A Beginner's Guide to Investing

How to Grow Your Money the Smart and Easy Way

By: Ivy Bytes, Alex H Frey, Alex H. Frey

Narrated by: Adam Verner

Length: 2 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's Summary

Audition Deadline: May 28, 2014

Whether you're a complete investing novice or just confused about all the contradictory advice out there, A Beginner's Guide to Investing is an accessible guide to growing your money the smart and easy way.

Throw away the get-rich quick schemes that never work and turn off the financial news and it's constant noise. Whether your dream is protecting your assets in a turbulent market or growing your wealth so that you can retire in style, this book is the blueprint.

You can be a successful investor - really.

Join Ivy Bytes, an innovative start-up dedicated to creating accessible content on crucial issues, and Alex Frey, a lifelong investor and Harvard MBA, as they show you:

• How you can realistically expect to double your money every 7-10 years
• Why most investors achieve stunningly poor returns on their money - and how to avoid turning into one of them
• How to choose an investment account that you can keep for the rest of your life
• How to out-perform the vast majority of professional investors while taking less risk
• How to quickly create a portfolio of diversified ETFs (exchange traded funds)
• How to put in as few as three to five hours every year on your investing - and still beat 80% of investors
• Why you may not be properly diversified in holding the most popular index mutual funds
• How endowments like Yale university have consistently beaten the overall stock market - and what you can learn from them
• And more.

©2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 Ivy Publications LLC (P)2014 Ivy Publications LLC

Really good beginnner's guide

What was one of the most memorable moments of A Beginner's Guide to Investing?

I think it's quite telling when the author informs us that the long-term investment strategy is fool proof, since essentially the whole economic system is based on it's success. Once you understand that, it's much easier to concentrate on retirement investing, diversification, and asset allocation - wow! I finally realize what all of those words mean!

What about Adam Verner’s performance did you like?

Oh, Adam has a pretty steady/stable voice. He's extremely clear. I wouldn't want to see him emcee a wedding, but as a narrator, he gets 5 stars from me!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Yes, the book made me cry when I realized how much money I have lost over the past several years by not investing my savings correctly.

Any additional comments?

This is a very good book for anyone who knows a little about retirement investing (i.e., if you have taken the time to learn about your employer retirement benefit), and a little about the stock market, just so that one can understand enough terminology to understand this audio book. Although the book does a good job in providing definitions, it would be difficult to follow for someone who has no investment understanding what-so-ever. That being said, I think every beginner should listen to / read this book. It's practical, commonsense, and should make you understand, and give you the confidence, that taking your money out of that money market account, and putting it into yours and your spouse's Traditional or Roth IRA is one the best investment moves you could ever make! Such commonsense advice, and convincing through facts, and not fantasy. For some beginners, the book may leave your yearning for more. For example, in my case, by the end of the book I wanted to know more about exactly which investment products I should consider, or at least more tangible advice on how to identify such products from the milieu available in my low-cost brokerage account. I also wanted to know more about asset allocation, and how certain big changes in the economy, such as rising interest rates, might impact how I decide to allocate and/or reallocate my assets. The nice thing is that the author is active online and so you the discussion can continue after the book reading/listening is done!

Excellent beginner's guide

I would consider myself to be 90% novice in terms of investment planning, and found this book to be extraordinarily informative. The information is presented in a clear and easily to comprehend fashion, making the book an invaluable source of reference for establishing a strong foundational understanding necessary for successful investment and retirement planning. As someone who is 28 now, I'm so thankful to have access to this information to be able to begin educated financial planning for my future. I extend my sincerest gratitude to the author!

Great book for young entrepreneurs like myself

I loved every second of the audio book. I love how simple the author's approach was, I can wait to listen to it agian and then get out there and begin investing!

Informative

The terminology lost me when he started going into the financial aspect. So since I have no knowledge in finances I found it hard to follow. If you are like me maybe finding the basics of finances to help with the meat and bones of this book.

Most of the book for americans

It is a good book the only problem it is for USA.
I would like more advice for the rest of the planet.

short and to the point

short and good basic knowledge of investing. very helpful in getting your foot in the door of the investment world.

Concrete and Actionable

If you could sum up A Beginner's Guide to Investing in three words, what would they be?

Concrete
Actionable
Clear

What did you like best about this story?

It gave practical advice that enables me to invest more intelligently today, including specific ETF recommendation, and recommended % diversification to specific asset classes. It also provided enough info, that I could start understanding the tax benefits involved.

What does Adam Verner bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

If investing books are too boring for you to read yourself, this is the way to go.

Any additional comments?

He touches on taxation, but does not really explain the tax benefits for the various account types, or the way that taxation occurs in private investments. However, he goes into the ideas a bit, which I appreciated. I understand 401k & IRA tax benefits better than I did, and I also understand that taxation can occur as you compound, rather than when you try to extract your investment (at least for some asset classes). All in all, a great intro to a topic that most of us know way too little about.

A Must Read!!!

Presents a perfect program to explain investing for real beginners. Very simply explained and organized.

Excellent starting point

Thus book gives nice tips for starters but its written for a US citizens. As a European I didn’t get the full benefits

Great read for new and old investors.

This book can get the wheels turning for people who have not started an investment. Start with something, 100 per month at least.