Accessories

Good Introduction to Investing
This book was an easy read that introduced the concepts of value investing very well. It will open up a lot of possibilities for those who take notes. If the reader does not know a single thing about stocks this book will have some concepts that will take some time and practice before fully understanding them. That is why I would recommend getting another book that defines stock market terms and concepts in a beginner's format in conjunction with this one. There are some websites online, such as ABOUT.COM that offers a helpful "class" on stocks that will be most beneficial.

I thought this was an outstanding book for the beginner investor to help them establish good trading habits early on, but will leave them wanting more. To become truly successful at trading, more care and education will be necessary. In no way was this a magic book of knowledge that will leave the reader capable of making millions overnight, which, by the way, isn't what this book is about.

This book is HIGHLY recommended for the beginner investor, and recommended for the intermediate investor.

Very clear indeed.
This a very clear and concise book--another one, all of which seem lately to contain the same wisdom: buy low (and buy smart). I'm trying. You can still pay too much, or buy too soon, or catch the wrong end of a falling knife, etc. But it's certainly a far better idea than taking hot tips from e-mails, or from brokers.

Investing lessons
I learned from a broad range of investing books, and I got this one primarily because it was a short book. I'm only about half way through it, but I think it is very well written. It has some important information on how to approach researching a company. One of the glaring failures is how rapidly the trading environment can change. The book specifically tells investors to avoid China, and I've been making a lot of money investing in my first Chinese company. Read and learn, but ultimately decide for yourself on what you want to buy.

Excellent overview and introduction to Value Investing
Great book as an introduction to the principles of value investing as laid out by Benjamin Graham. Very easy to read. With about 140 pages, you can get through this book in a couple of hours.

I'd use this as a warm up book to Intelligent Investor.

Successor of Ben Graham
The author states that over a long period of time value companies have outperformed the growth companies. You buy a value company when you pay less its intrinsic value (Buy Stocks On Sale). The key aspect of value investing is an ability to analyze financial statements of the company. The author explains, in the very friendly manner, such indicators of an intrinsic value like Operating Income, Current Assets vs Total Assets (and liabilities), Operating Margin, EBITD Margin, "Margin of Safety" and so on.

The author declares that you can reduce the risk of loss in case of one stock's failure by building a diversified portfolio. However, when it comes to emerging markets, the authors suggest bewaring of them because of the frequent political disasters in particular countries. I do not agree with the author's advice of totally avoiding emerging markets. As an ETF of U.S. stocks like SPDR Trust (SPY) saves from one company's failure, an ETF that includes most of emerging countries, like iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index (EEF) can save from a failure in one of the countries. Alternatively, you can build a portfolio of stocks in different emerging countries (as if you do this for U.S. stocks) by yourself without using an ETF or an index mutual fund.

The author also proclaims that cognitive psychology explains why some investors make huge losses because of fear, panic, or following the crowd when it comes to hot sexy stocks. If you like the topic of how cognitive psychology affects investors, I can recommend "The Only Three Questions That Count: Investing by Knowing What Others Don't" by Kenneth L. Fisher.