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More than one million hardcovers sold
Now available for the first time in paperback!
The Classic Text Annotated to Update Graham’s Timeless Wisdom for Today’s Market Conditions
The greatest investment advisor of the twentieth century, Benjamin Graham taught and inspired people worldwide. Graham’s philosophy of value investing — which shields investors from substantial error and teaches them to develop long-term strategies — has made The Intelligent Investor the stock market bible ever since its original publication in 1949.
Over the years, market developments have proven the wisdom of Graham’s strategies. While preserving the integrity of Graham’s original text, this revised edition includes updated commentary by noted financial journalist Jason Zweig, whose perspective incorporates the realities of today’s market, draws parallels between Graham’s examples and today’s financial headlines, and gives readers a more thorough understanding of how to apply Graham’s principles.
Vital and indispensable, this HarperBusiness Essentials edition of The Intelligent Investor is the most important book you will ever read on how to reach your financial goals.
{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
A Value Investing Classic
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Two of the core types of investing are value and growth investing. Value investing looks to find commodities at a price lower than their value while growth investing looks to find commodities with the potential to become larger. If you’re interested in learning about value investing, this is definitely a book to check out.
Originally published in 1949, the Intelligent Investor helped paved the way for value investors like Warren Buffet, who writes a preface for this revised edition. Even though II was created over 60 years ago, it’s core concepts are still useful and true today.
The biggest negative about this book is that it’s relatively old. It was revised by Graham as recently as 1973 and includes updates by Jason Zweig but the majority of the content in the book was written over 40 years ago. Another downside is that it can be kind of grueling to read. That often comes with this subject matter but readability would help. At any rate, despite these shortcomings, the Intelligent Investor is a core book to learn about value investing.
A must have for a value investor
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Deep dyve into investing, but clear and easy to follow. Shows a clear and logic way to approach investing in public companies that also can be used to invest in private companies
Brilliant, though not sure the additional commentary adds much
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is the single best book on investing and I’ve read at least 20 books on the topic. It’s impressive to see someone make predictions in a book written decades ago that still hold. Most authors either avoid predictions or rapidly go out of date. The ‘new’ commentary diluted the quality of the book, the additional author isn’t bad, but it’s always going to be a disappointment to go from a rock star author to commentary from more of a backing singer.
If you invest your own money, I’ll be surprised if you don’t get sufficient insight from this book that it pays for itself many times over.
A must-read classic on value investing
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
“An investment is one which, upon analysis, promises safety of principal and an adequate return. Anything else is a speculation and should be avoided.” – Benjamin Graham
This quote pretty much sums up Graham’s macro perspective on investing. Many investors view Benjamin Graham is the father of value investing and that’s not far-fetched. This work is one of the best out there on the topic of value investing (or investing with a “Margin of Safety.” It is a must read for anyone who has passion for the topic.
Benjamin Graham has laid down a solid, entirely fundamentals-driven argument for why value is the most sound approach to making stock selection/investment decisions. Its written clearly, its concise and its sound fundamental advice makes the work timeless. Mr. Graham does an excellent job of laying out great examples to convince you that value investing and dollar cost averaging is the only right way to invest. He further details the methods to pick a company and determine its intrinsic value. The book also has a number of case studies, allowing the reader to see real world application of Mr. Grahams concepts, though some of the commentary is distracting.
So, the principles in this book are solid, writing is clear, examples are beneficial. It is geared toward a long-term investor, but it lacks any technical analysis, which I believe can be very beneficial to determine when to get in/get out of a solid fundamental pick.
Its one of my top 10 value investing reads, up there with Klarman’s Margin of Safety, and Joel Greenblatts’s You Can Be A Stock Market Genius.
The Intelligent Investor
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Item arrived in good condition. Have not had the time to read it but it is highly recommended.
Finally, investing background/fundamentals I can understand!
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Initially, I was intrigued by the title of this book when I saw it on a shelf in the University of Chicago, School of Business bookstore. I am still reading the book, but find it both informative and interesting in that it goes to great lengths (which is good for me) to explain differences between investing and speculating (of which I have been doing more of the latter, regretfully). The book also explains some of the psychologies of various investing strategies; why, how and who uses them and, more importantly when to use them. I am still learning about various bond strategies and plan on purchasing government bonds as a hedge against inflation in my IRA. This is a great book to keep nearby when you don’t want to watch TV during the holidays (or for any time for that matter).
