I've read the Millionaire Next Door, The Total Money Makeover, and am diving into Stocks for the Long Run. Can anyone suggest other good investing and personal finance books?

high powered investing for dummies. It's how I got my start.

unconvential success by David Swenson

http://www.texags.com/main/forum.topic.asp?forum_id=57

I enjoyed "One up on Wall Street" by Peter Lynch. Easy read while also incorporating some technical aspects.

http://www.amazon.com/One-Wall-Street-Already-Market/dp/0140127925

The Intelligent Investor by Ben Graham

Stocks for the Long Run by Jeremy Siegal

A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel

can't completely speak for it because I'm not too far into it, but "Your Money or Your Life"

http://www.amazon.com/Your-Money-Life-Transforming-Relationship/dp/0140286780

A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel

A second that...

I third the Malkiel book, I think Random Walk Down Wall Street taught me more about investing than any single book I've ever read.

Another good one - The Four Pillars of Investing by William Bernstein

The Boglehead's Guide to Investing by Taylor Larimore

But definitely, if you only read one - read Random Walk Down Wall Street.

--Matt

Invest Like A Shark

I agree with WolfMan's recommendations.

Be careful with your selections; some of the popular personal fiancance and investing books are just fluff at best.

The Richest Man in Babylon

I want to read Random Walk. The efficient market hypothesis is something I've been thinking about a lot lately.

anyone have any good recommendations on technical analysis books?

Is there any evidence that technical analysis even works? In theory, it shouldn't. If any sort of pattern or charting ever held, the institutional investors would know of it, and they'd use it, thus putting the stick price back at equilibrium.

And if for some reason, I did make some amazing discovery from charting, you can bet your ass the last thing I'd do is write a book telling you what I discovered (although I might write one after it stopped working)

I can promise you that EMH/random walk is complete bull****.

Could you lay out your case if you don't mind? I'm not trying to be a smart ass, I just want to hear it. It seems to me that anything I can do (charting, reading financials, watching CNBC, reading seeking alpha everyday, reading the WSJ, etc) the boys at Goldman Sachs can do too, and much quicker and more efficiently.

Think of it this way... there's 24 contracts on the Bid on the June S&P right now. Let's say Trader Joe sells 100 contracts with a market order. 24 will get executed at 872.25, and the price must fall to 872.00 where there are 69 contracts on the bid, and then fall again to find the remaining 7 to finish his order. And since people don't just randomly buy and sell, it's impossible to say that prices just randomly float along. What creates sustained moves in a market is when the crowd piles in on one side of the market. Your job to be profitable is to decide at what point (time and price) that the crowd is going to shift in your favor and then get out before they stop.

As for technical analysis... for the most part its just a crutch. Dividing price by some number and multiplying it by another isn't going to give you much insight. Same for fundamental analysis, it's not what people think, it's what they do... which is reflected in volume and open interest. If I had to give book suggestions it would be Gustave le Bon's "The Crowd", George Soros' Alchemy of Finance, and Jesse Livermores book... he said it all.

I don't expect this post to make many people happy... so it's whatever, it's just my viewpoint.

What factors do you take into consideration to determine that its buy time or sell time? MV/BV? P/E? Jim Cramer's hot tip?

It seems like all relevant public information is going to be digested quickly by the slew of institutional investors who do this for a living. For ever stock on the S&P 500, there's probably 30 of them who spend all day watching that one stock. If they trade first, they set the price by being the marginal investor.

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What factors do you take into consideration to determine that its buy time or sell time? MV/BV? P/E? Jim Cramer's hot tip?

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No. These are all much longer term viewpoints. Technical Analysis is for much shorter time horizons. People use all kinds of different indicators for technical analysis.

here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_analysis

The Warren Buffett Way is a great book if you are interested in being an investor in companies. Not much value if you intend to be a paper trader.

BTW, the concept of efficient market theory is for dumbasses and college professors.

[This message has been edited by weeza (edited 5/13/2009 3:48a).]

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The Intelligent Investor by Ben Graham

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This.

Alchemy of Finance is a beast to read, but the concept is interesting. It all depends on your philosophy as you are starting to see from those that love Random Walk and those that hate it.

Have now finished Random Walk, any other long term investment books?

The Wealthy Barber

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I've read the Millionaire Next Door, The Total Money Makeover

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Then you've already just about covered it.

Get debt free, live on less than you make, and start putting money aside in low cost index mutual funds. Keep it simple and use your time to read something far more interesting than supposed investing strategies.

Best TA book I have read:

Stan Weinstein's Secrets For Profiting in Bull and Bear Markets
by Stan Weinstein

What AggieFrog said.

I third the Frog, I've read both those books and am now fully committed to living below my means and getting out of debt.

On Thursday I paid off my second car. At this point I am only left with student loans and mortgage... I'm on my way!

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Stan Weinstein's Secrets For Profiting in Bull and Bear Markets

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+1

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George Soros' Alchemy of Finance (Reading the Mind of the Market)

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+1

And also The New Paradigm of the Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What It Means by the same author, which essentially challenges EMH and presents his philosophy of reflexivity.

Many of the other books recommended in this thread are good curriculum, which describe core concepts such as fundamental analysis/investing, EMH and MPT. However, the markets continue to evolve and I would encourage investors to do the same.

he actually has an update to that book now. "The Crash of 2008 and White It Means".

Its basically last years book plus about 80 new pages.

Either book is fine.

Experienced investors should consider reviewing the 2008 Texas Permanent School Fund report. It is a well diversified approach that could be duplicated, other than the land bank assets. I think it is much more meaningful today than the Yale and Harvard Endowments, which own significant private investments that cannot be duplicated--or valued accurately, as they are finding out now.

[This message has been edited by Money Game 94 (edited 5/17/2009 4:39p).]

Anybody read Poor Charlie's Almanack?

markets are not efficient b/c investors/people aren't efficient. people do irrational things sometimes.

does anybody really NEED a $15 million dollar house? is that BMW really the most efficient way to transport yourself? why do people trade on Schwab for $12.95 a trade instead of on Scottrade for $7 ?