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Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
6 classic investing books every stock picker should read
One of the best ways to take your investing skills to the next level quickly is to learn from the masters. The insights and wisdom gleaned from the experts — all for the cost of a book — can help you fine-tune your stock-picking skills and venture beyond your usual hunting grounds. The best investing books are those that have stood the test of time. That's why the list below is dominated by some classic deep dives from the investing world's titans, rounded out with a few breezier (but still meaty) reads. These recommendations are primarily aimed at those who already have a good handle on the basics. If you need a refresher, check out our list of best investing books for beginners. Audio more your style?: Give some of the best investing podcasts a listen 'The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing' by Benjamin Graham Amazon rating: 4.7 starsGoodreads rating: 4.24 starsNotable quote: 'To achieve satisfactory investment results is easier than most people realize; to achieve superior results is harder than it looks.' Benjamin Graham is considered the father of value investing, an investing style where practitioners look to buy out-of-favor stocks trading at a discount compared to their current valuation. Does the strategy sound familiar? It should: Graham was a key mentor for legendary investor Warren Buffett. 'The Intelligent Investor' is regularly featured on lists of the best investing books for good reason: In it, Graham shows you how to think sensibly about investing and avoid the mistakes that hurt your returns. It is considered a shorter, more readable version of Graham's other famous book co-authored with David Dodd, 'Security Analysis.' Although 'The Intelligent Investor' was first published in 1949, more recent editions with editor Jason Zweig include modern commentary that provides perspective on more contemporary events. 'You Can Be a Stock Market Genius: Uncover the Secret Hiding Places of Stock Market Profits' by Joel Greenblatt Amazon rating: 4.5 starsGoodreads rating: 4.22 starsNotable quote: 'By focusing on the motives of management and other insiders, you can turn this advantage for insiders into an advantage for yourself.' 'You Can Be a Stock Market Genius' by Joel Greenblatt is a more modern classic, and it showcases how to find stocks that are hidden by superficial events, such as spin-offs. First published in 1997, it continues to be a favorite of current investors due to its easy-to-read style, practical examples and humor. Yes, humor! In his inimitable prose, Greenblatt gives you all the details on how to uncover hidden gems. For example, using the book's approach, readers would have been able to track PayPal, before it spun off from parent eBay in 2015, and then proceeded to return 400 percent to investors over the next five years. Put it into practice:: How to research stocks like the pros 'Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings' by Philip A. Fisher Amazon rating: 4.6 starsGoodreads rating: 4.14 starsNotable quote: 'Even in those earlier times, finding the really outstanding companies and staying with them through all the fluctuations of a gyrating market proved far more profitable to far more people than did the more colorful practice of trying to buy them cheap and sell them dear.' This classic investing book is another focused on practical examples that show readers how to find attractive stocks with the potential to deliver seriously huge returns. Author Philip Fisher is a giant in the investing world, and he reveals many of his secrets in this book, including the qualities to look for in an attractive business. First published in 1958, 'Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits' still offers so much wisdom that contemporary readers continue to cite Fisher's work today. One of Fisher's classic techniques is called the scuttlebutt method, in which he advises investors to see what a company's rivals say about it, in order to assess the company's competitive position. Also worth noting, Warren Buffett says that his own investing approach is a combination of Benjamin Graham's and Fisher's — it's hard to receive higher praise than that! 'Margin of Safety: Risk-Averse Value Investing Strategies for the Thoughtful Investor' by Seth Klarman Amazon rating: 4.4 starsGoodreads rating: 4.33 starsNotable quote: 'Successful investors tend to be unemotional, allowing the greed and fear of others to play into their hands.' 'Margin of Safety' is somewhat of a holy grail in the world of investing books. Author Seth Klarman, now a billionaire, published the book in 1991 and it has never been reprinted. The book is so scarce that sellers regularly ask more than $1,000 a copy. Despite the eye-watering price tag, we included this oft-cited tome here because you can find excerpts from its pages online, often on academic websites. In it you'll find a blueprint for Klarman's conservative, value-based approach to investing, using the principle of margin of safety. That is, he advises you to buy an asset at such a sufficiently low price relative to its probable worth that it would be hard to lose money. 