Name the Top 5 investment books you've read

[springwater]

I'm looking for some Christmas gift ideas for some friends.

[Laura]

springwater,

Almost any book on the Diehards Reading List would be a good option. It really depends on your friends and what type of reading they might enjoy. The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing is an excellent first choice.

Laura

[Downeastah]

The Bogleheads Guide to Investing
A Random Walk Down Wallstreet
Index Mutual Funds: Profiting From an Investment Revolution
The WSJ Guide to Understanding Money and Investing
The Coffee House Investor
Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes & How to Correct Them

I've a number of other, but these have been the most helpful for me.

[grok87]

1) Unconventional Success, David Swensen
2_ Intelligent Asset Allocator, William Bernstein
3) Four Pillars of Investing, William Bernstein
4) The only guide to a winning bonds strategy you'll ever need, Larry Swedroe
5) The Black Swan, Taleb Naassim

cheers
grok

[oneleaf]

1) Unconventional Success, David Swensen
2_ Intelligent Asset Allocator, William Bernstein
3) Four Pillars of Investing, William Bernstein
4) The only guide to a winning bonds strategy you'll ever need, Larry Swedroe
5) The Black Swan, Taleb Naassim

cheers
grok

This is a great list. I would have probably suggested the same 5 books, replacing black swan with taleb's earlier book since i haven't read the latest.

[grok87]

1) Unconventional Success, David Swensen
2_ Intelligent Asset Allocator, William Bernstein
3) Four Pillars of Investing, William Bernstein
4) The only guide to a winning bonds strategy you'll ever need, Larry Swedroe
5) The Black Swan, Taleb Naassim

cheers
grok

This is a great list. I would have probably suggested the same 5 books, replacing black swan with taleb's earlier book since i haven't read the latest.

Thanks- Other's have also recommended Taleb's "Fooled by Randomness" (the earlier book) to me, so maybe I'll ask for that for Christmas...

[Grt2bOutdoors]

I'm looking for some Christmas gift ideas for some friends.

1. Winning the Loser's Game - Charles Ellis
2. The Coffee House Investor - Schultheis
3. The Four Pillars of Investing - William Bernstein
4. The Only Guide to A Winning Investment Strategy (2005 edition)- Larry Swedroe
5. The Intelligent Investor - Benjamin Graham, updated by Jason Zweig
( a lengthy read)

[bobcat2]

1) Finance - Bodie and Merton

2) Investors and Markets - Sharpe

3) Worry-Free Investing - Bodie and Clowes

4) The Four Pillars of Investing - Bernstein

5) Unconventional Success - Swensen

Bob K

[Gekko]

1. Bogle on Mutual Funds
2. The Wealthy Barber
3. The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need (Andrew Tobias)
4. The Millionaire Next Door
5. Die Broke (Pollan, Levine)

IMO, if you're giving the books to friends, I'd keep them light and simple. some of the ones i see mentioned here by others are very complex, esoteric, lengthly, and arcane and may not ever get read beyond the first few pages as a result.

[asset_chaos]

In alphabetical order

author = "Frank Armstrong",
title = "Investing for the 21st Century",
note = "Freely available online at http://www.investorsolutions.com",
year = "1995"

author = "William J. Berstein",
title = "The Intelligent Asset Allocator",
publisher = "McGraw-Hill",
year = "2001",

author = "John C. Bogle",
title = "Bogle on Mutual Funds: New Perspectives for the
Intelligent Investor",
publisher = "Dell",
year = "1994",

author = "Charles D. Ellis",
title = "Winning the Loser's Game",
publisher = "McGraw-Hill",
year = "1998",
edition = "3rd"

author = "Burton G. Malkiel",
title = "A Random Walk Down Wall Street",
publisher = "Norton",
year = "2004",
edition = "8th"


I'll let others debate "best". These (or earlier editions) have certainly exercised the most influence on me and the way I invest.

[asset_chaos]

I'm looking for some Christmas gift ideas for some friends.

In that case, don't go past Bogle's "Little Book." It's the best, shortest, and most readable introduction to sound investment principles around.

[cudaman]

Don't forget "All About Asset Allocation" by Rick Ferri. Excellent!

[bob90245]

I'm looking for some Christmas gift ideas for some friends.

