Investment and Financial Planning

  • Chilton, David, The Wealthy Barber, Prima Publishing, Rocklin, California, 1991.
    An excellent, easy to read book for young adults (and adults, for that matter) which stresses the value of beginning a savings and investment program early in life. The author was born in Port Huron, Michigan.
  • Swensen, David, Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment, Free Press, Simon and Schuster, New York, 2005.  This author provides cogent support for investing in index funds and using Vanguard because of their very low cost structure and excellent management.
  • Stanley, Thomas, and Danko, William, The Millionaire Next Door, Longstreet Press, Atlanta, Georgia, 1996. Excellent book showing that building wealth is a matter of good defense as much as it is about good offense. You can read a review of the book here.
  • Stanley, Thomas, The Millionaire Mind, Andrews McNeal Publishing, Kansas City, 2000. Another fascinating book by the author of the Millionaire Next Door above.
  • Porter, W. Thomas, The Touche Ross Guide to Personal Financial Management, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1984 ed.
    Possibly the single best financial planning book you can read. Presents an excellent strategic and tactical financial plan that can be used by virtually anyone. It is now out in a more recent edition.
  • Malkiel, Burton G., A Random Walk Down Wall Street, W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 1973.
    This is the first book I ever read on the stock market and investing and it proved not only to be accurate but also had a profound effect on how I judge all investment programs since I first read it 25 years ago. I think it would be on my "must read" list for anyone seriously interested in investing. It was written when Mr. Malkiel was Dean of the Yale School of Organization and Management.
  • Schultheis, Bill, The Coffeehouse Investor, Palouse Press, Kirkland, Washington, 2005. Local investment advisor in the Seattle area supports index investing, too.
  • Finnigan, Dan and Karasu, Marc, From Learning to Earning: Success Strategies for New Grads, Sterling Publishing, Yahoo!, Inc., 2006.
  • Swensen, David F., Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment, Free Press, New York, 2005. This book is written by the manager of the Yale University Endowment Fund and gives an excellent exposition in gracious prose of the mutual fund industry and argues the case for index investing and careful asset allocation.
  • Graham, Benjamin, The Intelligent Investor, 4th Revised Edition, Harper and Row, New York, 1973.
    "I read the first edition of this book early in 1950, when I was nineteen. I thought then that it was by far the best book about investing ever written. I still think it is." Warren E. Buffett. Coming from a man of Buffett's investment prowess I think this is enough recommendation to make anyone want to read this book. After reading it, I have to agree with Buffett. There is another local Seattleite who is a friend of Buffett's and listens to his investment advice. His name is Bill Gates.
  • Donoghue, W., William E. Donoghue's Complete Money Market Guide, Harper & Row, New York, 1981.
    Again, this was one of my original investment books, and although it was read at a time when interest rates were hovering around 17%, it still has good fundamental information about money market funds which have a role in almost every portfolio.
  • Allen, Robert, G., Creating Wealth, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1983. An interesting book which advocates the purchase of single family homes from sellers who really don't want their properties any more. This enables you to purchase with a lower purchase price or more favorable terms such as a lower down payment. If used judiciously this method can definitely help build networth over time. It appealed to me because I like to buy houses in poor condition and fix them up and then rent them out
  • Stein, Ben, Yes, You Can Get A Financial Life! Your Lifetime Guide to Financial Planning, New Beginnings Press, Carlsbad, CA, 2007. www.stein-demuth.com
  • Milin, Mike and Millin, Irene, How to Buy and Manage Rental Properties, Simon and Schuster, 1986.
  • Bogle, John, Bogle on Mutual Funds: New Perspectives for the Intelligent Investor, Dell Publishing, 1994. The man who founded the Vanguard group talks about mutual fund investing.
  • Lynch, Peter, Rothchild, John, Learn to Earn, A Beginners Guide to the Basics of Investing & Business, Fireside, N.Y., 1995.
  • Gardiner, David & Tom, The Motley Fool Investment Guide, Simon & Schuster, New York,1996.
  • Gardiner, David & Tom, The Motley Fool's You Have More Than You Think, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1999.
  • Sheard, Robert, The Unemotional Investor, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1998.
  • Band, R., Contrary Investing, Penguin Books, New York, 1986. Don't follow the crowd, Think for yourself.
  • Train, J., The Money Masters: Nine Great Investors, Harper and Row, New York , 1980.
  • Train, J., Preserving Capital and Making It Grow, Penguin Books, New York, 1983.
  • Cappielo, Frank, Finding the Next Super Stock, Liberty Publishing Co., 1982.
  • Bach, David, The Automatic Millionaire, Broadway Books, New York, 2004
  • Sher, Brian, What Rich People Know & Desperately Want to Keep Secret, Prima Publishing, Roseville, CA, 2000.
