"Basic Investing Guide For The New Investor," receives top review

Overcoming Important Misconceptions of Young Investors, March 5, 2001
5 Stars-Reviewer: Donald Wayne Mitchell, management book author and corporate finance consultant in Boston
"Basic Investing Guide For The New Investor" is aimed at the young person who will be starting a first full-time job in the next year. I have graded it for its appropriateness for that audience.

Stock investing is treated now in families like sex education was conducted in the fifties. People try to avoid any reference to this delicate subject.

As a parent, you can spend over $100,000 to send your child to a private college or $50,000 for a public one. In neither place will your child pick up the basic information to make her or him financially literate about doing long-term stock investing.

Or your child may not go to or finish college, and potentially have less income as a result. Investing becomes even more important in this situation.

What's worse, regardless of what educational or vocational route these capable young people take, they will have picked up misconceptions that will discourage him or her from getting started. This book can remedy that problem, by helping your daughter or son (or grandson or granddaughter) realize that they should begin investing as soon as they have enough income to save some ($50 or so) money every month.

If you are a young person just starting your career, chances are that you are handicapped by lack of information, and misconceptions about what you should be doing. Ordering this book today is a simple, effective step towards overcoming that situation.

This book effectively addresses these misconceptions:

(1) It doesn't matter much when you start (Actually, starting young is the biggest advantage any investor has)

(2) You need thousands of dollars to get started (Some investments can be started with $25, and putting in small amounts regularly makes you more money than larger amounts less often)

(3) It's too complicated for a young person to understand (Most of what you need to know is covered in less than 50 pages in this book, with not that many words on a page. If you can pass algebra and high school English, you will have no trouble with this material.)

(4) It takes too much time to get started (You should be able to take the right steps after spending less than 15 hours over a period of two months or so.)

But taking action counts for a lot in investments (as in other areas). So I suggest that you be sure the young adults in your family know this information. You can get a copy and teach them yourself, or you can simply give each person their own. Ask them what they have done about the information from time to time, and praise any actions they take to get information, start saving, or begin investing.

If you are a young person, every month you delay starting investing is costing you hundreds of dollars over your lifetime. Can you afford to waste that much money?

I think this book will make the most sense if read after Rich Dad, Poor Dad. After reading this book, I suggest that John Bogle's Common Sense About Mutual Funds be read to deepen and widen the interest that Basic Investing Guide for the New Investor will stimulate. If you already feel motivated to invest and do not have the misconceptions I mentioned above, you may already be ready for Bogle.

May your money and your children's money be saved and invested in ways to create much financial security for your children and grandchildren!

As a parent, consider that giving this book is a lot cheaper than providing any other form of education, or providing on-going financial security for the next two generations. It's a great investment for you, as well.

As a young person, consider that investing your money well is a lot less work than taking on a second job for most of your life to increase your income. This is important to creating time and balance in your life to enjoy your family and relationships.

Get started as soon as possible!
Source: Amazon.com

"Basic Investing Guide For The New Investor"
Author: Alfred V. Scillitani
ISBN 0-595-09889-4
Publisher: Writers Club Press
Visit BasicInvestingGuide.com for more information