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Rating: 
Summary: Pompous and uneven
Review: This is a poor introductory guide to some forms of investment, specifically stocks. There is very little coverage of any other forms of investment, and what coverage there is, is biased strongly against anything other than stocks on the Dow or small-cap growth stocks fitting their criteria. Calling this book an "investment guide" is pretty misleading. The book is written in a know-it-all style that you will no doubt either love (apparently a lot of other reviewers) or hate (me). The pages are full of their cheesy and repetitive medieval references concerning "fools" and "wise" men. And if those don't grate on you the unending plugs for their online services will. The basic premise of the book is basically as follows: investing in mutual funds is stupid because you are virtually guaranteed an average 25.5% return by picking 4 stocks on the Dow Jones using a formula. Now, this is obviously absurd. Yes, the system worked over the past, but it isn't working currently (check fool.com under portfolios to see how they're doing this year -- DOWN 1.84% as I write this) and there's no proof it will work in the future. Also, the hypocrisy is overwhelming as they continually dis those who claim to have systems and also those who use technical analysis to make stock picks. There are a couple of strong points to the book: the five chapters on small-cap growth stocks and how to evaluate them are very well done. They show you how to analyze a company's balance statement, and what sort of general financial indicators to look for when picking small-caps. Oh, and the Joey Roman penny-stock parody in appendix C is extremely funny. I can't honestly recommend this book at all. There are many other books that explain the same material, and with a more even approach. This whole book oddly reeks of a get-rich-quick mentality, while they shoot down everyone else's get-rich-quick schemes. The poor advice combined with a hokey writing style make this book a pretty painful read.
Rating: 
Summary: Decent Investing Primer, but not much more
Review: The Motley Fool Investment guide by the Gardners was a fairly interesting primer on the subject of investing, with a particular emphasis on stockpicking. However, that is ALL you should take it as. It should merely be viewed as ONE type of overview of the stock market that may or may not be valid under current market conditions. Note: Beginning investors should be very wary of following the strategies outlined in this or ANY investing book with any significant sum of money. Run a simulation portfolio and test out the validity of these methods before you plunk your hard earned cash into some particular system. Be warned. My opinions may sound very negative and you may be at a loss of confidence, but I do believe you'd rather take a beating in your emotions before you take one with your portfolio. Now, overall, the book offers some nice stratagems for newer investors and is written in a very friendly style to keep people interested. The book is laced with the Gardners' personal style of humor(which I wasn't particularly fond of), but they did manage to keep the book fairly light-hearted and easy to read. With that said, I believe a key flaw of this book is that it makes achieving market-beating returns seem fairly easy. Would it be feasible to believe that anyone could suddenly start playing NBA quality basketball were that person to read and follow some simple exercises in a book entitled "Play Basketball like Michael Jordan"? How about "Tiger Woods in 20 Minutes"? Yes my friends, it is very possible to play pro ball by doing my secret exercises for only 20 minutes a day, because in my new book, I have outlined some very secret and powerful methods that will make your growth in talent and muscle EXPLODE! *cue slightly altered techniques found in a basic exercise manual wrapped around in clever and seductive writing. The notion that someone can play professional, all-star level ball by reading a book and following simple exercises would quickly be dismissed as utter BS. But in the world of investing, 'secret methods,' 'the methods of the pros,' etc. etc., always seem to entice new investors into buying a $15 manual to learn the secrets to beat the market. Maybe Peter Lynch can get by on beating the pros by looking at investments only a few hours a week because his decisions are built on experience... It may be easy for a professional bodybuilder to lift 350 lbs, but does that mean the average man can expect to do the same? To suggest that the newcomer can beat the pros by spending only a few hours a week and using a very simple system sounds quite like the 'pro ball' scenario, no? You certainly won't get consistent market beating returns by following the very scanty guidelines offered in this book. Another area of fault with the book is that, at times, it seems like you've just spent your hard-earned money on a big advertisement. The constant plugging of their website is extremely annoying to say the least. It almost seems as this book was geared to get you to join their website. With all of that said, the book offers a decent, easily followed write-up of long term investing fundamentals. It's a nice overview of the subject of investing, and beginners will learn some good lessons, but by no means should they believe that by reading a couple of investing books and following the simple guidelines within should they expect to beat the market over the long-term. There's a reason most mutual funds don't consistently beat the market over the long-term. And no, it's not because the majority of mutual funds are run by complete dunces (some of you may tend to disagree). The objective of obtaining market beating returns isn't nearly as easy as it seems.
