Review of The Savvy Investor

[Justin Christensen]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Savvy Investor" by Eric Reinertsen.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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The Savvy Investor by Eric Reinertsen is an extremely useful little book. I personally have very little experience with investing, but I’m getting to the stage in life where I really need to start retirement planning and creating an investment portfolio for my future. I’m pretty confident that I am the exact target audience for this book. Reinertsen started me out slowly by explaining the basics and fundamentals of investing before getting into strategies and risk management a little bit later on. Some of it is common sense stuff—for example, I was aware of what an investment was already, and I do own a 401(k) and a few stocks—but even some of the more basic information was new to me. I’ve never thought much about inflation or diversification, and I’ve always figured that the machinations of the market as a whole are a little over my head. Chapter two was very informative in that regard, and while I still don’t feel like an expert on the subject, I can at least follow a conversation about stock exchanges now.

I won’t say this was a perfect book. There were a few grammar issues sprinkled around it, and Reinertsen does seem to overuse capital letters. I didn’t see any major errors, and, to be frank, I’m more interested in the author’s financial savvy than grammar in a book like this one. Some of the information was a bit too advanced for me as well—chapter 10 is all about investment performance, which, it turns out, is quite a bit more complicated than just seeing if the numbers went up. I plan to revisit this book after some hands-on experience to see if some of those more difficult concepts will click.

I particularly enjoyed that Reinertsen included a references section at the end of the book. I love it when an author cites their sources, and it felt like a good recommended reading list for someone who really wants to learn more. I’m happy to give The Savvy Investor a rating of four out of five stars. The only star I deducted was for the grammar issues I mentioned previously. If you’re new to investing and want to understand what you’re doing a bit before getting your feet wet, I think this book is worth your time.

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The Savvy Investor
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

[George Bastem]

A practical and approachable guide for anyone new to investing. Reinertsen lays a solid foundation and gradually builds into more advanced topics, making the learning curve manageable. While some grammar issues and complex sections may trip up beginners, the value of the content shines through. A great resource for those starting their financial journey.

[Neto Onuoha]

If you are looking to invest and build wealth this is definitely a book you should look at, as it guides you on how to approach investing on a long term. I like to applaud both the author and the reviewer for a job well done.