'Investing in REITs' by Ralph Block Amazon rating: 4.4 starsGoodreads rating: 3.67 starsNotable quote: 'REITs give you the steady and predictable cash flow that comes from owning and leasing real estate, but with the benefit of a common stock's liquidity.' If you're interested in investing in real estate in the public stock market, Ralph Block's 'Investing in REITs' (real estate investment trusts) is considered by some as the definitive reference guide. REITs are among the most popular kinds of stocks because of their typically large dividends and attractive long-term record of returns. This book is quite popular among both seasoned REIT investors and those learning the field, and it's already on its fourth edition, after first being published in 1998. Block distills his decades of investing in REITs into the key qualities you need to look for in the sector. 'The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns' by John Bogle Amazon rating: 4.7 starsGoodreads rating: 4.15 starsNotable quote: 'Index funds make up for their lack of short-term excitement by their truly exciting long-term productivity. The TIF (traditional index fund) is designed to be held for a lifetime.' You don't have to allocate a huge chunk of your portfolio to individual stocks to earn impressive returns. In 'The Little Book of Common Sense Investing,' mutual fund trailblazer and Vanguard founder John Bogle makes the case for why index funds are the simplest, most effective way to build wealth. First published in 2007, Bogle uses real-world examples to discuss returns and investor sentiment over time and builds the argument for investing in index funds, which offer instant diversification with low costs. Bogle updated the book in 2017 to include new chapters on retirement investing and asset allocation. Get started: Index funds are just one of the best long-term investments Reading about investing is one of the highest-return activities you can do. Not only can you learn about how to approach investing smartly from some of the world's best investors, you can avoid some of the pitfalls that can sink even the most seasoned investors. As Warren Buffett famously said, 'Rule No. 1 is never lose money. Rule No. 2 is never forget Rule No. 1.' Learn more: Warren Buffett's other top investing advice Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Wall Street Journal
06-06-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
How to Get Off the Investing Sidelines - Your Money Briefing
A turbulent spring in the stock market spooked some investors — and now, they're struggling to get back in . Host Julia Carpenter talks with WSJ's The Intelligent Investor columnist Jason Zweig about how these same folks can reshape their investing strategy with some much-needed historical perspective. Full Transcript This transcript was prepared by a transcription service. This version may not be in its final form and may be updated. Julia Carpenter: Here's Your Money Briefing for Friday, June 6th. I'm Julia Carpenter for The Wall Street Journal. What do you think the opposite of FOMO or the fear of missing out is? FOGI. The fear of getting in, and FOGI is all too common among investors these days. Jason Zweig: When people sense a high level of uncertainty in the market, it makes these kinds of decisions more complicated, because often, people are making these judgments partly based on what their peers are doing. And if all your peers are doing is expressing confusion and watching the headlines nonstop, it can be hard to figure out what to do. Julia Carpenter: After such an up and down few months in the stock market, spooked investors know they're probably playing it a little too safe, but what's the first step to jumping back in the fray? We'll talk with WSJ's The Intelligent Investor columnist, Jason Zweig, about how to conquer FOGI and maybe even how to use it to your advantage. That's after the break. Investors haven't had a quiet 2025. After the Trump Administration's tariff plan sent the market into a tailspin earlier this spring, some investors decided to pull out rather than play ball, and others had taken a step back even earlier. But now the market seas have calmed. So how do you get back in? Wall Street Journal's The Intelligent Investor columnist, Jason Zweig, joins me to talk more. Jason, one of your readers, Michael McCowin, wrote to you and coined this new term: FOGI. Or fear of getting in. How did he arrive at this FOGI place? Jason Zweig: Well, he would say a couple of things. First of all, he got old, and he became a FOGI, an old FOGI. And secondly, he has pretty strong views. He's fortunate. He's a former professional investor. He has plenty of assets to see him through. He's 86, and he feels that the potential upside from staying in the market at this point is not as great as the potential downside of staying in and perhaps losing a lot of his money without time to recover. Julia Carpenter: And after such a turbulent period in markets, you talk to some investors who say they think they should be more fully invested, but they still are in that place that Michael is in, that sort of FOGI place. Why do you think so many investors feel this way? Jason Zweig: Uncertainty is always high except at total market turning points, like say, 2020 or in 