Straight Talk on Investing: What You Need to Know
$10.78
| Author(s) | |
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| Format |
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| Pages |
255 |
| Published Date |
2002 |
In Straight Talk on Investing, Jack Brennan cuts to the chase and provides readers with sound advice and solid guidance to investing for today and tomorrow, in a bull market or bear market. Starting with a clear explanation of the financial facts of life, Brennan explains that investing is a lot easier than most people think. He shows readers how to develop a financial plan, construct and manage a sensible investment program, and maintain perspective in a sometimes crazy world.
Refreshing in its simplicity and honesty, Straight Talk on Investing is a badly needed tonic to the hangover of the bull market of the 1990s. Filled with meaningful guidance for investors from a leading investment luminary, this invaluable resource will help readers make better investment decisions and restore financial faith in themselves, so they can confidently navigate the markets toward their financial goals.
Introduction:
Successful investing is not that difficult. It’s just intimidating. Some people assume that you have to be rich or possess an important-sounding degree to accumulate wealth as an investor. They think you have to be able to understand all the topics covered in The Wall Street Journal—the ups and downs of the stock market, the interest-rate decisions of the Federal Reserve Board, corporate earnings announcements and dividend policies, economic indicators, and so forth. It’s true that all of those things have meaning, but you don’t have to follow them closely to invest well. Investing really is easier than most people think.
The purpose of this book is to give you the understanding you need to accomplish your financial goals through investing. Over the past 20 years, I’ve talked to tens of thousands of successful investors. They come from all backgrounds and all stages of life. Some are young; others are old. Some are experienced; others are beginners. Some have advanced degrees, while others never went to college.
Despite their differences, all the successful investors I’ve met share several traits, beginning with a very important one: They invest with confidence. Confident investors are people who make decisions based on their own personal financial situations, goals, and ability and willingness to take risks. They don’t spend their lives haunted by the thought that somewhere out there is a get-rich scheme or investment gimmick that will lead them to a pot of gold.
Contents:
- Chapter 1: Successful Investing Is Easier Than You Think
- Chapter 2: You’ve Gotta Have Trust
- Chapter 3: A Map to Success: Hmmm, Sounds Like a Plan
- Chapter 4: Save More—Without Feeling the Pinch
- Chapter 5: Hope for the Best—But Prepare for Something Less
- Chapter 6: Balance and Diversification Help You Sleep at Night
- Chapter 7: You Need a Personal Investment Policy Whether You Start with Zillions or Zip
- Chapter 8: Mutual Funds: The Easy Way to Diversify
- Chapter 9: How to Pick a Mutual Fund (And How Not To)
- Chapter 10: It’s What You Keep That Counts
- Chapter 11: Risk: Give It the Gut Test
- Chapter 12: Keep Things Simple
- Chapter 13: Buy and Hold Really Works
- Chapter 14: Making Money Is What Matters
- Chapter 15: Time Is Everything
- Chapter 16: Give Your Portfolio an Occasional Tune-Up
- Chapter 17: Stupid Math Tricks for Smart Investors
- Chapter 18: “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”
- Chapter 19: Why You May Be Your Own Worst Enemy
- Chapter 20: Bear Markets Will Test Your Resolve
- Chapter 21: “Ain’t Got No Distractions, Can’t Hear Those Buzzers and Bells”
- Chapter 22: Regrets? I’ve Had a Few
Straight Talk on Investing: What You Need to Know By Jack Brennan pdf
19 reviews for Straight Talk on Investing: What You Need to Know
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Laurel Rocha (verified owner) –
I’ve bought and read many “investment guides”. This book is far and away the best I’ve read. It’s not a get rich quick scheme. It’s not a “one size fits all” financial plan. It is straight talk on investing. It explains what every child should be taught in school. The basics of investing. The differant options available. Things to look for, watch out for, realistly expect.
This book gives you everything you need to form and execute a reasonable financial plan, or help you to choose a financial professional who will have your best interest in mind.
I’ve already recommended it to my friends and family, and have sent a copy to my best friend.
Get it for your children, your syblings, your friends. It’s what people need to know starting out in life.
Scarlet Carter (verified owner) –
I have limited investing knowledge and have read a few books on financial planning and investing. This book, by far, has given me the knowledge and confidence to invest my retirement, as well as short term investment funds. The book is laid out very simply and is presented in a conscise, yet easy to read manner.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone with money in some form of retirement account. I am purchasing an additional 5 copies this visit to give to friends and family!