It depends on their familiarity with investing. Novice? Already knows the basics? Experienced?

For the novice, I would recommend Straight Talk on Investing by Jack Brennan.

For the someone who already knows the basics, I would recommend The Only Guide to a Winning Investment Strategy You'll Ever Need by Larry Swedroe.

For the experienced investor, I would point them to the reading material on my website:

Withdrawal Strategies: Articles and More

[larryswedroe]

Not counting mine of course (:-))

Peter Bernstein, Capital Ideas and Against the Gods.
William Bernstein, The Four Pillars of Investing.
Charles Ellis, Winning the Loser’s Game.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Fooled by Randomness.

[market timer]

Everyone has given good suggestions. I particularly enjoyed the Peter Bernstein books. I'll add the following:

Fortune's Formula
When Genius Failed
Options as a Strategic Investment

[Warner]

Two classics - A Random Walk Down Wall Street (1973) and The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need (1978).

[rich]

1. Unconventional Success
2. Fooled by Randomness
3. A Random Walk Down Wall Street
4. Bogleheads Guide to Investing
5. Rational Investing in Irrational Times

[Vinny72]

I definately suggest-

The Richest Man in Babylon

It is a quick read and very inspiring. Wisdom for the ages!

[SamB]

*****

[david99]

Two books that I haven't seen mentioned are:

The Bond Book by Annete Thau

Stocks for the Long Run by Jeremy Siegel

I recently read The Bond Book and I thought it was excellent. Stocks for the Long Run gives a good historical perspective

[VictoriaF]

If I responded earlier, I probably would have had something like grok's list. But now I have an opportunity to add another five:

Jason Zweig "Your money and your brain"
Tyler Cowen "Your inner economist"
Tim Harford "Undercover economist"
"Freakonomics"
Dan Gilbert "Stumbling on happiness"

Victoria

[joelesposito]

Lots of good ones already.
Add Millionare nextdoor (not really a how to but good philospohy)What about Roger Gibbson's book? I don't see that recomended here too often?

[modal]

1. Holy Bible
2. Richest Man in Babylon
3. One of Swedroe's books
4. Way to Wealth
5. Millionaire Next Door
(6. Your Money or Your Life)

Just off the top of my head... probably some better ones if I let my mine brew for a bit

[wearethefall]

I enjoyed Siegel's other book: the future for investors

[mazzy78]

1) Unconventional Success, David Swensen
2_ Intelligent Asset Allocator, William Bernstein
3) Four Pillars of Investing, William Bernstein
4) The only guide to a winning bonds strategy you'll ever need, Larry Swedroe
5) The Black Swan, Taleb Naassim

cheers
grok

This is a great list. I would have probably suggested the same 5 books, replacing black swan with taleb's earlier book since i haven't read the latest.

i agree, i think "Four Pullars to investing" is the only one there im yet to read, i shall have to look into that.

[gkaplan]

I wouldn't be able to limit myself to just five.

[Robert T]

.
These have had the greatest impact on my investment decisions. In alphabetical order:

Bill Bernstein - The Intelligent Asset Allocator
Charles Ellis - Winning the Loser’s Game
Rick Ferri - Protecting your Wealth in Good Times and Bad
Larry Swedroe - Rational Investing in Irrational Times
David Swensen - Unconventional Success
.

[Sunny Sarkar]

Name the Top 5 investment books you've read

I'm looking for some Christmas gift ideas for some friends.

* Bogle on Mutual Funds (classic!)
* A Random Walk down Wall Street (classic!)
* Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes - Gary Belsky (should be everyone's second book after reading one on the basics of indexing IMO)
* Personal Finance For Dummies - Eric Tyson (because net worth depends on so many other things besides just investing)
* The Coffeehouse Investor (Great short read, ideal xmas gift)

Can't exclude...
* The Intelligent Asset Allocator (whoever stole my copy must be rich by now )

[ArmchairMillionaire2]

There are three investment books that should be read in the following order to help anyone set themselves up for a secure retirement.
1.) The Richest Man In Babylon by George S. Clason (1926) This is a simple book but it will begin to inspire you.
2.) The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley and William Danko (1996) This is a comprehensive study of wealth accumulators. A little dry but the wealth of information is worth the read.
3.) The Armchair Millionaire by Lewis Schiff and Douglas Gerlach (2001) A simple, yet effective strategy for your journey to retirement.

