
The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JUV01RW/ref=cm\_sw\_r\_cp\_apa\_i\_ZWO9Ab96NZHK9
I honestly don't know much about insurance in the US, but term life insurance is almost always the way to go. I'd recommend searching /r/PersonalFinance for the name of the company to see if anything pops up.
As for the last part... that's why I recommend reading a simple book on investing. I'm assuming a modest cash buffer of about 6x your monthly expenses and then investing the rest.
Most people here will recommend investing in cheap, broad index funds, usually by instances like Vanguard. Popular funds as far as I know are VTSAX for stocks and BND for bonds.
Just to reiterate: Just pick up The Bogleheads Guide to Investing. Your future self will thank you.
Those are definitely competitive rates. He's probably hiding some additional fees though, like the expense ratios of the funds themselves, and any load fees.
However, the best thing to do is absolutely to continue to manage things yourselves. There is very little value that a CFP can add over just doing some research, after all, who cares most about your financial future, you or some guy who is just after $0.7% of it?
The wiki of this sub has a lot of great information, you may also want to check out some books like The Bogglehead's Guide to Investing. I can guarantee you that the $14 you spend on that book will give you a better return on your money than the 0.7% you pay an advisor....
Devil Take the Hindmost - fun, readable book about the history of investment https://www.amazon.com/dp/0452281806/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_xIpbBbSMEKR7X
The Boglehead's Guide to Investing https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JUV01RW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_gKpbBbSYVVXS7 has a lot of practical info on wealth maximization through minimizing taxes, long term consistent debt such as frequent new car purchases, and general buy and hold investment strategies
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0041842TW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_6LpbBb1PVZEMX solid, classic book about foundations for building wealth
Money invested early has a profound effect on how much you will have in retirement.
You are in a really unique point in your life where you have income that greatly exceeds your current needs. Your best course of action is to pile on the investments as much as you can. Take advantage of a Roth IRA, 401k or Roth 401k, and HSA if you are eligible for one. A 3 fund portfolio of low cost index funds is a good place to invest taxed income.
Your biggest problem will be lifestyle inflation. Now that you have extra money, you will be tempted to spend more and let your expenses creep up. Try to hold this off as much as possible since it's easy to get used to spending more, but hard to get used to spending less. A good way of doing this is to only have the same amount of money hit your main account(s). Have the rest put into retirement accounts or investment accounts automatically. Out of sight, out of mind really helps here.
I would highly recommend reading The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing.
The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing
I can understand the short time horizon, however I'm also comparing the services I'm being offered, especially on my second bank where I have most of my money and since 2007 they had a 41% increase, while S&P in the same time period had almost 100%.
Even with a more conservative approach in their investments, which I like because in 2008 there was no negative returns and they actually ended up the year at +0.32%, while S&P 500 ended at almost -40%. However, even with that -40% S&P was able to return more in the same amount of years, even with -40% years.
I pay 1%-1.50% commission to the bank AFAIK.
Do you think in the MSCI BRIC ETF that a 3% annualized for the past 10 years is good? That's what I'm getting mostly with the investments I'm getting at the moment.
From what I can understand $BKF had 45% increase in 2017, while MSCI BRIC ETF had 30%. In 2016 it was 23% to 31%. Either I'm reading this wrong, but it wasn't nearly identically performances, it was a 10% difference each year.
I will read Boggleheads, is it this? https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore-ebook/dp/B00JUV01RW
You don't really have any control over your ROI, there are much bigger factors at play. You want to control the things that you can - which is why keeping fees reduced is a strategy stressed around here.
Overall, I think you are in good place, though. Keep doing research, and most importantly, keep on saving.
If you are looking for some "light" reading, check out this book (think there are free PDFs available, too).
I started with The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing
https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore-ebook/dp/B00JUV01RW/
Edit: updated link
Anyone wondering about wealth:
Read The Millionaire Mind
Read Rich Dad, Poor Dad
Read The Millionaire Next Door
These books highlight the differences in how people talk to their children about wealth.
Baby Step #7: Build wealth and give!
Once your financial house is in order—all debts are paid off, emergency funds are fully funded, retirement contributions are maxed out, then the only thing left to do is keep finding ways to build wealth and enjoy it.
I've been reading a book this week (almost done) that has really helped me think of some things I can do once I get to that point myself. Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki really harps on the idea that money should work for you, instead of you working for money; the trick is to find creative ways to make that happen. It's got me really excited to get my debts and savings squared away so I can move on to the wealth-building stage!
Edited to add: In response to your remark about chasing income increases… read the book linked above! Don't just make it your long-term goal to keep finding ways to work for more money, when you could be finding ways to get money working for you! It's not right for everybody (it might not even be right for me), but the sooner people think about it like that, the sooner they can try it for themselves, the better their chances of achieving it!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rich-Dad-Poor-Teach-Middle/dp/1612680011
Rich Dad Poor Dad
Read it, teach them object lessons and show them the things that the educational system will never teach them if you don't now.
I completely agree with your point of view! What is really sad is that politicians don't understand the significant of US debt. Our education system is failing us in a big way. You need to learn it yourself:
http://www.amazon.com/Smart-Couples-Finish-Rich-Creating/dp/0767904842/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1342529397&amp;sr=8-6&amp;keywords=david+bach
http://www.amazon.com/Smart-Women-Finish-Rich-Achieving/dp/076791029X/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1342529550&amp;sr=8-5&amp;keywords=david+bach
http://www.amazon.com/Rich-Dad-Poor-Teach-Middle/dp/1612680011/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1342529578&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=rich+dad+poor+dad
http://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Next-Door-Surprising-Americas/dp/1589795474/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1342529600&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=the+millionaire+next+door
This book. Read it.
Dad read this -> he's wealthy now. I read this -> I see what everyone is doing wrong. I'm now waiting my turn to get out of college and get started on this.
The best ones are of course free, and both this subreddit and bogelheads have a wealth of knowledge. I try and watch a tutorial or read a story a few times a week on both
For how to create and stick to a budget as a young professional, I like Dave Ramsey. He has tons of good rules of thumb and pitfalls to avoid that will be useful for the rest of your life. He's a bit conservative though, and I don't necessarily agree with his cash only, no debt strategies.
https://www.amazon.com/Total-Money-Makeover-Classic-Financial/dp/1595555277/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1480449960&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=dave+ramsey
Suze Orman is another great author for younger people, especially when tackling big things for the 1st time like home ownership and loans
https://www.amazon.com/Money-Book-Young-Fabulous-Broke/dp/1594482241/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1480450023&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=suze+orman
My top suggestion though is Rich Dad, Poor Dad. It's not as direct as many other personal finance books, as its more general advice on how to steer your financial life, but itss an incredible book
https://www.amazon.com/Rich-Dad-Poor-Teach-Middle/dp/1612680011/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1480450131&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=rich+dad+poor+dad
Read rich dad poor dad. It is easy to read and teaches you basic concepts of money and investing. The main point of the book is to make money work for you, not you working for money. Link: http://www.amazon.com/Rich-Dad-Poor-Teach-Middle/dp/1612680011
>The purpose of this post is help new investors. Often times we may be asked by a friend or family member what they should invest in. They can be easily turned off by throwing multiple FAQs and guides at them. I have found that for a new investor, reading through wikipedia pages on lazy or 3-fund portfolios can be daunting. Reading books on the subject can be over the head of most people as well, if they do not have a finance background. Understanding stocks and bonds as well as the overall market is difficult so don't feel bad about not understanding it. I will try to keep this as short and sweet as possible. Hopefully you can link friends or family who are just starting off with investing to this post to set them on the right path. This information is covered in the FAQ very briefly without much explanation, however. Hopefully others can add insights that could be helpful for readers of this guide or additional questions to add on if they come up.
>
>Disclosure: I am not a financial adviser. I do not work in the financial sector. I do invest in some of the funds that may be listed in this guide. I did not author/publish any recommended books in this guide. I am also not a CPA. This guide is not intended to discuss tax planning.
