mutual-fund-investments Books

If you never own another book on investing and preserving your hard earned life savings, this is the one. As a complete novice, I needed the straight honest advice in this book and the permission to take control of my own money. As a single mom struggling to retire, Al's book helped me manage my 401K last year and I got out of the market in time to save everything. This book is invaluable at a time when there is no one left to trust with your money but you. It is a very readable, funny, and insightful book that any idiot can follow. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Al Thomas.

This is one exceptional book. I bought it and read it cover to cover in one night. Then over the next couple of days I started re-reading and studying further. The approach outlined is very simple and effective. It is just common sense and makes you wonder why you haven't thought of something similar yourself.

The simplicity of Al's approach is very powerful. From personal experience if a system is complicated people can't completely and deeply understand it and won't follow it.

Al's book is a wonderful gift to every investor at any level in terms of investing experience. Highly recommended!

I bought the book around August 2008 and followed what it said about getting in a cash position and money market fund until the market stabilizes and told friends and family to do the same. We have all made money and protected our principle and this book helped. I have done alot of trading and investing in stocks, options, and futures over the past 14 years. I find the information in this book very helpful to almost everybody. I'll put it's results up against almost all brokers. Just think how much you'll save in commissions alone!! I'm not getting paid to write this and I do not know the author. Also, I recommend reading www.moneyandmarkets free newsletters daily and your future should be set if you do what it says. Also,you'll understand what's really happening all over the world. I will not review the books contents because the other comments before me explained it very well. It is worth anyones time to read it.

[[ASIN:0967155312 If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It, revised and
updated]]

Buy this book TODAY! It saved me a fortune!
My father in law talked about this guy "Al Thomas" at all the holiday dinners. I never gave it any second thoughts. I should have. Long story short, my father in law dies, leaves his wife a nice portfolio and I get his book collection. While selling the books I came to "If it doesn't go up, don't buy it" by Al Thomas. It looked interesting especially in this market; it was around August 20, 2008. I was losing money since the beginning of the year so I decided to read it. I started reading and could not put it down until it was done. I followed his advice and ended up selling everything in my portfolio on August 28. Al Thomas saved me a little over six figures as of 12/5/2008 and I didn't even buy the book!
Now I know why my father in law was always in cash when the market tanked and I wasn't. DO NOT DELAY, BUY IT. The price of this book is nothing compared to what it will save you during this downturn and the next one and the one after that, ect.
This is my first book review; I felt I must spread the word about my personal "Warren Buffett". I cannot stress the importance of this book in my investment library; it stands alone at the top. I don't know why Al doesn't have his own TV show on CNBC but he should.

I love this book for one reason -- it enabled me to avoid the bear market of 2008. Based on the advice in this book for using a simple 200 day moving average chart, I moved from stock mutual funds to cash in January, 2008, with minimal losses. Thank you, Al Thomas. After I lost about 40% in my retirement accounts in the 2000-2002 bear market, I decided to turn my back on buy-and-hold investing and find a better way. If you are down 40-50% this year, do yourself a favor and listen to this author for a way to avoid the next bear market. Believe it.

Probably the best book I've seen on asset allocation, though the author might be trying to make it overly complicated in order to direct you to a financial advisor, which he is. You can diversify with only four or five funds, as opposed to the ten or more categories he recommends.

This was a good, quick read. As a person interested in investing in my future with little knowledge to go on, it introduced me to terms and ideas I hadn't previously known. He throws out some common sense about the market. I definitely recommend the book as a good primer to getting started.

I'm a Certified Financial Planner(tm) practitioner who is always looking for good financial books to recommend to friends and people who come to my educational seminars. This one really hits the mark beautifully and says exactly what almost all successful financial advisors tell their clients. The secret to smart investing is investing in line with your risk tolerance, doing good asset allocation across all investment categories, choosing good mutual funds, then monitoring and adjusting the portfolio once a year.



Get rich schemes don't work and they make you crazy in the bargain. Low stress investing is the way to go -- forget market timing, picking hot stocks and following the "hot" advice from all the financial pornography on TV. Follow Millard's advice and you can have a worry-free portfolio.



A nice bonus with this book is the list of other good financial books in Appendix 2. I have read many of the ones he recommends and they are some of the best ones out there.



Get this book. You'll be glad you did and your stress level will improve.



Jan Dahlin Geiger, Certified Financial Planner(tm), author of "Get Your Assets in Gear! Smart Money Strategies," scheduled for release in April, 2007 and available on amazon.com.

