Reading List for the Investing Master on InvestorGeeks

I have been a student of the stock market since my father and great uncle Andy sat me down in 1974 and started teaching me the beauty of investing in Exxon. This was during the oil embargo and my father’s restaurant “The Highland Diner” was situated right next to a gas station. I saw first hand the theory of supply and demand in action as cars where lined up 15-20 deep to fill up. In that year I bought my first shares of Exxon with $100 and eventually opened a dividend reinvestment plan with the company.

Working in that restaurant I also saw that every table had a Heinz ketchup bottle on it and my job at the ripe old age of ten was to manage the bottles and make sure that their were no “empties” on the tables. I saw with my own eyes the power of the trademark and invested in Heinz as well.

For the next ten years I invested most of my pay in those two companies and then went eventually big into Coca-Cola in 1984. I did this after going to college in Europe and seeing how addicted everyone was to their products.

Getting a Real Education by Reading
About every three months I would get quarterly reports from Exxon and Heinz and I would sit for hours trying to understand them. This was way before the age of personal computers and if you wanted to use a computer you needed punch cards and to work in a room the size of a cafeteria . The Internet was at least 15 years away and asking your Dad was as close as you could get to Googling an answer. In those days if you wanted to understand what “Book Value” meant in an annual report you had to go to the library and research it.

Many of you probably feel sorry for me for having to labor so and not having the technology available that everyone takes for granted today. But you should not do so, because I was forced to read in order to find out what price earnings ratio’s and return on equity meant.

While in the library I stumbled across 100’s of books on investing and read everyone I could get my hands on. By the time I was 20 years of age I knew about Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffett and Philip Fisher and was a big fan of Malcolm Forbes Sr.. I would do spreadsheets by hand and can you believe it on paper! It was not until 1990 that I converted to my first PC so I had a good 15 years of reading books in order to learn my trade.

What was I reading? Well the following list is what I consider essential reading for anyone who wants a strong foundation in investing. I will not detail each book, but just list them and provide links to Amazon so you can read the details on each one, (If they are still in print). By reading these books you will learn to not just be an observer of the markets but to become a true participant. You will never again have anyone pull the wool over your eyes and sell you some ponzi scheme or tell you that you can be a successful investor by just doing his system 15 minutes a week. Successful Investing requires hard work and a keen understanding of the terminology that is used. Without it you are flying blindfolded and will make many mistakes. The worst thing one can do in this business is to learn by trial and error. The following books contain the vast experiences of money masters and will save you thousands of dollars in mistakes. The following are the best investments you will ever make.

The Daily Regiment
First I would subscribe to the following:
- The Wall Street Journal = To learn in depth stuff on companies in real time.
- Investors Business Daily = A quick visual way to examine 100’s of companies a day.
- The Economist = The master information source for international investing.
- Forbes = A great source for in depth information on management of companies.

The Weekly Regiment
- The Library Periodical Reading Room = Despite what everyone thinks one can find 100’s of articles on companies that are not on Google, which may shed some light on a company that you are ready to invest in. You can spend a few hours at the public library and read past articles of the Wall Street Journal or trade magazines to give you a fuller picture on a company.

- Value Line Investment Survey = Most public libraries have this guide available or you can subscribe if you have the money. It is the best data source for information on over 7300 companies that you will find anywhere.

== THE READING LIST ==

Books by John Train:
- The Money Masters
- The New Money Masters
- Money Masters of our Time
- Preserving Capital and Making it Grow
- The Craft of Investing
- The Midas Touch
- Famous Financial Fiascos

Books by Benjamin Graham
- The Intelligent Investor
- Security Analysis -1934 edition
- The Interpretation of Financial Statements
- Benjamin Graham : Memoirs of the Dean of Wall Street

Books by or about Warren Buffett
- The Essays of Warren Buffett
- The Warren Buffett Way by Robert G Hagstrom
- Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist by Roger Lowenstein
- Buffettology by Mary Buffett and David Clark
- The Warren Buffett Portfolio by Robert G. Hagstrom

