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The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need
Thoroughly revised and updated to include new material about investing on the Internet and the implications of the new tax regulations, this classic guide to personal finance offers clear-cut advice on everything from taxes and social security to wills, college funds, life insurance, and money market accounts. Original. 125,000 first printing.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 361 reviews
January 19, 2008
i learned few key things from this book:
1. wedding rings depreciate in value and you are better off getting a matching IRA.
2. you should always buy in bulk.
3. never trade commodities.
4. investment professionals don't know much more than you and those who do, you don't have access to them.
5. in general,i learned to buy things that appreciate (mutual fund, savings accounts, homes) than things that depreciate (clothes, cars), not that i can buy anything at all at this point.
this was very helpful book.
1. wedding rings depreciate in value and you are better off getting a matching IRA.
2. you should always buy in bulk.
3. never trade commodities.
4. investment professionals don't know much more than you and those who do, you don't have access to them.
5. in general,i learned to buy things that appreciate (mutual fund, savings accounts, homes) than things that depreciate (clothes, cars), not that i can buy anything at all at this point.
this was very helpful book.
April 23, 2012
I really didn't like this book as an introduction to investing, primarily because it does not talk at all about asset allocation and does not really suggest a complete strategy. The previous two books I was reading, The Investment Answer: Learn to Manage Your Money & Protect Your Financial Future and That Thing Rich People Do were much better in my opinion, and also much shorter (around 100 pages).
But other problems with this book were:
- It barely talks about diversification
- Too much emphasis on stocks & risky strategies to deal with them
- Some charts/tables that are misleading ("Not adjusted for stock splits", wtf??)
- Too long. It spends 50 pages on "how to save money", that doesn't seem to belong in an investment book
- Plural of anecdotes is not data. He gives lots of personal anecdotes, but those were just strokes of luck, so relying on them does not seem useful
- He suggests that investing only in stocks is the best possible strategy; the other books I mention prove that this is not true (adding bonds increases your total return)
But other problems with this book were:
- It barely talks about diversification
- Too much emphasis on stocks & risky strategies to deal with them
- Some charts/tables that are misleading ("Not adjusted for stock splits", wtf??)
- Too long. It spends 50 pages on "how to save money", that doesn't seem to belong in an investment book
- Plural of anecdotes is not data. He gives lots of personal anecdotes, but those were just strokes of luck, so relying on them does not seem useful
- He suggests that investing only in stocks is the best possible strategy; the other books I mention prove that this is not true (adding bonds increases your total return)
November 5, 2020
Tobias packs a lot into this book and it’s not like having to take a spoonful of icky medicine. He is practical, conversational and very good at explaining.
Even if you are getting some financial advice, Tobias helps you to frame the questions you should be asking.
My copy is about 15 years old but still relevant on most issues. The biggest weakness? Right now interest rates are near all-time lows. His discussion of annuities (and, perhaps, other related matters) does not take this fact into account.
Tobias is offering advice on risk and not telling you how to become rich. It is more about holding on to what you have sweated for. The contents are arranged in a logical fashion and the index makes it easy to find what you are looking for.
Even if you are getting some financial advice, Tobias helps you to frame the questions you should be asking.
My copy is about 15 years old but still relevant on most issues. The biggest weakness? Right now interest rates are near all-time lows. His discussion of annuities (and, perhaps, other related matters) does not take this fact into account.
Tobias is offering advice on risk and not telling you how to become rich. It is more about holding on to what you have sweated for. The contents are arranged in a logical fashion and the index makes it easy to find what you are looking for.
February 21, 2013
Crossposted from: http://linguisticturn.wordpress.com/2...
Here are the takeaways from Tobias’s book:
1. There are no get-rich-quick schemes. Your goal should not be to become rich, but to become financially secure.
2. Forget about the stock market and other fancy investments. Instead, earn more than you spend. Then reduce your spending even more. It is easier to save a dollar than to make one.
3. If you must invest, put your money in low-cost, broad-based index funds, every month, for the rest of your working life, regardless of market conditions. (This is known as dollar cost averaging.) You are not smart enough to make money on fancier investments — and this includes ordinary blue-chip stocks.
And that’s basically it. (The book actually goes into some more advice on specific stock-picking tips, but I found that inconsistent with its earlier message so just ignored it.)
The one thing that I don’t believe the book really covers is the corrosive effect of comparing yourself with others. Who hasn’t felt a little bit envious of a friend who happened to purchase a ton of Apple stock on the cheap, or the co-worker who somehow manages to flip her house every few years at enormous profits? But the truth is that these are all distractions. There are always people who get lucky. Your goal shouldn’t be to chase that luck — a path that usually leads to disaster — but rather to control what you can and be conservative with growth options.
What does all this have to do with the opening quotation? What Tobias’s book does a good job explaining, especially in the opening chapters, is that personal finance isn’t some kind of mysterious alchemy. Sure, there are always new ways of making (and losing) money. But the basic principles that guide your decisions should be simple, practical, and most of all immune to fads. Save more. Spend less. And don’t sink your money into risks you don’t understand.
