INVESTING SUCCESS [Hardcover]

Lynnette Khalfani (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2004 | Series: Investing Success

With a foreword from investing legend Charles Schwab, Investing Success is a practical, easy-to-understand guide that helps people take control of their financial lives, and avoid or fix common money management and investing mistakes.

By reading Investing Success, you will discover:
* Whether you're truly ready to invest in the stock market - or if you're investing "prematurely"
* How to determine if a potential investment is right for you
* Which simple rules of investing work, and which don't
* The biggest buying and selling blunders that investors make - and how to avoid or fix them
* Tried-and-true ways to help overcome your emotions and make smarter investing decisions
* The do's and don'ts of dealing with financial advisors (such as stockbrokers, CPAs, and financial planners)
* How to minimize your worries about investing and start multiplying your wealth!

Even if you've never invested before, author Lynnette Khalfani provides simple and straight-forward instructions about how to get your financial house in order - by getting rid of credit card debt, boosting your savings and taking care of the financial basics.

The best part about Lynnette's advice is that it will work in any environment - bull or bear market, a thriving economy or a recession.

By adopting the strategies that Lynnette recommends, you will feel confident managing your money, and will achieve financial and investing success!

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I encourage you to take Lynnette's well-researched advice to heart." -- Charles Schwab, Founder and Chairman, The Charles Schwab Corporation

"This book deserves a place in the library of every individual investor." -- Leland Hevner, President, National Association of Online Investors

From the Inside Flap

Over the past decade, veteran financial journalist and former Wall Street Journal reporter Lynnette Khalfani has interviewed more than 1,000 financial planners, stockbrokers, money managers, and other investment professionals. Additionally, she has communicated with scores of investors through her columns, workshops and seminars, giving audiences practical, educational, and easy-to-understand financial information.

Investing Success is the product of Lynnette’s extensive research into what it takes to become a more successful investor – and what pitfalls should be avoided.

If you’ve ever purchased the wrong investment, sold a stock at the wrong time, or hired the wrong financial advisor, Investing Success will help you sidestep such mistakes in the future.

Investing Success is packed with hundreds of ideas and strategies for the novice and sophisticated investor alike. The advice contained in this book represents the wisdom of some of the top experts in finance, as well as real-life investors – people just like you! – who speak frankly about their own investing miscalculations and what they learned from those situations.

By reading Investing Success, you will discover:
· Whether you’re truly ready to invest in the stock market – or if you’re investing "prematurely"
· How to determine if a potential investment is right for you
· Which simple rules of investing work, and which don’t
· The biggest buying and selling blunders that investors make – and how to avoid or fix them
· Tried-and-true ways to help overcome your emotions and make smarter investing decisions
· The do’s and don’ts of dealing with financial advisors (such as stockbrokers, CPAs, and financial planners)
· How to minimize your worries about investing and start multiplying your wealth!

Lynnette Khalfani contends that unsuccessful investors focus on products (fretting over the "best" stock to buy or the "hottest" mutual fund), while successful investors focus on the process of investing.

In Investing Success, Lynnette outlines the five crucial phases of the investing process:
· Strategizing to meet your goals and needs
· Buying the right investments for your portfolio
· Adequately holding/monitoring your investments
· Selling investments in a judicious manner; and
· Dealing effectively with financial advisors

If you want to learn to master these five phases of investing, Lynnette provides a roadmap that anyone can follow. You will then be well on your way to reaching your goals – whether you’re planning for retirement, saving for a child’s college education, or simply trying to achieve financial freedom.

Even if you’ve never invested before, Lynnette provides easy-to-follow instructions about how to get your financial house in order – by getting rid of credit card debt, boosting your savings and taking care of the financial basics.

The best part about Lynnette’s advice is that it will work in any environment – bull or bear market, a thriving economy or a recession.

By adopting the strategies that Lynnette recommends, you will be able to take control of your financial future, feel confident about investing, and achieve investing success!

