Reading up on investing

Few of us are taught much about investing in school and yet most of us may face rocky retirements if we don't save and invest for our futures. Here are some good books that can teach you stock market basics, and more.

• “The Little Book of Common Sense Investing” by John C. Bogle (Wiley, $25), founder of the Vanguard Group and known to many as the father of index funds. This book offers a good grounding in basic investing concepts and considerations, such as dividends and taxes, and covers mutual funds and index funds well.

• “One Up on Wall Street” by Peter Lynch (Simon & Schuster, $19). Peter Lynch, a former mutual fund manager, has one of the best investing records and writes in a very easy-to-understand manner. The book, first published in 1989, became a classic and covers how to find promising companies in which to invest. Lynch has suggested that “any normal person using the customary 3% of the brain can pick stocks just as well (as), if not better (than,) the average Wall Street analyst.” He also has said: “Know what you own, and know why you own it.”

• “The Intelligent Investor” by Benjamin Graham (Harper Business, $26). First published in 1949, this is not light reading, but super investor Warren Buffett has called it “by far the best book about investing ever written.” (Benjamin Graham was his mentor.) Chapter 20 is a good place to learn about “margin of safety,” a critical investing concept to understand.

• “The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, Fifth Edition” by Lawrence Cunningham (Carolina Academic Press, $35). Through these essays, Buffett offers what some have called a “master class” on business and investing.

• “Money Masters of Our Time” by John Train (Harper Business, $16). This is a great way to familiarize yourself with many of the best investors, such as Buffett, John Templeton, Graham and Philip Fisher. The easy-to-read book is packed with anecdotes and important lessons.

We'll offer a few more great investing books next week.