Customer Reviews

How to Invest $50 to $5000: The Small Investor's Step-By-Step, Dollar-By-Dollar Plan for Low-Risk, High-Value Investing

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

New research in Ordinary People, Extraordinary Wealth points out that people who are wealthy from investments in their 50s usually started by making individual investments of just a few hundred dollars. Ms. Dunnan's book is the first I have seen to frankly and thoroughly discuss how to acquire and apply those first increments for investing.

Before waxing too poetic about this book (which is well written and conceptually very sound), I must point out a major flaw (the source of a 4 star rather than a 5 star rating). The book was poorly revised in this edition, and is filled with errors and questionable suggestions. I will list but a few. The National Association of Investors Corporation is listed as the National Association of Investment Clubs in all but one place (which it has not been for more than 10 years). You are encouraged to get stock in Brooklyn Union Gas in several places (which was renamed as KeySpan Energy several years ago, and is correctly identified only once by its current name). A safe corporate bond is listed that of Xerox (which now teeters on the edge of bankruptcy, having drawn down a multibillion dollar line of bank credit recently). I could go on, but you get the idea.

Sticking with the concepts (be sure you do your homework on applying the concepts, because you cannot trust the details here about the stock and bond markets in many places), this is a great book. The list of the 10 dumbest mistakes that people make about investing is worth the price of the book alone.

The book is organized first around helping you acquire and safely hold $50. I agree with Ms. Dunnan that a credit union will often be your best bet. Then, she looks at where to put $500 once you have it. This section is pretty good until she gets to suggesting stocks. For most people, a money market account is a good bet until enough is acquired to get into a diversified stock portfolio through a mutual fund. See John Bogle's book, Common Sense About Mutual Funds, when you are ready for that research. The discussion of tax-deferred opportunities is good in the section on your first $1,000. The information about buying government bonds is good in the remainder of the book.

The book could have been improved by putting the on-line URLs into the text, rather than concentrating them in on appendix. I recommend the Incredible Internet Guide to On-line Investing as a better resource to complement this book.

Be sure to pay attention to the many hints and cautions in the book. They are uniformly good advice!

Realizing that you should do all your own homework, I do hope you will buy, read, and apply this book's valuable way of thinking about investing. You will be well on your way to investment success if you do!

Ask yourself where else an organized approach to getting started could make sense. What about exercise or weight control? Then see if you can find a common sense way to begin with appropriate steps that will build into a lifelong patterns of success. For weight control, I suggest you read Sugar Busters! and Good Fat, Bad Fat. Anyone should do better with weight control after understanding the important messages in those two books.

Fresh out of college with my first "real" job, I went in search of a book aimed at someone with absolutely no investment experience or education. This book has served my purposes perfectly. Aimed at the small investor, this book helps you create a portfolio appropriate to your financial needs, with the result that you are able to start planning for the future without getting in over your head. Easy to read, written in layman's terms with explanations of the basic investment jargon. If your looking to take responsibility for your finacial future, but don't necessarily want to be immersed in Wall Street, this book is for you.

This book is the best book on investing I have ever read. It is filled with numerous addresses, phone numbers, and websites with a wealth of investment knowledge. Her illustrations and definitions of various investment terms were the clearest I have seen. I read the entire book in less than 24 hours. I have never saved a dime in my life, but this book inspired me to get a savings account, a CD, and I'm looking for a broker in order to invest in mutual funds. Anyone who needs information on investing should buy this book.

This book provides straightforward, useful information that fits the title appropriately. One advantage here is that contact information is included for many companies you may wish to contact. Nonetheless, the $12 cover price is well out of proportion to what it should be. Readers should first consider Personal Finance for Dummies by Eric Tyson, which gives 10x more bang for the buck. (And it's not at all for dummies!)

Great for people who really are just getting started in investing. Teaches about terms and techniques. What the purpose of investing and the different types of investing you are able to participate. Also nicely weighs pros and cons.

The book is a list of habits more than a list of hype. And enough habits spanned over time, you get a fairly cheap but well off person. Might not be your persona, but this is the strength of the book. A very good read and entertaining.

Other investment books worthwile to read:

Complete Guide to Real Estate Tax Liens and Foreclosure Deeds: Learn in 7 Days

This book lacks vision and structure. First of all, there is hardly an introduction. Next, we are confronted with a calendar that lists some random things having to do with personal finance, but which is not part of any greater plan. From beginning to end we are bombarded with lists, the thought behind them remaining unclear. Finally, the appendices (7 in number, on a book less than 200 pages) look like unfinished chapters that did not fit in for some reason. For one of them, that reason is obvious: It lists several ways to BORROW money. But if you have to borrow money, why invest? Or: if you invest, why borrow money? This chapter did not fit in because it does not have anything to do with investing in the first place.

The first sentence states what this book is about: 'This book is intended to help you keep your money, whether you just have a few dollars or a few thousand.'

Indeed, this book is not so much about how to MAKE MORE money as it is about how to KEEP your money. So the emphasis is really on everything low-risk and low-profit. You get information about savings accounts, certificates of deposit and bonds, something about mutual funds, but not much information about how to pick your own stocks.

All in all not a 'high value' investment.

This book explains you don't need thousands of dollars in the bank to start investing. You can start with as little as $50. The book tells you what you can invest in as your money grows.
If you are a new investor or afraid to invest because you don't know where or what to do. This is a great book for you.

Short, concise but detailed, is a good overview of the first investment steps.

The perfect investment advisor for every beginner in the stock exchange - and not only. Find out about on-line trading, maximize your 401(k) investments, save for college, explore funds and bonds and investment clubs.

Good book to have, needs updating regularly.

By Thei Zervaki
author of Globalize, Localize, Translate

Outdated investing information is worse than no information at all. Don't take any 'data' in this book at face value.
I was really disappointed in the small number of small investments in the book.
I have a more 'holistic' investment perspective, but I know of a lot more small investments;
Pay off high interest debt!!
A shopping warehouse membership.
A freezer.
A 'cushion' in the checking account to keep any checks from bouncing. It can also reduce the fees for a double dividend!

Regular maintenance of vehicles and major appliances.
Energy efficient lights.
Water heater blanket.
Pre-pay phone cards.
Continuing education classes.
A consultaion with a Certified Financial Planner.