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Advantage World Press (January 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932450505
• ISBN-13: 978-1932450507
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,503,734 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Basic, yes, but invaluable for many people, December 10, 2003

By 

Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: INVESTING SUCCESS (Hardcover)

There are so many books which offer advice on investments and this is one of the best. At the outset, I presume to share some lessons I have learned over the years which seem relevant to Khalfani's suggestions as to how to "conquer 30 costly mistakes and multiply your wealth." First, the importance of systematic savings. Next, the importance of compounded interest on what we save. Finally, the importance of having a realistic plan for increasing one's net worth through systematic savings and the compound interest accumulated by it. Unless and until an individual investor fully appreciates the importance of the first two and then commits to the third, costly mistakes will be made with inevitable (but avoidable) results.

Khalfani organizes her material within five Parts: Strategic Slip-Ups, Buying Blunders, Holding/Monitoring Mishaps, Selling Snafus, and Financial Advisor Foul-Ups. Although each seems to focus on mistakes of judgment, she explains how to avoid the don'ts by doing their opposite. Whereas unsuccessful investors focus on products, successful investors focus on the process of investing. For example, they

* Set specific, measurable, and realistic investment goals (Chapter 1)

* Do not have concentrated wealth (Chapter 9)

* Monitor your investment frequently and rigorously (Chapter 13)

* Have a sell strategy (Chapter 17)

* Take full advantage of all available independent research (Chapter 25)

My guess (only a guess) is that this book will not be of substantial value to sophisticated investors. They and their financial advisors probably know which "costly mistakes" to avoid and how to avoid them. For so many others, however, I think that Khalfani's book will provide the guidance they need to achieve greater success with their investments than would otherwise be possible. As she explains, the investment process involves five distinct phases: strategizing to identify and then meet personal goals, buying the right (i.e. most appropriate) investments, holding and carefully monitoring those investments, selling investments in a judicious and prudent manner, and dealing effectively with intermediaries such as stockbrokers and financial planners. Basic stuff? Yes, of course, but so many private investors are either unaware of this process or (for whatever reasons) lose patience with it.

It remains for each of us to determine what "wealth" means. More to the point, it is our responsibility, indeed our obligation to protect and preserve whatever resources we may have, investing them wherever and whenever most appropriate. If you are among those in need of expert guidance when making such investment decisions, Khalfani's book can be of substantial assistance. However, as she correctly insists, you must first understand the process...and then invest as much of your time and energy may be required before you make investment decisions.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cogent Advice for Novice Investors, January 26, 2004

By 

James Sadler (Plano, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: INVESTING SUCCESS (Hardcover)

Each year, it seems reams of page are published on the subject of investing. Many are forgettable and some should absolutely be avoided. But a friend told me to check this book out and I was pleasantly surprised. Lynnette Khalfani is a former reporter for "The Wall Street Journal" and CNBC. To her credit, she keeps the chapters short and to the point and ends each with what she refers to as a "$ummary $uccess $tory." The book is clear, concise, and east to read and follow.

Khalfani essentially notes that mistakes made by people in investing are fairly common to the majority of investors. She divides the book into five sections: strategizing your goals, buying, holding, selling, and dealing with investment intermediaries such as stock brokers. She has an easy-to-read, friendly style of writing. The advice is basic, and more sophisticated investors will consider as remedial or average, at best, but for anyone who knows little about investing, it's a great starting point.

Her advice is solid throughout, and the piece of advice she considers most important is particularly good: Don't invest prematurely. By that she means you should have a stash of three-to-six months of expenses, a will, and disability insurance before you dive into investing. If you are new to investing, read this book first, you'll be glad you did.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Resource, December 25, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: INVESTING SUCCESS (Hardcover)

Investing Success inspired me to kick start 2004...and to develop a strategy for investing. The book is sophisticated enough to be helpful, concise and well written. The examples Summery Success Strategies at the end of each chapter help me stay focused and on track. Finally, a book that tells you what to do and how to clean up the mess if you've made mistakes.