What the best book for a new investor to read?

best book

Do yourself a favour and stop reading all the other responses. Read "Simple Wealth, Inevitable Wealth" by Nick Murray. That is all you need.

"The Count of Monte Cristo" is a fabulous book.

Huh?

How about "Investing for Dummies."

In the beginning you LEARN HOW:
A] the stock market works.

B] to invest in many, many various ways.

C] to properly trade

D] many other concepts and aspects.

Beginning or novice ['newbies"] investors and traders ALWAYS make mistakes. In fact, throughout a person's avocation or hobby to do trading, he/she will make mistakes.

In the very beginning, you READ AND LEARN about the market and how it works:
TO ANSWER YOUR Q:
Read "Investing for Dummies"

You don't have to read the whole book at one time. You can get through it reading just 5 pages per day.
Its yours. Write in it. Mark it up. Make notes in it.
As you are reading and doing research about the investments you are interested in, sometimes you'll come across a financial or investment term you never heard before.

You can usually find excellent, easy-to-understand definitions of many financial and investment terms by going to Investopedia鈥檚 dictionary.

http://investopedia.com is a free site. It鈥檚 recognized by Y! A as a "Featured Knowledge Partner".

It probably won鈥檛 be long when you鈥檒l feel you鈥檙e ready to invest your hard-earned money. Before taking that step, you really should do research about what you are investing in. It also has a free, paper trading platform. You can set up a virtual account and almost trade as though you were trading with real money.

http://finance.yahoo.com is also recognized by Y! A as a "Featured Knowledge Partner"

The thought processes are:
1] to have more successful trades than failing trades.
2] to minimize the losses of those losing trades.
3] "To live to trade another day." Having enough money in the trading account to return to the market.

ALL this is accomplished by a few true expressions used on Wall Street:
Some trading expressions come to mind:
A] "On Wall Street there aren't any gifts."
No one gives anyone else anything - not even stock tips.

B] BUlls [BUyers] earn money.
BEars [SEllers] earn money.
Pigs get fat.
Hogs [Greedy Traders] get slaughtered. They lose the money in their trading accounts.

C] "Trees don't grow to Heaven. Neither do stocks or any other investments."
In other words: What goes up, MUST come down!

D] "Plan your trade. THEN trade your plan!"
Have a trading plan with rules for that plan for each strategy.

Thanks for asking your Q! I enjoyed answering it!

VTY,
Ron Berue
Yes, that is my real last name!

How to Make Money in Stocks : A Winning System in Good Times or Bad
by William J. O'Neil

Start with


Intelligent Investor: A Book of Practical Counsel by Benjamin Graham and Jason Zweig

A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing by Burton G. Malkiel

The following books are considered must reads by institutional investors and portfolio managers:
"The Intelligent Investor" by Ben Graham
"The Little Book that Beat the Market" by Joel Greenblatt
"Money Masters" by John Train

I also recommend for someone who is just starting out
"Beating the Street" by Peter Lynch