Gary Silverman announces "Real World Investing"

By Gary Silverman, CFP®

Guess what? Not only am I a blogger here, but now I’m an author. Real World Investing is a new book out by yours truly. It’s been a long time coming.

At first, I thought I’d just put together a book of the Your Money articles and add material from newsletters and research papers I’ve written over the years. There were two problems. First, as my articles tend to be more reactive to what I’m reading or what you are experiencing, there were a lot of gaps. The pieces just weren’t linking up very well.

Then I realized I was biting off more than I could chew. I wanted to put together my over three decades worth of knowledge about investing. Once we gathered the material together, my in-house wordsmith, Tina, told me that we had about 1000 pages of material, even before I had a chance to flesh it out. Investing is more than just the securities you buy, the economy you live in, and the technology you use—it includes you.

Your psychological makeup is as important (if not more important) a consideration on how you should invest as is your age, income, and tax bracket. Each and every one of you has your own unique situation and look at the risks and rewards of investing differently.  

Soon I realized that it was impossible for me to write a book that could teach someone how to invest in a way that would satisfy me. That’s why I shifted instead to focus on the process I use for myself and my clients. It might not cover everything, but let’s face it, none of us wanted to read a 1000-page book.

So while Real World Investing isn’t the book that tells you all the ins and outs of investing, it does give you a practical overview. If you’re looking for a way to invest wisely and not have to pay someone like me to do it for you, I’ve even included a section on do-it-yourself investing. While it may not be perfect (nothing about investing is), following my recommendations will put you ahead of the vast majority of casual investors. And though I’ve stated that this is a book about investing, I know that most of you have one primary investment goal: Retirement. So I put in a chapter talking about getting ready for that.

Now, I’d love for all of you to buy the book (and get extra copies for your friends). But, just in case you don’t get to it, I’ve got a great Plan B for you. Over the next many months I’ll be covering topics and following the book’s format. It will have less detail than the book, but it will give you a pretty good overview.

If you’d rather have the whole book, you can get Real World Investing from our publisher, abpbooks.com, or on amazon.com. Or give us a call in and stop on in. We should have a few copies lying around. (If you like e-books, it's available on smashwords, as well.)