(Also, understand that 2% interest compounded over 5 years will get you a little more than $10 on top of your $100 investment.)
Here is a test. Suppose you had $100 in a savings account that paid an interest rate of 2% a year. If you leave the money in the account, how much would you have accumulated after five years: more than $102, exactly $102, or less than $102?That quotation, from an article in this week’s Economist, gives me an excuse to mention the best personal finance book I’ve ever read: Andrew Tobias’s The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need. Self-aggrandizing title aside, the book is genuinely fabulous because it is hard-headed, practical, and best of all right.
This test might seem a little simple for readers of The Economist. But a survey found that only half of Americans aged over 50 gave the correct answer. If so many people are mathematically challenged, it is hardly surprising that they struggle to deal with the small print of mortgage and insurance contracts.
The solution seems obvious: provide more financial education. The British government just added financial literacy to the national school curriculum, to general acclaim. But is it possible to teach people to be more financially savvy? A survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland reported that: “Unfortunately, we do not find conclusive evidence that, in general, financial education programmes do lead to greater financial knowledge and ultimately to better financial behaviour.”
Here are the takeaways from Tobias’s book:
1. There are no get-rich-quick schemes. Your goal should not be to become rich, but to become financially secure.
2. Forget about the stock market and other fancy investments. Instead, earn more than you spend. Then reduce your spending even more. It is easier to save a dollar than to make one.
3. If you must invest, put your money in low-cost, broad-based index funds, every month, for the rest of your working life, regardless of market conditions. (This is known as dollar cost averaging.) You are not smart enough to make money on fancier investments — and this includes ordinary blue-chip stocks.
And that’s basically it. (The book actually goes into some more advice on specific stock-picking tips, but I found that inconsistent with its earlier message so just ignored it.)
The one thing that I don’t believe the book really covers is the corrosive effect of comparing yourself with others. Who hasn’t felt a little bit envious of a friend who happened to purchase a ton of Apple stock on the cheap, or the co-worker who somehow manages to flip her house every few years at enormous profits? But the truth is that these are all distractions. There are always people who get lucky. Your goal shouldn’t be to chase that luck — a path that usually leads to disaster — but rather to control what you can and be conservative with growth options.
What does all this have to do with the opening quotation? What Tobias’s book does a good job explaining, especially in the opening chapters, is that personal finance isn’t some kind of mysterious alchemy. Sure, there are always new ways of making (and losing) money. But the basic principles that guide your decisions should be simple, practical, and most of all immune to fads. Save more. Spend less. And don’t sink your money into risks you don’t understand.
(Also, understand that 2% interest compounded over 5 years will get you a little more than $10 on top of your $100 investment.)
November 27, 2016
In order for you to learn anything from an investment book you have to be able to pay attention. This simply isn't possible while skimming over a bunch of formulas, figures, and boring advice. At least for me it's not.
This book is funny. It teaches you not just how to play but if you should be playing at all. Andrew isn't trying to push a specific strategy instead he's trying to give you the tools to choose one for yourself.
This book is funny. It teaches you not just how to play but if you should be playing at all. Andrew isn't trying to push a specific strategy instead he's trying to give you the tools to choose one for yourself.
August 7, 2022
Wow! This book surprised me by starting out with an explanation of how saving money in your budget is an important part of investing. The author went on to explain some interesting ways to save on expenses.
The audio book was really well-read; it kept my attention and flowed smoothly from topic to topic. I enjoyed this book and came out of it feeling like I know a little more about investing (especially ETFs) than I did going in. Good book.
The audio book was really well-read; it kept my attention and flowed smoothly from topic to topic. I enjoyed this book and came out of it feeling like I know a little more about investing (especially ETFs) than I did going in. Good book.
July 16, 2015
I took a personal finance class in college that I thought was the best thing ever. It covered a lot of the same material (large purchases (cars, homes), insurance, retirement, estate planning, family budgets, etc.). When describing the class' textbook, the teacher said that all personal finance textbooks are terrible, but the one he'd chosen was the least awful. He should have gone with this one, which came to me as a recommendation from my finance-savvy mother. Tobias is fun and funny and just as informative (if not more so) than the class. The stuff I was after--long-term investing and retirement planning--doesn't fully enter the book until the the last third of it, so I had to wait a little bit, but if you're brand new to personal finance this is a great, great resource that illuminated some other issues I hadn't thought about. I was a little bored by the shopping list of money-saving tools that comes near the beginning, although some of those items were revelations. (Free software! Dining rewards programs!) The chapter on bonds was mind-numbing, too. There are so many investment products out there. Tobias does the best he can in describing their features and when they might be useful in a clear way, but for such niche products with low earning potential that section was a slog to get through. There were a few unanswered questions I had for Tobias after reading the book, like how to structure investments for an approaching withdrawal date, or how to identify whether or not an index fund is weighted equally or fundamentally based on the prospectus, but I'm happy to take what I've learned and start doing more of my own research. For someone brand new or looking to build on what they've already done, this is a helpful and entertaining read. Tobias's blog has been fun to poke around in, too. A note: If you do pick this up, it would be best to go with the most recent edition. There have been many updates since the book was first published.