I started paying attention to my finances in 2002 when my company was bought by a larger corporation and my 401(k) switched from a local bank to Vanguard. I only recently discovered the Bogleheads. To make this a list of 5 books I would add the following:
4.) The Bogleheads Guide To Investing (2006)
5.) The Bogleheads Guide To Retirement Planning (2009)

I am on my way to a secure (early?) retirement because I read the first three books on this list when I was in my early 30s.
I cannot recommend them more strongly.

[staythecourse]

These are standard recs.

Easy: Mr. Bogle's edition to the "Little book series" and Mr. Roth's "How a second grader beat wall street"
Intermediate: Mr. Ferri, "AAAA", Dr. Bernstein "Intelligent asset allocator", and Mr. Gibson "Asset allocation", MR. Bogle's "Common Sense- 10 year anniversary edition"
Difficult: Mr. Lussier's book (forgot the title)

Good luck.

[staythecourse]

OP,

My recommendation, if you are giving a book to someone who has never read about personal finance and/ or who has no interest up to this point I would NOT intimidate them with many of the excellent books mentioned on this thread.

I would recommend Mr. Roth's book "How a second grader beat wall street". Told as if he was giving advice to his young son. Easy to understand and helps with exact process how to start investing. Best of all can be read in 1 weekend.

Learning some information to spur interest is more important then giving too much information and having it just sit on their coffee table and/ or intimidate the reader.

Good luck.

[ctfish]

Devil take the hindmost https://www.amazon.com/Devil-Take-Hindm ... 0452281806

When genius failed, the rise and fall of long term capital management https://www.amazon.com/When-Genius-Fail ... B000FC1KZC

[Tycoon]

The Misbehavior of Markets: A Fractal View of Financial Turbulence, Benoit Mandelbrot, Richard L. Hudson
Beat the Market: A Scientific Stock Market System, Edward O. Thorp
A Random Walk Down Wall Street, Burton G. Malkiel
Making the Most of Your Money, Jane Bryant Quinn
The Little Black Book of Business Math, Michael C. Thomsett

[nisiprius]

The Misbehavior of Markets: A Fractal View of Financial Turbulence, Benoit Mandelbrot, Richard L. Hudson
A Random Walk Down Wall Street, Burton G. Malkiel
The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Andrew Tobias
Common Sense on Mutual Funds, John C. Bogle
The Way of All Flesh, novel (fictional) by Samuel Butler

[S_Track]

I like these out of the few books I have read.
Investing Made Simple, Mike Piper
If You Can, William Bernstein
Investing in Bonds For Dummies, Russell Wild

[wilson08]

1. The Only Guide to a Winning Investment Strategy You'll Ever Need(2005)---Larry Swedroe
2. Eight Steps to Seven Figures---Charles B. Carlson
3. The Four Pillars of Investing---William Bernstein
4. Protecting Your Wealth in Good Times and Bad---Richard A. Ferri
5. The Millionaire in You---Michael LeBoeuf

[mindboggling]

I've hardly read any investing books.

I read "The Four Pillars of Investing" by Bernstein. It was OK until it started getting into the nuts and bolts of his slice-n-dice portfolio. I was already a Bogle-style three-funder.

I read part of "A Random Walk Down Wall Street" by Malkiel. Never finished it. I knew where it was going long before it got there. Again, I was already a Vanguard investor by then.

Many years ago I bought a used book. Don't remember the name of it or who wrote it, but it was a financial planning guide directed at financial planners (insurance salesmen mostly). One phrase resonated with me through all these years:

"Your rate of savings is more important than the rate of return of your investments."

I'll never forget it.

[jacoavlu]

I will add: Berkshire Hathaway Letters to Shareholders

Sure you can download them free. But better. You can buy a paperback on Amazon with all the letters to date though the most recent one may be gone.

Seriously great to read them, from the beginning, so much wisdom.

[Railroader]

Wise Investing Made Simple by Swedroe is my favorite book. I’ve read it three times. So easy to read and it describes the investing world in laymans terms.

