I think Investing is an art which everybody should try his/her hand at. More than anything else, it requires a deep learning of human behaviour, patience, psychology, philosophy, statistics, and not to mention, business knowledge. A lot of investment principles can be applied to all walks of life.
My boss in my company gave me the following two part advice :
1. If you have to read one book, only one book on investment, read "The Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham. If you ever feel like reading another book, read "The Intelligent Investor" again.
2. All the wisdom lies in the financial statements and annual reports of the companies. It's good to read books, but one can learn a lot more from the financial statements.
I've bought "The Intelligent Investor" and am wondering why I didn't read it much earlier. More than about making money, it's about how to stay disciplined and act on the basic principles. The principles, though simple in theory, are very difficult to implement as they require patience and deter us from following the herd.
Even if one doesn't make money after applying the principles of Ben Graham (though I doubt that), one stands to gain a lot from the book regarding human conduct and how to take decisions.
I don't know how to invest, but I want to learn and I have been making efforts in that direction. It will take time, but I hope to get better in due course.