October 26, 2015
This is a good book if you want to get a brief overview of all of the investment vehicles available to you. It did clarify for me what short-sales are, how options are different, etc. I recommend it for anyone wanting to understand just what is out there for investing.
I will give a break down of his book:
1- Saving money is imperative. Don't be stupid and spend it carelessly. A good 50 pages is devoted to money saving tips. Just want to reiterate that a dollar saved is as good as 2 dollars earned.
2- You need to learn what sort of investor you are (conservative, risky, moderate). This will drive you to specific investment vehicles.
3- If you are not investing in a 401(k), especially if your employer matches, then you are just stupid (which I completely agree with). If you don't have a 401(k) option, then you need to look into IRAs. The book helps define which IRA is best, based on your current financial situation.
4- Stocks are consistent over the long-term, they usually go up over the long run. Investing on your own is risky. You need to do research and understand what you are getting into. Do not invest if you fear losing the money.
5- He is a huge fan of Index Mutual Funds. You won't make it big, but you won't be cut to pieces when the market falls. Plus, it doesn't take too much effort. You will just get the average return of the market.
Again, I thought the book was helpful. Very good for beginners wanting to figure out what to do in the investment world. This book will help propel you to bigger and better things.
I will give a break down of his book:
1- Saving money is imperative. Don't be stupid and spend it carelessly. A good 50 pages is devoted to money saving tips. Just want to reiterate that a dollar saved is as good as 2 dollars earned.
2- You need to learn what sort of investor you are (conservative, risky, moderate). This will drive you to specific investment vehicles.
3- If you are not investing in a 401(k), especially if your employer matches, then you are just stupid (which I completely agree with). If you don't have a 401(k) option, then you need to look into IRAs. The book helps define which IRA is best, based on your current financial situation.
4- Stocks are consistent over the long-term, they usually go up over the long run. Investing on your own is risky. You need to do research and understand what you are getting into. Do not invest if you fear losing the money.
5- He is a huge fan of Index Mutual Funds. You won't make it big, but you won't be cut to pieces when the market falls. Plus, it doesn't take too much effort. You will just get the average return of the market.
Again, I thought the book was helpful. Very good for beginners wanting to figure out what to do in the investment world. This book will help propel you to bigger and better things.
December 23, 2025
5 stars because I have read/listened to this a few times. I find it funny and generally sound with numerous useful tips. For example, a key insight I haven't seen elsewhere is that if you have enough money to play with stock-picking or other risky things, then you should do that outside your tax-advantaged retirement account because then you can write off the losses as a tax advantage.
December 21, 2008
I was expecting a very basic, shallow primer on investing. I was pleasantly surprised to find many areas of the investing world covered in this book. Although this book has been updated many times since it was originally published, the 1990s copy I read was still pretty dated - the author kept saying things like "if you have a computer" and "if you're on the Internet".
I liked many of the author's points and topics:
A penny saved is two pennies earned, when you count time and taxes.
Dollar-cost averaging makes smart investing easy.
Expensive brokers are rarely worth their price, since over the long run their results rarely beat the stock market's average returns.
Mutual funds and stock indexes are good investing choices for a diversified portfolio.
Buy in bulk as much as reasonably possible.
The stock market has no memory. It doesn't know or care what the graph you're using looks like.
Past Performance Does Not Guarantee Future Results.
Live frugally, because "a luxury once sampled becomes a necessity."
I liked many of the author's points and topics:
A penny saved is two pennies earned, when you count time and taxes.
Dollar-cost averaging makes smart investing easy.
Expensive brokers are rarely worth their price, since over the long run their results rarely beat the stock market's average returns.
Mutual funds and stock indexes are good investing choices for a diversified portfolio.
Buy in bulk as much as reasonably possible.
The stock market has no memory. It doesn't know or care what the graph you're using looks like.
Past Performance Does Not Guarantee Future Results.
Live frugally, because "a luxury once sampled becomes a necessity."
didn-t-finish
July 8, 2020Buddy reading this and I decided this was destined for donation. Got to page 20 and the stupid was overwhelming. There are better investment books out there. Read them, not this.
Read
January 19, 2025mark cuban put me on this, but i fear ill never stop buying overpriced coffees!!! idc!!!! lock me up and throw away the key!!
June 12, 2023
Unfortunately, I do think I'm going to need another investment guide. But I am just a stupid little girl and I did learn a lot from this. Hope to be a millionaire by next year.
May 30, 2018
8/10 for an investment book. Wish I had gotten my hands on this book sooner. For people who want to be financially sound, not for those who wish to get rich quick.