Rating: 
Summary: For the courage to invest well - read this book.
Review: The Motley Fool Investment Guide was written for me. It told me that I was not alone, that the "wise men" of the financial world were not always so wise, and that my ideas were not necessarily foolish. It gave me the courage and the information to make investmnent decisions.The term "fool" is used because many "experts" would have us believe that novices would be foolish to adventure alone into the investment world. The "Guide" shows the inadequacies of much current expert advice. After learning some very simple, but very successful, strategies, the term "fool" becomes a badge of honour. I am now quite proud to be called a fool. I am also richer for following the advice offered in the book. The Motley Fool Investment Guide recommends a range of strategies. At the basic level it suggests a simple formula approach to stocks listed on the Dow (adapted from O'Higgins' Beating the Dow). It cites data showing it's superiority over the indexes for the past 30 years. The guide maintains that this approach takes about 20 minutes a year but I think it's more likely to take 2 or 3 hours - still time effective! Some investors will be content with this. For the more adventurous, the guide explains how to evaluate and select stocks which are likely to grow in the medium term. Their advice is clear and simple; anyone who can read and do simple arithmetic can follow it. Much of it is similar to the approaches of Peter Lynch and Warren Buffet, but more easily understood and useable. Best of all, these authors are accountable. Their web site (http://fool.web.aol.com) lists all of their investments and the public can decide how effective the method is though monitoring it in real time. This takes courage and demonstrates how sure these authors are. Since beginning their portfolio on 4 Aug. 1994, it has gained 168.39%. The S & P 500 has made 72.18% over the same period (to 4 Feb. 1997). This book is a classic and worth every cent. Dennis Rose
Rating:
Summary: Foolish stock-price growth is possible.
Review: The Motley Fool is easy to read, simple to understand and amusing. Yet, the more I read, the more uncomfortable I became. First, it is clearly written for the person with little or no investment experience and no business or economics background. That would seem to limit its audience. I felt at times like I was being talked down to, that this book was not for me. Second, the book gave good advice in some areas - Part II on mutual funds is probably the best. When it reached Part VI on shorting stocks, normally a very risky strategy, I became concerned for the newer investor. In addtion, this book would be more useful if the authors gave some guidelines on how much of one's portfolio should be invested and percentages for using these different approaches. While I say "bravo" to their attempt, I am concerned that what I call The Misconception Stall (making decisions based on incomplete or misleading assumptions) and The Communication Stall (not having the message heard or understood the way it was meant) run rampant here. For example, as companies move with their seasonal or industry cycles, different investment approaches are warranted. Dividend models tend to bring in value players and "bottom fishers" who are there because they are not expecting growth in the stock. Is this where you want to be? Also, there are actions companies can take, such as buying back shares at the bottom of a cycle and issuing shares at the top of a cycle that can result in more rapid stock-price growth than any of these approaches. I hope in The Gardner's next book they will address these issues more "fooly"! Also, new investor would find it very helpful to have a list of questions they should ask the company they are about to invest in. There is no substitute for asking the right questions.
Rating: 
Summary: Good intro for wannabee Fools
Review: This book is pretty good for first time or novice investors, the Gardner brothers discuss the advantages and disadvantages of different investment methods most notably: mutual funds, index funds, and stocks. Also it seems these Fools (yes they like to be called that) like investing in Dow stock, much of their information regarding Dow stocks appears to come from Michael O'Higgins author of Beating the Dow. Another method that the brothers introduce is one of their own for picking out small cap growth stocks, here's what they look for: Sales of less than $200 million
Daily Dollar Volume of $3 million or less
Low Price $5-$20
Net profit margin of 10% or more
Relative Strength (IBD) of 90 or higher
Earnings and sales growth for the most recent quarter of 25+ or more
Insider holdings of 15%+
Cash flow from operations should also be a positive number This book is primarily aimed at beginning investors who want to hold growth stocks for a year or more, however a lot of this book is focused on them talking about their website www.fool.com My favorite part of this book would have to be the chapter on Zeigletics: The Penny Stock That Never Was. Reed Floren
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