The Intelligent Investor has helped me focus on the long term, to really internalize what sort of returns I should expect from my stock and bond investments and to temper my enthusiasm when the market gets exciting. Graham writes clearly, uses examples that are easily understood, and makes his points in an understated style. Though a bit dated -- Ben Graham met his greater reward more than thirty years ago and Jason Zweig focuses his commentary on the internet bubble and its aftermath -- the lessons set forth remain critical to value investing today. Just buy and read (and re-read) this book!

Simple like that: if you are a layman investor and don't want to lose a dime, stop your investment actions right now and start reading this book immediately.

I've started composing my stock portfolio a couple of months, before reading this book. At that time, I didn't know any of the Graham's wise lessons and took many decisions, some Graham-complying ones and some not. After six months, all bets on companies in a strong financial position, with a dividend payment history of more than 20 years, offering shares with a discount as consequence of the market fluctuation, and so on, proved to be right, even during crisis time.

A must read book for anyone aspiring to be a fraction of what a true investor is.

Whether you are an investor or speculator, this book provides more detailed information than any book I have read. To get the most from this book, one must be willing to devote time to absorb what the author is writing about. As it is a rather large book, it is easy to put aside; however if one is serious about the "market" the vital information is available in this book. I firmly believe if one will read and understand this information, your financial program will benefit. Sam Harris

Having being for some time a small investor with mixed results I was trying to learn more about the dynamics of the stock market. Benjamim Graham makes an excellent case for value investing which distinguishes true investors from speculators. It is as actual today (if not more then) as it was first written several decades ago. If you only read one book about stocks, be sure you pick this one. Highly recommended!

I have been reading the intelligent investor for a couple of days now and just finished chapter 4. The book can seem a bit long but it is not. The arguments are easy to understand and comprehend. Graham argues that investment, as great as it could be, also contains significant risks and for long periods of times have not outperformed bonds when considering inflation. He thinks every intelligent person should have no more that 75% in equities in best of times and should have up to 75% in bonds in bad times. It is definitely a book worth reading not only because he reaches sensible conclusions and warns you not to blindly follow pundits but simply because it gives you overview on market performance by analyzing the historical data that should be mandatory knowledge for everyone serious about investing.

This book has some great chapters that can be used to create a good stock screen to purchase value stocks. One point in this book that I found very valuable is this: No matter if you are in a bull market or not always keep at least 30% of your funds in cash or bonds. This at least saves some of your cash if the market turns around and heads lower. Think of the Nov 2007 to March 2008 downturn. Many people fully invested in at least stock founds in 401ks (that did not sell) lost up to 20%. How long will it take the old "buy and hold" to recover from that?

[...]

This is the first book written on the subject of describing/detailing life cycles of stocks/mutual funds and really getting into the detail so its all understood.

An all time classic from Mr. Benjamin Graham, and still relevant to this day. If you think it is an outdated stuff, I humbly request you to think again. I have read quite a lot of books on investment and none I found come closer to this one, whether you consider the philosophy or the practical implementation.

You may not believe me, and I am not asking you to do so. I am only requesting you to read this book once before you start investing, then go ahead in the world of investing.

When you think you have made somekind of mistake in investing, go back and read the book again, and I can say 99% of time you will find something in this book which if you have followed, would have avoided the mistake. It's a personal experience.

I feel retarded reading this book.

Seriously, I know a good deal more than the average about the market...but I am not a savvy investor. I would not advise people like me to get too into this book. Maybe start with a Motley Fool book or Peter Lynch.

I really really enjoy the footnotes by Jason, and also the commentary in between chapters, it speaks in a much more reader friendly tone.

Obviously this is "The Book on Investing" so maybe I'll re-read it later in hopes of getting more out of it.

Graham's viewpoint is based on Amrican stock market, but very useful in emerging markets too. Though rarely heard in Taiwan, Mr. Graham has inspired me in making smart investment in the local stock market. I, for the last two years, have been going over this book and surprisingly find how insightful Graham are in looking at the basic human nature in the market. Attitude, rather than the principles of choosing stocks, is what I think Graham contribute to me in making my own investment. My incestment is growing, no matter how hard the time has been. Fear for the inexplicable stock market is the core of this book and is the most precious part. Ch.8 and Ch20, as Warren Buffett recommended, are those most worthy of reading, and they make me and my portfolio stronger every day, even in bear market. Discussions on mutual fund (CH9) keeps me away from losing money. Principles on how to choose stocks generate real money for me. I am not reading this book to be second Warren, I am reading it to be a rich long-term investor, which I am now feeling more possible than before I read it.