Most investment books are written so that the writer can brag about his/her “winnings”. Rarely do they discuss their failures or the realities of investing. Any book that claims to “make you rich quick”, is BS.
I expected this book to be BS, but it was the opposite. Tobias demonstrates the risks of investing, through his own personal examples. He is pragmatic and logical (invest/save small increments for a long time, buy low), doesn’t prey on greed, and tells you what NOT to do (don’t waste money on a broker). Most importantly, he talks about basic ways of saving money that people don’t realize or find menial (cancel cable, IRAs instead of diamonds, pay off your credit cards first).
(From this book, it’s plain as day that Americans really are bad at math. This book contains the “common sense” that Americans desperately need.)
Most investment books are written so that the writer can brag about his/her “winnings”. Rarely do they discuss their failures or the realities of investing. Any book that claims to “make you rich quick”, is BS.
I expected this book to be BS, but it was the opposite. Tobias demonstrates the risks of investing, through his own personal examples. He is pragmatic and logical (invest/save small increments for a long time, buy low), doesn’t prey on greed, and tells you what NOT to do (don’t waste money on a broker). Most importantly, he talks about basic ways of saving money that people don’t realize or find menial (cancel cable, IRAs instead of diamonds, pay off your credit cards first).
(From this book, it’s plain as day that Americans really are bad at math. This book contains the “common sense” that Americans desperately need.)
March 21, 2021
The title of this book is super bold and putting a lot of pressure on itself to live up to the title's expectation. After finishing this book, I can honestly say that Andrew Tobias nailed it with this title. This book covers everything you need to know about investing, and when I say "everything", I mean EVERYTHING. As a newer investor, I've read dozens of books, and Tobias manages to consolidate everything into this one book. I learned more from this book than two or three books combined. Not only did this book cover various investment strategies, but it also taught me about taxes and some other subjects that other books gloss over. I don't know if this book is the ideal read for the beginning investor, but after you have a basic knowledge, it's definitely a must-read.
December 13, 2017
Good book, covering a lot of topic and give great advice. However a big piece of it is relevant only if you live in the US.
December 9, 2024
Useful if you're starting from scratch, but could've been a lot shorter. I've found other resources that say essentially the same thing but in a lot fewer words.
tldr; max out your retirement investments, then pay off all debts, then save to your personal comfort level, then buy etfs. Hope this helps.
tldr; max out your retirement investments, then pay off all debts, then save to your personal comfort level, then buy etfs. Hope this helps.
August 25, 2018
This really is NOT the only investment guide you'll ever need. As other reviewers have mentioned it leaves out a lot of the important basics (diversification, AA etc). However, is the first book I've read that discussed more interesting topics like options, futures, LEAPs, P/E ratios, shorting etc
The first part of the book was about being frugal.
Buying in bulk for things you are going to use anyway is an instant tax free return on your money. Let’s say you spend $1000 to buy all of your items in bulk (e.g. toilet paper, tea, wine etc). By buying now you beat inflation and get a bulk discount. So you managed to get $1400 worth of stuff for $1000. That is a 40% tax free return on your money.
Insulation: If you put $1000 in a stock fund you will get $40 in dividends per year. But if you put that $1000 into insulating your home you get savings of $350 on your utility bill.
Commodities are raw materials (eg copper) and agricultural products (eg coffee) that can be bought and sold. Gold is also considered a commodity. Trading in these are basically just gambling because you don’t know about the weather or conditions or environment where the commodities are growing. Similarly fine wine, stamps, art can be traded but these are examples of things where being an expert in them actually helps (vs investing in stocks).
Commodities do not pay out dividends (produce anything for you). Sometimes you need to actually pay to insure them too (eg art).
Invest in timber when you have a large chunk of money. It is not correlated with the stock market. The only way for an individual to do this is with Timber REIT's: WY, RYN, PCH.
P/E ratio of 40: Means you need to pay $40 to get $1 in earnings.
An average company that is equally likely to go up as it is down is usually around 20. A stock that is expected to grow a lot will have a much higher ratio. At time of writing GOOG is at 32, FB is at 22, and Johnson and Johnson is at 24. P/E by itself can be deceptive since it just looks at one year. An average of previous years earnings (CAPE) will give you a better idea of the company.
The author plugs equally weighted indexes instead of market weighting. This is the same thing Personal Capital pitches.
Keep riskiest investments in taxable account because losses can be harvested.
Good financial advisors are as hard to choose as a good stock.
Having a real broker is expensive. The author paid a lot of money over time per trade to a broker. Now with Robinhood and Vanguard it is largely free.
Splits are used to make a stock price lower to look cheaper to get people excited about its forward motion.
There are sometimes stock dividends (as opposed to cash dividends). They are payouts in the form of more stock. Investors don’t have to pay tax on these new shares.
When you short a stock you need to pay the dividend to original stock owner. If the stock goes up, your losses can be infinite (the stock price can rise to anything). You can also short ETFs but the book says it is a bad idea.