"What an irony that so many rich people are miserable while so many of limited means are carefree and happy." ~C. Andrew Millard

Do you worry about your investments?
Has the unpredictability of the stock market paralyzed you with indecision?

C. Andrew Millard was a junior high drama teacher who became a high school principal and then an independent financial advisor. His advice is based on real-life experience and he delves into helpful information on:

Keeping Money in Perspective - can having too much money make you more stressed?
Myths of Traditional Investing
Stuck on Stocks
Gardener or a Produce Buyer?
Ownership Assets
The Beauty of Mutual Funds
Planning Your Portfolio
Building and Maintaining Your Portfolio
The Mind of the Low-Stress Investor

C. Andrew Millard explains how many investors don't buy low and sell high and why Americans love the stock market. He discusses diversification, managing your own portfolio, paying more attention to spending habits and setting goals.

Low Stress Investing helps you to plan for the future and is a good introduction to investing.

~The Rebecca Review

I haven't actually read this book, but this C. Andrew Millard, he's great, except when he grounds me, and even then he's doing it for a good reason.

I love Richard Ferri's books. This is one of them.
If you are clueless about financial investment and want to get started on it, then read this book. Also recommended are All about Index Funds, Serious Money, and The ETF Book. Unlike books that promote sales pitch and sell garbages like (IBD: Investor's Business Daily or even Wall Street Journal) Ferri provides sound studies done on investment strategies, sound strategies, expectation and mindset.

However it does not cover all the story. You still need to understand our debt-based economic structure and fractional banking monetary system to avoid heavy losses during severe recession or depression. I recommend The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve and Crash Proof: How to Profit From the Coming Economic Collapse (Lynn Sonberg Books) for that.

I have been doing a self-study on investing topics this year and previously read several books on indexing by Jack Bogle [my hero, and an erudite writer], and Morningstar's Christine Benz [Clear and concise], but I think this is my favorite. Ferri is laser sharp in explaining investing concepts, and reads like you are learning one-on-one from an excellent business school professor. I bought this book because I had already read his also excellent book on asset allocation. This would be a perfect book if it was better edited. The text and content is fine but there are typos, repeated words, etc. Ferri's work deserves better, but I still very highly recommend the book.

This book does a good job of explaning the concept and history of index funds as well as the emerging presence of EFT's

I liked John Bogle's 1994 book on mutual funds better, but his book touched on facets Mr. Bogle's book did not. Of course that book was copyright 1994 IIRC.

I learned about indexing and the various indicies they emulate as well as the advantages and pitfalls of EFT's

A worth while read.

Members of AAII [...] have access to the 2007 EFT review which is excellent at analyzing the catagories and expenses of the various EFT's.

I have taken advantage of the latest market volatility to confirm my long-term financial strategy. I ordered several books from Amazon on asset allocation and using low-cost index funds or ETFs for investment.

Rick Ferri's books (I also ordered his new ETF book) are well-researched, complete guides to sensible, long-term investing. He avoids the fads, and provides information in clear, understandable terms without all of the emotional "hype" present in many books about the capital markets.

In my opinion, Mr. Ferri's prior books (and the articles he has published in journals for financial professionals) have made me a better investor.

I highly recommend All About Index Funds.

I'm a total noob to the market and investing but this book explained so much. I think its a must read for anyone looking into investing for their future and have no idea where to start.

Ron "Ragen" Ross is THE MAN!
This book is packed full of useful and easy to understand information for absolutely EVERYONE! I have read many similar books by other authors and they fail in comparison. If you use MONEY, and we all do, you would be doing yourself a huge disservice by not buying this book ASAP!
Go Ron and Reno! You did it again!

This is the most eloquent, most entertaining, and most convincing attack on "beating the market" that I have ever read. The author has a PhD in economics but writes with a journalist's skill. His prose is fluent, readable. I thought the most interesting part of the book was the chart comparing the performance records of golf pros to the performance records of mutual funds -- an extremely effective presentation. Do I think any of his arguments can be refuted? Yes...a few. But on the whole this book is a balloon-bursting attack on active investing.

Very solid book, a great beginner to intermediate education on the market. Not for the novice, but for the fairly familiar person who knows how to do there own investing you would very much enjoy this. If you are a complete novice this would not be the place to start. Check out Suze Ormans book "The road to wealth" and learn the basics on stocks, mutual funds and bonds. Then read this...

