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Fail-Safe Investing: Lifelong Financial Security in 30 Minutes [Paperback]

Harry Browne
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)

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Book Description

January 10, 2001
Do you worry that you're not paying enough attention to your investments? Do you feel left out when you hear about the clever things other investors seem to be doing? Relax. You don't have to become an investment genius to protect your savings. Distilling the wisdom of his thirty years' experience into lessons that can be applied in thirty minutes, Harry Browne shows you what you need to know to make your savings and investments safe and profitable, no matter what the economy and the investment markets do. There are no secret trading systems here, no jargon to learn. Instead, Harry Browne teaches you in simple terms to, among other things:

-Build your wealth on your career
-Make your own decisions
-Build a bulletproof portfolio for protection
-Take advantage of tax-reduction plans
-Enjoy yourself with a budge for pleasure

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Fail-Safe Investing: Lifelong Financial Security in 30 Minutes + The Permanent Portfolio: Harry Browne's Long-Term Investment Strategy + How You Can Profit From The Coming Devaluation
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If you had to summarize Fail-Safe Investing in three words, it would probably be these: Embrace the obvious. Look at your job, Browne advises. You get ahead because of your experience, education, and common sense. Your job is the reason you have money to invest in the first place. So the first of Browne's 17 rules is, "Build Your Wealth upon Your Career." Don't jeopardize your career; it's going to take many years of smart investing before your earnings will surpass what you earn at your day job--if they ever do.

The other rules aren't quite as obvious, but equally simple. Browne explains the difference between investing (making a long-term plan and sticking with it) and speculating (betting that you can beat the overall market during a specific period). He shows how life savings are easily lost when you borrow money to invest rather than investing only the money you already have. Browne also suggests a portfolio that he says is the simplest and safest possible for continual, steady returns above inflation: an equal division among stocks, bonds, gold, and cash. That covers an investor in times of prosperity (stocks), inflation (gold), deflation (bonds), and recession (cash). While many investment analysts would undoubtedly gag if you presented them with a portfolio that consisted of a 50 percent investment in gold and cash, Browne nonetheless makes a compelling argument that such an allocation makes it easier to sleep at night. And common sense tells you there are worse things than a good night's sleep. --Lou Schuler --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Harry Browne is one of America's best-known investment advisors, the author of eight investment books, a radio personality, and the 2000 Libertarian candidate for president. He lives in Tennessee.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 176 pages
  • Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1st edition (January 10, 2001)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 031226321X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0312263218
  • Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5 x 0.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #318,063 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
(22)
4.5 out of 5 stars
All of it was in search of the holy grail of investment knowledge...how to beat the market. William J. Abbott  |  4 reviewers made a similar statement
The advices in the book are common sense but timeless. X. Li  |  3 reviewers made a similar statement
Save your retirement with this book! webdiva  |  2 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
80 of 81 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Financial Safety in a Nutshell August 13, 2001
By steve
Format:Paperback
I rate this book five stars, less for the contents of this book on its own, but rather for the series of books that Mr. Brown put out in the '80's, _Why the best laid investment plans go wrong_ in particular. This book contains the heart of those earlier books without all of the explanation, which may be why the point of it missed the earlier reviewer. Browne suggests dividing ones portfolio into two sections -- a "variable portfolio" that you can speculate with and a "permanent portfolio" which should be set up to survive *any* possible financial disaster, war, revolution, natural disaster, or whatever. He achieves this by diversifying in several different classes of investment, at least one of which should be helped by whatever happens. So if it's hyperinflation that arrives, and stocks and bonds are tanking, the gold part of your portfolio will go through the roof -- if the great depression comes back, the bond part of your portfolio will skyrocket. Whatever happens, the overall value of your portfolio should move gradually upward. I know now that some people are laughing, what gold? Nobody invests in gold any more. You need to understand that Browne is advacating an investment strategy for the ages. So what if gold is in the dumps for a decade or two? When that disaster we can't even conceive of wrecks the world economy in 2020, won't you be glad you've got that gold bullion in an offshore account to help you rebuild your life. The "permanent portfolio" is not about getting rich quick, it's about avoiding becoming poor quick. The "variable portfolio" is about getting rich quick, if you can. I first read Browne's advice a couple of decades ago when I was living overseas and had just had the fun of going through a coup against the government that involved three days of firefights between govt troops and rebels *inside* the bank where every dime I owned was kept. Mr. Browne is right. Nobody knows what will happen next. If you have money you can't afford to lose, you have to be ready for anything, and Harry Browne gives you the tools to do so.
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47 of 47 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful Little Nuggets of Wisdom March 11, 2003
Format:Paperback
Honestly, while it takes longer than the thirty minutes advertised on the jacket and first few pages of the book to read through all seventeen rules, the extra time spent is well worth it. Mr. Browne offers the reader simple rules to learn and help one preserve and grow money wisely. As such, it tells you the easiest ways to lose money, and how to avoid them. Although I do not agree with his recommended approach to investing, I do agree entirely with the essence of his seventeen rules which superbly present common finance and investment misconceptions and skillfully refute them.