This book has always been hailed for its breakdown of technical financial terms and investing for the layman. If you are new to investments and know nothing at all you should just buy a book for "Dummies". If you do have some experiance and need guidance: Buy this book! This is really the only book on investing you should own. It's principles will last forever. It's All About Value, Baby!

Benjamin is a great philosopher of stock market rather than a normal technician. After so many years passed, you just how his ideas are proving to be accurate, yet.
The only thing that he was wrong about, was commodities. He didn't believe it but time has proved that it's a safe haven for cash through many years.
The commentary given after each chapter is also helpful as sometimes it's a little hard to understand Benjamin's literature.

I probably shouldn't weigh in quite yet since I'm only halfway through this big book, but even though I know next to nothing about the stockmarket, I find if I just go slowly, read a section at a time, I'm getting it. Also, Jason Zweig's commentaries on each chapter and his annotations are extremely helpful. If you really want to invest in the market, I think this book is a must read even if you hire a firm to do it for you.

I had a good experience purchasing this product. It arrived in a timely manner; actually even faster than I expected. It was in great condition and helped me save a lot of money; if I had to purchase from somewhere else.

I unfortunately first entered the stock market in the frenzy of the 1990s. I felt brilliant as my stock picks skyrocketed and like an idiot when they collapsed. The second adjective more accurately described what I knew about investing. I had heard about this book for some time and finally got around to reading it. It provides a common sense, basic approach to investing. Benjamin Graham writes in the gentlemanly style of the early twentieth century and covers a lot of fundamental topics. His passages are a bit dated and can by dry at times. Jason Zweig produces updated commentaries on each chapter in the more cynical and fast-paced style of the present era. He can be brutal in his criticisms of celebrity investors and advisors. Overall it is an excellent book that should be part of an investing library, but other books are out there that give the same sound advice in a more compact form.

I unfortunately first entered the stock market in the frenzy of the 1990s. I felt brilliant as my stock picks skyrocketed and like an idiot when they collapsed. The second adjective more accurately described what I knew about investing. I had heard about this book for some time and finally got around to reading it. It provides a common sense, basic approach to investing. Benjamin Graham writes in the gentlemanly style of the early twentieth century and covers a lot of fundamental topics. His passages are a bit dated and can by dry at times. Jason Zweig produces updated commentaries on each chapter in the more cynical and fast-paced style of the present era. He can be brutal in his criticisms of celebrity investors and advisors. Overall it is an excellent book that should be part of an investing library, but other books are out there that give the same sound advice in a more compact form.

Congratulations! If you are thinking of buying this book, chances are that you are serious about the investing. If you are very new to investing then this book is not for you just yet. I would recommend you to read the books that warn you about the risks of stock picks and about the efficient market theory. You must enter in stock market with utmost caution and suspicion because ease of investment has somehow watered down the understanding of the risk involved in the stock market.

This book is written by the dean of value investment field. Now a days almost all money managers call themselves value investors but after reading this book you would be able to separate the wheat from the chaff. Many people have criticized the book to be archaic but they are probably the same people who heralded the dot com bubble as the dawn of the "new era". The book is timeless and is as relevant today as it was in the past. Of course the book does not tell you about the fancy investment vehicles such as options and futures but what it tells you is the most important lesson in business not just in investing. It is the lesson of discipline and value. Ben Graham has shared his observation over several decades in the book. He goes on to show the cyclical nature of the economy and then demonstrates that disciplined approach to value investing with enough margin of safety is the only way of making money in stock market. It is easier said than done because with the intention of following the "buying low and selling high", most people end up doing exact the opposite. This is why Mr Graham said "The worst enemy of an investor is well, himself". This is where the discipline comes into the picture. Mr Graham goes on to show the consequences of not following the discipline. On a personal note, I have faced the consequences of not following the discipline.
In the end I would say if you have read this book once, you should read it once every year.

http://valueinvestmentblog.com

If you want to consistently make money, this is the book to read. Amazing book.