This is the best book I have seen regarding investing for retirement. Don't waste your time or money trying to beat the market, just understand Dr. Ross' basic principles for dealing with a volatile market. Forget the "get rich quick" models and come down to earth and use common sense and indexing. The first 2 chapters alone are worth the price of the book.

My career as a retail stockbroker for six years, then for twenty-seven years as an institutional stockbroker selling portfolio analytics and investment research to professional asset managers (pension plan managers, mutual fund managers, and hedge fund managers) has provided me with the opportunity to explore modern portfolio theory, market efficiency, and the investment returns of active managers. I have read many of the books and academic papers Professor Ross uses as resources in this very coherent and thorough explanation of why the attempt to "beat the market" is futile, and fraught with risk.

Professor Ross uses his deep understanding of statistics, economics, and behavioral finance to explain market efficiency. He weaves a tight, coherent, and entertaining explanation of why the statistical evidence (manager performance databases) demonstrate most active managers cannot sustain above market performance for any significant time period. And he explains the risks of believing that the few active managers who have "outperformed" will continue to do so.

Professor Ross' book is the drawstring that pulls the elements of the Efficient Market Theory into a focused, concise, entertaining, and very readable format. I give Professor Ross' book my highest recommendation.

This book contains many of the speeches of John Bogle at various forums. Contains lots of insight and investing wisdom. Not recommended for those not familiar with Vanguard, "Bogleheads", or new to investing in general.

This book contains an excellent compilation of speeches that cover John Bogle's career and philosophy of investing. Investors at all levels will glean important information and motivation from his recommendations and thoughts on indexing. His thoughts give important ideas to keep financial information and markets in perspective. The only limit on the information in the book is that how much more global investing has become a part of the financial markets. However much valuable information is relevant and available which is key to effective investing.

The book has five parts - the first four are speeches, and the last is his famous thesis. Part I is Investment Strategies for the Intelligent Investor, Part II is Taking on the Mutual Fund Industry, Part III is Economics and Idealism: The Vanguard Experiment, Part IV is Personal Perspectives and Part V is John Bogle's famous Princeton Thesis: The Economic Role of the Investment Company. All speeches are well worth the read, however, the book lends itself to a good ability to pick and choose what you are interested in. A clear and interesting read from a brilliant investment strategist.

I thought I was out of luck to own the book with Bogle's thesis...I'm very happy!!

John Bugle, one of the brightest minds of our century raises some of the most important financial questions, of the last 50 years. Bogle on Great Ideas in Financing includes four criteria: 1. Simplicity - Buy the whole market haystack, an index capable of matching the market. 2. Focus (Seek the hard crusted but nutritious bagel of earnings, dividends, and interest yields rather than the sweet donut taste of price with its high price earning multiples) 3. Efficiency (minimize frictional costs of fees, commissions, and taxes with an Wilshire 5000 index). 4. Stewardship (keep the interest of the client first). Bogle's index was free of tax, include a small transactional fee, represented 8000 stocks in the market, and matched the market rate of return.

Mutual funds have become a vehicle for short-term speculation, a trend fostered in part by the industries focus on marketing. Today the average fund holds stock for 400 days compared to six years when Bogle graduated from Princeton. Most investors hold their mutual fund for 3 years rather than 15 years. Since 1980 - 2000 mutual fund assets have risen 70 fold from $100 billion to $6.5 trillion and assets of stock funds have risen 120 fold or $4.0 trillion. In a 15-year span there were 426 mutual fund boats and 113 sunken mutual fund boats. Survival was strong because of the generous returns of the market. However, Mutual fund efficiency was problem: 1. Sales tax, excessive fees, spending too much on marketing, failing to share economy of scale with the investors, and 90% turn over of the portfolio each year suggested one thing, "short term speculation" was becoming the norm. Mutual fund sites charge costs included a front-end sales commission of 6%; opportunity cost meaning held cash positions equal to 7% of assets with these asset earning smaller returns than available in stocks; a transactional cost of 1.7%; and operating cost equal to 1.2% per year.

