Investment book recommendations

[danago]

Hey.
I registered on this site a few weeks ago and have been reading through some threads and am so glad that i stumbled across this site -- it truly is a great resource and i look forward to using it in the future. I have now finally decided to post

I am currently a student at an Australian university completing a combined degree, one of which is commerce (with majors in investment, quantitative and corporate finance). I have only just finished my second year, and my other degree is chemical engineering, so i have barely touched on any of my finance units. The units that i have actually completed were more focused on corporate finance rather than investment finance, so i have really only just scratched the surface of investments, and the few textbooks that i own are very "academic" (eg. mathematical portfolio theory type stuff), rather than being useful practical resources.

Anyway, on to the point -- Im sure many of you using this site can relate to this, but i have a slight obsession with watching money grow I understand the basics behind the mechanics of a stock market and the economy, however have very limited knowledge in how to actually benefit from it. I'd really like to learn more about the practical aspect of investing in the stock and other markets, and was wondering if anybody could perhaps suggest any books they have found useful when starting out? Are there any books that are considered "classic must-have resources" among traders? I would probably prefer texts set in an Australian environment, however this is no major constraint. I do understand that there is a large volume of information on the internet on the subject, and while i do plan on sifting through it, i would prefer the hard copy of a text which i can read wherever and whenever i desire

Thanks in advance,
Daniel.

 

[AlterEgo]

"Secrets for Profiting in Bull and Bear Markets" by Stan Weinstein would be a good one to start with.

 

[1q2w3e4r]

The Intelligent Investor and Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham.

The Essays of Warren Buffett is also a good read.

 

[bloomy88]

Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits by Philip A. Fisher

Buffet once said he is 85% Grahama and 15% Fisher....

 

[danago]

Thanks for all the suggestions! Gives me a good basis to work from

 

[danago]

Well i ended up going with Graham's The Intelligent Investor and am glad that i did Im nearing the end, with about 1 chapter to go, so will probably head to the bookshop sometime soon to see what i can attack next.

 

[danno75]

Danago,

It depends on what you are looking at doing really. You said you were after books on trading, but then you must also be looking at long term investment research as you have read Benjamin Grahams Intelligent Investor. I am just coming through about the first 18 months of entering the learning cycle and trying to figure out how to be activly involved in trading for a profit. My first thoughts like many others were that a course would be the way to go. So I did some reasearch on the net and asked a few questions on ASF and the general response I got was not to waste my money on courses that cost thousands of dollars and instead buy some books and read this and any other forums on trading and investing in stocks.
I did that and at first I still had no real idea of what direction I wanted to go in other than to one day make some portion of my income from trading the stock market. I bought many of the investement books that are available and I found after reading around 20 of them that there seemed to be a number of different areas or ways of investing and most of the books in some way or another contradicted the others.
Over the last 12 months of watching the market crash and then rise rapidly I have realised that everyone has to have diversification to protect themselves from the different economic conditions that occur throughout the period of our life. I have invested in a house which I see as a long term investment that looks after itself. I also have some shares that are another long term set and forget type.
My third type of investment is the one I put the most energy and time in to which is learning how to trade succesfully. After 18 months I am only now at the point where I have a clear goal and can see my learning path laid out before me. Recently I have read some books that were recommended by some of the more senior members of this site and they have proven to hold a lot of the answers I was looking for . They are Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom by Van Tharp, Adaptive Analysis for Australian Stocks by Nick Radge and Introduction to Amibroker by Howard Bandy. The last of which is because I have purchased the Amibroker charting software as a tool in my trading. The next one I will get is Quantative Trading Systems again by Howard Bandy which goes further in to Amibroker and systems development.
Now that I have read all these and got the software etc. I am only just feeling that I have the basics to start learning with. Its like doing an apprenticeship or going to uni. You might finish with a piece of paper that says you know something but the reality is that you have just been given a license to learn. I am currently trying out different ways of paper trading and don't feel that I will be ready to commit any cash for at least 6 months if not 12.
Anyway sorry about the ramble thats just my

 

[danago]

Thanks for the input danno

At the moment my plans are to get started setting up a longer term, well diversified, portfolio to help pay off my university fees when i graduate. After that, once i start with a proper full time job, i'd also like to be able to actively trade to bring in a stream of extra income.

And i can definitely relate to your comment "Its like doing an apprenticeship or going to uni. You might finish with a piece of paper that says you know something but the reality is that you have just been given a license to learn." One of the degrees i am currently studying is finance, and while i haven't yet learnt much directly that is practically useful, it has given me a much stronger ability to learn things on my own.

Anyway all the best with your trading and investing; sounds like you have been doing the research -- Now to just hope it all pays off

 

[Ozymandias]

I found David Dremmen's (or is it Dremman?) 'The New Contrarian Investor' to be very good and thorough. Also 'The 7 Deadly Sins Of Investing' is a good one to read once you've gone through a few others and have a handle on the basics.

Both Americian books, but still very relevant.

 

[cudderbean]

If you get into charting try the excellent books by Aussies: Leon Wilson, Darly Guppy, Louise Bedford and Ivan Krastins.... all very readable, and have been a big help to me.

For bedtime thriller reading that first inspired me to get into charting try "How I Made $2000000 In The Stock Market" by Nicolas Darvas


Good luck, mate

 

[Tano]

Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits by Philip A. Fisher

Buffet once said he is 85% Grahama and 15% Fisher....

I have just finished reading this book but i cannot understand how to find growth stocks based on Fishers methods.

It seems you have to be an institutional investor to get any benefit from it. The average person wouldnt have access to well informed contacts as to talk to or visit companies, suppliers or competitors business executives. Nor have access to 'investment men', internal data from brokerage houses (not publicly issued material), or friends in the industry.

What points from this book did you find really informative and applicable by the average investor?