Speaking of his seventeen rules, the first five can be condensed into one simple rule: Forecasting = Fortune Telling. From Browne, we learn that no one can predict the future, yet many of us entrust our hard-earned money without any hesitation to modern day Gypsies- financial planners, emoneyf (mutual fund) managers and stockbrokers, who constantly tell us that they can predict the future using sophisticated eeconometricf forecasting tools. Browne reminds us that our wealth begins with what we earn, not with what we invest, and before we can invest, we have to earn. Although we can always borrow our way to bankruptcy with ease, we can borrow our way to prosperity only in our dreams. In the end, basing our earnings won through blood and sweat on the elaborate crystal-ball gazing of financial witch-doctors is the surest path to losses and total ruin.

Browne also delivers plain talk on risk, investment and speculation, and tells the reader that no one can ever hope to eliminate risk entirely. The best anyone can do is to develop realistic strategies for dealing with risk. As such, it becomes painfully clear that there is no such thing as a risk-free investment. This even includes for example so-called erisk-freef US Government Securities backed merely by the full faith and credit of the United States Government (I personally wonft think any less of the reader who laughs at that last sentence). Who knows what the future holds, and just because the worst-case scenario- a default or bankruptcy, has never happened does not necessarily mean that it can not happen tomorrow. In keeping with this, his thirteenth rule exhorts us to keep some assets outside of our native country, and is a brilliant touch. I had to laugh when I read the various calamities- natural and unnatural, which could befall our investments in our native country. However, one should keep in mind that such calamities can occur in ANY country. Also, holding some assets outside the US may not provide the secrecy or safety Browne says it will impart, simply because of the inter-connectedness of the global economy and the incredibly long reach of the US government.

At no point does the book let the reader off of the hook. We ultimately bear the responsibility for our investment decisions, and Mr. Browne is absolutely right when he says to never assume that what you have earned today can be easily earned tomorrow. Throughout the book, Mr. Browne wants to remind the reader of three things. First, it is hard to earn a dollar, yet even in the face of this generally accepted truism, there are those who want you to believe that you can get rich quick simply by making bets based on their uninformed, though highly elaborate, predictions about unpredictable events. Second, you know more than the so-called eexpertsf want you to think you know. The experts want you to disregard your common sense and put your trust in their opinion. Third, in the world of investing, what goes up eventually comes down, and even more important, what goes down does not necessarily have to go back up. As Browne pointedly remarks over and over again, in the world of investing, nothing is supposed to happen, and anything can happen. As such, the last five of his seventeen rules can be summarized as: Sophisticated = Stupid and Simple = Smart.

Finally, for those of us, including myself, who feel as if they have missed out on the Greatest Bull Market of All Time, fear not, for there will be other opportunities. After all, the last Greatest Bull Market of All Time occurred just before the Great Crash of 1929. As Browne tells the reader at the end of the book, you are not a failure if you missed the boat. To this I must add: You are not a failure if you missed the boat- especially if the boat was the Titanic! I think there are a lot of bruised and broken investors from the New Era Internet Boom (and subsequent Bust) that will wholeheartedly agree with me, as the last six years have been their figurative Titanic. These individuals especially need to read, and re-read this book as they invest going forward.

Bringing Las Vegas to a living room near you!

