Looking for a good investment? How about investing $20 or $30 in a book that could not only pay for itself, but could help you get rich in the process.
Keep in mind we emphasize the word "could" because in this economy and with unemployment looming around 10%, "rich" is a relative term.
So whether you're looking for a gift for that active investor in your life or just searching for a guide to help you understand which one of these tens of thousands of mutual funds are worth your consideration.
The problem is that when you scan through Amazon or go to a book store, there are so many financial books to choose from, finding one that will do any good is an overwhelming task.
So the wise writers and editor of that financial icon of publishing, Forbes magazine, have gone through them for you. They've come up with 15 books to satisfy investors of all types. Whether you're a value investor, a buy-and-hold guy, or simply looking for a way to bone up on the basics, there's something here for you.
Ten of these books are actually classics and deserve a spot in the financial section of anyone's collection and for the novice investor, there are two introductory books that offer opposing viewpoints.
Book 1 Is Joel Greenblatt's The Little Book That still Beats The Market. It tells investors to focus on earnings to outperform the market.
Book 2 is from John Bogle and it's called Common Sense on Mutual Funds and it dismisses the notion that investors can outperform the market. Bogle argues that indexing is the only smart way to invest. Investors beginning with a blank slate will enjoy letting the books do battle.
Books 3 and 4 are The Essays of Warren Buffett by Warren Buffett and Ben Graham's The Intelligent Investor. Those books from investing titans offer plenty of information to mull over as you contemplate your next portfolio moves and are for more seasoned investors.
The next five investing books were published this year and integrate the knowledge of classic investment advice while simultaneously giving concrete advice for investing in the modern age.
Book 5 is A. Gary Shilling's The Age of Deleveraging: Investment Strategies for a Decade of Slow Growth and Deflation. It provides foresight on which industries and sectors will boom and bust in the next 10 years.
Book 6 is The Great Reflation: How Investors Can Profit from the New World of Money by Anthony Boeckhby . This book disagrees with Shilling, and instead lays out a case for reflation rather than deflation.
Book 7 is The Warren Buffetts Next Door: The World's Greatest Investors you've Never Heard of and What You Can Learn from Them by Matt Schifrin. He shares the investing success stories of individuals with strategies that have paid off over the years.
Book 8 is from Harvard Professor Michael Porter called Competitive Strategy. It helps readers better understand a business and equip them to make a better judgment about its prospects.
Book 9 is Stephen Weiss's The Billion Dollar Mistake: Learning the Art of Investing and it shows how a get rich quick scheme can often turn into a way to get poor quicker.
Book 10 is Profiting from the World's Economic Crisis by Bud Conrad.
Book 11 is Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits by Philip Fisher
Book 12 is Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefver
Book 13 is A Random Walk down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel
Book 14 is Market Wizards, by Jack D. Schwager
Book 15 is Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Taleb
Reading these books will prepare you to increase your bank account while minimizing risk. They contain advice of some of the world's most successful investors, along with the stories of others who have followed in their footsteps. But just have to take it. And when their advice contradicts each other, flip a coin. Happy reading.
