Friday, August 1, 2008

My Recent Book Readings

I have completed reading a few books over the last few months.
  1. Security Analysis (Classic 1940s Edition) by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd
  2. The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss
  3. The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham (my second time reading it)
Security Analysis (Classic 1940s Edition)
To date, Security Analysis (Classic 1940s Edition) is my most accomplished reading. This 841-page behemoth is a work that any investor would respect. Co-written by the father of value-investing, Benjamin Graham gives in-depth insight to the world of value investing. Reading this book is on par, in terms of technicality, with many of the college textbooks I have used. Written originally over 80 years ago, this book still had amazing validity in the stock market today. The basic premise of value-investing is still intact and the theory remains much the same. It's amazing the knowledge I have learned through reading it and I will definitely apply it to investing. Many great investors have followed Graham-style investing including Warren Buffett, Eddie Lampert, Monish Pabrai, among many others.

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich - My Thoughts
Great book about outsourcing your life. Probably not relevant to many people due to the fact that Tim talks a lot about getting rid of your 9-5 job, starting a successful, non-demanding business, and traveling the world, working 4-hours a week on the business that runs itself. What I really got out of the book was traveling while you're young and not waiting until retirement to start traveling. Tim refers to his travels or vacations as "mini retirements" and details many of the adventures that he has been on. These adventures struck a nerve in me and made me want to act on my ideas for traveling and doing adrenaline-pumping activities.

Other things that I took from the book were the ability for anyone to hire a virtual assistant for $5-$10 an hour from India to assist you if you need anything. They will research a topic, pay your bills, reply to emails, etc. for a minimal charge and most of these virtual assistants have MBA's and are incredible educated. This maybe something worth looking into.

The Intelligent Investor
Referred to as the best investment book written by Warren Buffett, this is a great book for controlling your emotions in the stock market. The theory of Mr. Market in the book depicts that the market is full of people's emotions and prices wander to cheap or expensive levels, in which intelligent investors can capitalize on. The book believes holding great companies for the long-term. If you are truly interested in the stock market and the pschology of human emotions, I highly recommend it.

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