Reddit reviews The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need

Link to the book:
https://www.amazon.com/Only-Investment-Guide-Youll-Ever/dp/0544781937


Aaaaaand it's out of stock!!!!!! For real?

I read “the only investment guide you’ll every need” a few years ago for the same reason. I think it’s a great highlight of all the different ways to invest. Also of course the buzz wordy thing is crypto. So if you feel compelled to do that start off very very small until you know what you’re doing and only invest what you can afford to lose.

I would add Andrew Tobias, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need to the list. In fact it includes a chapter titled "What to Do If You Inherit a Million Dollars."

The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need

After reading your other comments, this should help you with understanding what all those acronyms mean. It's a good first book for overall personal finance. It maybe enough for you.

1. Vanguard is a low cost provider, yahoo finance can show you the expense ratio for any fund you are interested in -- I would decide on the 'type' of fund desired first (s&p500, total US stock market, international stocks, sectors, specialty), see what Vanguard has to offer, then compare their ER with other funds.
   
   
2. The only funds I know that all have lower ER's than Vanguard are the funds within the federal governments 401K (the Thrift Savings Program), but you need to be a federal employee to access these.
   
   
3. Withdrawal fees are up to the individual fund, if you withdraw too quickly some funds will charge a fee (ie <1 year or whatever). If a fund has no withdrawal fees at all (ie even after 1 day) then the fund runs the risk of being 'abused' by higher frequency traders and the cost of servicing these individuals will be paid by the fund's other longer term investors, so that is a business decision up to the managers of each fund.
   
   
4. In a mutual fund, you will pay capital gains taxes for each actual withdrawal (and there are mutiple complex ways to calculate how much tax you owe -- you must keep very good records to know if what is being reported to the IRS is accurate), but also each year you may have to pay taxes on imputed capital gains and dividends, even if you reinvest those distributions in the same fund immediately (ie if the mutual fund company reinvests them for you). The fund will send you a 1099 each year listing your imputed capital gains (ie gains the fund generated internally by trading stocks over the year) and dividends -- and you pay the taxes (even if you did not get the money distributed to you but it was kept in the fund). If you own an ETF, generally you should not have to pay capital gains taxes unless you actually sell shares -- but there may be exceptions!). Also some mutual funds (especially index funds) try to be 'tax efficient', meaning they try to not generate imputed capital gains that you will be taxed on each year.
   
   
5. Research has shown that if you have a chunk of money to invest, you will do just as well to invest all of it at once if you spread the money out, as with a market-wide index fund. If this is of concern to you, read about 'dollar cost averaging'. This approach means you decide to invest a fixed amount of cash in the market (ie in the S&P500 or some other broad index fund) each month or quarter, whether the market is up or down -- just buy the same dollar amount of shares. If the market is down that month, you will get more shares for your $$, if the market is up, you will get a smaller number of shares -- but it will average out and it is considered to be a reasonable approach to a lifetime investing program.
   
   
6. The problem with 'timing' investments is you have to be very smart, and have to be right twice -- once when you decide it is time to invest, and a second time when you decide to sell. Most real humans can't be this smart or knowledgeable, so 'dollar cost averaging' makes more sense. Research has shown that humans who invest in mutual funds don't do as well (don't earn as much) as the mutual fund itself -- the people try to outsmart the market and buy and sell at what turn out to be the wrong (or not the best ) times, so the return of real humans who use specific mutual funds tends to lag (be lower than) the reported fund return itself -- we think we are smarter than we are, we watch the news too much and panic. We sell when we should buy and buy when we should sell.
   
   My suggestion: go slow, read some books on investing. I read this book 30+ years ago and it was helpful. There are many others! Advice from /r/personalfinance can also be helpful in a general way.

I suggest Andrew Tobias's The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need. If you read it through it should give you a grasp of the basics, but won't give you more than you need (which can get you into trouble).

Aside from that, I would focus my energy on keeping spending low and trying to find higher-paying jobs and/or additional job(s). Good luck.

https://www.amazon.com/Only-Investment-Guide-Youll-Ever/dp/0544781937/

You could start with: https://www.amazon.com/Only-Investment-Guide-Youll-Ever/dp/0544781937

The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need remains one of the best explanations and tutorials about the stock market and investing

I've really enjoyed Financial Fitness Forever by Paul A. Merriman and Richard Buck. Mostly about investing, it's laid out really well, written in a conversational tone and delves into some of the emotional aspects of investing behavior.



Also, The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need by Andrew Tobias ironically contains quite a lot of advice other than just investing and he has a great sense of humor. I haven't read the updated 2016 version - mine is from 2002!

The only investment guide you'll ever need by Andrew Tobias
https://www.amazon.com/Only-Investment-Guide-Youll-Ever/dp/0544781937
I was in your position and read this 15 years ago and retired early using his advice to invest. He updates it regularly. It tells you what you need to know in easy to understand terms and gives a good reading list if you want to go further to understand the theories supporting his advice . Read the reviews on amazon for other opinions

You may not have been alive fifteen years ago.

But if you like to read "personal finance"....you really NEED to read these.

Peter Lynch

https://www.amazon.com/One-Up-Wall-Street-Already/dp/0743200403

https://www.amazon.com/Beating-Street-Peter-Lynch/dp/0671891634/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=


Andrew Tobias

https://www.amazon.com/Only-Investment-Guide-Youll-Ever/dp/0544781937/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1466002617&sr=1-1&keywords=andrew+tobias

The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need

By Andrew Tobias

https://www.amazon.com/Only-Investment-Guide-Youll-Ever/dp/0544781937/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=the+only+investment+guide+you%27ll+ever+need&qid=1566531107&s=gateway&sprefix=the+only+inv&sr=8-1