The Intelligent Investor is a great book when taken in context: It's a classic text of value investing with a few key ideas that translate well over time despite the passing of the years. The context is important, as Graham founded his ideas before most of the theories of efficient capital markets were developed, and was heavily influenced by the great depression.

The book draws the distinction between three types of investors: The conservative investor (should only buy goverment debt, and not a target of the book), the speculative investor (also not a target of the book) and the enterprising, or intelligent investor, whom the book covers.

There were three key takeaways from this book:
1) The concept of Mr. Market as a manic depressive counterparty. Sometimes he loves a stock, sometimes he hates it. As the investor, you can wait for when he comes to you.

2) The importance of a margin of safety. Initially this is viewed in terms of assets (a company with more net assets than market cap) though the margin of safety can also be competitive. (It's worth noting that points 1 & 2 are the key points highlighted by Warren Buffett, Graham's most famous student)

3) The level of risk someone is willing to take should be dependent on their ability to research and understand their investments. This runs against the grain of passive portfolio theory, but is indespensible to an individual stock picker.

Despite these points, the book is a product of two times. The original writings by Graham are filled with many accounting and analytical techniques better suited for a prior era. The book is more about principles. Additionally, there's a disproportionate emphasis on Jason Zweig's (very useful) chapter-by-chapter analysis on modern internet duds.

All that said, this book rightfully belongs on every value investor or afficianado's bookshelf, and the updates by Mr. Zweig are a worthwhile addition to bring the book into the modern era.

I was drawn to this book first because W. Buffet suggested it. Secondly, I was draw to this book because it was first written in the '20's or '30's and has continued to have a strong following ever since. With today's fad investment books lasting a few weeks or may a couple years before their flaws are exposed this appeared different.

I can say that this book was different. If you compare this to say Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money--That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! OR Rich Dad's Guide to Investing: What the Rich Invest in, That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not!, you will see actual information being provided rather than general concepts. You will also see that the author has enough information to fill out the pages of the book rather than repeating every fourth sentence just to make it to the end.

I read this book through and had to significant take aways for myself.

First, I am not an investor in the sense demanded by this author and demonstrated by W. Buffet. I just simply do not have the wherewithal to travel to companies that I intend to invest in.

Second, I now understand why so many people suggest diversification as an investment strategy. They are doing so because it is the first step to time-averaged investing. They just do not explain the second step to that strategy which is balance. This book lays this out and it is the first time I have seen this investment strategy throughly explained. So, now that I understand the point, I have made changes to my portfolio to balance my investments and keep them balanced. This method is so much easier than what I was previously doing and is very likely to produce the same results for me as I am not an investor of the order of W. Buffet.

I got a book of financial advice from many CEOs of famous companies and many of them cited this book. The edition I got has a modern commentary with examples from recent events (2003.) This book is generally geared to Value Investing for the long term. Warren Buffet orginally read this book in 1955 and used it as a tool to build Berkshire Hathaway.

Take your time to read this book.

I am new to the investing discipline, but I found this book a comprehensive, well-written, and helpful overview of the knowledge that is required to make sound investments.

The tone is 'text-book'-like, so really pay attention and don't rush through pages and chapters.

I already plan to read this book again because there's so much to be learned.

It is truly remarkable that most of Graham's principles from the 1950s are still relevant today. Don't get swayed by the overblown hype of CNBC, Fox Business, CNNfn, etc. You can make long-term, profitable decisions once you have the knowledge that's throughout this book.

Definitely worth the money.

Dan Naden

I read both this version and Graham's original version. This one expands on Graham's thoughts and adds to the length of the original(a good thing). This book gives you a good explanation about how the market works and how to maintain a margin of safety when you invest(in essence, a margin of safety allows you to break even on a stock purchase if things don't go as planned with the company). Some of Graham's methods don't work well anymore since so many people are involved with the market now but they are still interesting nonetheless. Yet every once in a while things come back into vogue so keep an eye out.

very good and I liked it alot i'm just start investing and I' throughly enjoyed it........

For the investor looking to build the most solid foundation into understanding how to evaluate stocks, this is an absolute must to have on the shelf.