Bogle's outlook of the stock market is brilliant. Bogle states: financial economist cannot predict the future. The DOW may hit 36,000 and it may not. Who can predict accurately what the market will do? The market is not a machine. The market is not an insurance actuaries spreadsheet. However, the market performed remarkable well with price gaining 17% a year and at this rate doubling every four years. To understand the market lets look first too dividend yield and earnings growth because these elements provide the steady underlying force over the long pull. For two decades dividend yield equaled 4.5% and earning growth paced at 5.9% producing a 10.9% return. In 1970, P/E fell 50% from 16 times to 7.3 and dividend yield equaled 3.4% and annual earnings equaled 9.9% producing a 10.4% investment return and Bogle preached "stay the course". By 2000, dividends equaled 1%, earning growth rate reached 8%, and P/E ratios top 30. Again, Bogle preached, "time, risk, and control" raising a cautious outlook and a cry for investors to return back to investor basics of earnings, dividends, and yields.

What were the factors associated with the 87 crash? 1. Stock prices were simply to high to the underlying earnings and dividends in comparison to higher yields available on fixed income securities. 2. Deterioration in economic outlook with no progress to reduce the federal deficit, no improvements in the trade imbalance, and inflation in the air. 3. Program trading in the futures market sparked massive computer driven sales. The impact being 35% of the equity traded out of the market. In 87, if you're a Contrarian, it is a good time to buy or hold.

Thinking about 2000, Bogle observed for growth to remain constant over the next ten years, the P/E ratio would need to move from 30 to 67 an unlikely possibility. If in 2000, the P/E ratio fell too 12 then the market level would be 580 rather than 1400 with a P/E of 30. If the P/E fell from 30 to 20 then market return would drop to 5.5% less than the percentage rate of high yield bonds and such an event would be the first in stock history. Is the market comfort zone, a P/E of 15.5 and this fact suggests the market has moved to a level of high risk and possible correction? Bogle states, "Looking back 70 years, major market highs were almost invariably signaled when the dividends yield on stocks fell below 3%, or price earnings rose much about 20 times earnings". The purpose of any stock investment is cash now with the expectation of future flows of cash. A high P/E ratio means investors are expecting a large flow of future cash. The high prices are based on speculation about the cash flow in the future. If the future cash flow expectations are not rational does this mean short-term profit taking is picking clean the amateur investor?


Bogle was left to reflect on two questions: 1. Will the bagel of investment fundamentals give us its usual sustenance? 2. And will the doughnut of speculation get even sweeter than it is today, or will it finally sour? Bogle concluded, "We are in a new era of investing".

Warren Buffet said, "The art of investing in public companies is ... simply to acquire, at a sensible price a business with excellent economies and able, honest management. Thereafter, you need only monitor whether these qualities are being preserved."

Bogle suggests two principles when dealing with risk 1. Get your asset allocation right, maintaining a long-term horizon, and stay the course. Bogle observed that the long term real return on stock is 7.5%. Assuming one has a million dollars that is $75,000 annual income. 2. Diversity some of the risk away by introducing equities with reliable different correlations with the U.S market. Maybe, we will see the creation of a worldwide index, 60/40 - 60 percent U.S stock and 40 percent other? Bogle stresses investors not too speculate, however, life is short and if one needs too speculate they should limit the amount too 5 percent in the gamble for higher profits. Bogle's is betting on the performance of the whole market index rather than one sector mutual fund. Bogle is saying the market price is too high and a risk at its current levels. Bogle thinks mutual funds should be able to buy bonds and other stable securities as a part of the mutual fund mix.

Thinking about bonds, bond yields drop as the economy moves to a recession because investor flee from stocks into bonds and since money is easy to acquire the rates drop. In this scenerio, short term traders buy bonds now with the anticipation the yields will drop more in the future and investor will pay more for these bonds with a higher yield. Again, a short-term speculation to capture a quick profit. However, if haystack of stocks continues producing 7.5% real returns then stay the course.

A good, practical, no-nonsense book on investing that emphasizes returning to basics and tried and true approaches that have always worked over the long term. He points out that investing needn't be, and perhaps shouldn't be, rocket science, and that you can do quite well in the market over the long term just by matching the performance of the market, and not trying to beat the market. As many people found out recently, pursuing a momentum strategy in an era of already overheated PE's and buying the latest hot story stock can be dangerous to your portfolio's health. Following a value-oriented fundamental approach with at least part of your portfolio can be a useful way of reducing volatility and improving your performance even if you're a died-in-the-wool momentum investor. This advice is especially timely coming as it does in the aftermath of the recent bear market. Another important point that many experts emphasize is that it's important to implement an investment program that matches your needs and risk tolerance, perhaps the most important thing in an investing program, since if you can't sleep at night, you probably won't be able to maintain it over the long haul.