Holden Barron (verified owner) –
FOR A BEGINNER I FOUND THIS BOOK TO HAVE VERY LITTLE INFORMATION THAT HELPED ME. THE DUMMIES BOOK ARE FAR BETTER. MOST OF IT WAS THINGS I ALREADY NEW AND WHAT I DID NOT KNOW I STILL DO NOT KNOW BECAUSE IT WAS NOT EXPLAINED IN SIMPLE ENOUGH TERMS.
Jovie Ahmed (verified owner) –
The Vanguard Group is the world’s second-biggest mutual fund company, and author Jack Brennan is its chairman and CEO. When this book was published, Vanguard had 15 million shareholders and approximately $600 billion under management. Vanguard pioneered index funds, a type of investment that aims to reflect, not beat, the returns of the market. Because Vanguard does not pay fund managers to outguess the market, it can keep fund fees and expenses low. This economy is one of its primary assets. Brennan’s book, written with Marta McCave, recapitulates sound principles of long-term investing in a straightforward, user-friendly way and details numerous kinds of investments. He does not tell you how to strike it rich in the markets or discover the next Microsoft or recognize unusual patterns in price charts. Better yet, he tells you how to build wealth the unexciting but generally reliable way: slowly, carefully and dispassionately. We recommend this excellent book to those who don’t want to get rich quick, but who would be very content to get rich eventually. Warning: this book is not for the greedy.
Evelynn Cruz (verified owner) –
I found this book easy to read. The subject of investing seems daunting to many especially when our educational system does not do a particularly good job of educating us on the subject. This book makes investing more understandable to individuals who are not financial experts.
The media pays a significant amount of attention to short-term volatility of capital markets. The author does a great job explaining to readers how to invest long-term with a financial goal in mind. Especially during the 2008-2009 recession, many investors questioned the buy-and-hold strategy advocated in this book. When Warren Buffett was asked if a buy-and-hold strategy was dead, he replied, “It depends on what it is that you hold.” I would recommend this book to beginning investors.
Shay Jimenez (verified owner) –
The fine folks from Vanguard never cease to exceed my expectations. In “Straight Talk on Investing,” John Brennan, current chairman of The Vanguard Group, provides a wonderful guide for anyone saving and investing for any number of financial goals.
Some “seasoned” investors may find the book too basic for their tastes. I, however, would disagree strongly with that.
I happen to be a Certified Financial Planner, thus, I think I am pretty well versed in the area of personal finance – and I still found this book to be a delightful read.
While it may not have provided me with much “new” information, I think one of the central themes is that sound investing really comes down to a few basic principles that many of us already know. This book does a wonderful job of reinforcing those fundamentals – and it does so in a very “readable” style – I read the book in one night!
In addition, I appreciate Mr. Brennan’s candor in the final chapter, “Regrets, I’ve had a few” where he confesses to some of his own investing mistakes, showing us that even for “experts” the game of investing is quite challenging.
Order this book and put the principles to use with your own finances – you’ll be glad you did.
And, to top it all off, Mr. Brennan is donating his book proceeds to charity – a very classy move.
Anya Howe (verified owner) –
Anyone who thrives on their broker, CNBC, or CNN-Fn for investment advice needs to read this book.
Better yet…anyone who is interested in investing needs to read this book.
Having read “Take on the Street” (Levitt), “You Got Screwed” (Cramer), and “The Great Mutual Fund Trap” (Baer & Gensler), Brennan outshines all of them.
“Straight Talk” offers very solid, common-sense advice for financial planning, saving, and investing. It is not solely about mutual funds, but rather about investing with objectives in mind.
Successful investors are disciplined, rational, and invest with goals and objectives. This is not difficult, but it goes far beyond looking at the 5, 10, and 15-year returns on the various funds in your 401(k). You set your goals, then choose an investment strategy that helps you meet those goals with minimal risk. CNBC is not the answer, but taking the time to educate yourself will pay off big, and “Straight Talk on Investing” is a good book with which to start.
Brennan provides a concise guide to making solid, prudent investment decisions.
Unlike Baer and Gensler (“The Great Mutual Fund Trap”), Brennan provides more comprehensive, non-partisan investment advice. Brennan promotes no political agenda, whereas Baer and Gensler have soiled an otherwise fine book with their partisan sniping.
Brennan is also a breath of fresh air in another respect: in spite of his status as CEO of a reputable mutual fund provider (Vanguard), he does not encourage people to invest in things with which they are not comfortable. Unlike many investment writers, Brennan does not put down those who would rather save their money and not invest.
Whether you are a saver or an investor, this book is excellent reading; it is full of very practical advice.
Danielle Richards (verified owner) –
Simple, basic, conservative advice on investing basics. His main points: spend-less-than-you-make, pay off high credit card debt, become a disciplined saver and investor, pay yourself first, invest in no-load mutual funds (preferably low cost index funds), reduce risk through buy-and-hold strategy over a long period of time, employ balance and diversification, re-balance your portfolio periodically, dollar cost average.