Books by Philip Carret
- The Art of Speculation
- A Money Mind at Ninety
- Common Sense from an Uncommon Man

Book by Philip Fisher
- Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits

Books by George Soros
- The Alchemy of Finance
- George Soros on Globalization
- Soros on Soros: Staying Ahead of the Curve

Books by Jim Rogers
- Buying Commodities
- Hot Commodities
- Investment Biker
- Adventure Capitalist

Books by Peter Lynch
- One Up On Wall Street
- Beating the Street
- Learn to Earn

Miscellaneous Reading
- The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
- Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay
- Margin of Safety (Out of Print) by Seth Klarman

The above is a great list to build a strong foundation as an investor. In those books you will find theories that have worked and not some “You TOO can be a great investor” books like the majority of the writings you see today.

To master the art of investing requires knowledge which must be gained on ones own. Understanding the terminology of the stock market is just as important; so spend some time and master the art so you don’t follow the crowd. Most of Wall Street acts in unison, those (like the authors above) have made their fortunes by acting independently of the lemming mentality that is found on Wall Street. Do your own homework and concentrate the limited time that you have to devote to investing by concentrating on what has worked in the past. Those above have not reinvented the wheel but have mastered the art of investing and the methods of their predecessors. They have then taken those ideas and have spent their lives trying to improve on them or make them relevant to the time they live in.

Civilization advances by passing the torch to the next generation, so grab that torch and master these writings and then innovate. That’s what makes life worth living in my book.

Peter George Psaras has been involved in the stock market in a variety of capacities. These include Hedge Fund Manager, Equity Analyst, Industry Analyst, Private Investor, Financial Writer for the Motley Fool and now as Contributor to the Investor Geeks. Currently he is working on a new stock research service called "The Stock Specialist", which will be a subscriber based research site where Mr. Psaras will analyze 1000's of companies comparing his "Real Value" indicator to the stock market's "Mr. Market" price.

Wednesday, Sep. 6, 2006 by Peter

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14 Comments Add your own Subscribe

1. Jason | September 6th, 2006 at 12:36 pm

Peter, thanks for the thorough list. I myself am a certified “book learner”.

I like your “study the real money makers” strategy to learning to invest. I consider you one of those real money makers, so reading the same books as you would be a good start towards becoming a successful investor.
2. Peter | September 6th, 2006 at 10:34 pm

Thanks Jason,

It is very important to study those who have achieved great success, so that hopefully we may follow in their footsteps. Warren Buffett will be the first to admit that he mastered his art by first mastering the writings of Benjamin Graham, Philip Fisher and Philip Carret. Investing has been around for millions of years, but it has never been as organized an art form as it has in the last 150 years with the development of the market economy.

We are blessed to live in a time where the power of the Internet and Computers, will bring infinite streams of information to our feet. This information will be so readily available that a small investor can have the same information available to her that could have only been found at a major Wall Street firm just 30 years ago. The secret to success in our time will be found by those who master how to organize all this available data and present it to the masses in a simplified form or system. In 1860 the ones who made great fortunes from the California Gold Rush were not those panning for gold, but were those who sold the miners their supplies.
3. Vince | September 7th, 2006 at 12:34 am

Good list with some a couple of new names that I can look into! Thanks…

I’m currently reading “The Art Of Short Selling”. Any recommendations in that area? If I can’t get any recommendations on that subject from a former hedge fund manager, I don’t know who I could turn to.. =)
4. Vince | September 7th, 2006 at 12:35 am

Oops.. didn’t mean to say “former” because you still are! I blame that on the keyboard! It’s going to get a vigorous cleaning tonight!
5. Peter | September 7th, 2006 at 1:19 am

Hi Vince,

I have never really found short selling to be a very profitable enterprise, but do use LEAPS to make long term moves. If you don’t know what they are I would suggest reading this book;

LEAPS: Long-Term Equity Anticipation Securites: What They Are and How to Use Them for Profit and Protection
By: Harrison Roth

Here is a nice tutorial to read which should show you the power of shorting over a 2-3 year period with LEAPS.

http://www.tradertalk.net/tutorial/LEAPS.html

Benjamin Graham always felt that short selling was a useless enterprise, but I believe that if he had the ability to use LEAPS he would have done quite well with them.

