I’m sure we’re all looking forward to the summer break and warmer days. One of my favourite things to do on a nice sunny day is to sit outside with a book and a coffee, so in this column, I’ll be recommending a few books for your summer reading list.
First up is The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel. I recently came across this book while browsing Instagram and decided to give it a read. Although Housel used to write for The Wall Street Journal, I found his book to be almost completely jargon-free.
The Psychology of Money is a series of lessons about personal finance and investing, written in a reader-friendly manner. Housel often starts each chapter with an interesting story that relates to the chapter’s content.
For example, on the topic of luck, Housel pointed out that the high school Bill Gates went to in 1968 was one of a few in the world that had a computer. We all know how that worked out.
There are many important lessons that can be taken away from The Psychology of Money, and if you only have time for one book this summer, I highly recommend it.
The second book is One Up on Wall Street by Peter Lynch. Lynch ran a hugely successful mutual fund from the ‘70s to the ‘90s, and he did so without any complicated or sophisticated computer algorithm and trading strategy. Instead, he focused on businesses that were easy to understand. For instance, one of his best investments was a chain of motels that he had personally stayed at.
In his book, Lynch shows us how we can think about the businesses we interact with daily and be curious about how they’re performing. This book is great for folks who are looking to pick individual stocks for their portfolio, but is also interesting for anyone who ever went to a Costco and thought, “how are they making money on this stuff?”
Last but not least, there’s Street Smarts by Jim Rogers. The book is a memoir of Rogers’ experiences, from his university days to his time on Wall Street.
Rogers has been known to analyze and think about the world in a far-sighted manner that not many can. He famously moved his entire family from the US to Singapore in 2007, and enrolled his daughters in Chinese language classes because he believed that Asia is where the future is. Less than a year after his move, the global financial crisis erupted in the US. Coincidence, or extraordinary prescience?
I found Rogers’ book to be entertaining, and it also taught me the importance of looking at the world from different perspectives.
I hope you will enjoy these books as much as I did, and all the best for final exams.