As Bogle points out, since 90% of fund managers fail to beat the averages over the long haul, the best strategy is to buy a fund that tracks the major indexes, which does two things. First, it minimizes costs, so you won't pay any management fees as you would for your typical mutual fund. Also, most investors don't realize such costs as advertising and sales expenses are minimal for an index, compared to other funds, and those are typically passed on to the investor in the load or management fee. Since there are now more mutual funds than there are stocks on the New York Stock Exchange (which is over 5000) and as I said, 90% of them fail to beat the indexes, it's hard to imagine a more sobering reason for making an index at least a part of your investing strategy. So overall, a good book on investing emphazing a no frills, common-sense, and back-to-basics approach.

Although Bogle amply documents and demonstrates that most fund managers can't beat the averages over the long haul, and so the best way to invest in a mutual fund is to buy one that invests in the indexes and avoid the costs of managed funds, this doesn't mean a small investor can't beat the averages. The reason most funds don't is that most own so many stocks, as in the case of the Magellan fund, which used to own 1400 stocks, that they're forced to buy too many second and third tier stocks (or worse), which degrades their performance. The individual investor, however, can cherry-pick and do much better that way, assuming he's successful at it. But the point is that mutual funds have an inherent disadvantage in terms of owning a quality portfolio that inevitably stacks the odds against them, a limitation which small investor doesn't have.

A brief side note here. I noticed the forward is by Paul Volcker, the former Federal Reserve Chairman who was succeeded by the present Al Greenspan. Volcker went on to head up the World Bank after that job, and I was glad to see he's still around and working.

...but Allan is one of the financial world's most thoughtful practitioners, and his fine book reflects the many years he's spent thinking about and analyzing the ways of Wall Street.
Jonathan Clements
author, "The Little Book of Main Street Money"

This book is fantastic. Mr. Roth puts the vast topic of "investing" into simple golden rules that are based on the realities of the market not current trends. I highly recommend this book to investors looking for long term results.

The gimmick of using his 2nd grader son as an example gets somewhat old, but it effectively gets across that good investing is simple investing. His premise (diversify through a limited number of index funds) seems to be excellent and his recommendations sound. No one should make any further investments without reading this book first.

An excellent book on investing. Every thinking person owes it to himself to be knowledgeable about deploying their money in the investment arena. This book tells you how!

This is an excellent, common-sense guide that demystifies investing and offers a practical approach for building wealth. Allan offers a fun balance of entertaining family anecdotes and professional expertise to craft a book that's an insightful and enjoyable read. Most finance/investing books I read feel like homework; this is an enjoyable journey down a clearly marked path to navigate Wall Street.

This book is clearly written and user friendly. Biafore gives links to information sources, making it easy for the reader to get more information on each of the hacks. These links alone are worth the price of the book.

I've been trading for over twenty years, including a period as a floor trader on the Chicago Board of Trade. Even with that experience there are tips and tricks in this book I found useful to the point where I employ them daily. To be complete as a reviewer I will say there is a lot of pretty basic stuff from my point of view, but still well worth reviewing since some of it I had forgotten.

Well written, easy reading, well organized

Online Investing Hacks is an excellent introduction to the world of investment. Though the title does contain the word 'Online', I would say that the general information the book provides on investing is not limited to the online realm.

Overall, I was very happy with the book, and found it incredibly useful. Though I do have several investments (401K, some stock, mutual funds etc) I would hardly consider myself an authority on the subject. This book provided very detailed explanations and tips on various forms of investment, from CD's to Index funds, and everything in between. While the experienced investor might not glean much from reading this book, anyone just getting started will find it an excellent reference, and resource.

The format of the book is similar to the other books in the 100 * Hacks series published by O'Reilly. There are exactly 100 hacks, or topics, which are spread across 9 chapters. Each one is an individual entity and can be read and understood without reliance on any of the other hacks.

One minor annoyance I had with the book is that it is geared toward those of you who, for some reason or another, run Microsoft's Windows OS, or have access to Microsoft Excel. Luckily, of the Excel examples that I played with, Open Office's Calc program handled them with minimal tweaking.

I can easily recommend this book to anyone who wants to invest, but is unsure of what to invest in, or needs some tips on making the most of preexisting investments. Those of you who enjoy research and building your own stats and graphs will also find parts of this book rather intriguing, as it covers data acquisition and manipulation with Excel in great detail. It will make an excellent addition to my reference shelf, and I have a feeling it will be well thumbed through in a very short time.

