I've seen some posts in this forum that just scare me, like people throwing down their life savings on single stocks. It's stupid and you're assuming a risk that far outweighs any potential gain, unless you have some kind of insider information.
I believe everyone should read The Four Pillars of Investing:
http://www.amazon.com/Four-Pillars-I...e=UTF8&s=books
It's a very easy read. William Bernstein's first book, The Intelligent Asset Allocator, while a great read, was too hard for most people to swallow, so he wrote this book for the general population. It paints a very realistic and well supported perspective on the history, theory, business, and psychology of investing. The book was praised by John C. Bogle, the founder of Vanguard.
If after reading it you still think you can beat the average over the long term, that's your decision, but at the very least you'll get a historical perspective of the stock market and just how unethical and pathetic the financial industry often is. It'll be great read whichever direction you decide to go.
I can recommend other books on asset allocation and index investing if anyone is interested.
Your Privacy Choices