Books are an essential companion to any stock investor or trader. I initially learnt trading through technical analysis and later shifted to value investing by fundamental analysis. You should try to evaluate the true value of the stock while investing in it.
Below is the list of books which I read as a part of my journey in financial markets and found them really helpful. All of these books are easy to read and do not require any specialized financial knowledge. If you have never been into reading about finance, you might require to do a web search for some of the terms, but overall these books will help you in getting an understanding of the financial markets. You will learn how to do equity analysis as a beginner.
Stocks
Intelligent Investor – Benjamin Graham
If you have ever imagined a book, which could teach you investing, handhold you through the maze of stock markets, warn you of all the pitfalls and suggest you the solutions of the problem you might encounter, then you should look no further. The Intelligent Investor written by Benjamin Graham is the book for you.
Ever since Benjamin Graham wrote The Intelligent Investor in 1949, it has helped millions of investors, amateur & professionals learn and master stock market investing. His teachings have become legends as philosophies of value investing. Scores of investors all around the world follow Graham’s criteria diligently. One of Graham’s students, Warren Buffett, outperformed even Graham and is currently one of the richest persons on the planet.
If you have ever imagined a book, which could teach you investing, handhold you through the maze of stock markets, warn you of all the pitfalls and suggest you the solutions of the problem you might encounter, then you should look no further. The Intelligent Investor written by Benjamin Graham is the book for you.
Read my full review of The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham here.
One up on wall street – Peter Lynch
Amateur investors can match or even do better than the professionals at stock picking. Peter Lynch, one of the greatest investor of our times, highlighted this scintillating idea and thus echoed the beliefs of legends like Benjamin Graham, Phil Fisher and Warren Buffett. Peter says that even the professionals make money in stocks when they step out of the rat race and think amateurish. Therefore, if you are an amateur, you should capitalize on your advantage and stop listening to the professionals.
Peter Lynch, the writer of the book “One Up on Wall Street”, is one of the most successful stock market investors of all times. His name is counted along with the legends like Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett. Peter Lynch was the fund manager of Fidelity Magellan Fund from 1977 to 1990. During his tenure, the size of the Fidelity Magellan Fund increased from meagre $ 20 million to whopping $ 14 billion, which was more than the combined GDP of many countries put together. Peter generated annual returns of 29% for his investors and beat the S&P 500 index in 11 out of 13 years. Peter has written about his investment philosophy and stock picking approach in his book “One Up on Wall Street”.
Read my full review of One Up on Wall Street here
Beating the Street – Peter Lynch
Warren Buffet’s annual letters to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders
Mutual Funds
The Layman’s Guide to Mutual Funds by Outlook Money
Life Insurance
The Layman’s Guide to Life Insurance by Outlook Money
P.S.
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6 thoughts on “Investment Books For Beginners”
Sir, I am new. Please help me read insurance books.
Dear Rajaburagapu,
You may take help of Google search to read about various aspects of insurance.
Regards,
Dr Vijay Malik
I am Dr Ravi Kumar. Sir, I recently finished reading the Peaceful Investing ebook. Can you suggest to me the reference book for your writing sir like Ganong for physiology, esp for analysing annual reports?
Hi Ravi,
The writings in the Peaceful Investing ebook are a result of our experience of analysing hundreds of companies. It is essentially a result of practical learning instead of primarily theoretical readings.
We suggest that an investor should read the book Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham to make it the basis of fundamental analysis. Thereafter, she should focus on analysing companies and reading as many (hundreds of) annual reports as possible. In this exercise, she should keep looking in Google about any new terms that she comes across.
Regards,
Dr Vijay Malik
Hi Vijay,
The way you do analysis is outstanding. Could you please suggest good financial accounting books? I am looking for a book which gives a very detail understanding.
Thanks,
Prashant
Hi Prashant,
You may start by reading chapter number 2 “Language Of Business” of the following book by Jana Vembunarayanan: A Gentle And Practical Introduction To Value Investing. The PDF version is free at the following link: https://janav.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/agentleandpracticalintroductiontovalueinvesting2.pdf
The Kindle version is paid and is available at the following link: https://www.amazon.in/Gentle-Practical-Introduction-Value-Investing-ebook/dp/B01CZ0K9IU
The above book will help you understand the basics. We suggest that beyond the ebook, you may learn more about accounting terms as you come across them, by reading about them online.
Regards,
Dr Vijay Malik