The Smartest Investment Book You'll Ever Read: The Simple, Stress-Free Way to Reach Your Investment Goals (Hardcover)

by Daniel R. Solin (Author)
Key Phrases: smart investors, bond index fund, hyperactive funds, Hyperactive Investors, Smart Investing, Rowe Price (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"It's so simple. It almost seems counterintuitive," Solin said. And after a 26-minute conversation with Solin, Metro--now armed with a new investment strategy-actually agreed. -- Metro New York, November 6, 2006

A no-nonsense, no-fuss guide for investors of all experience levels and financial resources. -- Kirkus Reviews, November 1, 2006

I just finished a great little book (I say little because it's a bit smaller than a regular book in size and is only 150 pages), but it's full of great investment advice, principles, data, facts, studies --you name it. The book is The Smartest Investment Book You'll Ever Read: The Simple, Stress-Free Way to Reach Your Investment Goals. -- FreeMoneyFinance.com

Is this, as the title claims, the smartest investment book you'll ever read? ..... I can say it's the smartest so far. -- ConsumerismCommentary.com

It's tightly written, always on-point and not weighed down with anecdotes and aphorisms, and could be just the instruction book that you were looking for, but never received with that thick pension package from your company's HR department. -- Miami Herald, November 27, 2006

Solin does a great job of keeping his advice simple; his guide can be read...in a couple of hours. -- Library Journal

[Solin's] recommendations are sound and simple to put into effect... it is clear he is on to something. -- The New York Times, October 8, 2006

Product Description
Achieve financial security in 90 minutes or less.

Daniel Solin cuts through financial propaganda to show readers exactly how assets should be invested, using trusted, brand name fund managers like Fidelity and Vanguard. Solin's easy-to-follow plan allows investors to create and monitor their portfolios in 90 minutes or less a year, explaining how to assess risk and how to allocate assets to maximize returns and minimize volatility. Readers will also learn how to avoid the biggest mistakes investors make, from buying into media hype to giving their hard earned cash to hyperactive brokers and investment advisors.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Perigee Trade (November 7, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399532838
• ISBN-13: 978-0399532832
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #71,866 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

80 of 85 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Simple Lifetime Investing Approach That Works, November 7, 2006

By	L. Masonson (Monroe, New York USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Daniel Solin, a securities arbitration lawyer, has penned a short and sweet book on investing for all types of investors. The author's four-step investment strategy is one that is well known and has been espoused by many market veterans (especially John Bogle, the inventor of the first index fund at Vanguard) and the financial media (selected magazine articles and selected investing books) for years.

Solin recommends that investors follow four steps with their investments to beat the vast majority of professionals:
1. Determine your asset allocation based upon your personal parameters (Note: author provides a multi-page asset allocation questionnaire to determine a specific score for each individual's circumstances and risk tolerance).
2. Open an account with Fidelity Investments, Vanguard or T. Rowe Price.
3. Set up your portfolio among three specific no-load, low internal expense index funds in any of the three fund families representing the total U.S. stock market, international market, and U.S. bond market, or purchase three specific similar in composition ETFs.
4. Rebalance the portfolio twice a year.

The author provides readers with a specific percentage of dollars to be invested in each fund or ETF depending upon the investor's risk tolerance. In an appendix, he provides the historical returns of these portfolios for the four risk combinations (e.g., 20% equities/80% bonds, 40%/60%. 60%/40%and 80%/20%).

He appropriately warns investors about hedge funds, house funds, margin, B and C mutual fund shares, and other concerns that result in higher costs and lower returns. With the advent of the Internet, investment scams have proliferated and investors need to be exceedingly careful with their money.

While most of the author's points are on solid ground, I take issue with his chapter titled "Nobody Can Time the Market." The author mentions that market timing is nothing but a shell game, and that no one can consistently predict the market's direction. I find that assertion not credible. The main goal of market timing is to reduce risk, not beat the market. The key to investment success is to look at risk-adjusted returns, since bear markets can devastate portfolios and take many years to recover. The Hulbert Financial Digest, an independent and authoritative rating service, tracks stock and mutual fund newsletter writers, as well as market timers. The digest provides data on specific market timers that have beat the market on a risk-adjusted basis for the last 10 years or more. So yes, there are successful market timers contrary to the author's assertion.

Solin's basic premise is that most investors with less than $1 million in investible assets do not need the help of investment advisors and brokers, since their assistance does not translate into improved returns over the long term. Therefore, why pay them commissions and fees when they offer no value-added. Wealthy investors may benefit from the more complicated investment strategies offered by advisers.

Overall, the author does a credible job of providing investors with the basics of a solid investment plan and how to put together a viable low-cost portfolio that will appreciate over time. This is a quick read and will take about an hour or two to get through. After that, it is up to the reader to take action, and that may be the biggest stumbling block to his/her future investment success.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Refreshing or Arrogant? Still a Worthwhile Investment Read, March 20, 2007

By	dennis wentraub (schenectady, new york USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The message here is that investors should take charge of their investment portfolio by determining an asset allocation model based on their tolerance for risk and invest their assets in index mutual funds (or ETF exchange traded funds) that track the U.S. equity, U.S. bond, and international markets. Trying to "beat" the market with actively managed mutual funds is a fool's game. Stock-picking and market-timing don't work. The popular financial media is a distraction. Your broker may not be acting in your best interest. Avoid hedge funds, margin, brokerage wrap accounts, proprietary brokerage ("house") mutual funds, B and C mutual fund shares, etc.

Even the author concedes that we've heard this before. His contention, however, is that many of those scholarly works are difficult to understand and have not achieved commercial success thus conveying the impression that you can't do this yourself. That's the rationale for this book. The ideas are concise and accessible. Many will be put-off by the book's aggressive tone (e.g. most advisers are "hyperactive" and self-serving). Many will find this tabloid-equivalency refreshing.

The basic ideas - the importance of asset allocation and low investment costs - and many of the specifics - the recommended portfolios - of this book make sense for many investors, I'm not sure all. Solin talks about including bonds as "ballast" in a portfolio, but what about the specific value of tax free municipal bonds? Among the best performing investment classes in recent years (and at other times) have been real estate and commodities. These diversifying asset classes are overlooked, even though ETFs track indexes for those different markets. Another reality is that many retirees are looking for investments that produce strong (monthly) cash flow, yet these are also ignored.

One of the risks faced by an investor is that the rush of certainty imparted by this book can persuade them that they have learned all they need to know. A little bit of humility (uncertainty?) is a good thing for an open mind in an unpredictable market.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Smart and easy investing, December 1, 2006

By	Marlane Myhre (La Crosse, WI) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

My husband and I followed the plan in this book and I can say that it is everything it says it is. It is simple. It took us less than an hour to decide on our asset allocation (I went to the author's website [...] and took the questionnaire on line.) We are opening accounts directly with Fidelity after contacting their customer service people who were excellent in responding to the few questions we had.

We don't worry about the news. We don't worry about the collapse of another major company or industry. We feel really good about having a "global" portfolio and about understanding (finally) and managing our risk.