>
>#Why should I invest?
>
>You should invest in order to help your money grow. Without growth from investing, it would be impossible for most people to retire. 401ks, IRAs, Pensions, and even Social Security all rely on investment returns to meet their obligations.
>
>#Isn't investing risky? How can I be sure I'm not going to lose everything?
>
>Investing doesn't have to be very risky. If you are investing in a single stock and that company goes out of business, then you can lose a lot of money. This is why diversification is important. It like the saying goes, "never put all your eggs in one basket." If they basket breaks then all your eggs break. If you invest in thousands of companies or put your eggs in thousands of baskets then you are much less likely to lose your investment and are quite more likely to gain money. For example, since it was started in 1994 the LifeStrategy growth fund listed below has grown 8% on average per year and invests in thousands of stocks and bonds, international and domestic.
>
>You may think that a 1% high yield savings account is a "safe investment." However, if inflation is over 1% per year, which it often is, it means that you are actually losing purchasing power on that money in the savings account.
>
>Even if you started investing right before a major financial crisis, you would still have more money than a very high yield savings account: Chart
>
>#I Know absolutely nothing about investing, what stocks should I buy?
>
>Target Date Fund or Lifestyle Fund. These are ALL-IN-ONE solutions for investing.
>
>Step 1: Open an account with Vanguard if you don't already have one.
>
>CLICK HERE to determine a good Target date fund for you. How a target date fund works is that it starts off with a higher percentage of stocks to bonds such as 90/10 and then moves toward 50/50 as you near the target date.
>
>For Lifestyle Funds:
>
>the Vanguard LifeStrategy Growth Fund is a solid choice that gives you an 80/20 stock to bond ratio.
>
>the Vanguard LifeStrategy Moderate Growth Fund is also a good choice for a 60/40 stock to bond ration.
>
>Vanguard can make a personalized recommendation for you as well if you aren't sure
>
>in general the higher amount of bonds you have, the less risk but lower growth potential your investment will have.
>
>#Shouldn't I listen to a financial adviser instead of some stranger on reddit?
>
>Well That depends on a few things:
>
>How much money is this financial adviser gaining from your business? I am gaining zero, so I have no reason to steer you wrong. Some times a financial adviser is out to make significant commissions by landing business, especially in extremely high fee "investments" such as whole life insurance or similar policies. Even 1% fees to hold and manage your investments can take a huge bite out of your account over time.
>
>Fee based advisers are the kind that you pay for an appointment, much like a doctor visit, and then they give you advice on your investments. Try to make sure however that they do not try to advise you into using investment vehicles that they receive commission from. These can be helpful in certain situations because you aren't throwing away money for years and years just to have an adviser handle your money.
>
>Consumer Reports says this could happen with some financial advisers. Basically they use their positions and your lack of knowledge to get you to invest in things to make them more money, costing you dearly in the long term.
>
>#Why are you suggesting Vanguard? What about other banks / brokerages?
>
>I find Vanguard the easiest to use. They also are structured to keep your investments safe. Once you reach a $50,000 with them, you have access to professional advisers. Unlike other banks/brokerages the advisers at Vanguard DO NOT RECEIVE COMMISSIONS. They are salaried so they have no reason to steer you wrong. Source
>
>Vanguard also has some of (if not the) lowest fees in the industry. This saves you money in the long term vs using other institutions or a financial adviser to manage your money.
>
>#Are there other investments besides these All-in-one funds?
>
>Yes, of course. Here are some more examples of portfolios that you could use as well:
>
> Examples of so called "Lazy Portfolios"
>
> These are some 3 fund portfolios
>
>
>#Are there any good books I could read to understand these investments more?
>
>Book recommendations:
>
> The Bogleheads Guide to Investing
>
> The Only Guide to a Winning Investment Strategy You'll Ever Need: The Way Smart Money Invests Today
>
> Book List from Bogleheads wiki
>
>
>The purpose of this post is help new investors. Often times we may be asked by a friend or family member what they should invest in. They can be easily turned off by throwing multiple FAQs and guides at them. I have found that for a new investor, reading through wikipedia pages on lazy or 3-fund portfolios can be daunting. Reading books on the subject can be over the head of most people as well, if they do not have a finance background. Understanding stocks and bonds as well as the overall market is difficult so don't feel bad about not understanding it. I will try to keep this as short and sweet as possible. Hopefully you can link friends or family who are just starting off with investing to this post to set them on the right path. This information is covered in the FAQ very briefly without much explanation, however. Hopefully others can add insights that could be helpful for readers of this guide or additional questions to add on if they come up.
>
>Disclosure: I am not a financial adviser. I do not work in the financial sector. I do invest in some of the funds that may be listed in this guide. I did not author/publish any recommended books in this guide. I am also not a CPA. This guide is not intended to discuss tax planning.
>
>#Why should I invest?
>
>You should invest in order to help your money grow. Without growth from investing, it would be impossible for most people to retire. 401ks, IRAs, Pensions, and even Social Security all rely on investment returns to meet their obligations.
>
>#Isn't investing risky? How can I be sure I'm not going to lose everything?
>
>Investing doesn't have to be very risky. If you are investing in a single stock and that company goes out of business, then you can lose a lot of money. This is why diversification is important. It like the saying goes, "never put all your eggs in one basket." If they basket breaks then all your eggs break. If you invest in thousands of companies or put your eggs in thousands of baskets then you are much less likely to lose your investment and are quite more likely to gain money. For example, since it was started in 1994 the LifeStrategy growth fund listed below has grown 8% on average per year and invests in thousands of stocks and bonds, international and domestic.
>
>You may think that a 1% high yield savings account is a "safe investment." However, if inflation is over 1% per year, which it often is, it means that you are actually losing purchasing power on that money in the savings account.
>
>Even if you started investing right before a major financial crisis, you would still have more money than a very high yield savings account: Chart
>
>#I Know absolutely nothing about investing, what stocks should I buy?
>
>Target Date Fund or Lifestyle Fund. These are ALL-IN-ONE solutions for investing.
>
>Step 1: Open an account with Vanguard if you don't already have one.
>
>CLICK HERE to determine a good Target date fund for you. How a target date fund works is that it starts off with a higher percentage of stocks to bonds such as 90/10 and then moves toward 50/50 as you near the target date.
>
>For Lifestyle Funds:
>
>the Vanguard LifeStrategy Growth Fund is a solid choice that gives you an 80/20 stock to bond ratio.
>
>the Vanguard LifeStrategy Moderate Growth Fund is also a good choice for a 60/40 stock to bond ration.
>
>Vanguard can make a personalized recommendation for you as well if you aren't sure
>
>in general the higher amount of bonds you have, the less risk but lower growth potential your investment will have.
>
>#Shouldn't I listen to a financial adviser instead of some stranger on reddit?
>
>Well That depends on a few things:
>
>How much money is this financial adviser gaining from your business? I am gaining zero, so I have no reason to steer you wrong. Some times a financial adviser is out to make significant commissions by landing business, especially in extremely high fee "investments" such as whole life insurance or similar policies. Even 1% fees to hold and manage your investments can take a huge bite out of your account over time.
>
>Fee based advisers are the kind that you pay for an appointment, much like a doctor visit, and then they give you advice on your investments. Try to make sure however that they do not try to advise you into using investment vehicles that they receive commission from. These can be helpful in certain situations because you aren't throwing away money for years and years just to have an adviser handle your money.
>
>Consumer Reports says this could happen with some financial advisers. Basically they use their positions and your lack of knowledge to get you to invest in things to make them more money, costing you dearly in the long term.
>
>#Why are you suggesting Vanguard? What about other banks / brokerages?
