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Book Review

The Lazy Investor

I read and enjoyed “Stop Working” by Derek Foster some time ago, and was excited when I heard he had a new book (“The Lazy Investor”) coming out. After visiting Mike on Friday night, I drank all his beer and took the copy that he’d won (when you let Mr. Cheap come to your house that’s par for the course).

Lazy Investor main points

My take away points from “Stop Working” were

  1. Dividends are a more reliable, consistent way to make money off of stocks rather then trying to time buying and selling.
  2. Blue chip companies with long histories of uninterrupted, increasing dividend payments can replace income.
  3. The tax efficiencies of Canadian dividends make them very attractive while building and living off of your investment income.

STOP WORKING

What the book was about

Although it was quick, fun read, I definitely enjoyed his first book more. This one read like a series of well thought-out blog posts (perhaps a “best of” collection) then a book with a consistent theme.

It covers:

  • How to setup DRIPs.
  • General ideas about investing in stocks.
  • Specific ideas about investing in stocks (including a short list of Canadian companies to consider buying).
  • Investing in American companies.
  • Teaching your kids about investing.
  • Whether you should pay for a child’s university education.

All interesting stuff, but I had expected a bit more of a unifying idea behind the book which wasn’t really there (it was broken into 2 sections, basically: how to invest and how to teach your kids how to invest).This book, like his first, is targeted to the beginner investor, and perhaps *I’m* different rather than this book being weaker than the first (against my best efforts I may have learned a couple things over the last few months). It’s a easy read and it may (bundled with “Stop Working”) be a good text for someone trying to figure out the basics of investing in the stock market (or looking for a straightforward approach to achieving an early retirement). Unfortunately I don’t think you’ll find many radical new ideas in it.

If you want to order this book – click on the Indigo banner below.

STOP WORKING

23 replies on “The Lazy Investor”

I have decided not to read ‘Lazy Investor’. The synopsis of this second book sounded too much like so many other series of books (ie Bach), recylcled ideas, and stuff you’ve heard before, reformatted and spit back at you in a thin book.

telly – I actually bought that book. I thought it was an excellent personal finance book, what did you think?

I should probably do a review on it.

MG – you’re probably right – might be worth a borrow from the library? Maybe I’ll do a give-away (if Mr. Cheap ever returns it :))

Mike

MG – I’d say you’ve hit the nail on the head.

Mike – I’ll bring it back next time I’m over (or if you guys want to go out for brunch or something again sometime).

Telly – Sounds good! Let us know next time you’re in T.O. and we’ll do a “beer and fiance book swap” night (are we party animals or what? 😉 )

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Mr. C – I’m just kidding – there is no rush to give it back (you just borrowed it after all!).

Did you say “fiance swap”? 🙂

Mike

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