Many friends and clients ask what books we recommend for young people who are interested in investing. With Black Friday and Cyber Monday upon us, here are five books to add to your library, or give as a gift to the budding investor in your life. 1
Admittedly, these do not specifically cover personal finance or planning. So those investing principles will be covered in another post. Nonetheless, each of these five teaches principles that go a long way towards understanding money and investments.
These span a range of investing topics from psychology, to principles, to history. While the topics may seem advanced for young first-time investors, each book is essential and easy to comprehend.
- The Little Book of Behavioral Investing: How Not to Be Your Own Worst Enemy by James Montier
- Investing is not necessarily all about analysis. Often, it is realizing the short comings we humans have in making decisions. The author examines many of the ways we mislead ourselves. It shows why a process and framework is necessary for investment decision making.
- Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefevre (Wiley)
- For the Robinhood trader. A classic. The life of the greatest trader who ever lived, Jesse Livermore. Many lessons on trading, mindset, and life.
- Margin of Safety by Seth Klarman (Harper Collins)
- The principles of the value philosophy of investing explained by a legendary hedge fund manager. Unless you are a collector, I would avoid paying the $1,000 list price since it is out of print. Plenty of copies can be found online in PDF.
- Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation by Edward Chancellor (Plume)
- Those who do not know history are condemned to repeat it. Nothing new is ever under the investing sun; it just comes with different names and forms. This book looks at the great investment bubbles of the past.
- Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets by Nassim Taleb (Gildan Media)
- There are lies, damn lies… and statistics. While Taleb is a controversial figure, this book is his most digestible. It shows the shortcomings of putting too much weight on any single factor leading to past successes.
Hopefully one of these books can be added to yours or a young investor’s reading collection.
[1] Not a Marcum Wealth firm endorsement of each book.
Important Disclosure Information
Please remember that past performance may not be indicative of future results. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and there can be no assurance that the future performance of any specific investment, investment strategy, or product (including the investments and/or investment strategies recommended or undertaken by Marcum Wealth, or any non-investment related content, made reference to directly or indirectly in this commentary will be profitable, equal any corresponding indicated historical performance level(s), be suitable for your portfolio or individual situation, or prove successful. Due to various factors, including changing market conditions and/or applicable laws, the content may no longer be reflective of current opinions or positions. Moreover, you should not assume that any discussion or information contained in this commentary serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from Marcum Wealth. Please remember to contact Marcum Wealth, in writing, if there are any changes in your personal/financial situation or investment objectives for the purpose of reviewing/evaluating/revising our previous recommendations and/or services, or if you would like to impose, add, or to modify any reasonable restrictions to our investment advisory services. Unless, and until, you notify us, in writing, to the contrary, we shall continue to provide services as we do currently. Marcum Wealth is neither a law Firm, nor a certified public accounting Firm, and no portion of the commentary content should be construed as legal or accounting advice. A copy of the Marcum Wealth's current written disclosure Brochure discussing our advisory services and fees continues to remain available upon request. Please advise us if you have not been receiving account statements (at least quarterly) from the account custodian.
Historical performance results for investment indices, benchmarks, and/or categories have been provided for general informational/comparison purposes only, and generally do not reflect the deduction of transaction and/or custodial charges, the deduction of an investment management fee, nor the impact of taxes, the incurrence of which would have the effect of decreasing historical performance results. It should not be assumed that your Marcum account holdings correspond directly to any comparative indices or categories. Please Also Note: (1) performance results do not reflect the impact of taxes; ( 2) comparative benchmarks/indices may be more or less volatile than your Marcum accounts; and, (3) a description of each comparative benchmark/index is available upon request.