Origins of the Crash by Lowenstein wasn't bad.

I thought the other two books I read by him were better (his Buffet one and the End of Wall Street) but Origins of the Crash definitely hits your area of interest

I told myself by the time I was 30 I'd start seriously investing for retirement. I'm 30 today. My company has an 401k plan with matching funds with Fidelity so I delved into that last night and was bewildered by all sorts of small cap, large cap, medium cap, bonds, equities, cash funds, etc. and I had really no idea what everything was. I put everything I planned to invest in a single small cap fund which probably isn't good. I plan on being very aggressive with my investing and maxing out my Roth, Thrift Savings Plan, S&SP, the works. I don't want to work past 50 if I don't have to.

I really need to get educated on this stuff if I'm going to have as much of my income invested. Any recommendations for reading material?

Any threads/books you'd point a prospective first time home-buyer to?

Almost anything. Read up on modern portfolio theory, diversification, index funds, value vs growth investing, etc.

I understand you want to be aggressive but putting it all into a single small cap fund is a really bad idea. If Fidelity has target funds I recommend those, if not then something like 80% total stock market index and 20% total bond market index. Try to keep your expense ratio low.

I have sort of a general question that I hope one of you more experiences guys can answer...:

There is only a finite amount of hours in a week, and I that it's pretty hard to find time to read the daily business paper, the Economist, Seeking Alpha etc. while still finding time to read more general, educational books. Given your year's of experience, where would you put your hours, if you were me:

1) the news stuff mentioned to keep me updated on current affairs, or
2) academic books that can actually teach me a subject? Thanks.

(I'm just finishing up my master's thesis (Finance and Accounting) and am applying for jobs right now for when I graduate)

Bump for this.

depends on the agenda but if starting mostly highly concentrate on the 2. It is simple - to be updated on current affairs is good if you can make an +EV reaction to the news but that can only be done if you have a solid base. ( And you will be able to better filter good news from the garbage - like the Economist - lol)

Also, academic books are not necessarily good on teaching a subject if you want to use it in real life. Try to find books that rely heavily on practical examples.

Thanks for the answer, and I definitely see your point regarding +EV decisions. My thought was that in order to be able to spot trends, filter news etc., one needs to have "followed" it for a while, so that general experience can come into play.

What would you suggest instead of the Economist for current affairs (business, finance)?

I can't give a solid answer about this. Macro is not my game.

But I follow several sources (some of them have radical/biased posts so intelligent assessment from the reader is advised):

seekingalpha.com
zerohedge.com
nakedcapitalism.com
dealbreaker.com
ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/

edit: there is a reason why reading extreme post can be very beneficial. They will generally put out a big range of arguments about something and their predictions. After the fact it is very easy to see what was good and what was wrongly argued, that is you will be able to figure out what works and what doesn't very quickly. Just don't fall for their rationalization blindly.

Makes sense. I knew about seeking alpha, but thanks for the other links - will check them out asap!

Hey guys. I'm an electrical engineering PhD student, focused in stuff like signal processing and probability. In my free time I think it would be very interesting to learn more about finance and hopefully if/how I can abuse my math/probability/signal processing skills. Anyone have any good reading recommendations for me?

Finish your PhD, apply at Renaissance, get hired, make millions. Rinse, repeat.

There are a plethora of quant white papers you can read. Start with AQR/Asness and Derman.

Interesting, not the response I was expecting, but informative, thanks. What is Renaissance (Google searching didn't return anything that seemed to make sense to me in this context)?

Should be noted that you should now current affairs when interviewing for most positions in finance.

But other than that it's more important to learn. Use the best academic papers and books to learn. To start with, I recommend everything by Damodarran if you want anything to do with valuation. That should keep you busy for a bit.

New Book out "The Alpha Masters: Unlocking the Genius of the World's Top Hedge Funds".
http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTi...fContents.html

First chaper on Bridgewater/Dalio available free
http://media.wiley.com/product_data/...18065522-4.pdf

I read it, was just average IMO. Worth a read if you want the back stories to these guys

skim it, this is just a story----nothing scientific you can actually use

Hey guys, I want to start day trading, what books should I read?

Hey guys, I'm considering investing in properties which I can renovate and sell at a profit. It wouldn't actually be me doing the work but I would still like a good knowledge of the topic if I'm going to get involved in it. What books would you guys recommend reading to start learning the basics? I'll be doing it in the UK if that matters. Also, any advice on it being a terrible/good time to do this is welcome. It's not necessarily something that I have to do very soon but it is something I would like to learn about even if now isn't the best time for it. Apologies if this has been asked 100 times in the thread already. I did a quick search and found some US specific stuff but I am a giant forum fish so I have prob just missed all the useful info.

Looking for info on bonds. With all the debate currently about government bond yields etc., I would like a better grasp on this. So if anyone knows of a book/website that would give me this, please feel free to share it ;-)

I know basic stuff like calculating yield, duration, convexity (and basic immunization strategies), but am looking to take my knowledge to the next level.

Clicked a bit around on Amazon and found these books interesting (a combo of topic and customer reviews). Has anyone read any of them and care to tell me if my hard earned poker money is wisely spent on them? I'm aware that these books might not exactly be heavy reading...

Money Mavericks: Confessions of a Hedge Fund Manager

The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor: Uncommon Sense for Thoughtful Investors

The Devil's Deal: An Insider's Tale of How Money is Made

Poor Economics: Barefoot Hedge-fund Managers, DIY Doctors and the Surprising Truth about Life on less than $1 a Day

Oil 101 (just secured a financial analyst position at an oil company, so I figure this is a good start ;-) )

Im looking for a thesis or article about
optimal geographical diversification of your portfolio.

Hey guys,

I am a Mining Engineer pursuing a career change to Financial Analyst (preferably for the mining/metals sector). I have been studying by dick off prior to my move back to the NYC area and would like to know if anyone could impart any advice and/or additional books to read. (PM if you like)

For the Finance Grads: Are there any books in particular from your college courses that stand out as must-reads?

Books I have read:

The Intelligent Investor - Graham

Security Analysis - Graham

The Essays of Warren Buffet: Lessons... - Buffet/Cunningham

One Up On Wall Street - Lynch

Real Money - Cramer

Financial Statements - Ittelson

Books to read/on order:

Value Investing - Greenwald

Investment Valuation - Damodaran

The Interpretation of Financial Statements - Graham

Inside the Investor's Brain: The Power... - Peterson

Getting Back to Even - Cramer

I enjoyed reading Principles of Corporate Finance during my master. But don't know if the info pretty much hasn't already been covered in what you have read.

One thing, though, that I would do, is to make sure to do a lot of exercises. That would give you a much more "practical" grasp on the theory and would probably also make it stick better.

What about something on bonds, derivatives, or general economics?

(btw I'm interested in your question as well!)

McKinsey on Valuation is supposed to be great for fundamental analysis.