>
>I find Vanguard the easiest to use. They also are structured to keep your investments safe. Once you reach a $50,000 with them, you have access to professional advisers. Unlike other banks/brokerages the advisers at Vanguard DO NOT RECEIVE COMMISSIONS. They are salaried so they have no reason to steer you wrong. Source
>
>Vanguard also has some of (if not the) lowest fees in the industry. This saves you money in the long term vs using other institutions or a financial adviser to manage your money.
>
>#Are there other investments besides these All-in-one funds?
>
>Yes, of course. Here are some more examples of portfolios that you could use as well:
>
> Examples of so called "Lazy Portfolios"
>
> These are some 3 fund portfolios
>
>
>#Are there any good books I could read to understand these investments more?
>
>Book recommendations:
>
> The Bogleheads Guide to Investing
>
> The Only Guide to a Winning Investment Strategy You'll Ever Need: The Way Smart Money Invests Today
>
> Book List from Bogleheads wiki
>
>
This book was my first introduction to this world
The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118921283/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_suBOybE0AZ4CY
https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/1118921283/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=3E5B3ECZ4SNYZEQP3DC1
Link to the book to confirm the same one you ordered
How about a list of books/resources in the sidebar for those just starting out?
I heard these are two good books for beginners
The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing
www.amazon.com/dp/1118921283/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_W7g3BbGXSD37E
So You Want to Be A Financial Planner www.amazon.com/dp/0985259426/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_P5g3BbMY4M9NP
The same thing happened to me in 2015. I was just starting my retirement savings out of school and ended up losing money in the first few months. But that was just unfortunate timing of the market. The shares I bought before that small market correction are now worth more than when I originally bought them.
We're both probably around the same age so time is on our side. If you're in a target date fund, you're well-diversified and don't need to worry about the short-term volatility in the market. If for some reason we lose all of our money, the world is screwed anyway and the last thing we'd worry about is our retirement accounts.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dollarcostaveraging.asp
This will give you a good, brief explanation of dollar-cost averaging.
Also, I recommend picking up this book at your library: https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/1118921283/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=HGEPDXET2CJ1VWJ3ZA9Y
It's a quick read and will give you more confidence in what you're doing. You have 7 months until you can contribute more to your Roth so that gives you plenty of time to get a good understanding and gain confidence in setting yourself up for the future.
For investing and money management:
And for fun:
Do yourself a favor and read a book before talking to anyone in a bank about investments.
https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/1118921283/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=J72SS6GMC70JW0H33FBN
I am currently a resident in my research years and finally started taking an interest in my finances. I would argue that you do not necessarily need an adviser yet. You should do some reading first. Here are some websites White Coat Investor (WCI) and Bogleheads, which has a great forum and wiki. You should definitely read these 2 books:
I too plan on PSLF (my residency + fellowship will be 9 years so pretty easy decision). My personal opinion is to live like a resident for 2-3 more years (no lifestyle inflation) and accumulate as much money as possible. That means renting for the same amount (if possible) wherever you move for you job. No new cars and the like... After just 2-3 years of this, you will have a decent chunk of money for whatever.
If you can: https://www.etf.com/docs/IfYouCan.pdf
Bogleheads Guide To Investing: http://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/1118921283
A decent place to start.
If you don't want to read a book, then just google "index funds" and "asset allocation" to get started.
You should start by reading The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing and A Random Walk Down Wall Street. Both are short reads and very useful for beginning investors.
These books, and most of the people at /r/personalfinance, will tell you that your best bet is to buy index funds. They will also point you to Vanguard, who generally has the lowest fees around. There are a couple of strategies that get advertised a lot:
In terms of your money, you should start by maxing your IRA and 401(k) contributions each year, and then invest however much more into a standard "taxable" account. Note that you generally want your bond holdings in a tax-sheltered IRA or 401(k). Also note that there are other companies that offer low-fee index funds as well.
https://www.amazon.com/Investing-Dummies-Lifestyle-Eric-Tyson/dp/1119320690/
This is a pretty decent, easy to understand primer in understanding the ways to invest:
https://www.amazon.com/Investing-Dummies-Eric-Tyson/dp/1119320690/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3A8SVKX0AXTP9&keywords=investing+for+dummies+2019&qid=1573331955&sprefix=investing+for+du%2Caps%2C173&sr=8-3
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Of course, do additional research based on the other links shared by others. You can't take all your advice from one source.
See if there are any community colleges near your offering personal finance courses! And my mom (a former accountant/insurance agency employee) recommends this book which she actually just ordered for me too!
Check out Get a Financial Life by Beth Kobliner if you are willing to read a detailed financial schema. Check out the You Need A Budget (YNAB) app for habit building, info, and convenience.
While I agree that the intelligent investor is probably the top single book, it's advanced and longer than most will ever read. 'The beginners guide to investing' is a short and to the point book that I found was really good. It paints the picture early in the book that investing is a long game, then it proceeds into types of investments, asset allocations etc. I particularly utilized the idea of a lockbox vs sandbox. Lockbox is the main nest egg and you only add to that over time, sandbox is a active trading account if you enjoy the game, but with an amount you can handle losing. All my wsb-type fun is happening there, no true yolos, but can still hit some smaller home runs for enjoyment. For $8 this book has everything you need. https://www.amazon.com/Beginners-Guide-Investing-Money-Smart/dp/1477463992?ref=silk_at_search
hows this book btw: http://www.amazon.com/Beginners-Guide-Investing-Money-Smart/dp/1477463992/
https://www.amazon.com/Beginners-Guide-Investing-Money-Smart/dp/1477463992
If you already don't have debt, I recommend Beginners Guide to Investing. The philosophy is, spending 4-5 hours a year is all you need to invest well. Short quick read.
Hi baldeagle1776! I'm going to throw out my meager recommendation in hopes of drawing out better ones from other people :)
Personally, I think this subreddit's FAQ section is a fantastic place to start - it's one of the best "overviews" of PF information I've seen anywhere.
Not sure if you're looking for introductory books or a deeper dive into topics, but my only other recommendation is "A Beginner's Guide to Investing" by Alex Frey. http://www.amazon.com/Beginners-Guide-Investing-Money-Smart/dp/1477463992/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8
And I'm eagerly awaiting other people's recommendations here :)
I'd start by looking at this webpage:
https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics
This breaks down the steps of that flow chart for you. The simple flowchart is amazing for beginners.
I would then look into this blog. it has many useful topics but this post in general is a simple intro to see if you are interested in it:
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/02/22/getting-rich-from-zero-to-hero-in-one-blog-post/
If these topics interest you I recommend this book.
https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Path-Wealth-financial-independence/dp/1533667926
Best of Luck.
I wish I would have read this when I was your age, plus Dave Ramsey, and you’ll be golden. https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Path-Wealth-financial-independence/dp/1533667926
If you want real estate, invest in a REIT. You need more money to make a dent in “real assets” like real estate.
The Simple Path to Wealth by J.L Collins
Yes it is. I will not do the explanation justice so below is a link to JL Collins book A Simple Path To Wealth where he dives into the market trends.
The short answer is that the market always goes up. If you search for a graph of the stock market showing the last 100 years, while there are a few periods where you see some big dips, over the long run it always head higher.
Check out this book... it’s worth every penny!
https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Path-Wealth-financial-independence/dp/1533667926
Read and listen to Dave Ramsey if you want to be "good" with personal finance.
If you want to "optimize" finance, then come hang out with us in r/financialindependence
Podcasts: ChooseFI, Afford Anything
Blogs: Mr. Money Mustache
Books: Simple Path to Wealth, Your Money or Your Life, Millionaire Next Door, The Richest Man in Babylon
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Some pointers:
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Since you are in the beginning stages of investing I highly recommend JL Collins’ book. This will introduce you to the fundamentals of saving through Index Funds.
https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Path-Wealth-financial-independence/dp/1533667926/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1537139353
The Simple Path to Wealth
Read:
https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Path-Wealth-financial-independence/dp/1533667926
Ignore all your friends buying stupid shit.
100% recommend J L Collin's stock series or his book if you're going to go full ham on shares.
