Learning How to Invest

I get asked all the time by friends and investors variants of the same question:

“What book should I read to learn about investing”?

I still don’t have a good, single answer.

A couple years ago we put together a survey asking our readers for just one answer to the above question, and received thousands of responses.  I took the time to sort them, and below were the top 10 answers.

These are all GREAT books.  But the problem is, many are not good starter books.  Can you imagine giving someone Intelligent Investor as a first book?  Most of the above books are also not comprehensive, only focusing on one topic (usually US stocks).

So the problem remains…how to teach someone the basics of investing?

Here is my effort.

Below I’ve created seven categories for investing.  In each I included up to 10 books, with a nod to practicality in the real world.  You get to vote for your favorite in each category and I’ll post the results in a week.  I’ll also include my answer for each category too at that time.

The truly enterprising investor could take a summer and read all 50 of them.  But if you want the quick hits, the top seven will likely set someone walking down the right path with a great foundation…

SURVEY WITH FULL LIST

BELOW ARE THE RESULTS!

Crowd Pick: What Works on Wall St by O’Shaughnessey

BEHAVIORAL

Crowd Pick: Thinking Fast and Slow by Kahneman

MANAGER PROFILES

Crowd Pick: Market Wizards by Schwager