Good Luck,

Peter
6. Nick | September 8th, 2006 at 1:00 pm

Peter,
I enjoyed your writeup, you have a great collection materials that can help all level of investors.

I want to get started on a book from your list and I don’t know which one to start with. I have already read the first two Lynch books, Buffetology and The Intelligent Investor. I can’t do them all at the same time, so what should I go to first?

Another quick comment I have is about the ads on your site. I realize that they are generated automatically but I think some of them could hurt the perception of your site when there are links to “Hot Penny Stock Picks” and “Winning Stock Picks up 1000%.” Just something to think about, appreciate all the work that you do.
7. Peter | September 9th, 2006 at 7:31 am

Hi Nick,

I would definately read all the John Train books first and then the Buffett books. Those will give you a foundation on what is called “The Money Mind”, which is extremely important. Security Analysis (1934), The Fisher Book and The Alchemy of Finance are more advanced, so I would leave those for last. I have read the Fisher book at least 20 times and Security Analysis 4 times. They are the two most important books in Investing and I try to read the Fisher book everytime I fly somewhere and the 1934 edition of Security Analysis atleast once every 5 years. Everytime I read them I always learn something new.

As for the Google ads, they were supposed to be charitable ads like donations for Katrina Relief etc. Money Gn is just a free site that I put up as a probono thing and have been so busy with my new site “The Stock Specialist” that I haven’t been back to Gn in months. I will try to communicate with Google and see if anything can be done.

Peter
8. Shahram » Blog Arch&hellip | September 12th, 2006 at 11:07 am

[…] Reading List for the Investing Master […]
9. Lauren | September 12th, 2006 at 12:39 pm

I am thrilled that you are giving folks a reading list that includes books, reference to Value Line, and a nudge toward the public library’s reference and reading sections. As a librarian, I agree that many people can learn so much by reading books! Newspapers, Investment reports, special investment services–libraries have much of this. Also, many local libraries have some of these services directly online through their websites. People should access their local library’s website and see what online investment research is available this way as well. Thanks!
10. Peter | September 13th, 2006 at 1:32 pm

Thanks Lauren,

I have spent most of my career in libraries doing research and also worked in the SEC reading rooms using Microfiche (prior to the Internat). Our Seattle Public Library has the Value Line Investment Survey going back to 1950 if you can imagine. I could have never set up my backtest of Warren Buffett’s purchases if it were not for the Foster Business Library at the University of Washington. Most importantly the Librarians were the real resource. Thank you for doing your job, you can’t imagine how many out there appreciate the work you do.
11. peterp | October 29th, 2006 at 1:33 pm

hi pud,

i had to go through this board because I could not reach you at any of your old email addresses, email me your new one when you get a chance

question, i was trying to get to the rti website and when i entered www.righttimeinvesting.org it brings me to a “go dady.com page that says that it is parked free”, can you please give me an update on why I can not get there?

also what are the goals for your new stock specialist site and when will it be launched?

thx

peterp
12. Jason | October 30th, 2006 at 10:27 am

Peterp,

I’ll try to get this message to Mr. Psaras. It seems he let the RTI domain expire. The email address we had on file for him was through that domain, so we can’t contact him that way.

I’ll dig up his phone number and see if I can get a new email from him and just see what he’s up to.
13. marti | February 11th, 2007 at 12:17 am

Dear Peter,

I also have not been able to reach you via email and hope you will reply.

I am in Seattle now, and would like to communicate, catch up, and get some advice and information from you. (I also cannot remember the special vegan spots you told me about!!!)

Lots of news on this end. Hope you are well and your new site will be a hit.

In friendship,
marti (”mu”)

PS: anyone reading this who might be able to forward this - that would be welcomed.
14. March | March 6th, 2008 at 12:01 pm

Peter, I’ve been looking for you. Please call me. or email me.
Hope you are well.

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