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63 of 70 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars THE BEST-KEPT SECRET IN THE INVESTING WORLD... September 4, 1999
Format:Hardcover
...according to Harry Browne, is the fact that "almost nothing turns out as expected." And yet, unlike in most other areas of their lives, in which they rightly view soothsayers as entertainers devoid of an inside track to the future justifying any go-for-broke departure from the straight and narrow of prudential common sense, somehow in the sphere of investing, perhaps driven by the fear of being "left behind" by the latest opportunities for speculative windfalls (and, need we add, spectacular losses?), millions of otherwise practical people are enchanted by one siren song or another: the claims of self-anointed "insiders" with "perfect" track records (i.e., a few lucky haphazard predictions from yesteryear masking the several dozen by the same advisor which turned sour), or the "scientific" systems of various gurus which start to fail the minute your money is on the line. By contrast, the desires of the great majority of us for the protection and enhancement of that part of our savings we cannot afford to lose as we prepare for retirement and beyond, can be best served by an investment strategy which emphasizes safety and simplicity - and which is diversified across four major investment media - stocks, bonds, gold and cash - so that, no matter what the uncertain future brings to the economy, our portfolios contain investments geared to respond well to each major trend - prosperity, inflation, tight money, or deflation. And with this strategy in place for those assets readers are counting on for their long-term survival, they still may, if they wish, speculate with that portion of their fortunes they know they can afford to lose. Ultimately, Browne's investment advice is a sound application of what, in that intoxicating book of personal philosophy which has helped so many in their quest for freedom and self-understanding, HOW I FOUND FREEDOM IN AN UNFREE WORLD (1973), he calls "The Uncertainty Trap: the urge to act as if your information were totally certain." And in their herd-based quest to sound "professional" and ahead of the competition, too many investment pundits and "experts" present themselves as "in the know" about not just why the market rose or fell today (I'm sure I'm not the only one who enjoys a great horselaugh whenever he hears broadcast reports to the effect that "the market rose today on rumors [or fears, or puffs of smoke] that..."), but what it will do tomorrow - and next year (as the always good-humored Browne points out, anyone with an authentic gift for financial prophecy wouldn't be wasting his time hawking newsletters and trading systems, or playing the talking-heads game on cable - he'd be helping the likes of George Soros and Rupert Murdoch invest a few spare billion, en route to owning his own country). Everything Browne writes merits the closest attention, and in this, his self-proclaimed last book on investing, he here presents a sort of summa of the common-sense wisdom he has garnered from thirty years of watching the rise and fall of markets - and he does so with his customary directness, clarity, and humility. He remains in a class by himself, and many of us will always be in his debt for the uncommon ideas he has expressed so ably. And above all for his own example - for the standard he has set.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Great read
This is one of the most valuable books on investing that I have ever read. And I have read a lot of them.
Published 2 months ago by W. C. Furbush
5.0 out of 5 stars See for yourself
Just look at the permanent portfolio fund over the last 20 years and that says it all! See Richard Marbury's Early Warning Report for more information.
Published 4 months ago by William C. Belk
5.0 out of 5 stars Simplicity is King
So here it is...simply the most clearly written book on investing truths out there and the safest most effective asset allocation known to man. Read more
Published 14 months ago by webdiva
5.0 out of 5 stars Classic investment advice that deserves ritual reading
This classic book needs no glowing review from me. I just want to say that I think it should be read at least once per year. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Ephraim Gadsby
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Reading
Harry Browne writes so that everyone can understand what he is telling us. If you follow his recommendations your investment will be making money in a up or down market. Read more
Published on February 26, 2010 by Gerald E. Rhea
5.0 out of 5 stars honest and fail-safe advice for investors like you and me - a must...
One rarely reads any investment advice or book this honest and straightforward, yet easy to understand and effective. Read more
Published on November 30, 2008 by X. Li
5.0 out of 5 stars Forever changed
I read a lot of books--but rarely write reviews. This one, however, is a game-changer.

Before reading this book, I was addicted to all kinds of financial pornography:... Read more
Published on September 22, 2008 by William J. Abbott
5.0 out of 5 stars Permanent Portfolio's Explained
I found this book very interesting and insightful. It's not really an "ABC" book to financing or anything, and I do think it's probably good to have some idea of economics and... Read more
Published on June 14, 2008 by A. Williams
5.0 out of 5 stars A very good way to invest
Browne describes a sensible and simple plan for making money with your investments. I waited over a year to review this book so I could actually try his method and build my... Read more
Published on January 5, 2008 by Maria Folsom
5.0 out of 5 stars Practical and Effective Financial Concepts
Every book written by Harry Browne is worthwhile, and this is no exception.

'Fail-Safe Investing: Lifelong Financial Security in 30 Minutes' should be required reading... Read more
Published on June 22, 2007 by Donald W. Pendergast
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