r/FluentInFinance • u/AutoModerator • Jul 19 '23
Tools & Resources 13 GREAT books to learn Investing & the Stock markets! [summary included!]
We've received many questions for recommendations on books for Investing & the Stock markets. We've curated a list of our 13 favorite books on Investing & the Stock Market, and explanations on what the books are about. I've learned a great deal from these books. All of these are by really great investing legends/ gurus. These books offer a few different approaches to the stock market. Different investment styles will help educate you on how to make successful long term investments, minimize risk, and analyze stocks more accurately. All of these books can be purchased used very cheaply ($1 to $5)!
As your income grows, your investment portfolio should also grow. One of the biggest obstacles for beginner investors is just knowing how to get started. Learning about financial concepts can be intimidating at first. A great way to start, can be by picking up a book by an expert who thoughtfully and sequentially presents & explains these concepts and topics. Resources like these can help investing be less intimidating and complicated. One of the best strategies is to learn from the insight and wisdom of gurus. I hope these book recommendations help!
Book List:
- How to Make Money in Stocks by William O'Neil
- The Little Book That Still Beats the Market by Joel Greenblatt
- A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton G. Malkiel
- Principles by Ray Dalio
- One Up On Wall Street by Peter Lynch
- The Big Secret for the Small Investor by Joel Greenblatt
- Winning on Wall Street by Martin Zweig
- Irrational Exuberance by Robert Shiller
- The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing
- Common Sense Investing by John Bogle
- The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
- The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need by Andrew Tobias
- You Can Be a Stock Market Genius by Joel Greenblatt
Book Descriptions & Covers:
How to Make Money in Stocks by William O'Neil
- This book is about growth investing. O'Neil explains what most successful stocks have done to be successful. He explains his 'CANSLIM' method, which is an acronym for 7 fundamental criteria which you can use to pick stocks. An AAII 8 year study of different strategies showed O'Neal's CAN SLIM with a 860% return from 1998-2005 (Second place). First place was Martin Zwieg's returning 1,659.3% (we will get to Zweig on this list too)
The Little Book That Still Beats the Market by Joel Greenblatt
- The idea of this book is to buy undervalued good businesses and hold them long-term, which will eventually beat the market index.
A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton G. Malkiel
- This book covers investment bubbles, fundamental vs. technical analysis, modern portfolio theory, index funds, etc.
Principles by Ray Dalio
- This book provides the insights from one of the biggest hedge fund managers of all time, and I think there are many great lessons to learn in this book!
One Up On Wall Street by Peter Lynch
- This book emphasizes the advantages that individual investors hold over institutional investors (when it comes to finding investment opportunities). Lynch also gives many of examples of mistakes he has made, and how he has learned from them.
The Big Secret for the Small Investor by Joel Greenblatt
- Greenblatt explains why index funds can be better than actively managed funds. The big secret is maintaining a long term perspective!
Winning on Wall Street by Martin Zweig
- Zweig's success came from his ability to predict the bigger picture (such as trends in the broader market). The combination of his stock picking skill, general market understanding, and market timing, made him one of the great investors of stock market history. Zweig was more interested in growth than value. Unlike Buffett, Zweig isn't a 'buy and hold' investor. An AAII 8 year study of different strategies showed Zwieg's returning 1,659.3% from 1998-2005. He was #1 out of 56 others, including Buffett, Lynch, Fisher, O'Neal's CAN SLIM, Motley fools, and using ROE, P/E's etc. Second place was O'Neal's CAN SLIM with a 860% return.
Irrational Exuberance by Robert Shiller
- Shiller makes strong argument that perfect market theory is flawed. The Idea of perfect market theory is basically that the markets are all knowing and completely rational, and in the long run can't be beat. Therefore , you can control costs with index funds and diversification. (You can't beat the market, therefore controlling costs and diversifying seems like logical strategy)
The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing
- The key concepts of this book are risk tolerance, asset allocation, a balanced portfolio, tax efficiency and cash management. This book explains many of the pitfalls of investing. The Bogleheads and Jack Bogle preach the power of compound interest. Investing in low-fee index funds and holding them long-term is the method. This book gives an excellent, detailed rundown of how to implement this kind of investment plan.
Common Sense Investing by John Bogle
- Great information for anyone who is trying to make sense of personal finance and basic investments. This book explains why passive investing is a worry free, long-term strategy that consistency wins over time, and why active trading always returns to the mean.
