Investment Resources
For all experience levels
Why a resources list?
I started to learn about investments in the chaotic summer of 2020. All I had read at the time was One Up on Wall Street by Peter Lynch, but I felt prepared enough to make my first bets. On the back of the most primitive due diligence and naïve faith in Lynch’s buy-what-you-know principle, I loaded up on companies like Logitech, whose cheap and rugged gaming equipment I used; Garmin, which had sold me a sleek, functional GPS watch to run with; and Nomad Foods, whose frozen Bird’s Eye and iglo brands were crammed into my local supermarket’s fridges. I owned that supermarket operator, Ahold Delhaize, too, alongside some more abstract choices, like GW Pharmaceuticals and Fiverr.
Did these uninformed picks turn out well? Surprisingly, yes. Though I had thrown caution out the window, I rode the bull market to the first quarter of 2021, became suspicious after reading the Intelligent Investor, which pointed out the features of bubbles, and sold it all… at a +25-30% return. In what is a great source of relief, embarrassment, and amusement to me now, that same portfolio is down -42%. Thanks, Yahoo, for at least one useful feature.
I learned a critical lessons: never put capital at risk unless you know what you’re doing. Whilst I had the luck of questioning what I was seeing at a certain point, I know for sure that other newbies never got out, and it cost them.
“Rule #1: Never Lose Money. Rule #2: Never Forget Rule Number One.”
Warren Buffett
To help novice investors avoid early mistakes like this, and perhaps expand the horizons of the intermediate crowd, I decided to build a list of educational resources. I’ve added short comments to resources I have personal experience with; the others stem from The Long View subscribers and other sources. Feel free to add more in the comments, and I will update the post.
Books.
The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor.
Debt: The First 5,000 Years. A great book on the history of debt and how broken the current boom-bust system is.
Big Money Thinks Small. Joel Tillinghast, a star manager of the Fidelity Low-Price fund, reflects on his career.
When Genius Failed. How an attempt to achieve mathematical certainty in the financial markets blew up spectacularly (Long-Term Capital Management).
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets.
Learn To Earn. Excellent for complete novices who want to understand the stock market and business basics.
The Little Book That Still Beats The Market. A solid introduction to what good investing is all about, and that simple can beat complicated.
One Up On Wall Street. Not something to follow word-for-word, but it exemplifies grassroots research and sound logic well.
The Intelligent Investor. An absolute must-read.
Thinking, Fast and Slow. Gives a deeper, digestible insight into human decision-making.
Deep Value. A quantitative application of value principles with emphasis on the EV/EBITDA multiple. Has something of a sales angle, so be aware.
Security Analysis. The hardcore big brother of Intelligent Investor and undisputed bible of Grahamite investing. Not for the faint of heart.
Value Investing: From Graham to Buffett & Beyond. Discusses the evolution and principles of value investing and its modern application. Somewhat academic, but makes a respectable attempt to bridge the gap between theory and practice.
Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies. Textbook-like, but excellent. Infinite depth for advanced investors. Somewhat lacking on the application side, but the management aspect is gold.
You Can Be a Stock Market Genius: Uncover the Secret Hiding Places of Stock Market Profits. One of the best books I have read, despite the terrible title. Focused on special situations, with lots of case studies and sound logic.
Memos and Letters.
The Superinvestors Of Graham-and-Doddsville. Markets are sometimes inefficient.
Howard Mark's Memos. Great investor, thought-provoking pieces.
Warren Buffett's Shareholder Letters. Need I explain?
Podcasts.
Value Investing with Legends. Perhaps the best investment podcast, explores the background and strategies of individual investment gurus.
Founder’s. All about entrepreneurs and their life stories. Excellent stuff.
Websites and Platforms.
ValueInvestor’s Club. Not as good as it used to be. But there are lots of pitches from the 2000s (authored by Mike Burry, among others) that are top for learning, and great modern ideas can still be spotted on occasion.
SEC Search. The regulator’s database. Great for finding spinoffs signalled with 10-12B filings.
ShortSqueeze. Data on short selling.
r/SecurityAnalysis. The best subreddit for high quality content.
Google Trends. Spot changes in internet traffic.
Listennotes. Search for keywords, and get links to podcasts where they were mentioned.
Industry Primers Dropbox. Get up to speed on a specific industry.
OpenInsider.com. Tracks insider purchases and sales.