So my dad gave me some investing books

[Clayton]

Instead of making my thread a more-drawn out personal version relating to adsman's travels, I'll leave my opening writings fairly concise. I am about to end my 2nd year at college studying in a degree I will never use (classical culture, and political science is one I can easily change to). I fit the mold of many 2+2'ers here, passionately drawn into poker and not much else. It has cost me in terms of my academic performance, as my GPA has been going down little by little each semester.

Reading adsman's thread gave me some time to really rethink my approach. As a result, I am planning on transferring to a school out west to learn business (something that is no longer an opportunity at my current university) and also take on some internships in either real estate or investing. I want to take some go-getter jobs to really understand what I want to be doing for a living when the time comes, as something my Dad has stressed to me is that business isn't something you just learn overnight. My family has a history of obsessive-compulsive people, and my hope is that I take my obsessive behavior (now geared towards poker) and apply it towards something productive that I really enjoy such that I can be successful in the future with whatever business-oriented profession I do.

Now that that's out of the way, a few things I am currently pondering that I ask of you to hopefully add advice on:

- I just signed a new apartment lease a couple of weeks ago to live with some other really great friends at a great apartment complex near campus. The lease goes through summer of 2008, and will start in August. The one thing my dad disagrees with me on is that he thinks it would be foolish to stay away from college for a year living near college, and I should either go out west immediately after this summer or maybe take a semester off from school (as a result signing a lease with a place which wouldnt commit me for a year). My first question is, is staying away from school for a year to focus on poker and read up on some investing related material and taking an internship over the summers something feasible to do? The worry is that I won't want to go back to school, I disagree but I know my Dad knows what he's talking about. I will happily elaborate on any more specific questions regarding this. My rationale for my plan is to take a break from schooling but at the same time I'm not sure I'm ready to change my life instantaneously, as I still have a bunch of great friends around me and to make such a serious decision and leaving everything behind ala adsman seems... scary. But can I ever be ready?

Secondly, after discussing this with my dad he gave me some books to go through, and I'm looking for everyone's opinion on them.

First he suggested some easier readings:

-Jim Cramers Real Money
-Robert Hagstrom's "The Warren Buffett Way"
-Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich"

Then when done with those, to read:

-Burton Malkiel's "A Random Walk Down Wall Street"
-John Train's "The Money Masters"
-Peter Lynch's "One Up on Wall Street"

Then some more advanced texts:
-Banjamin Graham's "The Intelligent Investor" (my dad says this is the most important book by far)
-Gitman & Joehnk's "Fundamentals of Investing" (textbook)

I would appreciate some thoughts as well as advice on maybe other books to read or other things go about in regards to learning more about general investing. I have a high IQ and got 1500 on the SAT, and am obsessive compulsive, so I would like to think if I apply myself correctly (which I plan to) and enjoy what I do, I can be really successful.

Of course, this requires changing everything that I find familiar. I don't want to live near my college, as taking business classes at a different university that is lower I would find to be associated with "failure" by my peers, so I'm going to the west coast likely. I was planning on the West Coast regardless, but as much as I hate to admit it this reason will contribute, although many would advocate that I should care less what other people think. Also, another reason to move west is the LA and LV poker scene that will be available when I turn 21 in November. I am doing very well on the year thus far in middle stakes NL and am confident, worst case scenario, I could do something similar to what Jonas (riverboatking) does, and be happy with life.

I'm sorry if this post comes off as rambling, I'm going to be incredibly selective in regards to making new threads in this forum, but I felt that this was a topic possibly worth addressing when considering threads of the past like JaredL's and adsman's. Essentially, I will have to be like adsman, except I will have money in the bank thanks to poker and a desire to succeed with money.

Also of note: Poker is a possibility as a side-source of income. I currently have 25k to my name this year before taxes, and ample more opportunity to make money both online and in live poker games when I turn 21 this November.

sparknotes:
1) should i cancel the lease and move after summer?
2) how long can I stay away from academia, assuming I am intent on getting a degree (as everyone tells me to)?
3) how are these books for starters?
4) anyone else that has made a similar transition from a field they disliked to a field they desired yet required moving across the country, please contribute

thank you for reading

[icetonez]

Don't waste your time with Cramer. Here is the reading list from the finance forum. Scroll down to Buffett's post as it looks like you're more interested in fundamentals.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showfl...e=0#Post2953485

[JaBlue]

check out valuegrowth investing , should be a great introduction. Goes through the processes of the most successful investors - buffet, neff, lynch, etc. and then synthesizes them in an approach. The synthesis is not all that useful in my opinion but the main thing is to see the commonalities in the different approaches to help start seeing what makes companies worth investing in.