Serve Me An Extra Helping of Graham But Hold The Zweig
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Let me first say that I am a big fan of Jason Zweig. When Zweig tells us where to put our money we should all listen. I enjoy his columns and advice in Money magazine, and I think he speaks with the reader’s interests at heart and he does so with common sense.
But let’s be clear that there are two schools of common sense:
1) Value investing aims to exploit the common-sense notion that you can buy a dollar for 75 cents.
2)Index investing, on the other hand, proposes that an individual investor is not equipped to accomplish the task of above-market investing (when I say not equipped I mean equipped by either intelligence, financial resources, time constraints, emotional immaturity, etc.).
Both have their merits. But Zweig uses the Graham text, from school #1, as a springboard to convince the reader of the virtues of school #2. The result is a sloppy commentary at best, and, at times, incoherent and inconsistent.
Zweig, if you want to sell people on index investing, you chose the wrong book to support your thesis!
This is the main reason why I give this edition three stars versus the five Graham deserves: THE ZWEIG COMMENTARY IS DETRIMENTAL TO OUR UNDERSTANDING OF GRAHAM. The arguments linking the Malkiel/Bogle Index Investor school to the Graham/Buffett school of thought aren’t very well supported. Both are common sense but each has its own reasoning. This makes the task of understanding the text on its own merits more difficult, not less! That’s not commentary! That’s an agenda of using the text for your own purposes.
This book is a classic. On those grounds alone you should pick it up. Moreoever, as a means of transmitting the core principles of value investing it still remains, as Buffett notes, near the top. You should go straight to the hardcover and hear these words as they were intended to be heard.
Difficult To Follow, Great Advice
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This book is difficult to read without a working knowledge of investment however the advice is solid for new investors and remains a valid reminder for more experienced investors as well. Grahm’s work is really the foundation of modern investment schools of thought.
His approach is a simple one of picking solid companies that will not vanish in the next few years automating the investment portfolio to remove the greatest weakness in any investment plan: your own emotions.
Central to his system is the fact that it is very to match the market but hard to consistantly beat it. Indeed he argues that simply putting additional effort into trying to beat the market is often the best way to lose money in the long term. Instead he supports steady, safe investment in what the investor can rely on to be solid investments over the years, especially in undervalued companies and solid bonds, in order to avoid losses which would be impossible to recover from. Rather than running arace that isimpossible for you to win it is better to focus on your own long term goals and refuse to compare your results against that of others. Doing so makes you more willing to tak edangerous risks that ca destroy the valu eof your investments and so long as you reach your goals who cares how well someone else did?
In stock investing, consider yourself part owner of a company, not a trader.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Warren Buffett has described “The Intelligent Investor” as by far the best book on investing ever written. Graham notes that the “intelligence” the title of the book celebrates is not of the smart or shrewd types but relates more to the character of the investor that is, not someone looking for a quick profit, but with a long – term view minded to conserve their capital, who can be firm about their investing principles in the face of an emotion – driven market. Within the Graham framework of value and safety, there is room to be either a defensive or an aggresive investor.Graham’s guiding rule for the conservative investor is to keep a split or roughly 50% of their funds in high grade bonds (or saving accounts with an equivalentinterest rate), and 50% in large, prominent, financially conservative companies that have a history of continuous dividend payment and whose price is not more than 25 times annual earnings (this generally excludes all growth stocks). The conventional wisdom is that if you are prepared to take higher risks, you will get higher returns. Graham rejects this, saying that high returns are not necesarily related to risk but to putting more time and effort into your investing. And finally, Graham contends that everything changes, including companies, regulations and the economy, but people do not, and people are what drive markets.
It could save your life!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I started investing because I was very unhappy with all my portfolios. I managed several thousands of dollars of my own and kept finding myself making one bad decision after another. I used all the nifty research tools. Paid for all the newsletters. Went to investing meetings. I kept loosing money. I stumbled across this daunting book and was determined to read it. It was like reading and great text book with awesome insights added in between chapters. I started to apply my new found knowledge and found myself actually beating the market. Then the bottom dropped out and in 2008. I was a lucky one. I had hedged my assets and when everything became discounted I had enough in my warchest to attack. I am very happy with the advice. I avoided a lot of pains, heartache and emotional attachment. I also learned that people that don’t put there money up are speculators, as is anyone that has not read this book. It really makes investing simple and calculated. I recommend it to all investors of any style. It enhances your strengths and adds a couple new ones!