Market maker is a firm that will buy and sell stocks with a bid/ask spread to make money. Each exchange will have one or more of them. It is to keep popular stocks liquid. So if there is no buyer for your sale, the market maker will complete the transaction itself. These only work on the big exchanges (NASDAQ, NYSE). For penny stock markets, you will always be doing a peer to peer transaction.
When ordering a trade be sure to check the bid/ask spread first to ensure you know how much you will be buying/selling for. Always use a limit order.
You need a brokerage account because only the brokerage can trade on exchanges. You as an individual cannot do it directly.
Margin is buying stocks with borrowed money from your brokerage.
Hedge funds were created to do things mutual funds could not. E.g shorting stocks or using leverage. Hedge funds cannot advertise
SPDR S&P 500 was the first ETF.
SPDR stands for S&P Depository Receipts.
But this ETF was not produced by S&P. It was from SSGA.
It now has the ticker symbol: SPY
SSGA also have other index funds that use the SPDR brand.
Nowadays, a spider (SPDR) is also used to mean ANY exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.
iShares is a family of exchange-traded funds managed by BlackRock
The first part of the book was about being frugal.
Buying in bulk for things you are going to use anyway is an instant tax free return on your money. Let’s say you spend $1000 to buy all of your items in bulk (e.g. toilet paper, tea, wine etc). By buying now you beat inflation and get a bulk discount. So you managed to get $1400 worth of stuff for $1000. That is a 40% tax free return on your money.
Insulation: If you put $1000 in a stock fund you will get $40 in dividends per year. But if you put that $1000 into insulating your home you get savings of $350 on your utility bill.
Commodities are raw materials (eg copper) and agricultural products (eg coffee) that can be bought and sold. Gold is also considered a commodity. Trading in these are basically just gambling because you don’t know about the weather or conditions or environment where the commodities are growing. Similarly fine wine, stamps, art can be traded but these are examples of things where being an expert in them actually helps (vs investing in stocks).
Commodities do not pay out dividends (produce anything for you). Sometimes you need to actually pay to insure them too (eg art).
Invest in timber when you have a large chunk of money. It is not correlated with the stock market. The only way for an individual to do this is with Timber REIT's: WY, RYN, PCH.
P/E ratio of 40: Means you need to pay $40 to get $1 in earnings.
An average company that is equally likely to go up as it is down is usually around 20. A stock that is expected to grow a lot will have a much higher ratio. At time of writing GOOG is at 32, FB is at 22, and Johnson and Johnson is at 24. P/E by itself can be deceptive since it just looks at one year. An average of previous years earnings (CAPE) will give you a better idea of the company.
The author plugs equally weighted indexes instead of market weighting. This is the same thing Personal Capital pitches.
Keep riskiest investments in taxable account because losses can be harvested.
Good financial advisors are as hard to choose as a good stock.
Having a real broker is expensive. The author paid a lot of money over time per trade to a broker. Now with Robinhood and Vanguard it is largely free.
Splits are used to make a stock price lower to look cheaper to get people excited about its forward motion.
There are sometimes stock dividends (as opposed to cash dividends). They are payouts in the form of more stock. Investors don’t have to pay tax on these new shares.
When you short a stock you need to pay the dividend to original stock owner. If the stock goes up, your losses can be infinite (the stock price can rise to anything). You can also short ETFs but the book says it is a bad idea.
Market maker is a firm that will buy and sell stocks with a bid/ask spread to make money. Each exchange will have one or more of them. It is to keep popular stocks liquid. So if there is no buyer for your sale, the market maker will complete the transaction itself. These only work on the big exchanges (NASDAQ, NYSE). For penny stock markets, you will always be doing a peer to peer transaction.
When ordering a trade be sure to check the bid/ask spread first to ensure you know how much you will be buying/selling for. Always use a limit order.
You need a brokerage account because only the brokerage can trade on exchanges. You as an individual cannot do it directly.
Margin is buying stocks with borrowed money from your brokerage.
Hedge funds were created to do things mutual funds could not. E.g shorting stocks or using leverage. Hedge funds cannot advertise
SPDR S&P 500 was the first ETF.
SPDR stands for S&P Depository Receipts.
But this ETF was not produced by S&P. It was from SSGA.
It now has the ticker symbol: SPY
SSGA also have other index funds that use the SPDR brand.
Nowadays, a spider (SPDR) is also used to mean ANY exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.
iShares is a family of exchange-traded funds managed by BlackRock
September 15, 2016
2.5 stars Very simplistic and entry-level look at investing. If you need the most basic of basics, this book will be good for you but if you know enough about finance to know such things as the difference between a traditional and Roth IRA you probably won't find much new information here.
I'm pretty much as frugal as they come but some of the 'how to save' suggestions were too much for even me. Examples: You don't need a sandwich bag because that plastic bag that your shirt came back from the dry cleaner in will work just as well...plus, I guess you get some added fiber from the shirt lint! Or, my favorite...the Andy Burger. It's a hamburger with all the usual fixins...except the burger. No, sorry, not going to eat lettuce and ketchup bread and pretend it is a hamburger. Nope.