The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1533667926/
It is more about investing but aimed at your age and very readable.
Entrepreneur Reading List
Computer Science Grad School Reading List
Video Game Development Reading List
Hot Button Marketing does a good job of laying out the emotional and rational reasons that drive consumer behavior.
http://www.amazon.com/Hot-Button-Marketing-Emotional-Buttons/dp/1593375166
The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki is a good read. He's currently working on an update.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Start-Time-Tested-Battle-Hardened/dp/1591840562
Yes, management consultants will happily take your money to do this. If there is a WeWork in your city they may congregate there.
There are also a large number of business guys looking for people like you to start companies with. Try hanging out at startup happy hour events.
These are not high-probability paths to success, though. You would be better off studying business strategy and trying to figure it out yourself.
Consider Guy Kawasaki's "The Art of the Start" which is a good introduction.
The number of great books to be read on business itself is beyond enumerable. There is even a book on the 100 best business books written here: http://100bestbiz.com/
For helping your brother decide whether he has the stomach and skills it takes to be an entrepreneur, I'd suggest Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki and Founders at Work
At the end of the day, it's a bipolar ride that I'm not sure any book can prepare you for...
Does anyone ever even research or read when they start up?
Art of the Start: 1. find problem. 2. solve problem. 3. give value for money. It really isn't complicated.
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Start-Time-Tested-Battle-Hardened-Starting/dp/1591840562
My own advice would be to start early (you're doing that) and to go with no/low fee investments. This will make a huge difference over time.
You might also check out the personal finance book "The index card," and the video "How to Win the Losers Game."
Doing that job well is not very hard. All the investment advice you'll need fits on a postcard.
>Max your 401k or equivalent employee contribution.
>
>Buy inexpensive, well diversified mutual funds such as Vanguard Target 20XX funds.
>
>Never buy or sell an individual security. The person on the other side of the table knows more than you do about this stuff.
>
>Save 20% of your money.
>
>Pay your credit card balance in full every month.
>
>Maximize tax-advantages savings vehicles like Roth, SEP and 529 accounts.
>
>Pay attention to fees. Avoid actively managed funds.
>
>Make financial advisor commit to a fiduciary standard.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Index-Card-Personal-Complicated/dp/1591847680
Or an index card
Try to target 6-12 months of living expenses. Call this your emergency fund.
Do you have any debt? Pay that off next.
Third, try to invest money in tax advantaged spaces, (IRA, Roth IRA, 401k).
Plenty of good books out there on investing and personal finance. I favor the book below:
The Index Card
Why Personal Finance Doesn't Have to Be Complicated
https://www.amazon.com/Index-Card-Personal-Finance-Complicated/dp/1591847680
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The Little Book of Common Sense Investing
www.amazon.com/Little-Book-Common-Sense-Investing/dp/1119404509
I would also add Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki, yes, it's aimed at an American readership but the principals are still the same.
It doesn't teach you to pick stocks or anything specific like that, but for me it was a real eye opener and educated me about having your money work for you, rather than the other way round.
Also, get a copy of Rich Dad Poor Dad (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rich-Dad-Poor-Robert-Kiyosaki/dp/1612680003/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1409136346&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=rich+dad+poor+dad) - I wish I'd read this when I was younger, might give you a new perspective...
Let him help himself.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad.
The Shadow Of The Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime by Mark Haddon. You're welcome... about Shadow.. It's mystery someones burning copies of a book and the kid in the bookstore tries to figure out who's behind it. It's soooo goooood. For the other request maybe Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill and Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
Sounds like a great father, he is working to build a desirable habit in you real early. But really your investing will start once you have regular income.
> Any sources to learn about such stuff?
Too many sources to mention. The book, The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham continues to be a gold standard. But it is pretty wordy and difficult for the first timer. Rich Dad, Poor Dad is exciting to read but very shallow and even misleading. Most of these books use the American market in perspective.
The Four Pillars of Investing. Great book for beginners!
I'm pretty sure it is this book: Rich Dad Poor Dad
https://www.amazon.com/Rich-Dad-Poor-Teach-Middle/dp/1612680011
A copy of this book
http://www.amazon.com/Rich-Dad-Poor-Teach-Middle/dp/1612680011/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1458839562&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=rich+dad+poor+dad
Oh wait you can't afford that either
It seems you're confusing your critique of Marx's theories with the idea that he wasn't the first to articulate those ideas as well as he has. Just so you know, the idea that Marx's theories were just a rearticulation of what a bunch of people had thought through time immemorial is false. In fact, the kind of capital-as-powersource Marx was talking about didn't really come into it's own before that time period. Before that, major power sources were armies or feudal alliances or churches, not the business class.
Regardless of how you feel about what he said, he was one of the first (if not the first) person who can really be shown to have said it.
> Indeed, the early criticism of Marx surrounded his fathomless ignorance of the landowning peasantry, which certainly owns capital, and that he wrote off as the lumpenproletariat.
We often use the word Capital to describe currency or owned object of any kind, but that's not really what Marx means when he says 'Capital'. How can owned land be 'capital' in one case but not in another? Because Capital is meant to refer to something which can be rented, loaned out, or otherwise gain interest or increase in value. The landowner who lives on and, say, subsistence farms a small tract of land is not equivalent to a landowner who owns a larger acreage that he rents out to farmers or factories or whathaveyou. The latter can use his land to function as an asset, while the former is not in a position to property capitalize on what he owns.
A word I like to use instead is asset; which has the explicit meaning of something that will increase in value and is relatively liquid.
> Indeed: there is no such thing as a capitalist class, because everyone who participates in the commerce of society owns capital of a sort.
But, as I hope I've explained, Capital is a matter of scale. Enough money to live on is not capital, as it must be spent and can't be used to invest in assets capable of generating more capital with relative independence. If one can leverage their capital to the degree that they no longer need to sell their labor, makes one a capitalist. The ownership of something that could be capital depending on the circumstances does not.
If you don't like Marx, the best book for pointing this out is actually Rich Dad, Poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki-
http://www.amazon.com/Rich-Dad-Poor-Teach-Middle/dp/1612680011
His intention, of course, is to explain to everyone why it's good to be and how to be rich; but in doing so, he defines a worldview that is almost pure Marxism.
Do a tonne of reading. A lot of things are US based but the principles apply to Canada too. Read the investing for beginners info at about.com to get a grasp. Joshua Kennon is a pretty smart guy when it comes to investing and business but he really just follows the principles of Benjamin Graham (Warren Buffet's mentor). Security Anaylsis is very good as well as The Intelligent Investor.
You mean this book? https://www.amazon.com/Security-Analysis-Foreword-Buffett-Editions/dp/0071592539/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1474598387&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=security+analysis
A guy I know recommends this one but I'm not sure if he's read the book you recommended: https://www.amazon.com/Intelligent-Investor-Definitive-Investing-Essentials/dp/0060555661/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1474598469&amp;sr=8-3&amp;keywords=security+analysis
>I’m 20 right now with 1.5M in savings.
You have a great head start compared to most people! Don't squander the money. You'll realize 1.5M isn't that big soon enough, if you haven't already.
>While I really do appreciate the groundbreaking and insightful concepts that he introduces in his books, I feel like it doesn’t specifically teach you how to invest especially if you are an absolute beginner
Yes, I noticed this too but there was one crucial lesson he taught in the book that people miss - cashflow management. What did you learn about cashflow management?
Don't underestimate that lesson. It's literally the key to becoming and staying wealthy. It's probably more important than learning how to analyze a company's financial statement, forecast price movement, etc.
Once you feel like you're ready, go and study the different methods for analyzing a company. I would suggest reading this book: Security Analysis and this. Those two books will teach you exactly what you're trying to figure out now in terms of "learning to invest".
Keep learning, don't stop growing.
