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Investing in One Lesson

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Why are the smartest, most successful professionals so often failures when it comes to investing? Can stock prices really be so illogical that even doctors and lawyers can't figure them out? Ultimately, is it possible for anyone to decipher the financial markets?
Fortunately, the answer is yes. In Investing In One Lesson, investment guru Mark Skousen clearly and convincingly reveals the reasons for the seemingly perverse, unpredictable nature of the stock market. Drawing upon his decades of experience as an investment advisor, writer, and professor, Dr. Skousen explains in one spirited, easy-to-follow lesson why stock prices fluctuate with such apparent irrationality. Lifting back the veil of perplexity and confusion that surrounds the workings of the stock market, Dr. Skousen

*Why good news for the economy is often bad news for the stock market
*Why stocks of old, established companies in shrinking industries tend to be a better investment than shares in rapidly growing firms in cutting-edge fields
*Why stock prices can suddenly skyrocket or collapse--regardless of market fundamentals
*Why initial public offerings often enrich insiders at the expense of the majority of investors
*How Wall Street is like a giant casino--and how it isn't

The perfect investment primer, Investing In One Lesson provides an introduction to everything from day trading to contrary investing to chart-based techniques. Dr. Skousen's book concludes with a comprehensive but simple investment strategy to maximize your returns without having to dedicate countless hours to researching the market. Dr. Skousen packs his book with entertaining personal and professional anecdotes illustrating his central point--that the business of investing is not the same as investing in a business. He offers investors a wide-ranging but accessible course on investing history, psychology, and strategy--all in one lesson.

175 pages, Hardcover

First published September 25, 2007

12 people are currently reading
157 people want to read

About the author

Mark Skousen

71books125followers
I am a professional economist, financial adviser, university professor, author and producer of FreedomFest, the largest annual gathering of free minds about liberty and freedom in the world. I edit the award-winning financial newsletter, Forecasts & Strategies (), and have authored many books on economics, finance, investing and Benjamin Franklin. I have been married to my wife Jo Ann for 35 years, and we have 5 children and 3 terrific grandsons.

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5 stars
50 (20%)
4 stars
101 (40%)
3 stars
77 (30%)
2 stars
16 (6%)
1 star
5 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
334 reviews10 followers
January 20, 2022
Contrary to what the other reviewers are saying, the One Lesson isn't to buy dividend stocks (although that's the bulk of his recommendations), it's that the market is not the economy and that economy is not the market.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. It's a fairly simple and cogent introduction to investing. The reason for my 3-star rather than 4-star review is that for an Austrian Economist, there's hardly any Austrian Economics in the book. He does mention the business cycle, easy monetary policy, etc, but the Austrians are underrepresented in financial economics and I was hoping to see some muscle flexing here.
135 reviews6 followers
June 11, 2011
What Hazlitt did for economics, Skousen attempts for investing. He's an Austrian but is not a gold/silver bug which is refreshing. Relies heavily on Jeremy Siegel's work.
Profile Image for Kate.
214 reviews27 followers
April 16, 2016
The one lesson? Buy dividend stocks. Easy and interesting read by a contrarian investor.
Profile Image for Osh.
112 reviews13 followers
March 15, 2022
สนุกดี อ่านง่ายด้วย ช่วยยืนยันความเชื่อของตัวเองหลายอย่า� ได้ปันผลมาก็เอาไป reinvest ไปเรื่อ� � อย่างนี้เจริญแน่นอน
20 reviews3 followers
March 20, 2017
Listened to audiobook while auditing things in our home. A few take aways. Invest in what you know & understand with disposable earned income. Dividends don't lie. Loosing it all is the beginning of learning. Be rich; borrow $1m & pay it off (aka your home). Many others that I've heard from other resources; a nice quick refresher
25 reviews
January 3, 2021
I would have to say! Yes, it is simple and it is not a get rich book. But, the ideas in this book are sound and have been tested over time. I can say when I was an early investor I followed these simple investing steps. I would say this is a great starter for anyone investing. I only have one update and suggest that if you read this book, please understand the times you are in. This was talking about a then time before ETFs or Cryptocurrency it did touch mutual funds, bonds, and gold. You can find ETFs that are value driven and provide annual dividends. With Cryptocurrency, I would say find staking rewards, APY like a saving or CD as well as looking for something that will allow you to make secure loans to platforms or businesses not people. It does go into money markets which is good. This is more for a methodical investor, who wants to have a savings account earn intertest (cash), money market make interest (cash), cd make interest, cheap small cap dividend stock make dividends (cash). Given that savings, money markets and CDs make about 1% totaling 3% and dividend investing avg gives you about 3% dividend. You can come out as a mom and pop investor making 6% OVER TIME. If your looking for a other strategies or get quick day trading try books on Poker. This is income investing 101.
Profile Image for عدنان العبار.
478 reviews123 followers
June 21, 2021
If you want to invest, read this book. The one lesson is very easy and simple and straightforward, and it is absolutely sobering. The book talks about economic theory as well as the nuances of investing in stocks, gold (or even digital coins if you think about it), foreign currencies, bonds, real-estate, or what-have-you, and his lessons are always on point.

