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USAToday
Review
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The
Neatest Little Guide to
Do-It-Yourself Investing
Buy
it now!
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‘Guide’
offers basic investment advice
By
Kerry Hannon, Special for USA TODAY
03/24/2002
Since 1996, Jason Kelly has been spinning out easy-to-use paperbacks for neophyte investors. These slim books, all of which bear the moniker The Neatest Little Guide, are filled with useful, basic information that's easy to digest.
Don't expect sophisticated investment advice it's just the bare bones here. But at $12 to $13 a pop, the advice is relatively cheap in today's book world. Kelly, once a technical writer for IBM in Silicon Valley, has transformed himself into a mini-money guru. He teaches financial seminars throughout California.
Over time, the design and content have improved. His latest, The Neatest Little Guide to Do-It-Yourself Investing, is the best of the lot, by far. The cheesy, comic illustrations that line the pages of others in the series are thankfully put out to pasture. And he no longer starts and ends the book with such lines as Welcome Aboard! and Happy Trails!
Nice pullout boxes define investment terms such as stock split, limit order and no-load. Moreover, each chapter ends with a tight recitation of the main talking parts of the issues discussed, including resources. That's helpful in this type of leading-newcomers-by-the-hand guide.
One flaw is that although he boldly offers real people as examples, complete with names and hometowns, which can be deceptive. He says that he changed names and combined several individuals to protect the identities of some sources. Fair enough; unfortunately, he doesn't share who's who with the reader. The examples are OK, but it would have been better to alert the reader about blurring the line. If the person is a composite, say so.
Nonetheless, his tone is confident and sometimes downright humorous. He calmly explains that perfect investments don't exist. And he roots for stocks unabashedly, given that over time, the market has returned more than 11% a year. But he cautions investors new to the game to wade, not dive, in.
What really counts for do-it-yourself investors, he says, is getting the right
information. He's correct, of course. He tells readers where
to get started, such as the best magazines, newspapers and
databases. (His site, www.jasonkelly.com, gets a prominent
plug.)
Read
the review online at USAToday
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