Customer Reviews

The Thrifty Investor: Penny-Wise Strategies for Investors on a Budget

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

 

 

An excellent read that is current on the fast changing times in the stock market. A great deal of research went into this book and it would take many years of study and fact finding to replicate the data on your own. This book has the cutting edge investment strategies from the mid-90's through the new millennium to harnes your financial future, regardless of income or knowledge. This book is both a great tool of the trade for a seasoned investor and a great starting point for the beginning investor. Save yourself $...and four years of college with this book. If you already have your financial ducks in a row - then give this book to your children or a friend - it will pay dividends for generations. The author is a wonderful father, husband, community leader, friend and the best college professor I ever had. His advice has served me wonderfully over the years - it will do the same for you.

This new book is well-written, helpful and painstakingly researched. It's filled with dozens of interesting tables and charts. Israelsen preaches the benefits of long-term investing rather than day-trading and short-term buying and selling. The first chapter, "The Investment Thing," clearly answers such questions as: Why invest in stock? Why do corporations sell stock? What causes the price of a stock to go up or down? How does annual return translate into actual dollar gains? With these basic questions answered, you are ready to absorb chapters on investment risks, mutual funds, how to get into investing, buying stock directly from companies, taxes, and finally, a battle plan. Includes great information on how to save for your children's education as well as retirement. Filled with smart advice and written in an easy-to-understand fashion, "The Thrifty Investor" is a great investment of your time -- and money.

This is an excellent work for new investors, especially thosewho can only start on $50 a month to invest. Based upon his ownresearch as a professor, Craig states: "Investing in stock mutualfunds reduces the chance of experiencing negative returns compared toinvesting in individual stocks." And, he backs up this claim:"Investors who patiently and intelligently invest over a longperiod of time end up being rewarded by volatility rather than hurt byit." One should definitely check out his "Frugal FortyMutual Funds, Grouped by Equity Style" chart on p.39. This bookis meant for anyone to read and understand. It is an easy read--as ifyou were listening to Craig tell you about this. Before one reads"Mutual Funds for Dummies" or even any of Bach, Clements, orSuze Orman, read this first! His students love him, and so willeveryone that reads this short, very readable, and packed full of goodadvice book.

A very well done, if a bit dated, introduction to how to invest without eating up your funds and profits with unnecessary fees. Basically stay away from brokers and anyone affiliated with them and you are much better off.

The Thrifty Investor is one of several books that demonstrate the ability of folks of modest means to invest with both safety and success. Although written more than a decade ago, the core principles and basic ideas contained in the book are still very relevant. Given its age, most of the specific information on various mutual funds and Sharebuilder (which has grown tremendously in both its offerings and complexity) is now well out of date; however, readers can still learn a great deal from its historical summaries of stock performance (these terminate around 1998 and 1999).

Readers should pay very careful attention to Chapters One, Eight and Ten. These chapters clearly demonstrate the importance of investing and how necessary it is to simply start the process, that it does not take much in the way of funds to successfully invest, and that investing does not have to be too involved, complicated or convoluted to be successful. The author does a very good job in the last chapter of reminding the reader why he or she is investing (or more to the point, should be investing), and at the same time places the investment activity within the proper context of one's life. I suggest that both beginning and jaded investors read this book in combination with Lowell Miller's The Single Best Investment: Creating Wealth with Dividend Growth, Kelly Wright's Dividends Still Don't Lie: The Truth About Investing in Blue Chip Stocks and Winning in the Stock Market, and RoxAnn Klugman'sThe Dividend Growth Investment Strategy: How to Keep Your Retirement Income Doubling Every Five Years for good, solid reinforcement. Those readers that are really stoked about investing can then follow up with Charles ("Chuck") Carlson's Eight Steps to Seven Figures: The Investment Strategies of Everyday Millionaires and How You Can Become Wealthy Too and his excellent book on dividend investing, The Little Book of Big Dividends: A Safe Formula for Guaranteed Returns (Little Books. Big Profits). Those intrepid souls that are truly serious about self-directed investing may want to pick up All About Dividend Investing, Second Edition (All About Series) and All About DRIPs and DSPs.

Don't let a small grubstake or a small amount of leftover monthly cash flow keep you from slowly but surely building wealth. Start investing, make your moves, and get back to the very important business of living a full and rich life in your own right and your own way. It really doesn't get any more simple than this.