The Wall Street Journal Complete Money and Investing ... (ISBN 0307236994)

Wide-ranging overview of finance complete with enjoyable imagery:
The information provided in The Wall Street Journal Complete Money and Investing Guidebook gives a comprehensive look at the structure of financial markets. The title of this book can be misleading given that the information presented does not offer a guide on "how" to invest, merely a full scope of the elements of financial markets. This would be tantamount to an auto and driving book with a focus on the engine and instruments of the car as well as the highway and road systems, but not on the operation of the car itself. There is considerable importance in understanding the design of the financial markets and this book easily achieves success in this area; however, in terms of investment advice, this book represents only an initial foundation of knowledge. For those with an interest in the historical background of financial markets and systems this book will be as enjoyable as it is informative. One also will acquire the full scope of financial terms needed to speak intelligently in the finance world. The presentation of the material is done quite well with an abundance of imagery. I would recommend The Wall Street Journal Complete Money and Investing Guidebook as a starter on the subject of finance and to anyone seeking to understand the fundamentals of the market.

The basic investing book everyone needs:
Everyone today spends little time going over their financial picture as people feel investing is too complicated in their busy world of working long hours along with responsibilty raising children etc. This book is written for the novice investor as well as the more advanced investor. It is easy to follow and should be kept on your night table so you can read a page or two each night It explains all the types of investments from money funds to stocks and bonds. Even if you have never read the Wall Street Journal the authors made the chapters interesting and easy to follow . All households should have one investing primer and this one is it. Hopefully you can grow your assets with the knowledge and advice you will obtain from this book. Pick it up today!

Great Start:
This book provides novices, such as myself, with a straightforward explanation of various investment vehicles and the basics of the economic cycle. Reprints of charts, tables, etc. from the WSJ, the SEC, and others are included to give readers of sense of what to look at and how to read the charts/tables/etc. The book also includes a glossary with basic definitions. What I really liked about this book is that at the end of each chapter, the author includes additional resources, both electronic and hard copy, that are relevant to that particular chapter. So for example, in the chapter on Money and Economics, the author's suggested reading includes Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations". Electronic resources include websites for government agencies (like the SEC, IRS, the Treasury, etc.), organizations that provide a wealth of information to investors, and tools to research and track various types of investments. This book should not be the only book that interested people read about investing, markets, business, money, etc. (no book or other resource can cover it all) AND it does not pretend to be such a book. However, if you are starting out, this book is a great one to begin with.

Enjoyable; wide but not deep; some errors in first edition:
I am 50 pages into the first edition (2005). It's an enjoyable read because I love the subject area, but its lack of depth makes it a little unsatisfying, and it does contain errors. Was it worth $11? Yes. Is it a good introduction for a novice? Yes, but it's only a first step and you'll need deeper more specialized knowledge to actually invest/trade/work in the markets. In the introduction, on page 7, the contents are sold as good for slipping into dinner party conversation. The errors in the first 50 pages do not, however, give me confidence about the next 150 pages. Don't use this (first edition) at a dinner party with market professionals unless you want to break the ice by asking about the errors. I would be happy to buy the second or higher edition to give as a gift to a friend or family member (assuming these and any other errors are cleaned), but I would not give the first edition. Examples of errors in first 50 pages: First example: the discussion of ticker symbols on page 36 may have been correct 20 years ago, but not now. NASDAQ stocks are no longer restricted to four-letter symbols, and five-letter symbols are not necessarily primarily listed overseas (look at CA, or PWX, or CMCSA as counter examples). Second example: the definition of a "growth stock" on page 26 is just plain wrong; I almost coughed my lunch up when I read it. I showed it to two CFAs in my office who each laughed out loud. Third example: in the discussion of the dividend payment timeline on page 35 and 37 the "date of record" has been confused with the "ex-dividend date." Even after correcting that, the discussion is still misleading. A WEEK LATER: OK, I kept reading. No more blatant errors. Kansas does talk about Growth versus Value (pp 139-140) and that sounds much more sensible than his earlier analysis. I do, however, find his description of options (pp178-181) to be too light. I know it is complicated, but you cannot really compare profitability from owning 100 shares to profitability from owning an option on 100 shares unless you also compare all that to profitability from investing the same amount in each alternative. Contrary to his assertion (page 180), I would feel much happier owning the stock and watching it drop (mabye lose 50%) than owning the call option and watching it expire worthless (lose 100%)---because I would be thinking of having the same investment in each.

Easy introduction for laymen to Wall Street:
This book should be required reading for *everyone*. After 12 years of public school and 4+ years of college, I still didn't know exactly what the NYSE was for, what an investment bank was, what was the difference between stocks and commodities, and so forth. Yet these things comprise some of the basic building blocks of our economy, and have made big news recently. This book is a painless, easy-to-read introduction for someone like me who doesnt read the WSJ or have an MBA in finance.