This is kind of off topic, but I've heard from a lot of investors I respect that if one is not going to put a LOT of time into learning how to invest, its probably best to just spread money across weighted indices that mimic the behavior of the S&P (or whatever) or a sector that one thinks is promising. Any seasoned investors want to comment on this?

[Billy Bibbit]

How big of a penalty would you have to pay to get out of the lease?

[firstyearclay]

Great Post Clayton.

It seems as though you have taken ample time to make a decision. Look at the fundamentals of your decision. They seem well-planned with fall backs on other opportunities. This is all good! Go west and explore.


fyc

[edtost]

[ QUOTE ]

I would appreciate some thoughts as well as advice on maybe other books to read or other things go about in regards to learning more about general investing. I have a high IQ and got 1500 on the SAT, and am obsessive compulsive, so I would like to think if I apply myself correctly (which I plan to) and enjoy what I do, I can be really successful.

[/ QUOTE ]

That reading list skews way too simple/easy, and the groupings seem kind of disconnected. Start with "Random Walk" and "Fundamentals of Investing", then tackle things like Joel Greenblatt's books before II, which is a beast of a book to get through, even if it is important stuff to know.

[edtost]

[ QUOTE ]
This is kind of off topic, but I've heard from a lot of investors I respect that if one is not going to put a LOT of time into learning how to invest, its probably best to just spread money across weighted indices that mimic the behavior of the S&P (or whatever) or a sector that one thinks is promising. Any seasoned investors want to comment on this?

[/ QUOTE ]

Trying to pick sectors to outperform is just as difficult as, if not harder than, looking at individual securities.

On the whole, though, their sentiments are correct. People who put in a lot of time/effort can beat the market; others should choose a diversified blend of index funds (us eq, international eq, bonds, reits, commodities), decide on a percentage allocation for the portfolio, and rebalance to that annually or so.

[Phil Van Sexton]

I haven't read most of these books, but they seem to be written for people looking to invest their money and probably won't help you too much in choosing a career in finance. Learning how to create a balanced portfolio is nice, but hardly requires a 1500 SAT.

The smartest people in business are not the stock pickers. That's more of an art than a science. Intelligence is rewarded more in the hedge fund world where smart people create value in many different markets. You won't read about their strategies in many books because the individual investor can't do these things, and would likely go broke if they could.

I'd recommend "Liar's Poker", "When Genius Failed", and "My Life as a Quant". "Liar's Poker" and "Quant" are 1st hand accounts of different jobs in finance. "When Genius Failed" picks up after "Liar's Poker" and gives a great introduction to hedge funds.

Good luck.

[luckychewy]

cool post clayton. gl with whatever you choose. as you may know i am sorta in the same boat as you except i have no plans yet after i recently quit/got kicked out of college. i was failing and even if i didn't get kicked out i would have withdrawn because i wasn't learning anything and just wasting time/money. this is the first time in my life i have little to no responsibilities and i can say it is quite laid back and enjoyable. of course the downside is aside from making decent coin i am not furthering my life at all in the eyes of society, though for me i'm just taking it one step at a time and enjoying life for what it is.

i'm not sure about ur work ethic or how interested u are in investing, but when you say, "My first question is, is staying away from school for a year to focus on poker and read up on some investing related material and taking an internship over the summers something feasible to do?" the first thought i had was that you will be too taken back by the laid back style of little to no responsibilities, no job, and no school...and reading up on investing related material can easily take a back seat to going to parties, hanging out with friends, playing poker, just chilling out - especially if u are living with your friends. again, not sure how interested you are in investing but if you truly want to pursue this trait i would advise you set aside a certain amount of time each day or each week to isolate yourself from your friends and poker and everything else and just study up. from my experience, if you are not truly interested i don't see how you could even bare looking at stuff like this for more than a few minutes given the lifestyle you will be acquiring, but this could just be the way i am.

what i have been told and what i have always believed is to do whatever will truly make you happy. if poker does, then play poker, if investing does, then go pursue that outwest. i don't think anyone can answer the question about canceling the lease or not but you. just see how you like it after the time is up. anyway, i am kinda rambling myself but like i said gl with whatever you choose and i'm sure you will do fine.

p.s. - we should meet up at ts.

[Kneel B4 Zod]

Clayton,
I think there are lots of interesting careers in the investment world, and getting internships & creating a network of people in the industry is the best way to learn and get a job. also, graduating from a top schools finance program will really help you out - a lot of banks and mgmt companies are very pedigree sensitive.

I think working as an investment professional could be a great short/mid term goal, better than learning how to invest your own money or picking stocks or whatever (although you are going to need to learn how to do this as well).