I use WSJ Online and Barron’s online for information.
One of my first books I read on investment was by Andrew Tobias.. I liked it. Then I read Peter lynch’s books.. later they seemed too basic and I liked book’s on investment strategies.. One of the good one’s is “Automatic Millionaire”.. He writes about investing with a discipline.. Also, 4 pillars of investing is an interesting book. The book types that you can read are :
a) Books that explain how stock market works (4 Pillars of investing or Random Walk the wall street)
b) Books that explain how to invest is stock market (Automatic Millionaireor One up the wallStreet etc)
c) Books that explain how to evaluate Stocks ( Graham Dodd’s book “intelligent investor”)
These days you can listen to Podcasts as well. My favorite podcasts are again from WSJ and “The Displined Investor” (called TDI).. you can google them to get the links.
So in short here is my recommended ways to gain investment knowledge:
a) Read lots of books: Read above mentioned books .. also you can go to Barnes & Noble or Public library.. they have good books that you can look through. Couple of books would match your level and you can take off from there.
b) Read magazines: They give information in sensational way but you can get the underlying information. My favorites are Barron’s & Smart Money
c) Read Blogs: My favorite is Kirkreport.. I also browse a few at times..but I stick with this one
d) Browse through financial websites: I like Morningstar & barron’s online
e) Read journals: My favorite journal is “Financial Planning Journal”. It has academic information but does give some good information.. this is slightly advanced though
f) Listen to Podcasts: In Itunes you can get good reviews. Start with “The disciplined investor” podcast. It shows other links that are useful. I also get Kiplinger’s and Fidelity personal finance podcasts.
g) Watch TV: (yes TV J ) Jim Cramer’s Mad money is one way to learn. His theatrics apart, he does throw in some sagacious advice once a while. I like it.
h) Ask questions: In lists like this or in Morningstar discusson boards etc.
Once you have sufficient understanding, then you can make investment Plan. In that plan, you can decide how much to invest in different types of investments. I use below methods to evaluate types of investments
a) Morningstar.com evaluate mutual funds & some stocks
b) Value line to evaluate the stocks .
c) Your brokerage may provide research reports. I use Fidelity and they give good research reports from many companies. My favorites are Lehman, NDR & Argus. From Etrade I get “CSFB” research.
Once you evaluate the stocks/funds you can start investing in them.
A few things I read that I thought were particularly useful:
"The Small Investor" - Jim Gard
"The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need" - Andrew Tobias
"The Intelligent Investor" - Benjamin Graham
"The Essays of Warren Buffet: Lessons for Corporate America" by Lawrence Cunninghan. it is gem. personal opinion.
This is a great source for financial advice geared towards Indians:
http://www.r2iclubforums.com/clubvb/forumdisplay.php?f=3
13 Steps to investing foolishly
http://www.fool.com/school/13steps/13steps.htm
Cramer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOVXh4xM-Ww
Here are some I like:
Jim Rogers
John Templeton
James Grant
Warren Buffett
Mark Faber
Kurt Wulff
Most of these guys are not in the business of making stock recommendations, but when they have, they have been good 'uns. I look to these guys for "ideas", rather than instructions to buy. I'm happy to have many sources of ideas, because I can't look in every nook and cranny of the markets, and many of these guys' ideas would never come to my attention unless I they told me about 'em.
John Templeton seldom made specific stock recommendations. In his public appearances he usually simply explained his views that investing should be global and have a long term perspective. He sometimes gave his view of which countries stocks were overpriced etc. However he once recommended MACSX. About the same time Faber recommended MACSX and APB. I bought and both have worked out well for me. Whenever Templeton spoke I listened.
About 5 years ago story came out that Warren Buffet had made a large investment in PTR. I think he wrote about it in his annual letter to his shareholders. No doubt that PTR was a low priced oil stock (vs assets). Question was the risks of investing in a company run by the Chinese government. With Buffet's judgement that those risks were acceptable, I jumped in. Its up 454% since then, about 49%/year. Still cheap according to Wulff (see below). Buffett writes an annual letter to his shareholders that is worth reading www.berkshirehathaway.com Its purpose is to tell shareholders about things going on at the company, but there are always useful comments about the state of the economy, the markets, trends that look stupid to him, etc. Always very plain spoken.
James Grant publishes a very expensive newsletter, but he also writes a column in Forbes. www.grantspub.com About 30% of his columns identify a stock idea, as do about 30% of his newsletters. Usually a deep value idea or comparison.
Jim Rogers is investing in commodities these days. Says he's out of stocks except for short positions in real estate I think. See some of his past writings (blog like) on www.jimrogers.com . He hasn't published anything new there in last few years. The web site does have an up-to-date list of his speaking engagements, and some of them are webcast. Read his books too. "Investment Biker" and "Adventure Capitalist". These books are each about a trip (literally) around the world, where he explains the economic situation and investment climate he found in each country along the way. Learn how to bribe border guards and how to trade money on the black market. Someone once asked him what was different about these two trips. He said "Took each trip in a different decade, in a different vehicle, and with a different woman." He has a new book on investing in China due out in a few months. Used to be able to see him every Saturday morning on a roundtable on Fox network, but he's not there anymore. I think that's because he has moved to China. Hell, if I were that show I'd pull him in by satellite. He was the only reason I watched the show.
Mark Faber writes a very expensive newsletter, but you can read his thoughts and a list of recommended stock positions twice a year in Barron's experts roundtable. This is the guy who first got me interested in Thai stocks. www.gloomboomdoom.com
Kurt Wulff writes oil/gas stock analysis that he publishes to subscribers (institutions) and then puts them up on his web site for free public access after a short delay. www.mcdep.com All this guy does is evaluate the relative merits of oil/gas stocks by looking at their price vs reserves. Useful info tho! Updated every week.
Every writer fills some niche. That doesn't mean their ideas or advice are the full story, or even something you can use.