I read some negative reviews on the book because some didnot like Jason commentary to what Graham said. I think this is unfair criticism because Jason made BEST effort to separate his commentary from original work of Graham.

This book is a great read. It's very logical and practical. Graham's principles are somewhat conservative but that doesn't mean you don't make money, it just means you're smart about it or an "intelligent investor." The commentary provided at the end of each chapter helps to clarify and put it into today's context. I would suggest knowing very basic information on investing before reading this.

The book gives a good insight into value investing. I have read many books where they explain the techniques of investing but none of them talk about the how actually it works. What one should do when there are events happening in the market is explained in the book. It also explains how actually investment strategy works in diffrent phase of evolution till date. I happen to browse this on ebook version and ended up buying my own personal copy which I truly enjoy it.

A must-read for anyone who has a serious interest in investing. While very informative, I do have to admit the prose is a bit stilted and it was a slog in some places. The commentary by Jason Zweig was excellent and gave a much needed change of pace from the text.

While it's true that many of the ideas presented here are now old-hat and can be found in many other books, there is something fascinating and sobering about reading the source. I think it will give any investor a historical dimension to their thinking that will prove valuable to them.

This is basically Graham's original book with commentaries by Zweig who tries to make the book more enjoyable by relating it to the stock market in the late 90's. There are numerous commentaries and footnotes in Graham's chapters. In addition every other chapter is one written by Zweig. Overall, Zweig adds value by making Graham's original book more readable.

Ben Graham's writings (who was Warren Buffett's, arguably the world's greatest investor, teacher) are absolutely essential for any serious investor. Whether you agree or disagree with his views, as an investor in the stock market one needs to be familiar with Graham's theories and thoughts. I think that this book only adds to Graham's original book. If you are annoyed by Zweig (which I wasn't) you could always skip the chapters by him. Some have said that the commentaries are hard to ignore, but I believe overall Zweig does an excellent job applying Graham's teachings to the current situation in the market.

I usually pass my books to others but I plan to keep this one forever in my refernce library.

Anyone who chooses to comprehend this classic text will without a doubt expand their knowledge within the universe of value investment techniques. Moreover, in these times of muddled distinction between the investor and speculator, there is no better reason to buy this precious piece of Graham's intellectual genius than now. For myself, this book was truly the first necessary step to bring the perpetual pernicious chaos of what is conveniently termed speculating, to a more lucid order as I learned the true value of Graham's principles of value investing. We can all benefit to learn from this book.

This is the best book I've read on investing and will remain the standard for value investing.

With more than one million copies sold and an endorsement on the cover by Warren Buffet, you know there has to be something to this book- and I think I know why. Simply because it is the first book ever to describe the emotional framework and analytical tools necessary for financial success for individual investors.

Probably the single best book on investing written for the lay-public and the stock market bible since its first appearance in 1949, it's a great resource, although it's quite a thick book and filled with detail- and probably not for anybody but the serious stock market investor. And if getting motivated to start investing is your problem, suggest The Sixty-Second Motivator. Good luck!

I found that both Ben Graham's philosophy and Warren Buffett's philosophy are very similar to Taoism. If you are interested in this subject, you can read Warren Buffett and Tao Te Ching: A Modern Investor and an Age-Old Philosophy.

With more than one million copies sold and an endorsement on the cover by Warren Buffet, you know there has to be something to this book- and I think I know why. Simply because it is the first book ever to describe the emotional framework and analytical tools necessary for financial success for individual investors.

Probably the single best book on investing written for the lay-public and the stock market bible since its first appearance in 1949, it's a great resource, although it's quite a thick book and filled with detail- and probably not for anybody but the serious stock market investor. And if getting motivated to start investing is your problem, suggest The Sixty-Second Motivator. Good luck!

As the title of this review indicates, do yourself a favour and buy the original Ben Graham version not this one with Zweig.

Let me start by saying that Warren Buffett had nothing to do with this book, the preface and appendix are extracts from the Financial Analysts Journal and transcripts of a 1984 talk at Columbia University.