[oldzey]

Be sure to check out Taylor Larimore's Investment Gems.

[Elbukari]

What I've read and I recommend:
1. Bogleheads Guide to Investing & Retirement Planning (so two books here)
2. The Little Book of Common Sense Investing (I thought this one was really great because it was easy read while being quite informative)
3. Richest Man in Babylon (I like the simple message and philosophy here)
4. The Bond Book (the best book on understanding Bonds I found)
5. Intelligent Investor (I usually read the commentary first so I have a better Idea of what Graham is actually saying and then I read the chapter)
- obviously it's somewhat outdated but there is a lot of good philosophy here
____
What I've sort of read/skimmed over
1. Random Walk Down Wall street
2. Four Pillars of Investing
3. Stocks for the Long Run
4. Straight Talk on Investing
5. The Only Guide to a Winning Strategy

It becomes almost tedious to read through all of these books because there is a common theme and after you've read the first five books the other half becomes a boring read. I've supplemented a great deal of terminology/concepts with investopedia- i really like that site.

[Thrifty Femme]

1. If You Can, William Bernstein
2. Not a book but https://www.bogleheads.org

[CedarWaxWing]

OP,

My recommendation, if you are giving a book to someone who has never read about personal finance and/ or who has no interest up to this point I would NOT intimidate them with many of the excellent books mentioned on this thread.

I would recommend Mr. Roth's book "How a second grader beat wall street". Told as if he was giving advice to his young son. Easy to understand and helps with exact process how to start investing. Best of all can be read in 1 weekend.

Learning some information to spur interest is more important then giving too much information and having it just sit on their coffee table and/ or intimidate the reader.

Good luck.

1+ I never would have read a book with that title... but did so in order to see if it would be appropriate for some younger folks I know. I subsequently have given copies of Allan Roth's book to each of my three boys while they are in college, and have loaned or given copies to at least 8 other adults over 30 who seem to have trouble with the idea of reading to learn things.

I have also given many copies of the Bogleheads two books, and
The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by Jack Bogle (and I read the full size version with all the data in his more comprehensive version).

Anyone I give any books or recommendations to ALWAYS is sent the pdf If You Can by Bill Bernstein and I always tell people that is, imho, the first thing anyone should read ... before they move onto the ones I recommend.

I have given a lot of books away before deciding that I will recommend on or two books first...and if people actually buy any of the books I recommend after that I will loan them books of my shelf. If they don't read IF You Can, or Allan's book... it is usually a waste of time to give a book to them or to give any other suggestions unless they really ask for more info.

[unclescrooge]

Popular delusions and the madness of crowds - probably the first book on behavioral economics ever written

[Jeff Albertson]

I will add: Berkshire Hathaway Letters to Shareholders

Sure you can download them free. But better. You can buy a paperback on Amazon with all the letters to date though the most recent one may be gone.

Seriously great to read them, from the beginning, so much wisdom.

Buffet's letters also get high praise this week from Robert Cialdini on Bloomberg's Master in Business podcast.

This week, we speak with Social Psychologist Robert Cialdini, Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Marketing at Arizona State University. He is the author of the book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion which has sold 3 million copies in 30 languages. His new book is is Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade.

He tells the story of Charlie Munger reaching out to him after reading Influence; Munger sent a package including a note written by Munger, a single share of Berkshire Hathaway stock — and Munger’s personal phone number.

https://ritholtz.com/2018/11/mib-robert-cialdini/

[arcticpineapplecorp.]

um...correct me if I'm wrong but this post was originally written in 2007. So I would think the OP already purchased his/her Christmas books for his/her friends 11 years ago.

Day late (or 11 years) and a dollar short, I'd say.

However, if the OP is still a member of bogleheads could you respond to which book(s) you gave as gifts to your friends and how they responded to your gift(s)?

[Jeff Albertson]

The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Andrew Tobias
A Random Walk Down Wall Street, Burton G. Malkiel
Intelligent Asset Allocator, William Bernstein
Bogle on Mutual Funds

I'm surprised so many mentioned Taleb. Surely something by Thaler, Kahneman or maybe even Michael Lewis would be more useful. FWIW, Thaler apparently has problems with Taleb - https://twitter.com/R_Thaler/status/1059251587749691392