Basically, if you know nothing about investing, read this book...but go ahead and eat an actual hamburger.
I'm pretty much as frugal as they come but some of the 'how to save' suggestions were too much for even me. Examples: You don't need a sandwich bag because that plastic bag that your shirt came back from the dry cleaner in will work just as well...plus, I guess you get some added fiber from the shirt lint! Or, my favorite...the Andy Burger. It's a hamburger with all the usual fixins...except the burger. No, sorry, not going to eat lettuce and ketchup bread and pretend it is a hamburger. Nope.
Basically, if you know nothing about investing, read this book...but go ahead and eat an actual hamburger.
June 16, 2018
It is kind of arrogant to come out with a book with a title like this. After having read it, though, I think that the arrogance may be warranted. I REALLY liked this book. It is definitely one of the best investment guides I have ever read and it is chock full of excellent advice and information. It made me think of financial matters in a whole new way. I liked the author's tone, which was very much down to earth and included healthy doses of humor, from time to time. Let's face it...the subject matter can be a tad dry and some of it, when speaking of matters of mortality and post-life planning, could be a bit morbid. But all of it was relevant to the topic and included helpful guidance.
For some, this book could be life changing. For others, it may just be interesting. I am glad that I read it and I am going to recommend this book to a lot of people I know, including my kids.
For some, this book could be life changing. For others, it may just be interesting. I am glad that I read it and I am going to recommend this book to a lot of people I know, including my kids.
August 26, 2022
Narcissistically and incorrectly named. For a book about how a good investment portfolio is diversified, it's entirely antithetical to say you only need one book about investments. It wasn't even entirely about investments.
Half of the book was about how to spend hours and days saving pennies. Literally one piece of advice was to buy dozens of cases of beans and stash it under your table until you need it. Again, very antithetical to have a book about investments saying that it's worth all your time (and space in your house) to save next to nothing.
The book was either skimming the surface of how to pinch pennies as a college student or defining that only hedge fund managers understand. There wasn't a lot of application for people in between who are looking for how to invest.
DNF only because I lost access to my last job's Audible account.
Half of the book was about how to spend hours and days saving pennies. Literally one piece of advice was to buy dozens of cases of beans and stash it under your table until you need it. Again, very antithetical to have a book about investments saying that it's worth all your time (and space in your house) to save next to nothing.
The book was either skimming the surface of how to pinch pennies as a college student or defining that only hedge fund managers understand. There wasn't a lot of application for people in between who are looking for how to invest.
DNF only because I lost access to my last job's Audible account.
July 4, 2019
Let me start with my overall assessment of The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need". Great read! Dead-on advice; intelligent; practical; common sense; and witty as hell. I'll bet there are many reviews which criticized the title. Andrew Tobias, like Jack Bogle and Warren Buffet, recommends the simplest of investment strategies for most people....because they are the most consistently successful. The essence of The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need is: "Keep it simple to keep it successful." In fact, the book is not an investment guide but a life financial guide. It may bore an MBA/CFA, but for 99% of the world the book is wonderful, practical advice anyone can understand and follow. I recommend.
May 5, 2018
It's an ok book, it has the basic about money. Save, spend bellow your means, and invest in cheap fix costs index funds. I am not sure that if you need to read only one book this is it, but definitely, it was a pleasant read and the advice is accurate for the person who does not want to be an investing professional.
September 10, 2020
This gratuitously titled book explains in an easy-to-understand language the simple rules of personal money management. It does not contain much financial jargon and it is more about how one can save money, how to grow it, and so on.
This book is divided into three parts: personal savings, retirement accounts, and stock market. Rather than being a comprehensive overview of each area, it contains a simple explanation of how these work and how one can use them to improve their financial present and future.
The only drawback of this book is its US specific so you may need to translate some things (particularly about retirement accounts) to your situation.
This book is divided into three parts: personal savings, retirement accounts, and stock market. Rather than being a comprehensive overview of each area, it contains a simple explanation of how these work and how one can use them to improve their financial present and future.
The only drawback of this book is its US specific so you may need to translate some things (particularly about retirement accounts) to your situation.
August 13, 2020
The title is fitting for the book. If you were to buy only one book on investing, this would be a good choice. It's written for the average person who is looking for financial security for the duration of their life. The writing style is very casual, and the book goes over the long term investing most people should consider.
It covers pretty much all the different types of things that can be invested in, gives warning stories about people trying to get rich quick, details the risks and advantages to consider, and provides good money practices in general. In this regard, it actually shares a lot with the book "A Random Walk Down Wall Street."
At times it gets very specific, and certain situations or companies mentioned will no longer be applicable as time moves on.
It covers pretty much all the different types of things that can be invested in, gives warning stories about people trying to get rich quick, details the risks and advantages to consider, and provides good money practices in general. In this regard, it actually shares a lot with the book "A Random Walk Down Wall Street."
