Frank bought me The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need by Andrew Tobias for Christmas, which finally arrived at my doorstep on Saturday. With the assistance of Tobias’ great sense of humor, it’s a quick and enjoyable read. The book provides sound advice on when it’s appropriate for people to begin considering their investment options, and what those options are.
I’ve spent a lot of time in the past week working with the Morningstar Premium Fund Screener, a tool used to search for mutual funds based on filtering criteria. Think of a screener as both a search engine and a pair of blinders. Not only will it help you discover new funds but it will also keep you away from funds that may post high short-term results but have a lot of inherent risks.
This screener is the best I’ve seen for mutual funds and in addition to access to Morningstar analyst reports, makes the Morningstar Premium subscription worth every penny of the $135/yr fee. If you can get a friend or two to split it with you, all the better! Think of it this way, if you have $15,000 invested in mutual funds and this subscription lets you pick up an extra 1% annually, it has more than paid for itself.
I’ve become very interested recently in fellow investment blogger Phil Town’s site, and so I’ve been reading it from start to finish. After reading much of his site, I’ve come to enjoy his style of writing and investing. Ever the skeptic though, I wanted to make sure he’s not just some shill on the web hawking his wares to an unsuspecting public. Everything I found has been good, and I was even able to find a new resource that he recommends frequently called the INVESTools Investor Toolbox.
About Phil Town
It’s important when investing to pick your advisors carefully. I have kind of a rating system for investment advice.
Poor – Any guy on the web. Pay little attention.
Fair – What he says passes the reason test. I’ll listen skeptically.
Good – Good track record, good advice. I’m listening, but still fact checking.