I really advise this book for anyone who wants to start on investing. Especially that it is really fun to read, and it explains these seemingly esoteric and tough concepts in ways everyone can understand. It explains the differences between long-term and short-term investments, and some pearl of wisdoms that have proven very useful today.
Profile Image for Arun Narayanaswamy.
408 reviews6 followers
October 27, 2022
How interesting can a book on investing be - read this one to know. Amazingly written and covers so many aspects of investing. It does go into sufficient level of details for us to start the journey of investing wisely. It’s surely not only for beginners but made interesting for experienced blokes in the business as well. Great stuff!! Hope a revised one comes with new forms of investments like crypto and gold-etf
Profile Image for Gregory.
322 reviews9 followers
November 8, 2018
Bardzo solidna lektura dla wszystkich osób, które chciałyby dowiedzieć się czym właściwie jest giełda papierów wartościowych. Dodatkowo autor dzieli się w niej swoimi spostrzeżeniami i strategiami, które doprowadziły go do sukcesu jako inwestora. Bardzo dobrze przetłumaczona pozycja, czyta się świetnie. Polecam zwłaszcza 'zielonym' w temacie giełdy.
Profile Image for Matthew.
322 reviews
March 1, 2019
I'm no expert in investing - far from it. But Skousen does a nice job of walking the reader through a number of investing options and outlining the associated risks. The bottom line is that he recommends stocks that pay dividends.
Profile Image for Luis.
14 reviews
June 8, 2021
Tiene toda la razon de invertir en acciones con dividendos.
Profile Image for Ahmad Nazeri.
252 reviews7 followers
July 6, 2021
Some good, basic insights for someone who wants to pursue passive investing.
136 reviews1 follower
April 1, 2022
Not bad, but quite dated. Some good tips and useful for comparison against newer books on the subject
233 reviews4 followers
October 3, 2023
Not that interesting or thought provoking book. The main point is to invest in divident paying stocks.
246 reviews2 followers
March 23, 2021
Listened to the audio book. First 3 hours were quite technical and a bit difficult to listen to. Then he provides the one lesson, buy dividend stocks. Book was published in 2008. I want to do some analysis to see if the thesis still holds true in 2021. Between 2010 and 2020, growth stocks out performed dividend stocks.
Profile Image for Christopher Lewis Kozoriz.
827 reviews273 followers
June 23, 2015
Listened to the audio-book of this book. There wasn't much mentioned about mutual funds, which I found surprising. However, I learned things that I did not know before. I liked how Mark analyzed the investment habits of the super-rich and compared them to the average investor.

I think the main lesson I learned in the book was that just because the super-rich, such as, Warren Buffett, invests a certain way, does not mean we should invest the same way. Warren Buffett thinks like a billionaire and until we reach that status, we require to invest sometimes in a different manner, in order get the results that we are seeking.
Profile Image for Dayini.
74 reviews3 followers
September 8, 2011
Excellent look at contrarian investing and why the markets often don't make sense.
Profile Image for Gavin.
125 reviews7 followers
October 6, 2012
Great short book about investing.
The one lesson is: Invest in dividend rich stocks.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews

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