Books for Newbie Investor..

claire111

Hi

I have the following MSE recommended books in my Amazon wishlist

Smarter Investing
Cashflow Quadrant
The Richest Man in Babylon
Millionaire next Door
Rich Dad Poor Dad
How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes
Investing Demystified

Could anyone be kind enough to suggest in which order I and my hubby read them ?

Or even just which is simplest for a complete novice to start with ?

Many many thanks

Claire

atush

Smarter investing, and Millionaire next door first.

If you want to understand economics more fully, how an economy grows and why it crashes. Should also help you with understanding why you should not panic.

Not sure you need to read them all, but I would read Monevator blog, esp his great explanations of Compounding returns and more.

Gram_Parsons

"How an Economy grows..." is not worth reading IMO. It struck me as a very simplified version of "The Wealth of Nations" told in a stupid fish parable. Read the very abridged version of The Wealth of Nations" instead.

You can skip Smarter Investing unless you want lots (lots) of facts, figures, and charts put onto what you can read for free at Monevator. It's a good book (I own it) but I found myself shouting "Okay, okay, I believe you, passive index trackers are good, we get it!"

The Richest Man in Babylon is good but you can find a free pdf of it easily to save money.

Read anything by or about Warren Buffet, Jack Bogle, Ben Graham, and Charlie Munger.

My two cents etc.

buffman

The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham.

AlanP_2

I would go for Smarter Investing, Investing DeMystified & Monevator blog to start with.

I would then go for Asset Allocation: Balancing Financial Risk by Roger Gibson as that (for me at least) really got to the point about the advantages of a diversified portfolio and an approach to developing one.

Lois_and_CK

I second Smarter Investing and also the Monevator website, especially if it's passive investing you're interested in.

Flobberchops

That's a coincidence, I'm currently halfway through The Richest Man in Babylon. It's a decent enough read, although I can't decide whether the olde-timey Biblical language and setting is entertaining or just corny. As with many books about personal finance, you could probably boil down the key points to a single page of bullet points - earn more than you spend, make a habit of regular saving, compound interest is your best friend, and so on. I think I picked up my copy for about a pound - don't pay more than that if you can help it.

Another book I can recommend - and I'm not being rude or facaetious here - is Personal Finance and Investing for Dummies. It introduces most of the key concepts, and crucially, in a UK-centric context. Some of the chapters are a bit bare-bones but it's a good starting point for further reading.

AlwaysLearnin

A couple of no/low cost (if get via ebook/Kindle) options, that might provide an 'ease in' to the likes of Smarter Investing, are "Monkey with a Pin" and "Slow & Steady Steps from Debt to Wealth". Might not be so scary/heavy for beginners

Playing_with_Fire_2

These are my thoughts:

Your money or your life - if you need a LBM, or want a bigger picture 'why' (American). Not a huge amount of investment advice.

Millionaire Next Door - if you have issues with keeping up with the Joneses, don't mind a bit of out of date / old fashioned sexism and need convincing to spend less than you earn, or want to hear success stories about small business owners. This won't teach you how to invest.

Cashflow Quadrant - if you are keen to move from employed to self employed to investor to business owner (American). Less 'how' to invest (picking funds, platforms, stocks, asset allocation) and more why.

Smarter Investing - if you want to be convinced that passive investing is the way forward, if you like charts [I charts], if you are mathsy and want to invest (passively) on your own. Also, if you are nervous about investing and want someone to convince you that you won't loose all your money/want to check what your financial advisor should be telling you. (UK focused)

I haven't read the others.

I recommend Smarter Investing to people who want to invest (or are getting fleeced by their advisors), however most of the people I know are geeks, and it can be repetitive and takes a while to get to the most useful information. It doesn't assume any prior knowledge of investing, but isn't a light read especially if you struggle with percentages and concepts like averages and volatility. If you want to start investing now, check out the Monevator articles on Lifestrategy, why a global tracker is the only fund you need, and platform comparison. Decide how risk averse you are and pick a balance, then read more later and adjust to suit your needs.

Eco_Miser

You can get Monkey with a Pin free from the author here. You have to register, but in several years, I've only had one email, advertising his Inflation Matters: book.

Malthusian

Rich Dad Poor Dad - MSE actually recommends this fantasist rubbish?

In case you haven't guessed, don't bother with it. It's a typical self-help book - at best bleeding obvious and at worst downright dangerous.