Excellent Investment Book
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
The book that Warren Buffett considers the bible of investing is well worth the read.
The investment approach laid out by Benjamin Graham is a no-nonsense long term value investing strategy. Markets are not as efficient as Malkiel would suggest and there are opportunities out there for investors who do their research and manage their risk properly. The author cautions that our own emotions can be our worst enemy and must be strictly managed and rails against speculators who take too much risk or rely on technical analysis.
While Graham’s philosophy still resounds today and is very applicable in the current market his examples are quite dated. That is where Jason Zweig steps in and updates each chapter with footnotes and his own commentary to highlight recent examples and bring the text up to date.
Still a good book but needs more
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
This book is very fundamental to the concept of investing but should be used together with books from real traders and portfolio managers. The works of Linda Raschke and Toby Crabel are the finest in terms of learning to trade and make money. If you fan find these on Amazon or Ebay – go for it, even that they may be out of print. The author of this book is academician and the book reads as such. Some people swear by it as classic, i think it is useless used by itself. You need to back it up with the insight of others professional investors. Happy reading.
Timeless investing wisdom from Buffett’s mentor
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Warren Buffett always refers to chapters 8 and 20 on market volatility and margin of safety, so I read those with extra attention, but Benjamin Graham had a confidence of purpose and clarity of explanation that makes it easy to see why he developed such a (mostly posthumous) dedicated following. Investors (The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville for one famous example) who follow the philosophies that Graham touts in this book have become consistently successful. Classic.
Want to be Warren Buffett?
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
A great introduction and education in investing. It doesn’t guarantee to make you rich, but by reading it you should avoid becoming poorer. I have read other books and it probably should still be considered the bible of investing.
Classic Value Investors
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is a great book for value investors. I agree with Warren Buffett, who said that Chapter 8 and 20 are the most important chapters. Chapter 8 talks about how investors should behave during market fluctuations, and Chapter 20 talks about the margin of safety.
- Mariusz Skonieczny, author of Why Are We So Clueless about the Stock Market? Learn how to invest your money, how to pick stocks, and how to make money in the stock market
Timeless in every sense of the word
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This book is incredible. Not only will it tell you exactly how to use your money to generate massive amounts of wealth, it will tell you how to do it quickly with no effort on your part!
Ok, all ridiculousness aside, this book truly is amazing. The timeless wisdom of Graham virtually bleeds from the pages. The commentary helps to show how Graham’s wisdom applies to the somewhat modern day markets of the early 2000s, and anyone with a little intelligence can easily apply it to today’s market.
I am new to investing and recently bought a few different books, and this is by far my favorite. Graham’s writing style is typical for the age period when written. In my opinion, this is not a book that is well suited for the “information now” smatterings of ink and paper that seems to line the bookshelves of modern stores, so easily thumbed through and snap judged while drinking coffee from the conveniently located and internal coffee shop. The book is a well thought out journey and can really only be appreciated if you walk the path from beginning to end.
The book will help you to know yourself, help you to identify opportunities, and most importantly help you do identify possible follies. It is definitely not a get rich quick book, at least not in any tangible way, but the wisdom that is passed on through the pages is perhaps more valuable than a number on paper ever could be.
Rosetta Stone for Investors
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I am a computer programmer and was looking for a book to help me start investing and I read the Intelligent Investor early last year. I’m delighted to say, this book has provided a great amount of illumination on money & investing(and even outside the world of finance). I firmly believe that this book will help other lay investors to get started.
I found five mental constructs from this book particularly enlightening-
1. Draws clear distinction between investment and speculation:
Graham defines investing as:
“An investment operation is one which, upon thorough analysis, promises safety of principal and a satisfactory return. Operations not meeting these requirements are speculative”
By using this definition in a mental checklist can help to avoid rash decisions.
2. Concept of risk, Distinction between Defensive and Enterprising investor.
Graham advocates risk avoidance as supposed to the idea of “risk tolerance” (that most media experts say one must have to obtain good results in the market) and defines risk as “Permanent loss of capital”.
He provides separate instructions for defensive investors (who seek safety and adequate return and don’t have time and expertise to analyze deeply) and enterprising investors (people who will be able to devote ample time to evaluate business and balance sheets).