Start With Why [Simon Sinek]
48 Laws of Power [Robert Greene] (33 Strategies of War, Art of Seduction)
The 50th Law [Curtis James Jackson]
Tipping Point:How Little Things Can Make a Difference and Outliers: The story of Succes [Malcolm Gladwell]
The Obstacle is the Way, Ego is the Enemy [Ryan Holiday] (stoicism)
[Tim Ferris] (actually haven't read any of his books, but seems to know a way to use social media, podcast, youtube)
Get an understanding to finance, economics, marketing, investing [Graham, Buffet], philosophy [Jordan Peterson]
I like to think us/you/business is about personal development, consciousness, observing recognizable patterns in human behavior and historical significance. It's an understanding of vast areas of subjects that connect and intertwine then returns back to the first book you’ve read (Start with Why) and learn what you've read past to present. Business is spectacular, so is golf.
To Add:
Irrationally Predictable:The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions - [Dan Ariely] (marketing)
The Hard Things About Hard Things - [Ben Horowitz] (business management)
Black Privilege: Opportunity Comes to Those Who Create It - [Charlamagne Tha God] (motivation)
The Lean Startup: Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses - [Eric Ries]
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, How to Build the Future - [Peter Theil]
>The good traders GameKyuubi was wrong about only one thing: There aren't any good traders.
If you haven't seen a good trader yet, does that mean they do not exist?
Nobody had ever seen a black swan. For thousands of years, that meant that they didn't exist. Until someone saw one, of course.
You are running into a fundamental problem of inductive logic, and it's preventing you from seeing trading rationally. If you want to read more on how this matters to traders, I'd suggest The black swan by Nassim Taleb
>There are lots of us who believe we are good traders. But we aren't. Of course, some of the loudest voices on Reddit regularly remind us about how well they time the market. Except when they don't time the market well.
Here is the first misconception about trading. The best traders have never timed the markets. They utilize arbitrage opportunities, which exist in countless forms across every asset class, and rarely have anything to do with market timing.
I highly recommend reading The Quants if you're interested in learning how successful traders operate, as well as their history. It's not only extremely informative, but highly entertaining
>A paper published last October by the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley entitled "Do Day Traders Rationally Learn About Their Ability?" used nearly 15 years of stock market day trading data to conclude that all day traders are irrational, the vast majority of day traders lose money, and even when day traders are successful, they "irrationally attribute success disproportionately to their ability rather than luck."
Now this I agree with. The vast majority of traders are terrible at trading, and when they do win, it's because they are lucky, not because they are smart. One of the fundamental books on Wallstreet for understanding this is What I learned losing a million dollars
The entire story is about an extremely successful trader who lost everything on one bet, mainly because his entire life before that had been a string of extremely lucky coincidences, and he never realized it.
>Of course, their success was due to their unique trading ability and not the fact that the entire market rose like a rocket.
Keep in mind, the best traders are always benchmarked against an asset or index. This is called beta weighing. If you make less money trading then you would have from just holding the bench marked asset, you have effectively lost money from trading.
>Warren Buffett, the most successful investor of modern times, has often said that he only invests in what he knows. His preferred holding period: forever. With that model, his company, Berkshire Hathaway, has averaged a 19 percent annual return since 1965 which means it has risen more than 1 million percent.
There are a lot of reasons for Warren Buffet's success, but it's worth pointing out that it's a lot more complex than just picking a security and holding it forever. If you want to learn about value investing, and the fundemental analysis behind it, check out Security Analysis
It's written by Ben Graham, the guy who taught Warren Buffet everything he knows. Arguably the most important concept in the text is called [investing with a margin of safety](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margin_of_safety_(financial)
Bitcoin definitely has intrinsic value. The problem is, nobody knows what that intrinsic value is worth. Since there is no currently known method of valuing a decentralized network (although progress is being made) Warren Buffet wouldn't touch bitcoin with a 10 foot pole, and if you want to invest in value, the way he has, you shouldn't either.
>Trading is no solution for intelligent people. What we need are new ways to use cryptocurrency.
Ouch man, that's harsh. I'm interested in why you correlate hodling with intelligence. IMO, there are dumb people hodling, and dumb people trading. Most of the time, it's those who form an opinion based on a single source, or worse yet a single quote, who are dumb. It's those that think in absolutes, and without a healthy degree of skepticism.
According to Ben Graham, it's not the speculators or the investors that are dumb. It's the people that can't tell the difference between the two.
EDIT: Sorry, typed this up real quick at work. Spelling and grammar mistakes everywhere.
Depends on what you're interested in -
Most of my work is in derivatives so would recommend
Those are good starter books and far, far beyond what you'll get out of all three levels of the CFA. There are much more mathematically focused books out there as well.
If you want to get mathy -
This was my first serious finance book in undergrad and I still reference it today.
Fixed Income
I'm probably least strong in the equity space but most people recommend this book (I haven't read it)
Assuming you are not trolling, you can glance through this book, this one or several others. Without knowing how to read financial statements (one of which is a balance sheet), you'll just be speculating on the value of a company.
The best two books anyone worth their salt would recommend are The Intelligent Investor and Security Analysis....in that order.
first: Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefevre
Next:
Whichever version of http://www.amazon.ca/Security-Analysis-Foreword-Warren-Buffett/dp/0071592539/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1374797721&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=security+analysis
Liar's poker is interesting. Skip wealth of nations in my opinion. I like it, but there are more pressing things to read.
Next, I'd say read this "Options, Futures and Other Derivatives by John C. Hull'
Read Brett Steenbarger's books on managing yourself (enhancing trader performance, and other)
Check out Jeff Augen books on options trading.
next: Trading in the Zone : Maximizing Performance with Focus and Discipline by Ari Kiev
>>>Most importantly, read on different topics.<<<
Read anything by Fabozzi fixed income, mortgages
I had a few in mind, but this was a great help to me: GS summer reading list has great titles: https://www.quantnet.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Goldman-Sachs-Suggested-Reading-List.pdf
Graham, Bill Gross, John Train, Peter Lynch
I really liked The Predators’ Ball and Den of Thieves
Also, consider spending some money and getting one of these courses: http://www.wallstreetprep.com/programs/ (I'm not affiliated with them, but when they were starting out, I got one of the programs on discount, didn't fully persue it, but I found presentations to be very helpful on valuations and LBO introduction.. I imagine they got even better overtime)
Security Analysis.
This one?
I highly recommend The Bogleheads Guide to Investing and All About Asset Allocation to start with. They are both very understandable and you can read them in one weekend. It's your money and your life so it's worth it to spend a few bucks and an afternoon here and there to learn answers to questions you never even thought of asking before.
>at least half of American households have the majority of their networth in real estate.
Correct. Many/most Americans buy way too much house and are undiversified with a massive illiquid asset on their balance sheet. It costs them money and time to maintain while trapping them in one location and limits employment options. A healthy investment portfolio would have cash, bonds, stock, and some real estate.
Your original post asked specifically about real estate but I'm urging you to consider developing a long term workable plan beyond speculation and rental properties, which IMHO is shortsighted. You and your wife have a real shot at tremendous success because you are young DINKs with good income but you need to broaden your horizons a bit beyond the typical "let's buy real estate" idea.
One of the best intro books I've read that covers different assets is "All About Asset Allocation" by Rick Ferri: http://www.amazon.com/About-Asset-Allocation-Second-Edition/dp/0071700781
My opinion on a holding individual bonds, is that I would only do it if: a. I wanted to provide myself near guaranteed cash flows (via a bond ladder) or b. had significant amounts (hundreds of thousands to millions) to invest in bonds.
If you know you will need money at a certain date in the future, individual bond purchases (ie: treasury direct) or CDs could be useful. The bond fund's price will fluctuate greatly with changes in rates, so you bear some risk of the price being low when you want your cash. This is the risk/benefit to weigh. I am not concerned about this as my emergency fund at LMCU gets 3% interest and would cover about 6 month of expenses. I also hold roughly 6 months of expenses in precious metals. I view PMs as currency diversification, not as an investment. I like diversification, so I hold my emergency fund in USD and PMs. My bond allocation is entirely through VBTLX currently. Consider tax efficiency of how you hold your bonds.