It seems like everyone is involved in investing in some form or another. While I always felt like I should be investing too, it was never clear to me how to begin this process. After all, it's my money. How can I be sure I'm investing in something that will provide some sort of reasonable return? This book is an excellent resource in answering some of those questions and putting the new investor on the right track.

This book is written in the same format as the other "hacks" series by O'Reilly. This format is very easy to read, and the format makes it very easy to find answers. Rather then having to read the book from cover to cover, the reader can pick out topics they are dealing with, read the answer, and move on. Since many of the people interesting in a book of this nature will likely have little time, the book's format works to its advantage.

The book begins with some basic introduction to the stock market and tips for selecting appropriate stocks or mutual funds. The whole middle section of the book deals with data analysis. The author discusses how to understand a company's balance sheet (e.g. what that P/E ratio means), how to spot companies in financial trouble, how to pick a good stock, and even how to trade. There is also a good discussion on minimizing the effect of taxes on your little return on investment.

The author even goes further and gets into a discussion on financial planning. In addition to discussing debt reduction, the author also talks about IRA plans and different strategies for saving for your child's education expenses. I think my favorite part of this book was the discussion on different education savings plans. The author discusses the ins and outs (as well as tax consequences) of each of the plans, and provides some examples illustrating the fact that it's better to start saving earlier than later.

This is an excellent book, not just for its investing advice, but also for its sound financial planning. This is a great book for anyone who is interested in increasing their wealth, saving for a rainy day, or simply saving for future financial goals.

Online Investing Hacks by Bonnie Biafore (O'Reilly) is one of those books that can pay for itself in short order, as well as over and over.

Chapter list: Screening Investments; Hacking Excel for Financial Analysis; Collecting Financial Data; Analyzing Company Fundamentals; Technical Analysis; Executing Trades; Investing in Mutual Funds; Managing Your Portfolio; Financial Planning; Index

I worked at Enron from 1998 through 2001, and spent plenty of time during that dot.com era following my stock portfolio. I watched my Enron stock value go from incredible value to a point where it cost more to sell the stock than it was worth. I won a few bets (face it, that's what they were) on a few dot.coms and lost many more. What could have been an incredible nest egg, isn't. This book would have been a lifesaver if I had read and paid attention to it a few years ago. Biafore shows you how you can analyze and invest wisely using a variety of tools available to everyone.

If you're an Excel user, you'll find it an invaluable tool for analysis. She'll show you how you can use it to create financial charts (#13), calculate compound annual rates of growth (#26), and use rational values to buy and sell wisely (#36). #39 - Spot Hanky Panky with Cash Flow Analysis (using Enron as an example) would have literally saved me hundreds of thousands of dollars had I known about it. Even if you don't care about the investing tips, the hack on downloading data via Excel web queries (#7) was something I didn't know how to do (or that you could even do it!). The book has a little something for everyone.

As with all Hacks titles, you probably won't be interested in every single item. Some may not be applicable to your situation or may be too complex for what you care to handle. But all it would take is one hack to work out and change your investing for this book to pay huge dividends. If you do your own investing, you owe it to yourself to get this book.

I bought this book because of my confusion with index funds after reading different advertisements from newspapers and websites. The result of my learnings are three limit orders I just placed for different sector funds.

This book is written objectively without a slant towards a specific product. Also, written for the inexperienced as well as the professional trader. It provided some real insights as to how trading is accomplished (in plain English).

The bing "WOW" was seeing how I was being penalized as long term investor in mutual funds because of the annual tax distribution. Also, the majority of funds do not beat the S&P500 index!! Why invest in them when these new investment resources are available?

Highly recommend this book to all levels of investors.

The book introduced me to exchange shares. I bought it a few day ago.I read it with out putting it down. I have re-read and underlined it. This is a very exciting addition to the concept of "index investing". Exchange traded funds (ETF) are a part of my retirement education. Orthopedic Surgeon, Emeritus

This book introduced me to an area unknown to me as an individual investor-EXCHANGED TRADED FUNDS (ETF). It was very informative and exciting. I read it and then underlined it,immediately. Max, since I read your book,the world has exploded about i shares. Thank you for the introduction and stimulation to look further. YOU SHOULD BE PROUD.

This is a great book with lots of helpful information about stocks and indexes and which ones to invest in. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to participate in the domestic and international markets.

