Today’s guest post comes from Ryan of Semperfinance, a military-community oriented personal finance and stock investment blog.
Education is the key to developing successful investment strategies. Blogs, websites and periodicals are great for staying up to date on the latest and greatest in the financial world, but nothing beats a good old-fashioned book for reinforcing the fundamentals and learning from the masters. Here’s a list of the top 5 investment authors every stock investor should be familiar with.
Benjamin Graham
Considered the father of value investing, he invented the Mr. Market metaphor and advised evaluating stocks as one would evaluate a business. Graham, a Columbia business school professor, published Security Analysis in the midst of the Great Depression. Anyone who can successfully sell books on stock investing during the Great Depression is worth taking a look at. Warren Buffet considers himself a disciple of Graham, even naming one of his sons (Howard Graham Buffett) after him. Every investor should be familiar with his work.
Recommended Books:
- Security Analysis
- The Intelligent Investor
- Benjamin Graham On Value Investing: Lessons from the Dean of Wall Street.
Warren Buffett
While not an author of books, Buffett has written many articles and (now famous) letters to shareholders. His writing contains homey Midwestern wisdom, jokes and pearls of investing wisdom. Buffett was greatly influenced by mentor Graham whose work he draws upon, but he has his own insights developed over many years of successful, smart investing.
- The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America
- Warren Buffett Speaks: Wit and Wisdom from the World’s Greatest Investor
Peter Lynch
Peter Lynch was an investing legend. His should be admired for his work ethic as much as his stock picks. Lynch practiced due diligence in picking stocks 24/7. Even on vacation he would ski a run, call a company to speak to the management then get back on the chairlift and do it over again. Like Buffett and Graham, Lynch advised focusing on company fundamentals and did not try to predict the market.
Recommended Books:
Tom and David Gardner
These two brothers were taught stock market investing by their father and ushered stock investing into the Internet era with their landmark website, fool.com. These guys have created the “Foolish” philosophy of bucking the trends of the “Wise” on Wall Street.
Recommended Books:
Robert Kiyosaki
Some people hate Kiyosaki, but I think he has some very good points to make. Don’t expect a lot of specific investment advice from Kiyosaki, instead he reinforces fundamental financial principles every investor should espouse.
Recommended Books:
If you haven’t read all of these books, you’re missing out on your financial education. Get started today!