Rick Ferri has a book All about asset allocation that covers the concept of reducing volatility leading to higher long-term returns. It is a little less deep/technical than Bernstein.
Bernstein has a series I really enjoyed call "Investing for Adults". Rational Expectations (Book 4) covers the volatility/return relationship. He can get a bit technical this series, but I think it is worth reading if you are going to do your own financial planning. (Note: I am also a nerd and enjoy reading about these topics). Four Pillars was also a great read.
Don't try to beat the market. Read A Random Walk Down Wall Street and make sure you understand why it's not a good idea to try to beat the market unless you're a physics PhD working at a hedge fund, and possibly not even then. Invest, but don't trade actively or expect to time anything.
If you plan on not dying young, you will need to start saving for retirement, the sooner the better. This in turn requires not only saving, but investing to make sure that your savings at the very least, keep pace with inflation (and hopefully do better).
There are a thousand books on investing, and I can't say I've read even a fraction, but one of the better "level headed, time tested" books out there is "A random walk down Wallstreet"
http://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/0393081435/
Markets will fluctuate wildly and beyond your ability to predict. The good news is that you have time on your side, and historically, the markets have had an upward trend.
Granted, this is all predicated on the idea that the country is not on fire in 10-20 years (best to stay out of /r/politics if you want to stay optimistic), but your best bet is to ride the trend of the general market over a long period of time.
Still, there really are no guarantee. Best to leave guarantees for death and taxes.
> I think I will start one of those virtual stock account things once all my finals are over. Seems like a useful skill to have.
NO! NO! NO!
This is in no way a useful skill, no individual should invest in single stocks. Use index funds.
Read this and this to understand why.
I'm halfway through A Random Walk Down Wall Street. It is fairly easy to read and seems to cover all the common investment strategies. If you're thinking about long term investing you should check it out.
The author contends that the best performing investment strategy over long periods (such as 30 years) is a widely diversified portfolio that covers the entire market (e.g. index fund). Frontline aired an episode last year that came to the same conclusion. Mutual funds have management fees that reduce your gains. Fund performance will vary over time as the market changes (and fund management changes).
Another thing to consider is tax; you will pay capitol gains tax in the year you sell (15% of sale $ - buy $). Purchasing another stock does not get you out of this.
A Random Walk Down Wall Street
A Random Walk Down Wall Street
This book by Burton Malkiel does a better job explaining this point that the business card. It's only $10, too, and I'd consider it required reading for anyone who's learned about the stock market through a combination of parental advice and Hollywood.
I would read <a href=http://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/0393340740/&gt;A Random Walk Down Wallstreet</a> for a good summary on investing basics. Also, I agree that Fooled by Randomness is a fantastic book from a philosophical standpoint.
Posting for postings sake really.
Early 20's small timer dipping my feet into the world of investing. My only experience is the 4 unit finance class I took in College last year and whatever snippets I've read from /r/PF (mostly ppl recommending you have an emergency fund setup, debts taken care of and vanguard retirement plan). I have A random Walk arriving this weekend but decided to get into it a tad earlier just to feel it out.
I purchased $100 of AMD stock over the last couple of months starting in Oct. through RH. Since my initial investment, I've gotten a return of 12% which I think is pretty good taking it for what it is. I see the stock doing much better in 1 years time and will hold out until then regardless of performance while continuing to dump my pre-budgeted spending money into it (usually $100/month).
Again, I know it's virtually nothing at the moment but I want to further chase these feel goods with initial investments into some other companies. SHOR, BBRY, TMUS, and FEYE are on my watch list and I plan on reading up on Utilities, Healthcare and Energy but one step at a time.
TLDR: Hi guys, Where do you recommend I look to learn about energy, health/pharm/utilities.
EDIT: what do any of you think about CPRX?
Sorry for the picky correction, but it's A Random Walk Down Wall Street, amazon link here - and it's a great book, really changed my opinions on investing too
Curioso, acabei de o ler há umas duas semanas :P
Para além das sugestões dadas, sugiro também que leias a "continuação" do Rich Dad Poor Dad, o CASHFLOW Quadrant. Estou a lê-lo atualmente e se gostaste do RDPD, também vais gostar.
Um livro que eu também vou ler em breve é o A Random Walk Down Wall Street. Já o comprei, já vi muita gente referir-se a ele como obrigatório para qualquer pessoa que pretenda investir na bolsa.
O conceito de fundos e de acções aplica-se em Portugal tal como em qualquer outro país. E mesmo que não se aplicasse ou os aches demasiado instáveis por cá, nada te impede de investires na bolsa ou em fundos de outros países. O PSI 20 seguiu sempre as tendências do Dow Jones nos últimos 25 anos, de acordo com este gráfico, à exceção dos últimos 5 anos. Muito provavelmente por causa da austeridade / instabilidade nos bancos, diria eu. Mas a economia funciona de igual forma em qualquer lado, a tendência é sempre subir. Pode é demorar mais nalguns casos.
Só por curiosidade, começaste-te a interessar pelo tópico por alguma razão ou com algum objetivo em específico? Podes também procurar blogs de pessoas que tenham objetivos semelhantes, ou que já os tenham inclusive atingido. Costumam ser leituras bastante interessantes. Posso-te sugerir alguns se o teu objetivo for atingir independência financeira o mais rapido possível :P
Check this book out .. definitely helped me a lot starting out!!
A Random Walk down Wall Street: The Time-tested Strategy for Successful Investing https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393352242/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_-7sNyb3CDVQKD
I would advise you to learn more about the history of the stock market, and how difficult it is to beat the market. Books like A Random Walk Down Wall Street will give you a great history of the market.
I personally have a hard and fast rule of never putting more than 10% in a single stock. I'd recommend putting the majority in a retirement account in an S&P 500 index fund, and then using whatever money you're completely OK with losing entirely as a trading account you can go crazy in. :)
A Random Walk down Wall Street: The Time-tested Strategy for Successful Investing
Bogle On Mutual Funds: New Perspectives For The Intelligent Investor
Here is a random article I found about stock simulators.
How do you like to learn things? There are tons of books, podcasts and blogs about investing. Here are some popular ones or ones that I have read and used
Warren Buffett famously/supposedly read every book in the financial section at the library by age 12--I think the important thing to take from that is you are still young and have tons of free time and aside from starting to invest as soon as you can (you can usually start as soon as you have earned income) you should be investing in yourself...getting good grades, figuring out what you want to do after high school, trying out businesses, learning marketable skills (e.g., coding, good writing skills, good interpersonal skills, good organizational skills, etc).
Good Luck!
I've been reading https://smile.amazon.com/Random-Walk-down-Wall-Street/dp/0393352242 lately and it hammers home how often bubbles and investor lust for quick and easy profits happen in history. It's like we never learn. :-( Hell I'm no better, having been caught up in the Bitcoin craze losing a couple hundred to panic selling.
This question has been a lot answered a lot — you should check the sidebar.
That said, the boring but generally good advice is to first save up an emergency fund large enough pay for three months of your life with no other income during that period before you start investing. A lot of people say 10k is a good round number for that fund, but it'll obviously vary from person to person.
Once you have that, you should check out Robinhood. It gets a lot of flak on reddit because it gives people who might have no idea what they are doing a lot of power to blow all their money on penny stocks and emotion. While most other brokerages will charge you $8 - $10 for every trade, Robinhood charges nothing. That saves you a lot, especially if you're starting out with a relatively low portfolio value, but it also means you have to hold your emotions in check on your own, since commission fees won't be there to do it for you.
Vanguard offers a great variety of ETFs, many of which are available on Robinhood. You should check out that list.
I'd also advise you read at least one book. I really like A Random Walk Down Wall Street. I'll spoil the ending for you: It's really hard to beat the market. But it's not so hard to match it.
