The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing [Mass Market Paperback]

Jason Kelly (Author)

Book Description

Series: Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing | Publication Date: December 18, 2007

A comprehensively updated edition of an essential guide to stock market investing

For over a decade, Jason Kelly has provided investors with the insider knowledge and time-tested strategies they need to maximize their investment programs. This thoroughly updated edition of The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing includes:
• Kelly’s Maximum Midcap Strategy, an innovative investment program that consistently outperforms the market
• Real-life examples of investment strategies that paid big dividends
• Tips from master investors like Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch, and Bill Miller

An accessible, intelligent, and highly effective approach to investing, The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing is an invaluable resource for investors everywhere.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jason Kelly wrote about a variety of topics, from computers to finance, before finding his niche in the stock market.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Plume; Revised edition (December 18, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452289211
• ISBN-13: 978-0452289215
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 6.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (84 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #198,831 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jason Kelly is the author of nine books including "The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing," a BusinessWeek best seller now in its 2010 edition, and his newest title, "Stock Market Contest," published in November 2011. He also publishes "The Kelly Letter," a curiously readable weekly investment advisory.

He graduated from the University of Colorado in 1993 with a BA in English, but not before a professor told him that he would never succeed as an author because he "lacked a basic command of the English language." Luckily, IBM disagreed and hired Jason as a technical writer at its Silicon Valley Laboratory in San Jose, California. Once income from his freelance writing matched his income from IBM, Jason left corporate life to become a full-time freelance writer. About IBM hiring him for the only "real" job he's ever had, Jason wrote in Financially Stupid People, "I keep a special smile for Big Blue because of that break. It was the only company that believed in me. I never knew the meaning of the term 'competing offer.'"

One of Jason's Japanese publishers, Shueisha, brought him to Tokyo on book tour in 1999. He took that opportunity to visit his old high school exchange student friend, and wrote a funny article about the experience. That article remains one of Jason's most widely read. It's still on his site, at http://is.gd/cLe5V. Japan went straight to Jason's heart, and he decided to live there. He rented out his home in California and moved to Sano, Japan in 2002 for what he thought was going to be a one-year stay. Eight years later, he still lives and works there.

In addition to writing new books and "The Kelly Letter," he's also the angel investor in Red Frog Coffee in Longmont, Colorado, a delightful little shop managed by his sister and business partner, Emily.

Learn all you could ever want to know about Jason at jasonkelly.com/about.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clearly written. Solid strategies., February 6, 2008

By 

Monty Rainey (New Braunfels, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the 2008 revised edition of THE NEATEST LITTLE GUIDE TO STOCK MARKET INVESTING by Jason Kelly. I've been studying the stock market for over 30 years and have read countless books on basic investment strategies. This book is one of the best.

Even if you have little or no knowledge of stock trading, this book is written in simple, easy to understand terms. Yet there is actually enough detail here to be not just useful, but the foundation you need to get you starting in profitable investing. What Kelly offers here may not be produce the greatest results, but, especially for the beginning investor, this is solid investment strategy that maintains a low degree of risk.

Over time, you may develop or learn other strategies that will replace some of what you learn here, but the core principles should stick with you throughout your investing career. I highly recommend this book. Seasoned traders will appreciate Kelly's strategies. Beginning traders need a good place to start, and I believe this is one of the best places around.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good summary but misleading on strategy, August 8, 2009

By 

M. Wang - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing (Mass Market Paperback)

I like this book because it is a good summary on many different things and reader friendly to those who don't have much knowledge on stocks.

However, author strongly recommended on using leveraged index fund. This is a very dangerous move and could be devastating. In the recent down turn, we already saw the problem with this strategy. So far we are still lucky because Dow didn't drop more than 50%. If next time, it drops 60-70%, the leveraged fund may never get back to previous levels. And your most of your life savings could be wiped out. This is certainly not a good recommendation for beginners.

The reasoning in the book is also flawed. For example, it says the down turn in 2001 is probably the worst in life time because the Nasdaq drops 78%. But the trading strategy is not about Nasdaq, it is about Dow or mid cap 400. These two were not hit very hard in 2001.

If you are a beginner, just use the book as a starting guide, don't really invest the money as the book suggested.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Valuable, must-have information for all investors, January 27, 2008

By 

Susanna Hutcheson "Copywriting for the Discri... (Midwest U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing (Mass Market Paperback)

I just finished reading the 2008 edition of this book and found it terrific. Some of the material was basic so I skipped it. But if someone is new to investing, this information would be worth its weight in gold to them.

Kelly gives the reader the investing strategies of several top investors. While they're different in some very substantial ways, it allows the reader to choose his own style or begin to develop one.

For example, one famous investor keeps a stock no matter what. It can go very low and he'll buy even more. He says that by buying more, his average cost goes down. Which it does if you watch it in your own portfolio.

Yet another investor sells when a stock goes down eight percent and another sells at fifteen percent loss.

I think knowing when to sell is perhaps harder than knowing when to buy. I have to problems buying a stock and doing the research. It's knowing when to sell that gives me trouble. So I enjoyed reading about the different styles and trying to get a grip on it. The main thing, according the book, is to know in advance when you'll sell. Decide why you bought the stock in the first place. Then, when and if the stock no longer meets those criteria, sell.

I had one small issue with the book and that's the fact it didn't deal much with ETFs. Of course, ETFs are stocks to a large extent. But one can't judge them by the same criteria in that some of the inner holdings may retain your criteria while one or two others may not.

But this small, easy to read book covers it all. It's a full course in the stock market and is good for investors at all levels. There are very few investors who would not benefit from reading this book.

Highly recommended.