Suffice it to say, there’s very little new here. This advice has been said many times before in many different ways. However, he does say things very clearly and has nice, short chapters.
Very easy for novices to learn basic principles of successful investing.
The best part of this book are the graphs and tables. He uses them very effectively to show how your total returns are affected under different scenarios.
This is a book, though, that concentrates on principles. You’d probably still need to sit down with an adviser and figure out exactly which funds to buy.
surpises: He should have been more up-front in admitting his bias for index funds. He is, after all, running the company that brought them to the masses.
Also, as another reviewer wrote, why no references in appendix to the books by John Bogle? He founded Vanguard and practically invented low MER index fund investing.
Paxton Dillon (verified owner) –
This book is very appropriately titled. “Straight Talk on Investing” is just that, straight talk on investing. I’ve read many books on investing stressing the buy-and-hold approach and this book is by far the friendliest to read. Most other books read more like text books but this author gives it to you in plain english. I highly recommend this to the beginning investor as they are not interested in academic hoopla. That said, the author is somewhat biased to mutual funds specifically index funds since he is the CEO of Vanguard, the 2nd largest fund company in the US. But objectively speaking, other books that are totally unrelated to Vanguard also stress buying Vanguard index funds since they have the lowest fees and are virtually the pioneers in index funds. Basically, buying an index fund allows you achieve market performance which, according to research, is pretty good performance – beats 2/3 to even 3/4 of other actively managed funds. Unless you know for sure that the fund you own is part of that elite 1/4 that beats the street, I’m guessing you better go with market performance. It’s really hard to argue on tried-and-tested approaches such as indexing, buy-hold, or dollar-cost averaging. Even from my own experience, I realized had I just bought an index fund such as the Vanguard 500 and hold it for the last ten years, I be up 20%. But instead, I thought I could beat the market with my own stock picks and as of current I’m still down 10% from the bubble (I’m firm on buying-and-holding). I’ve read other books and they all say the same things with the exception of those “get-rich” trading books so there is something to be said of those techniques. Sadly, you would think more people would follow the advice, but in the world of investing, everyone is still after that quick buck or the excitement of the possibility of discovering something that will give them an edge. One thing for sure, if such a way exists, you won’t be reading about it soon. I remember once when I was working for this company specializing in financial software, the tools which will allow the professional investor/trader achieve what they desire and I ask if their stuff really works. They gave me a vague answer about it being able to access the situation better – baloney sandwich anyone – and ended with something I never forget: “When we do find a way, we won’t tell anyone” Makes you wonder whether that 1/4 that do beat the street found “the way”. Oh well, back to reality…let me get some more shares of that index fund.
Maverick Trujillo (verified owner) –
All as expected.
Alaric Ramsey (verified owner) –
plain presentation for average reader/investor
Sara Bishop (verified owner) –
Well written book with common sense advice from someone who we can trust. Nothing too sophisticated, so the beginner should have no problem understanding the concepts discussed. A good refresher for the more seasoned investor.
Silas Franco (verified owner) –
VERY GOOD BOOK. GOOD PRODUCT GOOD PRICE .IGHLY RECOMMEND GREAT BOOK FOR LEARNING OR REVIEWING INVESTMENTS. EXCELLENT FOR BEGINNER OR PERSON OF NEXT LEVEL.
Onyx Walton (verified owner) –
This is buy and hold index investing. Was strongly influenced by this book years ago. Wish I had dug harder and learned about growth investing, William J. O’neil, Stan Weinstein, etc. If I had, I’d be much better off right now.
It was the title that caught my attention. Straight talk. That’s what I wanted, not ridiculous promises. Buy and hold index investing can be good. But there are much better options if you are willing to think.
Karter Nava (verified owner) –
I am a millionaire 3 times over. If you are new to investing this should be the first book you read. Then get the “Little Book On Investing”.
Adrian Moses (verified owner) –
Good book to learn sound investing.
Ryan Finley (verified owner) –
This is the best investing book that I have read. Everyone starting out in life should read it. It basically says to build a portfolio using low cost index funds. I will buy it as gifts for others
Harry Mullen (verified owner) –
He makes it simple to invest and found something I will change in my portfolio . You can alway learn
Stefan Meyer (verified owner) –
Investing isn’t rocket science. And while it can take a emotional on the investor during turbulent times in the market if you follow the simple advice provided in the easy to read and understand book just about anyone can do it. Stop trying to bet the market try indexing and reap the rewards and tune out the talking heads on CNBC! This book is required reading for my young adult children.