I highly suggest Burton Malkiel's Burton Malkiel's "A Random Walk Down Wall Street" to any non-technical (and, frankly, even technical) persons seeking a general understanding of economics and finance. It is easy to read and touches on 95% of the key terms that would be covered in an interview.
Anything more in depth than this would likely require more time than you seem to have.
Edit: a word.
I would keep maybe 5k in cash as an emergency fund. With the 10k left I'd recommend a low cost stock mutual fund or ETF. Vanguard has good ones. VTSMX is the total stock fund, although that is weighted more towards large companies. If you want to focus on smaller companies, you could go with the small cap growth fund, VSGAX.
For books, A Random Walk Down Wall Street would be a good place to start.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0393352242/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1521043399&amp;sr=8-1&amp;pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&amp;keywords=a+random+walk+down+wall+street&amp;dpPl=1&amp;dpID=51SyHrmTdTL&amp;ref=plSrch
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0452298628/ref=rdr_ext_tmb Great book to learn the basics.
I personally like The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing.
The author goes over the basics as well as styles of the greats.
The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing.
The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing
It is a variation of the dogs of the dow strategy. Part of the value of your described strategy is dividends.
Jason Kelly discusses your described strategy in his book "The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing".
The strategy seems to have merit. Basically the argument is that any stock stable enough to be listed on the dow is a safe investment but since these stocks are at the bottom there is room for growth.
http://www.amazon.com/Neatest-Little-Guide-Market-Investing/dp/0452298628/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1376756281&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=jason+kelly
I read and skimmed a bunch of books on investing and stocks. The only one that seemed to really stick with me also happened to be the shortest one. Perhaps because its brief. This was a really good launching point for me. The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing by Jason Kelly
Hmmm.... I learned my investing on the streetz!
A good all around book is called - which is great, but I don't remember how much this has in terms of investment material:
http://www.amazon.com/Get-Financial-Life-Personal-Twenties/dp/0743264363/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1313564283&amp;sr=1-1
And this book looks promising:
http://www.amazon.com/Only-Investment-Guide-Youll-Ever/dp/0547447256/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_c
https://www.amazon.com/Only-Investment-Guide-Youll-Ever/dp/0547447256
I thought this one summed up many things nicely:
Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need by Andrew Tobias
http://www.amazon.com/Only-Investment-Guide-Youll-Ever/dp/0547447256
Contrary to it's name, it has more to do with personal finance than investing.
Here are the first two I read to get you started, I'll see if I can't dif up the others:
And yes, I opened up my Roth through Vanguard which was super easy!
I highly recommend this because it's a really accessible read, and it go over some things that are beyond investment https://www.amazon.ca/Only-Investment-Guide-Youll-Ever/dp/0547447256
The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need has a chapter specifically for winning $1m. It's advice is pretty good. Don't buy a boat.
http://www.amazon.com/Only-Investment-Guide-Youll-Ever/dp/0547447256
If I were you, I would put as much money towards college as you can. The less debt that you have the better in the long run. I'd also open an IRA. If you were to put in $10/month now, it would drastically compound later. Here is a [link] (https://research.scottrade.com/KnowledgeCenter/Public/Calculators/RothVsTraditionalIRA) to visually show you compounding.
I'd also suggest [this] (
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0547447256?psc=1&amp;redirect=true&amp;ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage) book. It's $10 and is well worth the money.
It's great to save for retirement and not have debt but no one has mentioned budgeting. Learning to budget is really important.
I'm 25 and started saving a few years ago. I get to go out for coffee and drink with friends when I want, but I still save 1/3 of pay checks for retirement/ savings.
Instead of buying lunch 5 days a week at work, I bring my own lunch 3 days a week. Let's say a meal is $7.
$7X5 days=$40/ week. $40x52 weeks= $2,080/ year.
$7x2 days=$14/ week. $14x52 weeks= $728/ year.
That saves me an extra $1352 to go out, to travel with, to pay off debt or to retire. Buying coffee at Starbucks daily is great but adds up.
You can work smart now and enjoy retiring at 50 or travel the world simply by being smart about your finances.
Great book was written about this phenomenon: https://www.amazon.com/Dow-100-000-Fact-Fiction/dp/0735201374
Lots of academic research into the subject. The real technicals behind the market are terrifying.
For even cheaper TP try
http://www.amazon.com/Dow-100-000-Fact-Fiction/dp/0735201374/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1222790108&amp;sr=1-1
Get a Financial Life
I have a thing for this song atm Bleed out - Blue October :)
This book has options under $10!
And why must you stay up? Ive been working late this week n cant sleep XD
Along with the other suggestions here, you also need to start doing some heavy research into finances. I can tell you that charged off loans never leave your credit report, while a lot of things will drop off after seven years. If you haven't already paid back charged off loans, do those asap, because even though they still appear, how fast you pay those charges off also shows up. It's important that you understand your obligations and also how each of these things affect you so that you can address the situation properly.
I've enjoyed reading Get a Financial Life by Beth Kobliner. For me it was informative without being overwhelming. Also, Money Girl's Smart Moves to Deal with Your Debt by Laura D. Adams was a good read, too.
This is a quick read that is highly useful if you want to learn a thing or two on the topic.
http://www.amazon.com/Get-Financial-Life-Personal-Twenties/dp/0743264363
There is a lot of good information about the financial aspects of these topics in "Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance In Your Twenties and Thirties" by Beth Kobliner
http://www.amazon.com/Get-Financial-Life-Personal-Twenties/dp/0743264363
It really depends on your current level of understanding and your goals, but here are some good places to get started.
You should read The Book on Rental Property Investing by Brandon Turner. It will help you get your head around deciding if it's worth the investment. You're asking all the right questions
https://www.amazon.com/Book-Rental-Property-Investing-Intelligent/dp/099071179X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1466017665&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=the+book+on+rental+property+investing
yea, biggerpockets [the book] (https://www.amazon.com/Book-Rental-Property-Investing-Intelligent/dp/099071179X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1525098461&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=BiggerPockets) is the beginner book of choice these days. Site has some valuable blogs as well
Gross profit return or gross property rent. Read this
https://www.amazon.com/Book-Rental-Property-Investing-Intelligent/dp/099071179X/ref=nodl_
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/099071179X/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1
I just finished this book and it's outstanding. I couldn't put it down. It's packed with great information and there is even an index of forms in the back to give you an idea/template of what you will need. The author is the guy from the 'bigger pockets' podcast and he covers in good detail what you'll need to know.
Completely agree with this!
Might I also suggest the Bogleheads Guide to Investing https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1118921283/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_x_LxhcAb98W6806
Great book that will not only teach you the basics, but also how to approach investing
http://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/1118921283
Then
http://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Retirement-Planning/dp/0470919019
https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/1118921283/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1522714285&amp;sr=8-8&amp;keywords=bogle
>The purpose of this post is help new investors. Often times we may be asked by a friend or family member what they should invest in. They can be easily turned off by throwing multiple FAQs and guides at them. I have found that for a new investor, reading through wikipedia pages on lazy or 3-fund portfolios can be daunting. Reading books on the subject can be over the head of most people as well, if they do not have a finance background. Understanding stocks and bonds as well as the overall market is difficult so don't feel bad about not understanding it. I will try to keep this as short and sweet as possible. Hopefully you can link friends or family who are just starting off with investing to this post to set them on the right path. This information is covered in the FAQ very briefly without much explanation, however. Hopefully others can add insights that could be helpful for readers of this guide or additional questions to add on if they come up.
>
>Disclosure: I am not a financial adviser. I do not work in the financial sector. I do invest in some of the funds that may be listed in this guide. I did not author/publish any recommended books in this guide. I am also not a CPA. This guide is not intended to discuss tax planning.
>
>#Why should I invest?
>
>You should invest in order to help your money grow. Without growth from investing, it would be impossible for most people to retire. 401ks, IRAs, Pensions, and even Social Security all rely on investment returns to meet their obligations.