  • Edelman, Ric, Rescue Your Money, Free Press, 2009. Common sense advice on investing.
  • LeBoeuf, Michael, The Millionaire in You, Random House, New York, 2002.
  • Fisher, Mark, The Millionaire's Path, MJF Books, New York, 1990.
  • Eker, T. Harv, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth, Harper Business, 2005.
  • Lowe, Janet, Warren Buffett Speaks: Wit and Wisdom From the World's Greatest Investor, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1997.
  • AAII Journal, published monthly by the American Association of Individual Investors, 625 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, 60611. $45.00 per year. Phone: (312) 280-0170.
    Excellent source of objective information on basic and advanced topics in investment principles. An example of an article is: "How to Implement Your Strategy If You Are Starting from Scratch" by Maria Crawford Smith, February 1995 issue. This organization has chapters which provide periodic meetings for members with lectures and discussions on investment topics. There is a chapter here in Seattle and can be reached at P.O. Box 40039, Bellevue, WA 98004.
  • The Individual Investors Guide to Low-Load Mutual Funds published by the AAII annually.
    An excellent reference source of information on mutual funds with low or no-loads (load=sales charge). Sales loads are sales commissions paid to people to get you buy the investment. They do nothing to get you better money management inside the fund that you buy. There is no difference in the statistical performance of load and no-load funds. Simply put, there is, therefore, no reason on earth to ever buy a "load" mutual fund.
  • Investing Basics, the AAII Book for Beginning Investors, by Maria Crawford Smith, Editor, AAII Journal. $12.00. To order call AAII at (312) 280-0170.
  • Investing Basics Videocourse, 3.5 hours on two video tapes, AAII, $129.
    This is an excellent set of tapes on basic investment principles.
  • Investment Decision Making, Collections I & II, American Association of Individual Investors, Chicago, Illinois, 1986
  • Investment Decision Making, Collection III, American Association of Individual Investors, Chicago, Illinois, 1986.
  • Lynch, Peter, One Up on Wall Street, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1989.
    Peter Lynch discusses some of the principles he used in managing the investments of the highly successful Fidelity Magellan Fund which grew to assets of $9 billion under his leadership.
  • Staton, Bill, The America's Finest Companies Investment Plan, Hyperion, New York, 1998.
  • Grzesiek, D., Financial Independence: Through Buying and investing in Single Family Homes, Pelican Publishing, Gretna, LA, 1985.
    A description of a particular investment vehicle, namely, income producing real estate, used to build net worth over time.
  • Cohen, J., Zinbarg, E., Zeikel, A., Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management, Irwin, Homewood, Illinois, Third Edition, 1977.
    This is more of a reference text but still helps define and bring an understanding to common investment terminology. The preface begins: "Thrift is a wonderful virtue, especially in an ancestor . . ."
  • Hagstrom, Robert, The Warren Buffett Portfolio : Matering the Power of the Focus Investment Strategy, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1999.
  • Eker, T. Harv, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth, Harper Collins, New York, 2005.
  • McQuown, Judith, Tax Shelters That Work for Everyone: A Common Sense Guide to Keeping More of the Money You Earn, McGraw-Hill, 1979. "Any one may so arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which will best pay the Treasury; there is not even a patriotic duty to increase one's taxes." - Judge Learned Hand in Helvering v. Gregory, 69 F. 2d 809, 810 (2d Cir. 1934), aff'd, 293 U.S. 465 (1935).
  • Haroldsen, Mark, The Courage To Be Rich, Bantam Books, 1983
  • Train, John, The Midas Touch: The Strategies That Have Made Warren Buffett America's Pre-eminent Investor, Harper and Row, New York, 1987.
  • 13 Steps to Investing Foolishly, A Motley Fool Investment Primer, The Motley Fool, 123 N. Pitt Street, Alexandria, Virginia, 22314, www.fool.com.
  • Wattles, Wallace, The Science of Getting Rich, Penguin, 1910, (2007).
  • Dralle, Lynn, The Unofficial Guide to Making Money on eBay, Wiley Publishing, 2006.
  • Hollander, Stuart, Saving the Family Cottage, Pleasant City Press, Suttons Bay, Michigan, 2007. www.cottagelaw.com
  • LaPointe, Andrew, Up North Dream: The Guide for Moving to Northern Michigan, Lapte Enterprises, Inc., Bellaire, Michigan, 2003. www.upnorthdream.com
  • Some helpful web sites:
  • The American Association of Individual Investors. This is a great organization that provides excellent educational materials for learning about investing.
  • MyMoney.gov The government's first financial education web site created by the U.S. Financial Literacy and Education Commission.
  • U.S. Treasury's Office of Financial Education Another U.S. government investment and saving educational website.
  • Young Investor Educational website for teens, parents and teachers.

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