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Learn to Earn: A Beginner’s Guide to the Basics of Investing and Business

May 11th, 2008

Learn to Earn: A Beginner’s Guide to the Basics of Investing and Business Mutual-fund superstar Peter Lynch and author John Rothchild explain the basic principles of investing and business in a primer that will enlighten and entertain anyone who is high-school age or older.

Many investors, including some with substantial portfolios, have only the sketchiest idea of how the stock market works. The reason, say Lynch and Rothchild, is that the basics of investing — the fundamentals of our economic system and what they have to do with the stock market — aren’t taught in school. At a time when individuals have to make important decisions about saving for college and 401(k) retirement funds, this failure to provide a basic education in investing can have tragic consequences.

For those who know what to look for, investment opportunities are everywhere. The average high-school student is familiar with Nike, Reebok, McDonald’s, the Gap, and the Body Shop. Nearly every teenager in America drinks Coke or Pepsi, but only a very few own shares in either company or even understand how to buy them. Every student studies American history, but few realize that our country was settled by European colonists financed by public companies in England and Holland — and the basic principles behind public companies haven’t changed in more than 300 years.

In Learn to Earn, Lynch and Rothchild explain in a style accessible to anyone who is high-school age or older how to read a stock table in the daily newspaper, how to understand a company annual report, and why everyone should pay attention to the stock market. They explain not only how to invest, but also how to think like an investor.
Customer Review: Better-off Reading “One Up on Wall St”
Those wishing to read more about Peter Lynch’s investment philosophy are better-off reading one of his two other books, particularly “One up on Wall Street,” which is his best book. In this third and most recent book, Peter Lynch laments the failure of our high schools to educate America’s children on investing for their financial future. No more job security. No more company pension plans. Good-bye social security. How can we teach “home economics” in school, but not the basic investment skills needed to succeed financially? The stakes could never be higher.

Besides homeownership, only stock investing for the long-term can secure our children’s financial future. Lynch fervently believes in the power of stocks as a tool for both wealth-building and democratizing markets. He writes, “Being a shareholder is the greatest method ever invented to allow masses of people to participate in the growth and prosperity of a country” (19). It appears that 50 million Americans agree.

The stock market has grown to over $7 trillion dollars comprised of over 13,000 publicly-traded companies. From the United Dutch East Indian Company to Berkshire Hathaway, Lynch tells us how we got there. Those interested in the development of financial markets may also benefit from reading Peter Bernstein’s book, “Capital Ideas.” I also recommend that people read Robert Kiyosaki’s book, “If You Want to be Rich & Happy Don’t go to School,” for a more detailed exposition on our public schools failings, and what can be done to rectify the situation. After laying the groundwork, Lynch moves on to discuss the “Basics of Investing” where his position can be summarized:

“Twenty years or longer is the right time frame…A market timer tries to predict the short-term zigs and zags in stock prices, hoping to get out with a quick profit. Few people can make money at this, and nobody has come up with a fool proof method” (115).

Agree or disagree with him, Lynch clearly prefers long-term investing to trading. Thankfully, not every stock takes 10-years to show a profit. Johnson & Johnson stock treated investors to a respectable “one-bagger” in just 18-months! More realistically, expect a longer lag-time for stock prices to catch-up to earnings. On average, the market price of a typical NYSE listed company can swing a total of 57% from it’s 52-week high and low. For example, if Bank of America currently sells for $50 per/share, then it would not be surprising to have it trade between $36 and $64 during the year. Fortunately, this short-term noise dissipates over time. And while you can invest “play money” in internet stock market games, there is no substitute for having some “skin in the game.”

Those interested in treading slowly may want to visit the National Association of Investors Corp website at www.better-investing.org. Lynch focuses his final two chapters on profiling several companies, and the “heroes” driving their success. Besides these anecdotal stories, the book concludes with two appendices on “Stock Picking Tools” and “Reading the Numbers,” which appear to have been hastily put together.
Customer Review: Outstanding!
I studied economics in college, and thought this book was as good of a general economics book as any I’ve read. It’s unlike the very few investing books I’ve ever read–the title is more descriptive, it is a learn to earn book. About why companies grow, how one can earn from their growth, historical trends affecting growth, and the actions of these on financial markets. One can go through an entire major in economics and not know much about financial markets, their contribution to business, and how people make them work. This book is a great overview of this process.

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