Good books on investing?

[mattkime]

I'm considering opening an IRA so i can invest some untaxed money. However, I'm really not sure what I'm getting into. As a freelancer, I have to chose between putting money toward retirement and keeping it available to invest in my business. Currently, any money i have set aside for taxes is sitting in a savings account at 5% - which seems very good for a short term (and safe!) return.

Are there any good books out there on investing?

[Fritz]

a couple of simple basic books

Wall Street Guide to Understanding Money & Markets

The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need.

If that was fun, look up Benjamin Graham "The Intelligent Investor"

Then start doing some mutual fund research on your own across a broad spectrum.
Precious Metals, Energy, Pacific Rim, Latin American, REIT, Microcap, Large Cap, blah, blah, blah.
I rebalance every year, mutual funds, 401ks and union annuitys.

Last but not least, brokers are full of 5h1t. Get an no frills discount broker, TD Ameritrade and many others.

http://www.rateitall.com/t-372-discount-brokers.aspx

http://mutualfunds.about.com/gi/dynamic/...zi=1/XJ/Ya&sdn=mutualfunds&cdn=money&tm=7&f=20&tt=14&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.smartmoney.com/brokers/index.cfm%3Fstory%3D2004-discount-table This one is a bit out of date.

http://www.dailyreckoning.com/rpt/BestOn...okers.html

http://www.smartmoney.com/brokers/index....august2007

[bazookaman]

My credit union offers a nice free service for investments. Every year i take my 401k choices to him and we discuss what I might need to change, if anything. Its a great service. At least better than hurting my brain trying to figure out investing on my own.

[AlphaDog]

I'm no whiz kid on this subject, but I've had to do some research into investing since my husband's death. I'm not sure that nowadays a book is the way to go. There's a ton of good information on the internet, and it stays more current than a book. One of the sites I like to visit is The Motley Fool,

http://www.fool.com/

The Vanguard site also has quite a bit of information about investments and retirement planning.

https://personal.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/...geducation

Also remember that they key is to start putting some money away somewhere, and the sooner the better. If I remember right, there is a limit on how much can be put into an IRA each year, so you might find you can max out an IRA and still maintain the fluidity you need.

I don't for one second believe that the above two sites will tell you all you want and/or need to know, but one or the other, or both, might give you some guidance to get you going.

[davester]

Another vote for Motley Fool. Be sure to avoid all their advertising garbage and concentrate on the Investment Tutorial on the left side of the home page.

John Bogle's (founder of Vanguard Funds) advice on mutual funds is unbeatable. Any book of his covering mutual funds (particularly the logic of index fund investing) will be useful. Pick one (or just search for his advice on the web): http://mutualfunds.about.com/od/indexfun...ebooks.htm

I like Jim Cramer's advice (though his TV personality is a bit too abrasive for me):

This book is good (primarily a stock investment book):
http://www.amazon.com/Jim-Cramers-Real-M...im_b_img_1

He also has a new book out...I haven't read it yet:
http://www.amazon.com/Jim-Cramers-Stay-M...gy_b_img_a

I also thought this book had a really nice system (also for stock, not fund investing):
http://www.amazon.com/Little-Book-That-B...0471733067

There are others, but those are my top picks.

[Rick-o]

Here's another online source that has plenty of decent info:

http://www.investopedia.com/

[freeradical]

A Random Walk Down Wall Street

http://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-W..._1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196532495&sr=8-1

[thermarest]

I can't recommend a book, but I ditto the suggestion to read Vanguard's website. Lots of good, level-headed information. There are of course lots of details to know about investing, but there is one easy fact. A Roth IRA is by far the best long-term financial thing that any middle-class type person can do. For me, putting the max $4k in every year is a top priority. Exactly what investments to have within your Roth IRA, well that's what you should read about.

[pinion]

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Rich

http://www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=9781592574445



Great book.

[clay]

good suggestion, pinion. I just ordered that book from half.com for a few bucks.