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3 books that will help you better understand the stock market and how to invest your money

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The stock market can be a very difficult place for beginners to navigate. Before you start investing your money, you should have a fairly good understanding of how the stock market works. 

Investing can be a way for your money to make money for you. That said, you work hard for the money you earn, and investing in the stock market without proper knowledge can cost you. 

There are many resources out there to give you the knowledge you need to be confident in the investments you make. Books are one of many resources to explore.

Stock market tablet tech

The stock market can be a confusing place when you don’t have the knowledge you need.  (iStock / iStock)

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Over the years, there have been numerous books written about the ins and outs of the stock market, and they all take different approaches. Some take a very data-driven approach, while others are more psychology and behavior-based. Certain books cover short-term investing, while others are more focused on the long-term growth of your money. 

If you have never invested a dime before, or have just begun investing and want to know more, these are three books that will help you get a better understanding of how the stock market works. 

  1. “A Beginner’s Guide to the Stock Market: Everything You Need to Start Making Money Today”
  2. “The Intelligent Investor”
  3. “The Psychology of Money”

1. “A Beginner’s Guide to the Stock Market: Everything You Need to Start Making Money Today” 

If you have no idea how the stock market works or what the first steps you should take are, this book is for you. 

Think of “A Beginner’s Guide to the Stock Market” by Matthew R. Kratter as a “how-to” guide to investing. This book will answer all the questions you have and provide you with clear instructions on how to get started in the stock market.

Throughout this book, you’ll learn how to open a brokerage account, how to purchase your first stock, how to earn a passive income in the stock market, how to choose stocks and more.

2. “The Intelligent Investor”

“The Intelligent Investor” was written by Benjamin Graham in 1949 but remains one of the most popular stock market books to date.

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This book covers value investing, which is an approach that targets undervalued stocks that could perform well in the long term. This is not a short-term strategy, but instead teaches investors how their money can grow over a long period of time. 

Close-up view a person's hands going over stocks on a smartphone.

Before you get into investing, pick up a few books that will teach you the basics of the stock market.  (iStock / iStock)

Even though this book was written in 1949, a lot of the concepts put forth by Graham can still be applied today. That said, there was a revision published in 2006 so the book better reflects a modern market. 

The revised edition of the classic business book offers commentary by financial journalist Jason Zweig. 

3. “The Psychology of Money” 

“The Psychology of Money” is slightly different from the others on this list. This book was published in 2020 by Morgan Housel.

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This book is more of a lighter read than many other money-based books. It focuses more on individuals’ behaviors and financial decisions, rather than math and data.

Man's hands holding money

Knowing the basics of investing can help you accumulate wealth over time.  (iStock / iStock)

As a stock market novice, it’s easy to get tangled up in the math and data. The style of this book is easy to digest, while still teaching about investing and money management in general. 

Through the 19 different stories presented in the 19 chapters of this book, Housel is able to teach readers how to have a better relationship with money and finances.

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Tariffs may raise much less than White House projects, economists say

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President Donald Trump speaks before signing executive orders in the Oval Office on March 6, 2025.

Alex Wong | Getty Images

President Donald Trump says that tariffs will make the U.S. “rich.” But those riches will likely be far less than the White House expects, economists said.

The ultimate sum could have big ramifications for the U.S. economy, the nation’s debt and legislative negotiations over a tax-cut package, economists said.

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro on Sunday estimated tariffs would raise about $600 billion a year and $6 trillion over a decade. Auto tariffs would add another $100 billion a year, he said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Navarro made the projection as the U.S. plans to announce more tariffs against U.S. trading partners on Wednesday.

Economists expect the Trump administration’s tariff policy would generate a much lower amount of revenue than Navarro claims. Some project the total revenue would be less than half.

Roughly $600 billion to $700 billion a year “is not even in the realm of possibility,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s. “If you get to $100 billion to $200 billion, you’ll be pretty lucky.”

The White House declined to respond to a request for comment from CNBC about tariff revenue.

The ‘mental math’ behind tariff revenue

There are big question marks over the scope of the tariffs, including details like amount, duration, and products and countries affected — all of which have a significant bearing on the revenue total.

The White House is considering a 20% tariff on most imports, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday. President Trump floated this idea on the campaign trail. The Trump administration may ultimately opt for a different policy, like country-by-country tariffs based on each nation’s respective trade and non-trade barriers.

But a 20% tariff rate seems to align with Navarro’s revenue projections, economists said.

The U.S. imported about $3.3 trillion of goods in 2024. Applying a 20% tariff rate to all these imports would yield about $660 billion of annual revenue.

“That is almost certainly the mental math Peter Navarro is doing — and that mental math skips some crucial steps,” said Ernie Tedeschi, director of economics at the Yale Budget Lab and former chief economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers during the Biden administration.