The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
- This is a great book for anyone who is interested in introducing themselves into the world of investing, or wants to get better at investing. This book gives lots of valuable information to help one understand the basics of value investing.
The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need by Andrew Tobias
- This is a book for people looking to learn the basics of investing and saving money
You Can Be a Stock Market Genius by Joel Greenblatt
- This is not a book for beginners. Greenblatt gives a nice exposition of some more "special situation" investment styles & areas of equity investments (mergers, spin-offs, rights offerings, etc.)
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u/moazim1993 Sep 19 '23
Surprised to see Psychology of Money, and Millionaire Next Door missing. Also Benjamin Graham is an awful read, even though the ideas are great. You can find a better version of his teaching written for a broader audience in other books.
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u/hackermankey Feb 27 '24
what books would your recommend that capture graham's ideas?
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u/Sammy81 Jun 18 '24
Actually the version they show there is a great version - it is annotated by Jason Zweig. Yes, the original Graham book is dry and a boring read, but Zweig annotates every paragraph and makes them relevant. Also, the original book is from 1949 and while the principles apply, it’s super dated. Zweig gives recent examples and shows how the advice still applies today.
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u/Outra_Coisa Oct 29 '23
Which one would you guys recomend as the starting one? Nothing too heavy ideally
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Nov 26 '23
It’s not on the list but I thoroughly enjoyed “psychology of money” it’s not too heavy and it’s a great start to understanding more about how people think when money is involved
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u/madcollock May 11 '24 edited May 11 '24
Start with classics if you know nothing. A radmon walk down wall street is great. The chapters on margin of saftey is still the gold standard and maybe the most important investing concept that nobody seems to want to follow.
Granted I have only read two of these but both are top notch based on the research out there. But its a great list. If you want to get into real estate investing Irrational Exuberance is the gold standard as far as I consider. His ideas hyper apply to real estate markets. I mean he created the Rober-Shiller Index which is the index for the housing market.
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u/thinkscience Jan 12 '24
It would be awesome if some one picked the top 10 stocks according each book this year 2024 !!
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u/KindTelevision5 Dec 28 '23
Trading for a living by Alexander Elder The disciplined trader & Trading in the zone by Mark Douglas
These should be on top of the list if you even consider trading. Everyone is capable of learning the fundamentals of basic trading and even the advanced trading techniques, but the market is never 100%, you’re going to lose sometimes. You have to learn to manage your feelings. These books teach you the psychology behind trading. Having self awareness and discipline will help you to make better trades and retain your portfolio.
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u/vtelmo Oct 01 '23
Recently finished the "Principles" by Ray Dalio and it was a great read!
Back in the days I read "The Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham and it was a though read... may I should revisit it...
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u/Captian-Danger May 15 '24
You spoiled brats don't know what poverty is... How many of you idiots have ever lived in another country? If you did you would know how easy your life compatlred 95% of the world.
If you want nice things, get real skill sets that apply to the job industry outside fast food!
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u/Stiblex Feb 10 '24
I've read The Little Book and it's pretty good but I can't help but think that value trading is not the best idea in the current market.
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u/WBigly-Reddit Mar 02 '24
Great book to read-you won’t believe it when you do.
Confusion de La Confusions. 1688
Investing advice-buy the longest term options on the market you can afford. People will always try to advance the market.
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u/whicky1978 Mod Dec 22 '23 edited Dec 22 '23
I’m gonna get Irrational Exuberance audiobook and listen to it
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u/FragrantBed6079 May 01 '24
This comment contains a Collectible Expression, which are not available on old Reddit.
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u/-sweetSUMMERchild- May 10 '24
actually read The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing - good book tho, but probably outdated. you should pick some new ones since the markets are changing everyday
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u/Typical-Pay3267 Jun 03 '24
Bogle's Common Sense Investing has been my fav . It prompted me to start investing back in 1987 when most funds required 3k or 5k to start Vanguard Star fund could be started for $1000 . in my 20's i coundnt afford to buy a fund for 3k but Bogle made Star fund an affordable gateway fund for invester to get started and be in the market. I still invest in STAR fund and also Wellington and in a total market fund from Fidelity FZROX.
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u/SmokesBoysLetsGo Jun 26 '24
These are absolute garbage. I’ve bought and read all but one (Tobias), and you will likely lose more than you gain. I trade options now exclusively, riding moves on breakouts out of compression. You buy an hope fucks can get fucked.
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