At times it gets very specific, and certain situations or companies mentioned will no longer be applicable as time moves on.
December 3, 2008
The string of useless personal finance books continues. Ok, that's a little harsh. Tobias's work isn't useless. It's actually decent in that it covers the necessity of frugality, budgeting, long-term planning, and investing. If you follow his strategies and advice, you will be wealthy when you're ready to retire.
He includes a lot of practical information about where to find the best credit cards, cheapest travel arrangements, easiest ways to invest your money, and countless other pieces of information. For example, he mentions creditcards.com, kbb.com, vanguard.com, netflix, priceline.com, foliofn.com, and rewardsnetwork.com. Suprisingly, he doesn't mention zecco.com, the website that lets you buy and sell stocks for free. Maybe it wasn't around at the time this edition of the book was released.
Tobias covers a wide breadth of topics from bonds to stocks to taxes. He specifically mentions social security, inheritances, money-market funds, treasury bills, treasury notes, treasury bonds, TIPS, Series I Savings Bonds, muni bonds, coporate bonds, junk bonds, bond funds, unit trusts, convertible bonds, zero-coupon bonds, preferred stocks, series EE savings bonds, education savings accounts, 529's, college loans, 401k's, 403b's, IRA's, SEP's, SIMPLE's, Keogh Plans, annuities, mutual funds (load and no load), real estate, charities, options, individual stocks, tax consequences, and more. Given the sheer number of topics (which I guess is the basis for the title), the detail for each is necessarily limited. The book is a good starting point and will give you an idea about whether you need to investigate any of these individual subjects in more depth.
On a personal aside, governmental regulations and the tax code created this hodge-podge of investment vehicles and considerations. It pisses me off that it's even necessary to play all these games and learn arbitrary information such as the maximum contribution to a 401 K plan for 2007 is $15,000. Equally annoying is that this arbitrary information changes every year, so your knowledge quickly becomes obsolete if you don't keep up. Tobias does a good job of wading through the pool of excrement that our government has created, but reading his book just makes me angry about our government's interventionist and innane rules. The existence of a book like this just shows how beautiful a FairTax world would be. I fantasize about being able to focus on information or activities that are truly important instead of worrying about the tax penalties for early withdrawal from my retirement accounts.
Tobias does well for the most part. His recommendations to be frugal and use credit cards for the rewards are spot on. His endorsements of index funds and Vanguard are equally accurate. One thing that hacked me off, though, was his unwillingness to admit that Social Security is a failure. He wants to tweak it and keep it going instead of scrapping it or allowing current workers to opt out. How would he "fix it"? He would raise the age limit for recipients from 65 to 67, add a 1% increased tax above the ceiling that is capped at somewhere around $90,000 a year, and he would change the inflation index to track price inflation instead of wage inflation. In other words, he would decrease benefits and increase taxes to pay for this failed system. He's wrong about this. Social Security is an abomination, and no one should be forced into contributing to it. What if someone has cancer and will die in 5-10 years? Or 6 months? It's ridiculous to force them to save for retirement. What happens when the baby boomers retire and we have 2 workers supporting every 1 retiree instead of the 40 to 1 ratio we had when FDR first made this mistake? These are just the practical considerations, they don't even cover the moral injustice--that SS is theft and based on an arrogant Ponzi scheme. Why in the hell would he not support giving current workers a choice to opt out? There's no excuse. This small section appears in an appendix and seems completely out of character for an otherwise well-written book.
Memorable quotes:
"When interest rates go up, bond prices go down."
"You should probably open a Roth IRA and fund it to the maximum every year."
"If you bet on a horse, that's gambling. If you bet you can make three spades, that's entertainment. If you bet cotton will go up three points, that's business. See the difference?" -- Blackie Sherrode
"We are not inheriting the world from our parents; we are merely borrowing it from our children." -- Jim Hensen
"The long and the short of it is that--whatever it may be called by the time you retire--there is almost sure to be some sort of Social Security safety net. But the benefits it pays, espcially to those who don't need them, are likely to be even less rich than today...
...Social Security benefits are tied to how much you have paid in to the system."*
*I mean, what the hell? The amount you receive is based on what you paid in, but then Tobias wants to claim that some people "don't need them [the benefits:]"? So which is it? Do you receive what you paid in or do the rules change in the middle of the game and you only receive what you "need"? Is SS a retirement plan or is it a welfare plan just masquerading as a retirement plan? And who the hell gets to determine what some people "need"? Much better to avoid going down that road, just scrap the whole thing, and give people freedom.
He includes a lot of practical information about where to find the best credit cards, cheapest travel arrangements, easiest ways to invest your money, and countless other pieces of information. For example, he mentions creditcards.com, kbb.com, vanguard.com, netflix, priceline.com, foliofn.com, and rewardsnetwork.com. Suprisingly, he doesn't mention zecco.com, the website that lets you buy and sell stocks for free. Maybe it wasn't around at the time this edition of the book was released.
