I have been on a real book reading mission lately. It just so happens that many of the books that I had ordered at the library all came at approximately the same time! Anyways, instead of doing a book review, I have decided to write some quick comments about how I feel about these books. I do not have any of these books in front of me, so I am doing these comments from memory.

“The Investment Zoo”by Stephen Jarislowsky. I absolutely loved this book (I actually brought this book with me on my cruise!). This book talks about Mr. Jarislowsky’s life, how he feels about the world and its current financial situation, and his techniques for investing money. This book was packed full of good information. I need to go back and reread the section on picking high quality stocks. I will definitely be adding this book to my own personal collection of investment books. I rate this book a 5 star.

“How Buffett Does It - 24 Simple Investing Strategies From the World’s Greatest Value Investor” by James Pardoe. This book basically goes through many of the traits, characteristics and techniques of Warren Buffett. Although I enjoyed the book, there were not a whole lot of facts and ‘hard numbers.’ This book is a fairly fast read and I think it is worth reading. I give it 3 stars.

“The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing” by Taylor Larimore. This book was written by 3 people who are huge fans of John C. Bogle, the founder of Vanguard. This book takes a novice investor and walks them through all the stages of investing from getting out of debt to investing in low-cost mutual funds. This book recommends low cost index funds for the long-term. I really enjoyed this book. It definitely defines the biggest part of my investment portfolio which is the use of index funds. Although this book is american, it is definitely worth reading for Canadians. We just have to substitute our own low cost mutual index funds (or ETFs) for the Vanguard funds. I give this book 5 stars.

“Protect Your Nest Egg” by Eric Kirzner and Richard Croft. I am a fan of Richard Croft and watch him on ROBTV whenever I can. He is a big proponent of managing your portfolio - rather than individual assets. He believes that asset allocation is the biggest determinant of your returns. He believes in using low-cost index funds and ETFs. This book takes an investor through all the steps needed to set up a portfolio from deciding on your asset allocation to different financial instruments that could be used to represent those allocations and how to come up with a suitable benchmark for your portfolio. It is a Canadian book and thus right on topic for Canadians. I enjoyed this book. It is definitely worth a read. I give it 4 stars.

Well, there you have it. A really quick rundown of all the books I have read in the last few weeks.