Christmas is coming - What books can you recommend?

Blackavar

Hi. Have been investing in our S&S Isas for a few years, often based on info gleaned from this forum (thanks everyone). I would like a book for Christmas - what has helped/inspired/instructed you? I will put your recommendation on my Christmas list.  

Mutton_Geoff

DIY Pensions: A Simple Guide to Pensions, SIPPs & Retirement - John Edwards

The DIY Investor: How to take control of your investments and plan for a financially secure future - Andy Bell

The Meaningful Money Handbook: Everything you need to KNOW and everything you need to DO to secure your financial future - Pete Matthew
(And Mr Matthew's podcasts are good)

cfw1994

The John Edwards one is clear, & Meaningful Money is also decent.
I'd add Beyond The 4% Rule: The Science of Retirement Portfolios - Abraham Okusanya
http://www.kroijer.com - he has a book, but just watch the videos!
Then I'd peruse MrMoneyMustache as a font of useful stuff.

OldMusicGuy

I would also add this John Edwards one: "DIY Simple Investing: A Guide to Simple but Effective Low Cost Investing". The pensions one is good if you need to know about pensions and investing within pensions but this one focuses more on investing and has less on pensions.

[Deleted User]

Random Walk around the Wall Street - a classic.
Bernstein’s “Investing for Adults” series. 4 books, all of them great.
Benjamin Graham’s “Intelligent Investor”.  Its the Bible of investment.  More detail than one needs and quite old but remarkably relevant today and gives deeper understanding of what’s going on.

Linton

Deleted_User said:

Random Walk around the Wall Street - a classic.
Bernstein’s “Investing for Adults” series. 4 books, all of them great.
Benjamin Graham’s “Intelligent Investor”.  Its the Bible of investment.  More detail than one needs and quite old but remarkably relevant today and gives deeper understanding of what’s going on.

Beware of the Bernstein books, well the Asset Allocation one anyway.  Some interesting stuff but it is somewhat out of date (bond rates at 2%) and painfully US-centric.  After too many Tbills TIPs, CDs, IRAs, 401(k)'s, median male life expectancy of 75 (perhaps he is using US life expectancy at birth which is irrelevent for investors, even US ones), "a 52% foreign allocation is inappropriately high" etc etc I gave up.

It is not an "investing for dummies" book.  You do need a good understanding of the basics and the technical terms used in investing. 

barnstar2077

I am currently reading "The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life" by Alice Shroeder.  It is a biography, written with Warrens help.  It isn't meant to teach you anything per say, but it does contain some explanations of his businesses and deals he has made. It is well worth a read if you haven't already done so.

[Deleted User]

Linton said:

Deleted_User said:

Random Walk around the Wall Street - a classic.
Bernstein’s “Investing for Adults” series. 4 books, all of them great.
Benjamin Graham’s “Intelligent Investor”.  Its the Bible of investment.  More detail than one needs and quite old but remarkably relevant today and gives deeper understanding of what’s going on.

Beware of the Bernstein books, well the Asset Allocation one anyway.  Some interesting stuff but it is somewhat out of date (bond rates at 2%) and painfully US-centric.  After too many Tbills TIPs, CDs, IRAs, 401(k)'s, median male life expectancy of 75 (perhaps he is using US life expectancy at birth which is irrelevent for investors, even US ones), "a 52% foreign allocation is inappropriately high" etc etc I gave up.

It is not an "investing for dummies" book.  You do need a good understanding of the basics and the technical terms used in investing. 

I did not find any of that problematic. 

The specific pension vehicles are not the focus at all.  TIPs and CDs are just as relevant to people in other jurisdictions. Both as TIPs and as instruments available under different names.  Treasury Bills = gilds - shouldn’t be too difficult to translate. The meaning is explained in the books.  

None of that is what the series is actually about. Its all about understanding risks and how to mitigate them by using the most appropriate asset classes.  

Certainly more involved than John Edward’s books but anyone with a university degree other than humanities should be ok. I already knew most of the contents but its a very interesting framework.  There were a few specific points made by Bernstein which made me think about his recommendations in March 2020, eg his recommendations on bonds.  

Thrugelmir

DEAR SHAREHOLDER

The best executive letters from Warren Buffett, Prem Watsa and other great CEOs

By Lawrence A. Cunningham

HARRIMAN'S NEW BOOK OF INVESTING RULES

The do’s and don’ts of the world’s best investors

By Christopher Parker

BEHAVIORAL PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT

How successful investors master their emotions and build superior portfolios

By C. Thomas Howard

DEEP VALUE INVESTING

Finding bargain shares with BIG potential

By Jeroen Bos

PORTFOLIO CONSTRUCTION FOR TODAY'S MARKETS

A practitioner's guide to the essentials of asset allocation

By Russ Koesterich

[Deleted User]

Also, Jason Zweig’s “Your Money and Your Brain”. A really good summary on behavioural finance. 

Linton

Deleted_User said:

Linton said:

Deleted_User said:

Random Walk around the Wall Street - a classic.
Bernstein’s “Investing for Adults” series. 4 books, all of them great.
Benjamin Graham’s “Intelligent Investor”.  Its the Bible of investment.  More detail than one needs and quite old but remarkably relevant today and gives deeper understanding of what’s going on.

Beware of the Bernstein books, well the Asset Allocation one anyway.  Some interesting stuff but it is somewhat out of date (bond rates at 2%) and painfully US-centric.  After too many Tbills TIPs, CDs, IRAs, 401(k)'s, median male life expectancy of 75 (perhaps he is using US life expectancy at birth which is irrelevent for investors, even US ones), "a 52% foreign allocation is inappropriately high" etc etc I gave up.

It is not an "investing for dummies" book.  You do need a good understanding of the basics and the technical terms used in investing. 

I did not find any of that problematic. 

The specific pension vehicles are not the focus at all.  TIPs and CDs are just as relevant to people in other jurisdictions. Both as TIPs and as instruments available under different names.  Treasury Bills = gilds - shouldn’t be too difficult to translate. The meaning is explained in the books.  

None of that is what the series is actually about. Its all about understanding risks and how to mitigate them by using the most appropriate asset classes.  

Certainly more involved than John Edward’s books but anyone with a university degree other than humanities should be ok. I already knew most of the contents but its a very interesting framework.  There were a few specific points made by Bernstein which made me think about his recommendations in March 2020, eg his recommendations on bonds.  

Translating is the problem.  You cant just swap the words and rely on the results providing a sensible investment policy.  The differences are greater than just the names.  In any case there are major differences  in the environment.  What was appropriate in the US in 2014 may not be appropriate for the UK in 2020.