3. Asset Allocation and Investment Program:
Graham recommends people to have 25 to 75 percent of their money in stocks or bonds. He advises people to calibrate their asset allocation not on based on age (which people like Jack Bogle advise) but based on how attractive the yield of the asset class. I found this more convincing than Bogle’s strategy. Graham DOES NOT recommend dollar-cost averaging which has led a lot of people of a cliff in the recent bear market.
In Graham’s words: ” when the average price of common stocks is too high, the simple technique of dollar cost averaging may not yield satisfactory results to the average investor”.
4. Market fluctuations (Mr. Market) – Graham observes the Stock Market is like a manic depressive(Mr. Market) who offers to buy out your shares or sell you his shares everyday at a different price. He instructs the readers to ignore everyday quotations unless it presents an opportunity to buy it @ a cheap price or sell their holdings above its intrinsic value.
5. Margin of Safety – Drawing from the engineering concept, Graham advises investors to seek out a margin of safety in the price they pay for as asset from its intrinsic value as cushion against errors in estimating its yield and potential losses.
Two other comments that I have are:
—————————-
Graham doesn’t discuss about identifying companies which have great qualitative factors (customer loyalty, product satisfaction, management quality etc) going for them
which might make them great buys even if they are selling above book value. Depending upon your perspective that might be a good or bad thing (i.e lack of treatment of qualitative factors).
I found JASON ZWEIG’s footnotes mostly useful BUT his commentary after every chapter quite repetitive and annoying. In fact, it detracts the reader from absorbing Graham’s wisdom.So you SHOULD skip that right away.
Happy Reading!
Best Investing Book I’ve Ever Read—Hands Down
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Just finished Intelligent Investor and am starting on his Security Analysis. I.I. is not the easiest read (find a quiet room, have a notepad and paper, and read 1 or 2 chapters a night), but its insight is breathaking–particularly with the financial chaos (and volatility) of recent months. I’ve long been a fan of Warren Buffet and a Value Investor, and decided to read this book after reading of its influence on his style. If you have any desire to “run your own money” and self-direct your investments, you are a fool to not read this book. If you choose to not do it yourself (and nothing wrong with that choice, it takes ALOT of time), take Graham’s prescient advice and simply place your money in stock and bond Index Funds and simply own the entire market.
Becoming intelligent
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’ll keep this short and sweet.
This is an ‘old’ classic. Wish I had read Graham 10 years ago during the internet boom/bust. would have changed my approach to markets significantly. Everyone quotes Graham, yet I have met very few who actually read him. This investment book is my number 1 recommendation. Lengthy, yet easy to read and filled with good stuff.
Good book, wasn’t impressed though
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I only read the commentaries as I was unable to understand the older english used by Graham. I wish it was much simpler.
Life Changing Read for a Life-Long Invester
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I have been investing for more than forty years. At least I thought I was investing. Someone gave me a copy of the book SuperMoney, with the Jack Bogle intro, and that book led me to this Benj Graham classic. Err, UPDATED classic. Anyway, if you haven’t read this book and taken it to heart, you can’t really call yourself an investor. Not yet. This book is the single best investment you may ever make.
an investing book that all serious investors should read
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
the book is quite old and as such some of the information is dated. Furthermore, the book is outrageously conservative. That being said, it provides sound investment principes and points out erroneous investment strategies. The book should be read by all serious investors for it is the best book on conservative investing that I am aware of. And thus should be read even if one opts for a less conservative path.
Any serious investor needs to read this ASAP
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
An investor, irrespective of his philosophy will gain insight and wisdom from this writing by Graham and Zweig. A comprehensive book which requires focused and sometime repetitive reading to understand, but nevertheless is very valuable. A must have for anyone interested in understanding financial history, stock valuation and the investment business. Excellent examples of human behavior and trends in the stock market and instructive about various manipulations and exploitations utilized to the determent of an average investor. In retrospect, I should have started my investment understanding by reading this book first.
#1 on the serious investor’s reading list
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Why is “The Intelligent Investor” an investment book that even professional money managers read? Because it is timeless classic (updated nicely by Jason Zweig) that enhances knowledge without promising the impossible.
Do-it-yourselfers looking for a quick get-rich-quick fix should look elsewhere.
Great Book For Everyone Interested In Investing
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I picked this book up not knowing if I would find it complicated or dry. I quickly found myself reading through the first couple of chapters. Be prepared to take notes so that you can review some of the principles/recommendations that Graham describes. I would recommend this for any investor wanted time tested good advice.