The orignal Ben Graham material is mostly intact in each chapter. It is not full of calculations, so it is not difficult to read, but it is a slow and deliberate building of an argument on investing. As such people who are interested in the book for its investment advice will find it logical and sensible. Zwieg however has decided that his own footnotes are far more valuable than Graham's so he has moved Graham's footnotes to the appendix and put his notes under the original text - which is why I say that the chapters are "mostly intact", but not completely.

After each of Graham's chapters, Zweig has included a commentary chapter of his own. These chapters and his footnotes will give you the feeling that "a high school science student was commenting on the PhD work of a professor". The commentary is a weak summary, mostly devoid of any insight and sometimes making statements about what Graham "would have said", which is nothing short of egregious.

Overall, I give Graham's original chapters five stars and Zweig's additions one star, resulting in an average of 3 stars.

This book is a clear example of someone jumping on the bandwagon and trying to associate himself with prominent people like Graham and Buffett. So do yourself a favour and buy the original Graham version, that way you won't feel like Zweig suckered you into buying his book, using Graham's name.

Link to the orignal version: The Intelligent Investor: The Classic Text on Value Investing

Everything people have said about how great this book is is true. It's long, and fairly dense subject matter. But if you're serious about learning the smartest and least risky way to invest, this is the book for you. There are no catch-phrases, no acronyms for "proven methods," just straight talk about the methods Graham used in his career.

I came into it with little to no business knowledge, but I felt like everything was explained well enough that even a novice like me could catch up and get something out of it.

Incidentally, a lot of this book fortells doom and gloom for the investor. It is very difficult to beat the market, and it's better to sit in an index fund rather than to do insufficient research. Graham views the day-trading short-term investing as "speculation." While you may pick out a couple of winners and make a lot of money with those couple lucky breaks, the odds are that you will lose ghastly amounts doing this kind of investing. The approach Graham advocates is much more conservative, but a lot smarter too. Ignore the market analysts and the hot tips, and focus on the business, how it's run, and it's soundness as a long-term investment.

It will take years to see if the methods learned will work for me, but they certainly worked for Graham. That and the no-nonsense down-to-earth presentation make me eager to learn more and apply the methods discussed.

Lastly, the 2003 commentary updates the 1972 text wonderfully, and shows that Graham's methods are still applicable today, despite the "new economic model" foretold in the late 1990's.

This book changed my life and now I am extremely annoying and quote Benjamin Graham in every conversation.

His growth stock formula works like magic and has helped me to make extremely successful investments:

Intrinsic Value = Current Earnings x (8.5 + 2 x Expected Annual Growth Rate)

Then take Intrinsic Value and divide it by 2 for margin of safety. Period. Forget about complicated DCF, or other funky stuff. Try it, it works.

This is the 4th edition of Benjamin Graham's landmark book for the investing public, called "The Intelligent Investor." However, it's been "updated" for 2003 by Jason Zweig, a senior editor and writer at CNN/Money, and overall I think this detracts from, rather than improves, the book. I rate Graham's book 5 stars and Zweig's contributions get 3 stars: overall, 4 stars.

First off, there are 3 contributors to this book: Buffett, Graham and Zweig. Warren Buffett, the superinvestor who heads Berkshire Hathaway, is frequently pointed out as one of the world's great investors/stock pickers and also as Ben Graham's star student. Buffett's preface to this book consists of 2 pages: a biographical essay he wrote about Graham in 1976, saying nice things about Graham's personal qualities; and a recommendation to pay particular attention to Chapters 8 and 20. (Buffett, incidentally, cannot be honestly said to have been influenced by this book; his bible was Graham's landmark 1940 textbook for the professional security analyst, called "Security Analysis.") So Buffettologists should know that there will be little to interest them here.

Graham's text is level-headed and sane, and makes for wonderful reading. His distinction between speculators and investors, his way of viewing the markets, and his methodical approach to considering the inherent value of investments is required reading. In my opinion, any non-professional who's interested in investing money could benefit from reading it. Enough said about that.

However, Graham's book makes up only about 1/3 of the present volume. The format is the following: Graham writes a 6 page chapter; Zweig pads that chapter out to 8 pages with giant footnotes; and then Zweig appends a 10-15 page "commentary" to each chapter. Now who exactly is Jason Zweig? I'd never heard of him. His qualifications are very different from Graham's and Buffett's; he is a writer for CNN/Money magazine. I don't consider him to be an investment professional.

