The Motley Fool Million Dollar Portfolio: How to Build and Grow a Panic-Proof Investment Portfolio

Just in time for stock market jitters is The Motley Fool Million Dollar Portfolio: How to Build and Grow a Panic-Proof Investment Portfolio. It cautions against rushing to sell stocks recklessly, points out the bargains and profits to be made in a bear market, and provides an innovative investing strategy that draws on the wisdom of dozens of analysts across the country and thousands of investors to offer market-beating stock ideas. Any library interested in long-term investing titles will find this a popular pick backed by the financial column Motley Fool's reputation.

This is a simply designed method of creating your own stock portfolio. It provides many different types of stocks so that you will always have a full spectrum of risk, profitability and simplicity.

In the tradition of their best selling books for individual investors, acclaimed stock pickers David and Tom Gardner lay bare the simple philosophy they have used to help millions of investors outfox Wall Street. In page after page of sound, sensible investment advise, this book reveals proprietary methods for uncovering market-beating stocks, the philosphies that underpin the investment strategies of the Motley Fool online community and advise on how any serious investor can attain even the loftiest financial goals. This book reveals the secrets behind the Motley Fool's considerable success. The authors are committed to teaching the timeless principles of successful investing using plain language. The ambitious aim of this work is to assemble these competing investment approaches into a "single" strategy that will help you take your portfolio to $1 million and beyond. It is through the habit of continual savings, the discipline of regular investment, the deployment of 5th grade mathematics, the use of a collection of superior investment strategies and the power of your imagination that you will meet with enduring success. Digest this book and you will become a superior stock picker.

This was my first experience with a Motley Fool Book. I was interested in it because of the problems with the Stock Market and wanted to see what The Motley Fool Million Dollar Portfolio could do for my concerns. I have a decent idea of how the Stock Market works but am sorely lacking in many areas. While briefly addressing the financial collapse of 2008 in one section (8 pages are devoted to this) the book's main focus is on how to build a stock portfolio that will withstand difficult economic times. It does this in a thorough and entertaining fashion. The book explains the different types of stocks and what to look for in each and addresses basics like capital gains and dividends. It talks about what made some companies successful and why others failed. It talks about risk and what an investor should expect based on the type of stocks in his or her portfolio. Best of all it has a great index that allowed me to easily find information on specific subjects. At the end of the book portfolios based on a person's needs are outlined with a percentage given for each type of stock that should be included in a particular portfolio. These change as a person grows closer to retirement. While the book is primarily devoted to individual stocks, an appendix at the end of the book has a 20-page section devoted to mutual funds. Since mutual funds are made up of individual stocks, the earlier sections help make this section more understandble. I wound up reading the appendix on mutual funds first since I am more familiar with them and then read the rest of the book including the appendix on mutual funds again. The best part of this book is that it is fun to read. David and Tom Gardner's use of humor kept me reading where I might have stopped in the past. This book was perfect for someone like me who has a small to moderate amount of knowledge of how the stock market works. Plus I now know about their website and can get more information from that source.

I'm an amateur investor with a very small portfolio, so I was a little intimidated about reading another book about investing. Most books like this are WAY over my head. But, not this one. Even I learned a lot and I'm looking forward to putting some of this in practice. The beginning was a little tough getting through and I almost quit there. But once I got into Chapter 3, I was hooked. The book starts out by showing you how to pick just ONE stock. It explains the goals of the first stock, how to look for stocks online (no middle man!), how to evaluate a company and its stock (and this was in simple, easy-to-understand terms), and what you should learn from your first stock. It then goes on to explain dividends and how important it is to include stocks that pay dividends in your portfolio. I have some in my portfolio, but I didn't know why. Now I know how and why to look for more! Next, it discusses Blue Chip bargains - value stocks (again, making it easy to understand). I learned that the value of a stock is often completely independent of the daily price that a stock trades for! You have to compare its price to its intrinsic value by looking at the assets of the company, its PRESENT earnings, and the growth of the company. He explains the difference between a value investor and a growth investor and shows how growth does not always benefit investors and how important patience is in this type of investment. He also explains "margin of safety," why its important, and how much to look for when investing in Blue Chips. I especially like the fact that he explains in detail not only how to evaluate companies, but also how and where to find the information! In the small-cap chapter, I learned why small-caps can be a great investment and should be part of your portfolio. I even learned why Warren Buffet doesn't invest in small-caps: He would have to buy the whole company! Not a problem for most of us! He provided criteria to look for in buying small caps. Because of my age, I probably wasn't as interested in this chapter. The next few chapters focus on rule-breakers and foreign investments, stocks that would interest the younger investors or older investors with more risk tolerance than I have! He discusses how to find and evaluate companies that fit into these categories. Again, somewhat over my head. The chapter on CAPS was interesting. He explained a free service on their Web site to help you find the best stocks using data supplied by investors around the world. Last, the book discusses asset allocation and investing in mutual funds. The exciting thing for me was that I discovered that most of my portfolio fits into their guidelines! Now if this darn market would turn around so I could see the fruit of my investing, that would be great! If you're a beginner, an amateur like me, or even more market-savvy, I can't recommend a better book to help you learn about investing. The author has also included a special Web site for owners of the