>
>#Isn't investing risky? How can I be sure I'm not going to lose everything?
>
>Investing doesn't have to be very risky. If you are investing in a single stock and that company goes out of business, then you can lose a lot of money. This is why diversification is important. It like the saying goes, "never put all your eggs in one basket." If they basket breaks then all your eggs break. If you invest in thousands of companies or put your eggs in thousands of baskets then you are much less likely to lose your investment and are quite more likely to gain money. For example, since it was started in 1994 the LifeStrategy growth fund listed below has grown 8% on average per year and invests in thousands of stocks and bonds, international and domestic.
>
>You may think that a 1% high yield savings account is a "safe investment." However, if inflation is over 1% per year, which it often is, it means that you are actually losing purchasing power on that money in the savings account.
>
>Even if you started investing right before a major financial crisis, you would still have more money than a very high yield savings account: Chart
>
>#I Know absolutely nothing about investing, what stocks should I buy?
>
>Target Date Fund or Lifestyle Fund. These are ALL-IN-ONE solutions for investing.
>
>Step 1: Open an account with Vanguard if you don't already have one.
>
>CLICK HERE to determine a good Target date fund for you. How a target date fund works is that it starts off with a higher percentage of stocks to bonds such as 90/10 and then moves toward 50/50 as you near the target date.
>
>For Lifestyle Funds:
>
>the Vanguard LifeStrategy Growth Fund is a solid choice that gives you an 80/20 stock to bond ratio.
>
>the Vanguard LifeStrategy Moderate Growth Fund is also a good choice for a 60/40 stock to bond ration.
>
>Vanguard can make a personalized recommendation for you as well if you aren't sure
>
>in general the higher amount of bonds you have, the less risk but lower growth potential your investment will have.
>
>#Shouldn't I listen to a financial adviser instead of some stranger on reddit?
>
>Well That depends on a few things:
>
>How much money is this financial adviser gaining from your business? I am gaining zero, so I have no reason to steer you wrong. Some times a financial adviser is out to make significant commissions by landing business, especially in extremely high fee "investments" such as whole life insurance or similar policies. Even 1% fees to hold and manage your investments can take a huge bite out of your account over time.
>
>Fee based advisers are the kind that you pay for an appointment, much like a doctor visit, and then they give you advice on your investments. Try to make sure however that they do not try to advise you into using investment vehicles that they receive commission from. These can be helpful in certain situations because you aren't throwing away money for years and years just to have an adviser handle your money.
>
>Consumer Reports says this could happen with some financial advisers. Basically they use their positions and your lack of knowledge to get you to invest in things to make them more money, costing you dearly in the long term.
>
>#Why are you suggesting Vanguard? What about other banks / brokerages?
>
>I find Vanguard the easiest to use. They also are structured to keep your investments safe. Once you reach a $50,000 with them, you have access to professional advisers. Unlike other banks/brokerages the advisers at Vanguard DO NOT RECEIVE COMMISSIONS. They are salaried so they have no reason to steer you wrong. Source
>
>Vanguard also has some of (if not the) lowest fees in the industry. This saves you money in the long term vs using other institutions or a financial adviser to manage your money.
>
>#Are there other investments besides these All-in-one funds?
>
>Yes, of course. Here are some more examples of portfolios that you could use as well:
>
> Examples of so called "Lazy Portfolios"
>
> These are some 3 fund portfolios
>
>
>#Are there any good books I could read to understand these investments more?
>
>Book recommendations:
>
> The Bogleheads Guide to Investing
>
> The Only Guide to a Winning Investment Strategy You'll Ever Need: The Way Smart Money Invests Today
>
> Book List from Bogleheads wiki
>
>
Are you asking a question, or making a statement? Would you like to define what you mean by "other stuff"?
If you want to know where I derived the ideas that I formed my comment from. It was mainly from reading these three books -
Security Analysis, 6th edition, by Graham & Dodd
The Intelligent Investor, by Graham
A People's History of the United States, by Zinn
Margin of Safety by Seth Klarman. The market has spoken and it's the best.
More seriously, I'd go with Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd. It's a little more dense compared to Intelligent Investor, but definitely digestible with an undergrad understanding of econ.
*Oh, and the Hull text is the derivatives bible.
I don't know much about the plans, but I do know this: I enrolled in TIAA/CREF back when I worked for a few years at a public university decades ago. I can't roll it over into an IRA without risk. If I did roll it over, NJ would consider me permanently retired and ineligible for any full-time state or municipal jobs.
It is not that I plan to ever work for the state again, but, hey, you never know.
So now I'm sorta stuck with the TIAA/CREF plans until I retire, which is just more paperwork (and less investment options) with which I have to deal. I've mostly consolidated all of my other ex-employer plans into a single IRA.
For some investment advice: read A Random Walk Down Wall Street, 10th edition. I have an MBA in Finance and highly endorse this book for all investors. WIth the options you have from your employer, I'd bet you'd be able to apply what you learn from the book to your portfolio.
https://www.amazon.com/Dow-100-000-Fact-Fiction/dp/0735201374
https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Path-Wealth-financial-independence/dp/1533667926
For a very beginner book on how to start thinking about money I would start here:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Total-Money-Makeover-Financial/dp/159555078X
Dave Ramsey is totally against debt. If he could have it his way, nobody would even take out a loan for a house. You can make your own choice on how you feel about that, but in general the book gets you thinking about the power of freeing in your income to become financially independent.
After that, u/hayekspolsives pointed out a good resource, I would also recommend Rich Dad/Poor Dad:
http://www.amazon.com/Rich-Dad-Poor-Teach-Middle/dp/1612680011/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1408981397&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=rich+dad+poor+dad
This book is also another book that will try to get you thinking differently. The truth is, there are many ways to invest. This is why there is so much info out there. The best way is the way that interests you.
Rich dad poor dad - Robert Kiyosaki
http://www.amazon.com/Rich-Dad-Poor-Teach-Middle/dp/1612680011
You're so wrong let me guess you're heavy ACB? ....dont call people noobs..both of your comments SMH...maybe time for you to sit back and reflect. Read a finance book can I recommend security analysis foreward by Warren Buffett.. https://www.amazon.ca/Security-Analysis-Foreword-Warren-Buffett/dp/0071592539?th=1&amp;psc=1&amp;source=googleshopping&amp;locale=en-CA&amp;tag=googcana-20&amp;ref=pd_sl_4v6x91xbv7_e
I feel like this statement should have a question mark at the end of it.
Fundamental analysis isn't some dark art. It's fucking arithmetic.
Read this book and this book It should take you less than a month to read both.
rears head
GAMBLANG
http://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/0393081435
I would read Rich Dad Poor, its not a "finance" book per say but it puts investing in perspective for you. Highly recommended as one of the first books to read.
http://www.amazon.com/Rich-Dad-Poor-Teach-Middle/dp/1612680011
Read this http://www.ccsales.com/the_richest_man_in_babylon.pdf
Buy this https://www.amazon.com/Investing-Dummies-Eric-Tyson/dp/1119320690/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1549764245&amp;sr=8-3&amp;keywords=investing+for+dummies+2018
And this https://www.amazon.com/Personal-Finance-Your-20s-Dummies-ebook/dp/B0773YYRTB/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1549764306&amp;sr=8-2&amp;keywords=financial+planning+for+dummies+2018
Rich Dad Poor Dad
https://www.amazon.com/Rich-Dad-Poor-Teach-Middle/dp/1612680011
I don't know you, how much you are getting or your overall financial picture. What I have generally found to be true is that people who view sudden windfalls as opportunities to splurge generally do not have control of their finances. This is a common predicament in estate planning and often results in the use of trusts so that the heirs never get direct access to the money.
The above generality may not fit your case. However, I would ask yourself whether before this windfall you had a sufficient emergency fund, reasonable retirement savings and no rolling credit card balances. If the answer is no, then you might want to consider spending some time learning about personal finance before you start spending this windfall.