Unfortunately, this shows in his writing. Whereas Graham's text is even-handed, methodical, and rational, Zweig comes across as hysterical, emotional, and shrill. His annoying habit of flinging superlatives around (he frequently mentions Buffett as "the greatest investor of all time", and calls Graham the "greatest practical investment thinker of all time") is annoying and adds little to understanding. But much worse is his incessant habit of putting words into Graham's mouth. About 3 or 4 chapters in I began to chafe at this. "Who is this Jason Zweig exactly," I thought, "and how exactly does he claim to know how Graham would have analyzed the tech bubble of 1999-2000?"

As I started paying closer attention, I began to feel that Zweig was making comments - under the guise of "updating" Graham's ideas - that Graham himself would never have endorsed. This bothered me. I feel that, in a way, I was baited with Graham's name into buying a book by Jason Zweig, and it's not the book I thought I was buying.

To be fair, Zweig's commentary is often interesting. His commentary on Chapter 12 has nothing to do with Graham's chapter (on analyzing per-share earnings) at all; rather, it is a scathing, well-presented, easily understood, and fairly detailed analysis of certain examples of accounting irregularities that contributed to the tech blowup and led to Sarbanes-Oxley. (I wouldn't be surprised to learn Zweig had written a book of his own about this topic; if so, I may buy it.) But this only further strengthens the feeling, present always, that Zweig is less interested in explaining Graham's text and more interested in pushing his own agenda and ways of investment thinking. Now for the casual reader who enjoys CNN/Money's style and format as their principal source of investment advice, they may truly enjoy and benefit from this. But I wanted to read Graham's historical text as a whole and interpret it myself; Zweig's constant, harping interpolations severely detracted from my ability to do this.

Finally, there is little in the first 10 chapters of this book that has not become near-dogma for the conservative, value-oriented small investor, repeated ad nauseam in the pages of Money, Forbes, the Motley Fool, and elsewhere. The meat of the book is in the last half, where Graham touches - lightly - on issues that the conservative investor may be interested in valuing, and how to do it right. Frankly I was expecting him to go into more depth on these topics, and I will probably be picking up a copy of either The Interpretation of Financial Statements or Security Analysis (the 1940 edition seems to be the consensus pick) to learn more about his thoughts on these matters.

This is a timeless book for both business and personal investors like me.
It lays the foundmental work that needs to be done to be an intelligent investor and basic elements that helps you to become an above-average investor. More you read, more you realize why some of us have lost so badly and some of us not suited as an investor because mental instability and lack of fundamental requirements of being an intelligent investor.

On the flip side, this book also gives us such confidence that it is not the IQ that counts, it is hard work and extra time that put into the analysis that helps one to become an intelligent investor....Patience pays out. This great book requires you to read it more than once for sure.

I'm sure my grandfather read the original edition of this book, because he gave me the same advice as Benjamin Graham. Most of this seems obvious once you have read it, but in a world that lives off of hype and insanity, any serious investor would benefit greatly from the advice in this book.

If you only buy one book on investing, make it this one.

Ok, this is a serious book. But isn't investing for the future serious? Don't you want to be able to speak intelligently with your financial advisor? You don't need to memorize what is taught in this book... just get familiar with the main concepts and you will be miles ahead of your peers.

What's really amazing in reading this book is seeing how the same scams and bad business practices that Graham complained about and warned against are still very common today. I've been investing for a few years now and it just amazes me every time I see Graham describe a situation in his book and I recognize it from personal experience. The commentary by Mr. Zwieg is also very interesting. Probably the best benefit of this book is that it teaches you how to not loose money, or how to at least minimize those losses by adhering to general margins of safety. It may sound strange, but knowing how to not loose money is what will make you money in the long run.

Language a bit formal/stilted in spots, but clear and thorough. Zweig's updates are very helpful by using recent examples to put the original text in today's context.

The book carries the reader/student through all phases of investing with an emphasis on understanding risks, rewards and how to assess the viability of a contemplated investment. Wish I had read this 25 years ago. It would have saved me from more than a couple of mistakes.

It is for people that are not financial skill, it is written in a clear way. It's very important for everybody that want to invest their money without listening misunderstanding ads.

