I read Sylvia Porters' book on Personal Finance - way too many years ago then I care to admit. That really opened my eyes to looking at every aspect of the overall perfonal finance health. Investing was just one of the elements.

Then I remember taking a course in Finance  - Portfolio Theory and I that put investing in a mathematical context which as an engineer I was more comfortable with. It helped in that I understood Markowitz's Asset Allocation in Managing Your Money software but was not terribly sensible and common sensical to calculate the "efficient frontier" of every portfolio I wanted to construct. Sorry I do not remember the course book.

And finally I read the "bible" - Benjamin Graham's Security Analysis and that put the whole invesment theory in a more practical style.

After twenty years of investing, I am reading my first book: The Four Pillars of Investing by Wm. Bernstein. According to Angele M. its a good book and I agree. Bernstein is often mentioned in J. Clements Getting Going column in WSJ on Wednesdays. That's also a very good source on sound financial advise.

The Bernstein book has chapters on investment psychology and also takes the media to task for all the fluff that they put out. There is also a large conflict of interest between the media and the mutual fund industry. I think he's right about all that.

Not so good: Sound Money - radio show.

They're doing a series on investment clubs which is almost totally useless. It's all fluff and no meat. This program used to be much better but they are trying to appeal to a younger audience, which is a good idea. I guess I just know too much to get anything out of this program. But Chris Farrel is still a straight shooter.

Rick Yurick

 

 

The first book which I found very valuable is the Dun & Bradstreet Guide to $Your Investments$ by Nancy Dunnan.  This book used to be updated every year.  I haven't looked for it lately, but I assume there is still a version available.  This book provided a very broad background.on all types of assets, risk, financial planning, taxes, etc.  It is a wonderful overview providing an introduction to a myriad of subjects.

The second book which I have found very valuable is The Intelligent Asset Allocator by William Bernstein.  Bernstein also has a web site which might be of interest.  He used to post a regular periodical, now just occasional discussions, but still worth checking out: http://www.efficientfrontier.com/.

Peter