Hopefully you will be able to read this summer, ideally because it is a great time to go outside, sit with a book and read for pleasure. One of the other books on your list should be something which allows you to take a cynical lens to your investing. There are many good reasons to invest in the stock market and wealth creation is a great reason, but there is adage that stocks go up and down but, overtime they have been proved to generate more wealth than leaving your account in the bank or buying a certificate of deposit. While you do not lose money, overtime the interest rate rarely keeps you above inflation which means there is limited growth.

One book that is cynical is The Devil’s Financial Dictionary by Jason Zweig published by Public Affairs, NY, 2015. Mr. Zwieg writes the Intelligent Investor column in the Wall Street Journal every weekend. He also was the editor of revised edition of Benjamin Graham’s The Intelligent Investor.

The book goes through an A to Z description of words that are important to investing. The cynical part is how Wall Street operates to generate wealth. From Wall Street’s perspective the more trading you do, the better they like you because there is a fee for trading. If you trade a great deal, does that result in higher wealth for you? or you do have many long-term holdings? Would it be better to buy an index fund? buy dividend stocks and hold them? The wonderful thing about Wall Street is there can be a depend. You have to determine which is best for you, but what is great for you is not necessarily great for Wall Street’s fees.

3 sample definitions

Rumor: The Wall Street equivalent of a fact

Stock Market: A chaotic hive of millions of people who overpay for hope and underpay for value.

Support: In Technical Analysis, a pattern in which the current price of an asset approaches its past low price. Example We think the price will find support at the $40 level, Feb 2013. We think the price will find support at the psychologically important level of $30, April 2013; although the $20 level was pierced, we think that was temporary and support will hold, June 2013; Historically $10 is one of the strongest support levels, September 2014.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, in every industry, in order to do it every day you need to be both focused and be able to laugh at yourself usually through the cynicism you can see. There can be many valid reasons for buying a stock and as an investor you should know why you are doing, hopefully the price increasing should not be the first one.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

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