Trade advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump Peter Navarro speaks to press outside of the White House on March 12, 2025 in Washington, DC. 

Kayla Bartkowski | Getty Images

That’s because an accurate revenue estimate must account for the many economic impacts of tariffs in the U.S. and around the world, economists said. Those effects combine to reduce revenue, they said.

A 20% broad tariff would raise about $250 billion a year (or $2.5 trillion over a decade) when taking those effects into account, according to Tedeschi, citing a Yale Budget Lab analysis published Monday.  

There are ways to raise larger sums — but they would involve higher tariff rates, economists said. For example, a 50% across-the-board tariff would raise about $780 billion per year, according to economists at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

Even that is an optimistic assessment: It doesn’t account for lower U.S. economic growth due to retaliation or the negative growth effects from the tariffs themselves, they wrote.

Why revenue would be lower than expected

Tariffs generally raise prices for consumers. A 20% broad tariff would cost the average consumer $3,400 to $4,200 a year, according to the Yale Budget Lab.

Consumers would naturally buy fewer imported goods if they cost more, economists said. Lower demand means fewer imports and less tariff revenue from those imports, they said.

Tariffs are also expected to trigger “reduced economic activity,” said Robert McClelland, senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

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For example, U.S. companies that don’t pass tariff costs on to consumers via higher prices would likely see profits suffer (and their income taxes fall), economists said. Consumers might pull back on spending, further denting company profits and tax revenues, economists said. Companies that take a financial hit might lay off workers, they said.

Foreign nations are also expected to retaliate with their own tariffs on U.S. products, which would hurt companies that export products abroad. Other nations may experience an economic downturn, further reducing demand for U.S. products.

Tariffs could be a major rewiring of the domestic and global economy, says Mohamed El-Erian

“If you get a 20% tariff rate, you’re going to get a rip-roaring recession, and that will undermine your fiscal situation,” Zandi said.

There’s also likely to be a certain level of non-compliance with tariff policy, and carve-outs for certain countries, industries or products, economists said. For instance, when the White House levied tariffs on China in February, it indefinitely exempted “de minimis” imports valued at $800 or less.

The Trump administration might also funnel some tariff revenue to paying certain parties aggrieved by a trade war, economists said.

President Trump did that in his first term: The government sent $61 billion in “relief” payments to American farmers who faced retaliatory tariffs, which was nearly all (92%) of the tariff revenue on Chinese goods from 2018 to 2020, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

The tariffs will also likely have a short life span, diluting their potential revenue impact, economists said. They’re being issued by executive order and could be undone easily, whether by President Trump or a future president, they said.

“There’s zero probability these tariffs will last for 10 years,” Zandi said. “If they last until next year I’d be very surprised.”

Why this matters

The Trump administration has signaled that tariffs “will be one of the top-tier ways they’ll try to offset the cost” of passing a package of tax cuts, Tedeschi said.

Extending a 2017 tax cut law signed by President Trump would cost $4.5 trillion over a decade, according to the Tax Foundation. Trump has also called for other tax breaks like no taxes on tips, overtime pay or Social Security benefits, and a tax deduction for auto loan interest for American made cars.

If tariffs don’t cover the full cost of such a package, then Republican lawmakers would have to find cuts elsewhere or increase the nation’s debt, economists said.

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Investors hope April 2 could bring some tariff clarity and relief. That may not happen

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Cliff Asness’s AQR multi-strategy hedge fund returns 9% in the first quarter during tough conditions

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Cliff Asness.

Chris Goodney | Bloomberg | Getty Images

AQR Capital Management’s multistrategy hedge fund beat the market with a 9% rally in the first quarter as Wall Street grappled with extreme volatility amid President Donald Trump’s uncertain tariff policy.

The Apex strategy from Cliff Asness’ firm, which combines stocks, macro and arbitrage trades and has $3 billion in assets under management, gained 3.4% in March, boosting its first-quarter performance, according to a person familiar with AQR’s returns who asked to be anonymous as the information is private.

AQR’s Delphi Long-Short Equity Strategy gained 9.7% in the first quarter, while its alternative trend-following offering Helix returned 3%, the person said.

AQR, whose assets under management reached $128 billion at the end of March, declined to comment.

The stock market just wrapped up a tumultuous quarter as Trump’s aggressive tariffs raised concerns about an severe economic slowdown and a re-acceleration of inflation. The S&P 500 dipped into correction territory in March after hitting a record in February.

For the quarter, the equity benchmark was down 4.6%, snapping a five-quarter win streak. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 10.4% in the quarter, which would mark its biggest quarterly pullback since a 22.4% plunge in the second quarter of 2022.

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