Stock Investing FOR DUMmIES

 Stock Investing  FOR  DUMmIES

The stock market has been a cornerstone of the investor’s passive wealth-

building program for over a century and continues in this role. The period

of 1995–2005 was one huge roller coaster ride for stock investors. If it was

a stock chart, the graph would look like Mt. Everest. Fortunes were made

and lost. With just a little more knowledge and a few wealth-preserving tech-

niques, more investors could have held onto their hard-earned stock market

fortunes. With all the media attention, all the talking heads on radio and TV,

and the books with titles like Dow at 36,000, the investing public still didn’t

avoid losing trillions in a historic stock market debacle. Sadly, even the so-

called experts who understood stocks didn’t see the economic and geopoliti-

cal forces that acted like a tsunami on the market. This book also gives you a

“heads up” on those megatrends and events that will affect your stock portfo-

lio. While other books may tell you about stocks, this book tells you about

stocks and what affects them.

This book is designed to give you a realistic approach to making money

in stocks. It provides the essence of sound, practical stock investing strate-

gies and insights that have been market tested and proven from nearly a

hundred years of stock market history. I don’t expect you to read it cover

to cover, although I’d be delighted if you read every word! Instead, this book

is designed as a reference tool. Feel free to read the chapters in whatever

order you choose. You can flip to the sections and chapters that interest you

or those that include topics that you need to know more about.

Stock Investing For Dummies, 2nd Edition, is also a book that is quite different

from the “get rich with stocks” titles that have crammed the bookshelves in

recent years. It doesn’t take a standard approach to the topic; it doesn’t

assume that stocks are a sure thing and the be-all and end-all of wealth build-

ing. At times in this book, I tell you not to invest in stocks. This book can help

you succeed not only in up markets but also in down markets. Bull markets

and bear markets come and go, but the informed investor can keep making

money no matter what. To give you an extra edge, I have tried to include

information about the investing environment for stocks. Whether it is politics

or hurricanes (or both), you need to know how “the big picture” affects your

stock investment decisions.