Barefoot Investor on books for Christmas: Novel way to find the perfect present
IT’S almost one week to Christmas and you haven’t bought any presents for your loved ones. Don’t fret, Barefoot Investor has the answer — books.
Barefoot Investor
Don't miss out on the headlines from Barefoot Investor. Followed categories will be added to My News.
CHRISTMAS is a stressful time.
Especially if you’re someone like me, who hates traipsing around suburban shopping centres.
The worst part isn’t the shopping — it’s having to think about what you’ll buy people.
But not me.
I’ve cracked the Christmas code: I buy people books.
(Not e-books: “Hey, I bought you a digital download for Christmas! All you have to do is go to amazon dot com forward slash fifty shades of … oh, forget it.”)
No, I buy physical books. You know — paper, cardboard and ink.
Remember those from school?
In fact, I’ve got it nailed so well, I don’t even need a card (another time-waster, and expensive to boot).
Instead, I just scribble on the inside cover ...
“Hey Bill, a smart bloke like you will appreciate a good read like this.
Merry Christmas! Scott.”
And it gets better: bugger wrapping it yourself.
That’s what bookshop assistants are for! And do you know what Bill says when he gets my book?
“Why, this does look like a good read! And I am a smart a guy! And this will look good on my bookshelf!”
Done!
So what books should you buy?
Well, here are my top choices this Christmas:
UNCOMMON SENSE: INVESTMENT WISDOM SINCE THE STOCK MARKET’S DAWN
MUCH of what’s written about the stock market these days is good for the toilet (wiping, not reading).
But not this book.
It’s the perfect gift for sceptical investors who don’t automatically believe everything they read.
Author Michael Kemp (chief analyst at my Barefoot Blueprint investment newsletter) intelligently rips apart the flawed concepts of charting, market timing and economic forecasting with a powerful mixture of logic, wisdom and history, spanning four centuries of booms and busts.
By the end of the book you’ll not only have learned how to perform your own stock valuations, you’ll have a commonsense framework for screening out the noise that bombards investors on a daily basis.
THE LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP
THIS book is an absolute game-changer. It’s topped the New York Times bestseller list and has sold millions of copies around the world. But a word of warning: you need to be careful who you give it to.
Case in point: I gave it to my mother-in-law last Christmas and the look on her face when she opened it up was … disturbing.
Truth be told, author Marie Kondo’s book isn’t really about tidying up at all. Rather, it teaches you about Japanese minimalism.
BAREFOOT INVESTOR: HOW A LITTLE SPRING CLEAN COULD CHANGE YOUR LIFE
MARIE KONDO’S GUIDE TO TIDYING UP HELPING TO CREATE MINIMALIST CALM
If you’re normal, you’ve accumulated a lot of stuff over your life — most of which is crammed into cupboards, and garages.
Kondo takes you through the process of decluttering your possessions and your life.
Best of all, once you go Japanese, you never buy crap again … well, until next Christmas.
STRENGTHS FINDER 2.0
THIS is a perennial Barefoot favourite.
It’s perfect for that person in your life who doesn’t know what they want to be when they grow up (even if they’re 50).
You see, plenty of people are working in jobs they’re not suited to (a consequence of making decisions on what subjects to study when they were an impressionable teenager).
And people mistakenly believe the answer is to focus on improving their weaknesses.
But if you do that, the best you can hope to end up with is slightly stronger weaknesses.
There’s a better way: find out what your core strengths are and spend just a little bit of time improving them. That’s how life changes in a big way.
How do you identify your weaknesses? Get married.
How do you identify your strengths? Buy Strengths Finder 2.0.
To be fair, this is not really a book.
It’s more of an overview for an online personality test (which you access via a code from the book).
The test will help you identify your five best talents, and the book then gives you practical advice on how to put them to work.
THE BAREFOOT INVESTOR: THE ONLY MONEY GUIDE YOU’LL EVER NEED
OK, so this is a blatant self-serving plug for my own book, right?
Yes, it most certainly is.
However, cut me some slack, it’s taken me nearly two years to write it, and 15 years of answering money questions to nail it.
It’s really simple: it starts with having a date night with your partner or yourself, and you actually do the steps while you’ve got a beer in your hand.
It then moves on to the big money challenges in your life, like saving
up a deposit, and looking after your kids.
It ends by going all the way to retirement — showing you that everything you’ve heard about how much you need to retire is wrong.
I’ve had people ring me up in tears after reading this chapter — happy tears!
So spread the Barefoot love this Christmas.
It may end up being the most valuable gift you give this year.
A wise person once said: “Twenty years from now you’ll be the same person, except for the people you meet and the books you read.”
A book makes the ultimate present: it’s something your family or friends can take with them, has great screen resolution and excellent battery life.
Even better, these books can spark an idea that can change their life.
You won’t get that from giving a box of chocolates.
Tread Your Own Path!
Originally published as Barefoot Investor on books for Christmas: Novel way to find the perfect present
Why all that glitters is not gold
The price of gold may be on the rise but it’s not quite as shiny as it seems. When it comes to long-term gain, it pays to follow the golden rule — only invest in things that regularly put money back in your pocket, writes the Barefoot Investor.
Don’t get high on the short-term sugar hit
Despite the COVID crisis, money questions have been flooding in from readers about how to buy and trade stocks, or even gold. Maybe it’s down to raiding super, or the government stimulus, but the key to financial control is first to get out of debt, writes the Barefoot Investor.