Tobias covers a wide breadth of topics from bonds to stocks to taxes. He specifically mentions social security, inheritances, money-market funds, treasury bills, treasury notes, treasury bonds, TIPS, Series I Savings Bonds, muni bonds, coporate bonds, junk bonds, bond funds, unit trusts, convertible bonds, zero-coupon bonds, preferred stocks, series EE savings bonds, education savings accounts, 529's, college loans, 401k's, 403b's, IRA's, SEP's, SIMPLE's, Keogh Plans, annuities, mutual funds (load and no load), real estate, charities, options, individual stocks, tax consequences, and more. Given the sheer number of topics (which I guess is the basis for the title), the detail for each is necessarily limited. The book is a good starting point and will give you an idea about whether you need to investigate any of these individual subjects in more depth.
On a personal aside, governmental regulations and the tax code created this hodge-podge of investment vehicles and considerations. It pisses me off that it's even necessary to play all these games and learn arbitrary information such as the maximum contribution to a 401 K plan for 2007 is $15,000. Equally annoying is that this arbitrary information changes every year, so your knowledge quickly becomes obsolete if you don't keep up. Tobias does a good job of wading through the pool of excrement that our government has created, but reading his book just makes me angry about our government's interventionist and innane rules. The existence of a book like this just shows how beautiful a FairTax world would be. I fantasize about being able to focus on information or activities that are truly important instead of worrying about the tax penalties for early withdrawal from my retirement accounts.
Tobias does well for the most part. His recommendations to be frugal and use credit cards for the rewards are spot on. His endorsements of index funds and Vanguard are equally accurate. One thing that hacked me off, though, was his unwillingness to admit that Social Security is a failure. He wants to tweak it and keep it going instead of scrapping it or allowing current workers to opt out. How would he "fix it"? He would raise the age limit for recipients from 65 to 67, add a 1% increased tax above the ceiling that is capped at somewhere around $90,000 a year, and he would change the inflation index to track price inflation instead of wage inflation. In other words, he would decrease benefits and increase taxes to pay for this failed system. He's wrong about this. Social Security is an abomination, and no one should be forced into contributing to it. What if someone has cancer and will die in 5-10 years? Or 6 months? It's ridiculous to force them to save for retirement. What happens when the baby boomers retire and we have 2 workers supporting every 1 retiree instead of the 40 to 1 ratio we had when FDR first made this mistake? These are just the practical considerations, they don't even cover the moral injustice--that SS is theft and based on an arrogant Ponzi scheme. Why in the hell would he not support giving current workers a choice to opt out? There's no excuse. This small section appears in an appendix and seems completely out of character for an otherwise well-written book.
Memorable quotes:
"When interest rates go up, bond prices go down."
"You should probably open a Roth IRA and fund it to the maximum every year."
"If you bet on a horse, that's gambling. If you bet you can make three spades, that's entertainment. If you bet cotton will go up three points, that's business. See the difference?" -- Blackie Sherrode
"We are not inheriting the world from our parents; we are merely borrowing it from our children." -- Jim Hensen
"The long and the short of it is that--whatever it may be called by the time you retire--there is almost sure to be some sort of Social Security safety net. But the benefits it pays, espcially to those who don't need them, are likely to be even less rich than today...
...Social Security benefits are tied to how much you have paid in to the system."*
*I mean, what the hell? The amount you receive is based on what you paid in, but then Tobias wants to claim that some people "don't need them [the benefits:]"? So which is it? Do you receive what you paid in or do the rules change in the middle of the game and you only receive what you "need"? Is SS a retirement plan or is it a welfare plan just masquerading as a retirement plan? And who the hell gets to determine what some people "need"? Much better to avoid going down that road, just scrap the whole thing, and give people freedom.
February 5, 2019
This was an informative read! I especially liked the sections on investing and retirement saving, since I'm working on learning more, saving more, investing more. (Tobias is a fan of mutual funds, which was interesting and good to know.)
In addition to learning more about money, I learned a little about Hetty Green, the "Witch of Wall Street," and want to read up on her!!
In addition to learning more about money, I learned a little about Hetty Green, the "Witch of Wall Street," and want to read up on her!!
August 2, 2023
I honestly thought this was going to be a textbook type book, where it systematically explains everything. Just wanted to learn EVERYTHING ILL EVER NEED according to the book. However I have received dumb stories that loosely relate to topics, and I’ll need to read another book lol. Honestly just skip to the “Still Not Sure what to do” section that summarizes what you want in a couple pages.
Read
October 1, 2022From a 2022 perspective I would believe this book is okay but not so relevant any more.
The only graph in the book is a Dow Jones Index - a non-sense index.
The remainder of the recommendations is okay but not up to date and there are better books to digest nowadays...
The only graph in the book is a Dow Jones Index - a non-sense index.
The remainder of the recommendations is okay but not up to date and there are better books to digest nowadays...
August 16, 2019
Good advice to follow! Compound compound compound
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