Any Real Estate / Stock Market investing books?

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Nexus555

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Hey guys. Well recently I have been giving a lot of thought about investing in the stock market and real estate. I'm only 21, and I figure the only easy way I'll be able to retire when I'm older is being financially concious (don't blow money on pointless things),saving money, cut down a few expenses, and investing money as well. I just purchased a book on the stock market, and it should be in today. I will most likely at least read 4-5 books on the stock market (and reread some) and try to get a good feel for it before I jump in. I will most likely invest "fake" money at first (just playing the game using math acting like I invested, taking into account taxes and fees that I will have to pay.) Eventually if I become good enough, I will perhaps make the step into investing.

Also I want to get into Real Estate investing. It seems harder to find a good real estate book opposed to stock market books (well, just from reading Ratings.) Most good stock market books have solid ratings, because most books present basic terminology, then go a little deeper, then state "devise your own plan and stick with it." And other tips like "don't follow "hot stocks" and rumours." So mainly I will read as much as I can, do some math myself and see what works for me, and if I seem decent with it, gradually step in.

Back to Real Estate. Most books have good reviews, but you'll see a lot of similar post which could potentially be the author giving fake reviews. Do any of you know of any excellent Real Estate investing books? I am not looking for flips, because that is too high risk for me. Mainly landlording smaller properties at first and if I so decide, maybe move up a little bit.

I pretty much want to be a private investor as well. I do not want an agency and employees working for me. Just side investments when I can afford them and weigh out risk/reward and decide if I should go with it. If anyone could direct me to good real estate investing books (and perhaps investing/portfolio's in general, even stock market books) I'd be most thankful. Also any tips and warnings are welcome.

Thanks!
 
Funny im the same age and thinking the same things. I found a book by Jeremy Siegel titled Stocks for the Long Run. It is very informitive and encouraging since he never states needing large sums of money to start investing. Probably the best thing about the book is how he constantly compares bonds stocks savings accounts and how they have produced returns over the past 90 years or so. I would recommend it although it is large you dont have to read all at one time. I too am curious about some good real estate investing books looking forward to reading some responses.
 
I too am in the same boat. I read all the investing for dummies, landlording for dummies, house flipping for dummies...etc. I dont put much faith in those but its a good starting point. Rich dad poor dad is a good start too. One my favorites was investing duplex, triplex and quads. I am looking into investing into multi families. I hope for it one day to be my main source of income and build equity for retirement, but thats way down the road.
 
Same here.. I ordered The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing (by Jason Kelly.) This looked like a good introduction book. It basically starts off when terminology, then goes into the investment strategies of the top 6 investors (Lynch, Buffet, etc.), then some historical facts about the market, different strategies, finding brokers, etc. It seems like a very good introduction book.

Yet I am interested in someone posting a good real estate book. I may one day venture into commercial or multi family duplexes, etc., however I want to start off small.
 
Instead of reading a book on Stock market investing (more for day traders and the like), I'd just pick up a book on personal financial planning, which will cover a more broad (and realistic) approach. Check out these books by David Bach.
This one is good too.
Be wary of any "get rich quick" books, such as those by Robert Kiyosaki, i.e. Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I found his books to be very unrealistic and dangerously optimistic. Sure, there are bits and pieces you can take from his philosophy, but overall, take it with a grain of salt.
The books I recommended above will emphasize not what individual stocks to pick (near impossible for financial non-experts), but rather, how to allocate your portfolio to diversify into various assets (stocks, bonds, funds, real estate, commodities, etc.), which anyone can do. The "idiots" book will also inform on how to save/make money on other aspects of everyone's lives, such as insurance, retirement, credit scores, mortgage, and auto purchase.
Edit: Remember, too, that the advice from the latest best seller on finance will be acted on by millions of readers. This will mean that excessive money pumped into those recommended assets will cause them to be overpriced and peak quickly. So, anyone jumping in on that will likely miss the boat, buying high and selling low.
 
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If you want to go with real estate, my simple advice to get started is to buy a small home that needs some work in a neighborhood that is in great shape full of homes valued much higher. Move in, work on it as you can and then sell it in 2 years. Rinse, repeat. You get the beneifit of a place to live and then in two years you are excused on capital gains tax on the profit. You can do this every two years until you have your dream home paid for in cash. This assumes no major crash in the market of course. I'd suggest learning a bit more on closings and selling by owner. Realtors steal a lot of profits out of the deal.
 
"Instead of reading a book on Stock market investing (more for day traders and the like), I'd just pick up a book on personal financial planning, which will cover a more broad (and realistic) approach. Check out these books by David Bach.
This one is good too.
Be wary of any "get rich quick" books, such as those by Robert Kiyosaki, i.e. Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I found his books to be very unrealistic and dangerously optimistic. Sure, there are bits and pieces you can take from his philosophy, but overall, take it with a grain of salt.
The books I recommended above will emphasize not what individual stocks to pick (near impossible for financial non-experts), but rather, how to allocate your portfolio to diversify into various assets (stocks, bonds, funds, real estate, commodities, etc.), which anyone can do. The "idiots" book will also inform on how to save/make money on other aspects of everyone's lives, such as insurance, retirement, credit scores, mortgage, and auto purchase."

I'm not really in for the "get rich quick" theme. Realistically, these are usually high risk ventures, which I do not want to go in. I have absolutely no interest in day trading (I believe that it's more of a gamble.) Plus I do not have the legal $25,000 in a brokerage account to do day trading. If I wanted to gamble and take chances, I'd have equally good chance of winning at a casino (considering only a very small fraction of day traders profit in the long run.) The same goes with flipping real estate. I would not have the balls nor the nerve to buy a place, pay a few notes while fixing it up, and making profit. Again, unless you're an experienced real estate person, flipping is a big gamble as well.

My goal is to have a diversified portfolio consisting of many different stocks (domestic, foreign, perhaps currency,), mutual funds and bonds.

Right now I am moving into a real estate position just from my current circumstance. I got hooked up with an older trailer on NICE land in the town I live in. I live .25 miles (if that) from a fire station, .25 - .5 miles from 4 schools, and .1 mile from a police station and 1 house down from a park. Land fenced in, concrete driveway, etc. My fiance is getting land from a relative, and I plan on either moving there and renting my place, or living at my place and financing a newer trailer and putting it there. I definitely do not want to sell what I have right now, especially since it will be paid over in a short period of time. That is why I want a good book on landlording (because in 2 years or less I will have the oppurtunity to begin landlording) and eventually I will develope my own real estate investment ideas.

There are also a few places I've been keeping my eye on for investing, not sure yet. Basically right now I am in preliminary stages of my investing career. Reading, researching, practices, and trying to understand and comprehend it first. Probably in 2-3 years from now, I will become more of a serious investor. Right now the most valuable thing I need is good books on small scale private investing into real estate, landlording tips, legal and tax issues surrounding real estate, etc.

Thanks for all the recommendations so far. Keep em coming!
 
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1419537253/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

This is the one i read i mentioned earlier about multi-families. I think its a decent read, but only to get started. I would like to know of more proffessional, academic books about real estate too, but as said before there are alot of get rich quick things which dont seem realistic (i read them anyways out of stupidity). He talks about how to determine which properties should be good investentments (gross rent multipliers or something) the 1091 exchange (or something like that) which is a tax benefit for rolling profit into other properties, staying with places with under four units for tax benefits (five units is commerical).....etc.
 
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