I bought this book because of my confusion with index funds after reading different advertisements from newspapers and websites. The result of my learnings are three limit orders I just placed for different sector funds.

This book is written objectively without a slant towards a specific product. Also, written for the inexperienced as well as the professional trader. It provided some real insights as to how trading is accomplished (in plain English).

The bing "WOW" was seeing how I was being penalized as long term investor in mutual funds because of the annual tax distribution. Also, the majority of funds do not beat the S&P500 index!! Why invest in them when these new investment resources are available?

Highly recommend this book to all levels of investors.

With so many investing books out there, what a pleasure it is to read one that has practical information that actually works.

The "Profit-Line" Strategy will have you in the right investments at the right time and out before the roof caves in.
Dicks also goes into detail discussing sector funds and international funds. When to be in a money market fund and when to be in a bond fund. He also discusses "Investing for the times of your life" offering tailor made advice for people in their 20's, 40's and during retirement.

Overall, a very practical and workable book on how to successfully invest in funds. Also interesting is that Dicks was one of the first to warn about back-end loads and hidden fees and costs that most mutal fund companies used to keep hidden in the small print.

Although the book was written back in 1997, the principles are still very sound. I would like to see Dicks write and updated version with perhaps his feelings on ETFs which are low cost but charge commissions.

For business owners, I highly recommend Dicks "How to Incorporate series" and "Form Your Coporation and Launch a Business in Any State."

Mutual fund investment Strategies is 260 pages and 18 chapters, packed with powerful investment strategies. Mr. Dicks does make a strong case for mutual fund investing in place of individual stock investing. Dicks explains that you can invest in stocks and invest in a mutual fund, check your results in 1-2 years and see which has performed better. In most cases, it will be the mutual fund as most investors lose on individual stocks. On the other hand, if your individual stocks have performed better, then go with individual stocks...BUT...be sure to check your net rate of return.J.W. Dicks also talks about how to reduce risk and the fact that he discloses risk with mutual funds unlike other financial authors, is refreshing.Mr. Dicks also discusses investing for the "Times of Your Life" offering model portfolios for investors at various stages of their life.Overall, a very good investment book and I highly recommend it.

This excellent book by J.W.Dicks will take you from thinking about investing to actually investing and more importantly, investing profitably.Mutual funds are still the safest, most powerful way to invest in securities despite what is going on right now in the industry. The key is education and taking personal responsibility in lieu of turning your money over to a broker and saying "Here you invest it and watch it for me."J.W. Dicks will show you how to take control over your investments, start with little money but get big returns.I also recommend "Moonlght Investing", another book by Dicks as well as two other books by Dicks that were recommended to me and I jsut read are "Form a Corporation and Launch a Business in Any State" and"The Small Business Kit.Dicks is an attorney as well as a successful entrepneneur. Beware of other books written by people who are essentially brokers and write strategies to match the products they sell. There are also some book written by "How to Incorporate" by people who have yet to launch their own business, save selling used books and writing self published books.

This book by J.W. Dicks is possibly the best mutual fund book available today. I have been using his profit line strategy for the past 3 years and have made money while others have lost money. Dicks is one of the very few that recommends moving averages and relative strength factors with mutual funds.The chapter on how to reduce taxes was also very helpful.I also recommend Moonlight Investing also by J.W. DICKS.

I bought this book over 5 years ago and consider it the single best investing book out there. Especially when you consider what is going on right now in the mutual fund industry, the old mantra that "a mutual fund is a mutual fund" is not true at all.

Dicks shows you how to take the risk out of investing. How and when to move in and out of stocks, bonds and money market funds. He covers international funds as well and sector funds.

Dicks was also one of the first people to caution that mutual funds are not without risk. I believe that investors could have saved a small fortune (I know I did) had they had this information back in 2000 and even more recently.

I also recommend Moonlight Investing also by Dicks and the 100 Best Investments for your retirement by J.W.Dicks et all.

If you are in business then Form a Corporation and Launch a Business in Any State is a must read as well. Dicks is one of those authors that most people have never heard of, but he packs powerful information in his books that actually works and is based on experience not opinion.

Highly recommended.

This book is a classic on the use of index mutual funds to achieve the performance of the market. Scott is a lawyer and has mastered all facets of investing. He is an expert recognized by the courts in law suits where the defendant has violated his fiduciary duty.After reading this book you will be convinced that passive techniques offer the best method to achieve superior returns.

