Before there was a fool.com, before David and Tom Gardner had become media celebrities, there was a revolutionary book on investing : The Motley Fool Investment Guide.  It was (and is) a truly radical book: it gets to the root of Wall Street's "Wisdom" and completely debunks it.

Wall Street firms would have you believe that you (as an "amateur") are incapable of properly investing your own money.  Instead, you should trust your hard-earned money to their Wise counsel of stocks (paying full commission) and mutual funds (again, paying loads and fees).

They do not go into a detailed analysis of why the vast majority of mutual funds under perform the market or why load funds do worse than no-load funds (though there is ample evidence for both propositions).  Instead, they question the basic premise that you cannot properly control your own investments.

For Fools, investing is not like diplomacy or neurosurgery: amateurs can compete with the professionals, often quite successfully.  In fact, the amateur has some advantages, like being small (David vs. Goliath), nimble, unbound by institutional requirements and government regulations.  With the advent of the Internet, the playing field is even more level, because you have access to much the same information as the pros (like investmenttool.com, for example) and even lower commissions.

Having gotten you to believe that you actually can invest for yourself, the Gardner brothers then proceed to teach you some basic basic techniques of investing.  They start with using Index funds to beat professionally managed 
funds.  They then move on to portfolio strategies like the Dow Dividend Strategy which attempts to buy Dow stocks on the cheap.  They then tackle strategies for more volatile small-cap growth stocks, including techniques for shorting stocks.  They then give sound advice on investment techniques you should avoid (including day trading).

So why did I like this book so much?  First, it's a good read, which always helps.

Second, I earned an MBA in Finance, which could qualify me to work for the Wise Ones.  Only after I finished b-school did I find out that much of the theory I learned fails one important test: reality.  So I like the idea that two guys who admit they aren't finance jocks come along and write a book that helps ordinary folks invest better by ignoring the received Wisdom.

Third, the Fools encourage you to do your own research and learn more about the companies you invest in.  It's a topic I can't emphasize this enough: know what you're doing before you do it.  This is not a warning: it's a "go get 'em" kick in the pants to take control of your investments.

So that's why I'm a Fool.

They started a movement with this book.  They have added more books and a Foolish web site, but it all started here.  Enjoy!

Daniel Vaisrub
investmenttool.com

You may click on these pictures or the book title to purchase this book from Amazon.com.

---

---

Send this page to a friend

Friends Email (Required):
Your Email (Required)    :
Your Name (Required)    :

Enter your message to your friend (optional):

Return Email receipt: Yes No 
Join Stockwatch Alert Mailing list: Yes No

---

---

---

News Headlines

1	AMEX takes a profit hit
2	Intel & Oracle News Pressures Tech Stocks
3	Asian markets retreat, wait for US
4	Wall street at a turning point
5	Fed cuts can't sustain market
6	Investors await IPO recovery
7	Earnings Glass Half Full
8	JDS Up on upgrade
9	Microsoft Tops estimates
10	Tech stops stride higher
11	Tech stocks maintain gains