I agree with the other reviewers that this book is an outstanding essay for those who want to learn how to select stocks for a value portfolio. Where we differ is that for the typical investor he does not have the resources to build a properly diversified portfolio- either financial or mental resources. Value stocks do provide returns in excess of broad market returns but in order to have adequate diversification you must assemble several hundred issues well beyond the resources of the average investor. Further one must have the time and skill to evaluate several thousand issues.

I can offer a solution to this problem. I want to recommend for you a book titled How to Make Money in the Stock Market-Buy 2,500 different stocks for $1000 - Pay no Commission This book is a must for those wanting to find out about indexing (passive investing) and why it is the superior method for the small investor (and big one too). This book is an outstanding guide to personal investing. It will be useful to all investors from novices to highly the highly experienced. This book prepares the reader to approach investing from the standpoint of the underlying science. It is the antithesis of a 'get rich quick scheme'.

All aspects of Modern Portfolio Theory and passive (index) investing are explained in a through and easily understood manner. The aspect I like most is that as well as a solid theoretical foundation the book is very practical and shows the reader how to create (and more importantly) and manage over time a successful portfolio. This is a great book- for the beginning investor, it's a great place to start and for the experienced investor there are many valuable suggestions.

It's a shame to think of how much money investors have lost "investing" in the stock market over the years. I wish I had read this little book years ago. The chapter on automatic investing recommends a number of portfolios that follow modern portfolio theory and adjust risk as you age without any effort on the part of the reader at all. Had this book been written years ago and had I followed its directions I would be rich today of that I am certain. Nevertheless I will pursue one of the portfolios recommended and stick to my chosen asset plan.

A must read for all investors.
This is a new addition of a book written over 30 years ago and it is as valid and important today as it was then. This particular revised edition contains commentary by Jason Zweig, and I would recommend that you read this version above any of the previous ones. Mr. Zweig brings the material up to date and shows why the book is as valid today as it was when it was written. He also shows that people do not seem to learn by previous mistakes, making the same ones over and over again.

Graham is the chief proponent of value investing, which is investing based on the value of the security. He provides an approach to determining the value (correct price) of a stock, based on the fundamentals of the company and its growth potential. Unfortunately, the relation describing the value for a growth company --- Value=Current earnings X (8.5 plus the expected annual growth), is not adequately explained. Also, there are different variations of this equation (see The Motley Fool, [...]

This book describes investment vs. speculation, effects of inflation, portfolio management, security analysis, investments in bonds and convertible issues, and much, much more. This book has been cited as the bible of value investing by the likes of Warren Buffett (who wrote a preface and an appendix of the revised edition). You can't go wrong if you read this book, but be forewarned it is about 600 pages long and therefore requires some commitment, a commitment that should be amply rewarded.

This is a new addition of a book written over 30 years ago and it is as valid and important today as it was then. This particular revised edition contains commentary by Jason Zweig, and I would recommend that you read this version above any of the previous ones. Mr. Zweig brings the material up to date and shows why the book is as valid today as it was when it was written. He also shows that people do not seem to learn by previous mistakes, making the same ones over and over again.

Graham is the chief proponent of value investing, which is investing based on the value of the security. He provides an approach to determining the value (correct price) of a stock, based on the fundamentals of the company and its growth potential. Unfortunately, the relation describing the value for a growth company --- Value=Current earnings X (8.5 plus the expected annual growth), is not adequately explained. Also, there are different variations of this equation (see The Motley Fool, [...]of October 31, 2001 for a good description of how to evaluate a growth company.)

This book describes investment vs. speculation, effects of inflation, portfolio management, security analysis, investments in bonds and convertible issues, and much, much more. This book has been cited as the bible of value investing by the likes of Warren Buffett (who wrote a preface and an appendix of the revised edition). You can't go wrong if you read this book, but be forewarned it is about 600 pages long and therefore requires some commitment, a commitment that should be amply rewarded.

This publication arrived on time and in excellent condition.

I think readers need to know the profile of anyone who posts a review as this is an important factor. I have a college degree, I'm over 40, and I read the Wall Street Journal. I hated finance in college but I can tell you this is easy to understand and is an excellent book. Don't make the mistake of thinking that this is dated material which will not apply to today's market.