Piscaqua Research in a study covering the period 1987-96 found that only 10 out of 145 major pension funds, or just seven percent, out performed a portfolio consisting of a simple 60%/40% mix of the S&P 500 index and the Lehman Bond index respectively.

Or is it logical I ask for you to believe that you can predict which actively managed funds will out perform, or are you overconfident of your skills? If you are trying to find the great fund managers who will out perform in the future ask yourself: what am I going to do differently in terms of identifying the future winning fund managers, than did the pension plans and their advisors? And if you are not going to something different what logic is there in playing a game at which others with superior resources have consistently failed?

If you a really serious in finding an investment technique that will provide you with reasonable return with less risk I suggest the following little book. This is a little book that I have written and contains the essential of how to invest. Just click on the title to find the book. How to Make Money in the Stock Market-Buy 2,500 Different Stocks-Pay no Commission The Investor's Cookbook

Scott Simon's book thoroughly reviews the many advantages of index funds, and the disadvantages of actively managed mutual funds. Many of the standard arguments are presented--the cost advantage of index funds, the difficulty in picking a superior actively managed mutual fund in advance, etc. But, the author has managed to add a few wrinkles here and there. Did you know that investing in index funds can reduce your stress? Well, according to this book that is one of the more important advantages.

The book is well documented (as you would expect from a former tax lawyer). Of note is a chapter devoted to the "nuts and bolts" of index funds which gives thorough details about the operations of index mutual funds. The appendix also contains good descriptions of the major indexes.

Simon clearly presents all the evidence as to why passive investing, also known as indexing, represents the best method for any investor to succeed in the market. He goes further by showing how investing in a portfolio of index funds allows the average investor to achieve both less risk and and an expectation of higher returns. Thus the investor is in tune with the precepts of Modern Portfolio Theory.

The proof is here - trying to beat the market is a loser's game. It's way against the odds and neither individual investors nor profesionals have deomonstrated any ability to beat the market on a consistent basis. Indexing provides market returns with lower costs, lower taxes, and less stress.

I have spent the last three months researching index funds for purposes of writing a professional paper, and this book is by far the best source of information on the topic that I have found. But it's more than that. In making the case for index funds, Mr. Simon provides a succinct, yet intelligible, description of modern portfolio theory and its place in the world of finance.

If you are interested in subjects like portfolio theory, decision-making under conditions of uncertainty, the efficient market hypotheses, game theory, the Third Restatement of Trusts and zero sum games, and just the mention of people as diverse as Peter L. Bernstein, John C. Bogle, Warren Buffett, Alfred Cowles, III, Eugene Fama, Mario Gabelli, Elaine Gazarelli, Edward C. Halbach, Jr., Roger Ibbotson, Peter Lynch, Burton G. Malkiel, Harry Markowitz, John Neff, William F. Sharpe, and Rex Sinquefield causes you to hyperventilate, then this book is for you.

Don't let the tacky cover put you off (It would be more appropriate for "How I Went From Nothing to Being a Billionaire in Three Weeks.") This is a well-written and useful book.

As an excellent review of index fund investing, I give this book an A.

Simon's book was one of the first books about index fund investing. He published this book prior to the index fund 1999 peak in popularity.

Simon points out that institutional investors put about 35% of their money into index funds versus actively managed funds. At the time he wrote his book, about 6% of individual investor's stock money went into index funds. In 2005, it has risen to about 10% of individual money in index funds.

He also pointed out that the smartest people with the most resources for choosing good investments choose index funds. TIAA-CREF indexed about 65% of their $81B stock portfolio to the Russell 3,000 index. CALPERS indexed 85% of their $41B stock portfolio to the Wilshire 2500. Other well known corporations who index a large portion of their pension funds include Deere, GM, and IBM.

He also does a good job of reviewing Brinson's famous asset allocation study including how to use index funds to achieve your desired asset allocation.

All-in-all, Simon has written a very good book on index fund investing. It will be interesting to see if his prediction of foreign countries (Japan, England, Australia) embracing indexing turns out to be true or not.

I would suggest companion books to supplement this book including The Richest Man in Babylon, Bogle on Mutual Funds, The Millionaire Next Door, The 4 Pillars of Investing, A Random Walk Down Wall Street, Wealth of Experience: Real Investors on what Works and What Doesn't, Index Mutual Funds: How to Simplify Your Life and Beat the Pros, The Coffeehouse Investor, and the Armchair Millionaire.