Paul Mladjenovic - Stock Investing For Dummies

Stock Investing For Dummies, 5th Edition

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com

Copyright 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2016935126

ISBN 978-1-119-23928-4 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-23929-1 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-23930-7 (ebk)

1. Table of Contents

Stock Investing For Dummies, 5th Edition, has been an honor for me to write. Im grateful for this fifth ride in the stock market with you a devoted reader of a series that I have come to love.

This edition comes at a critical and uncertain time for both the financial markets and the U.S. (and global!) economy, so take this edition to heart so that you can be a step ahead. Volatility and risk do indeed play a greater role in todays stock market, and that means that patience and discipline are more important than ever. Fortunately, the investing tools, strategies, and vehicles at your beck and call give you the power to keep your portfolio growing, even in todays financial battlefield.

Successful stock investing takes diligent work and knowledge, like any other meaningful pursuit. This book can definitely help you avoid the mistakes others have made and can point you in the right direction. It gives you a heads up about trends and conditions that are found in few other stock investing guides. Explore the pages of this book and find the topics that most interest you within the world of stock investing. Let me assure you that Ive squeezed more than a quarter century of experience, education, and expertise between these covers. My track record is as good as (or better than) the track records of many experts who trumpet their successes. More important, I share information to avoid common mistakes (some of which I made myself!). Understanding what not to do can be just as important as figuring out what to do.

In all the years that Ive counseled and educated investors, the single difference between success and failure, between gain and loss, has boiled down to two words: applied knowledge. Take this book as your first step in a lifelong learning adventure.

The stock market has been a cornerstone of the investors passive wealth-building program for over a century and continues in this role. Recent years have been one huge roller-coaster ride for stock investors. Fortunes have been made and lost. With all the media attention and all the talking heads on radio and television, the investing public still didnt avoid losing trillions in a historic stock market debacle. Sadly, even the so-called experts who understand stocks didnt see the economic and geopolitical forces that acted like a tsunami on the market. With just a little more knowledge and a few wealth-preserving techniques, more investors could have held on to their hard-earned stock market fortunes. Cheer up, though: This book gives you an early warning on those megatrends and events that will affect your stock portfolio. 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 strategies and insights that have been market-tested and proven from more than 100 years of stock market history. I dont expect you to read it cover to cover, although Id 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.

Sidebars (boxes of text) in this book give you a more in-depth look at a certain topic. Although they further illuminate a particular point, these sidebars arent crucial to your understanding of the rest of the book. Feel free to read them or skip them. Of course, Id love for you to read them all, but my feelings wont be hurt if you decide to skip over them.

The text that accompanies the Technical Stuff icon (see the forthcoming section ) can be passed over as well. The text associated with this icon gives some technical details about stock investing that are certainly interesting and informative, but you can still come away with the information you need without reading this text.

Stock Investing For Dummies, 5th Edition, is also quite different from the get rich with stocks titles that have crammed the bookshelves in recent years. It doesnt take a standard approach to the topic; it doesnt assume that stocks are a sure thing and the be-all, end-all of wealth-building. In fact, at times in this book, I tell you not to invest in stocks (or even to bet against them!).