Paul T. reviewed The Smartest Investment Book You'll Ever Read : The Simple, Stress-Free Way to Reach Your Investment Goals on + 4 more book reviews
I originally obtained this book as a CD to listen during my daily commute. It was so informing, that I listened to it 3 times and purchased the book thereafter as a reference.
This book explains why we need to be VERY wary of mutual funds fees, financial managers, and other investment vehicles that require someone to oversee its day-to-day activity. The author makes it very clear that Wall Street's profits are driven by transactions. They make money when a trade is being made, whether it be a buy or sell. The author goes into much detail about the various ways this is done and the mindset that Wall Street instills on the average investor to constantly make adjustments to the positions being held. He also exposes many of tricks used by financial managers and the incentives they are given to push bad investments onto their clients.
The author brings forth a very pertinent point - few mutual funds or managers can beat the market's benchmark - the S&P 500. Why pay them for this effort of failing to beat the benchmark?
The author believes that all investors can handle their own investments and he gives simple formula for doing so based on one's risk tolerances. This formula is a percentage of low load mutual funds that track the major indexes such as the bond market, the US stock market, and the global stock market. For there on, its "fix it and forget it" with an occasional review one a year.
This book explains why we need to be VERY wary of mutual funds fees, financial managers, and other investment vehicles that require someone to oversee its day-to-day activity. The author makes it very clear that Wall Street's profits are driven by transactions. They make money when a trade is being made, whether it be a buy or sell. The author goes into much detail about the various ways this is done and the mindset that Wall Street instills on the average investor to constantly make adjustments to the positions being held. He also exposes many of tricks used by financial managers and the incentives they are given to push bad investments onto their clients.
The author brings forth a very pertinent point - few mutual funds or managers can beat the market's benchmark - the S&P 500. Why pay them for this effort of failing to beat the benchmark?
The author believes that all investors can handle their own investments and he gives simple formula for doing so based on one's risk tolerances. This formula is a percentage of low load mutual funds that track the major indexes such as the bond market, the US stock market, and the global stock market. For there on, its "fix it and forget it" with an occasional review one a year.