1987. And when people sense a high level of uncertainty in the market, it makes these kinds of decisions more complicated, because often, people are making these judgments partly based on what their peers are doing. And if all your peers are doing is expressing confusion and watching the headlines non-stop, it can be hard to figure out what to do. Julia Carpenter: FOGI is contagious. Jason Zweig: Yeah, it absolutely is. Julia Carpenter: And your column, which is linked in our show notes, does such a great job of giving us some much-needed historical perspective. How do the last few market cycles fit into the big picture of the last 80 years in markets? Jason Zweig: The key thing to put in perspective as an investor is that, the long run, tells us unambiguously that you should be rewarded for sticking with U.S. stocks if you can stick with them long enough. We've had over 60 instances of stocks losing 5% or more. We've had a couple dozen corrections where they went down 10 or 20%. And, just in the past few years, we've had two severe bear markets where stocks lost 20% or more. And, over time, the markets have always overcome that and delivered ample returns for people who could stick with it. However, it's not a guarantee. And, ultimately, if you try to force yourself to be the kind of investor you're not, you might end up worse off. People who really feel they need to sleep well at night should listen to that intuition, because if you compel yourself against your own gut to stick with the market during times that look tough, when times that actually feel tough come along, you may get shaken out. So, having a little bit higher allocation to cash or bonds might not be a bad thing for someone who is inclined to get spooked out of the market. Julia Carpenter: I wanted to ask you about a hindsight bias. What is it, and how should we be thinking about it as investors? Jason Zweig: Hindsight bias is a fallacy of human reasoning. It essentially trains us to think, after the fact, that what did happen is what we predicted would happen. And just think about presidential elections, for example. People say things like, "Oh, I knew all along it would be a landslide," or, "I knew all along it would be close." But if you go back and look at what they actually were saying before the election, they weren't saying that. And the advantage of what's just happened, particularly in April and the rebound in May, is that it's so fresh in all of our minds, that it's kind of hard to lie to ourselves. And it gives us a great opportunity to look back and say, "What was I actually saying and thinking? Oh, I was actually saying and thinking this was almost the end of the world, and it's turned out not to be, at least so far. So maybe the lesson I should learn is not to be so certain about my forecasts." Julia Carpenter: So thinking about investors like Michael, what would you tell them to consider as they weigh their options and try to conquer this fear of getting in? Jason Zweig: I like to say, if you must panic, panic slowly, panic gradually. Maybe take one percentage point of your allocation to stocks and reduce that each month. And, within a retirement account, where you don't have immediate tax consequences, you can do that quite easily. And making gradual change, first of all, will make you feel better, because you'll feel you're responding to the thing you're afraid of. But more importantly, it prevents you from overreacting to a fear you feel that ultimately doesn't turn out to be actual. Julia Carpenter: And just to emphasize to those who are still sort of spooked, Jason, managing investments is just one part of an overall financial plan, but it's an important one nonetheless. I wonder what would you say to someone about using the market to build wealth and this sense of security? Jason Zweig: So, the thing to keep in mind is that, while there are no guarantees, and it is not actually true that if you hold stocks long enough you're guaranteed to outperform all other assets, it's a bet about probabilities. It's highly likely that you will do extremely well if you hold stocks for the long term. And the fact that the probability isn't a hundred percent, I don't think should really discourage you from doing it. Just as it can rain on a day when the forecast is 100% sunshine, stocks can disappoint people who hold them for decades at a time, but in the long run, it is a very high probability bet. And putting most of your money in stocks, particularly when you're young and your labor income gives you a hedge against fluctuations in the value of your stock portfolio, is a good idea. It's the best bet for long-term investing, even if it's not quite a certain bet. Julia Carpenter: That's Jason Zweig, columnist for WSJ's: The Intelligent Investor. And that's it for Your Money Briefing. Tomorrow we'll have our weekly markets wrap up, What's News and markets, and then we'll be back on Monday. This episode was produced by Ariana Aspuru. I'm your host, Julia Carpenter. Jessica Fenton and Michael LaValle wrote our theme music. Our supervising producer is Melony Roy. Aisha Al-Muslim is our development producer. Scott Saloway and Chris Zinsli are our deputy editors. And Philana Patterson is The Wall Street Journal's head of news audio. Thanks for listening.
