Learn To Earn (a Beginner's Guide To The Basics Of Investing And Business)

By (author) Peter Lynch; By (author) Lynch, Peter; By (author) Rothchild John
Short description/annotation
Mutual-fund superstar Peter Lynch and author John Rothchild explain the basic principles of investing and business in this accessible guide.
Description
Mutual fund superstar Peter Lynch and author John Rothchild explain the basic principles of the stock market and business in an investing guide that will enlighten and entertain anyone who is high school age or older.

Many investors, including some with substantial portfolios, have only the sketchiest idea of how the stock market works. The reason, say Lynch and Rothchild, is that the basics of investing—the fundamentals of our economic system and what they have to do with the stock market—aren’t taught in school. At a time when individuals have to make important decisions about saving for college and 401(k) retirement funds, this failure to provide a basic education in investing can have tragic consequences.

For those who know what to look for, investment opportunities are everywhere. The average high school student is familiar with Nike, Reebok, McDonald’s, the Gap, and The Body Shop. Nearly every teenager in America drinks Coke or Pepsi, but only a very few own shares in either company or even understand how to buy them. Every student studies American history, but few realize that our country was settled by European colonists financed by public companies in England and Holland—and the basic principles behind public companies haven’t changed in more than three hundred years.

In Learn to Earn, Lynch and Rothchild explain in a style accessible to anyone who is high school age or older how to read a stock table in the daily newspaper, how to understand a company annual report, and why everyone should pay attention to the stock market. They explain not only how to invest, but also how to think like an investor.
Table of contents

Contents

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

The Companies Around Us

ONE

A Short History of Capitalism

TWO

The Basics of Investing

THREE

The Lives of a Company

FOUR

The Invisible Hands

APPENDIX ONE

Stockpicking Tools

APPENDIX TWO

Reading the Numbers -- How to Decipher a Balance Sheet

INDEX
Biographical note
Peter Lynch managed the Fidelity Magellan Fund from 1977 to 1990 when it was one of the most successful mutual-funds of all time. He then became a vice chairman at Fidelity and more recently has become a prominent philanthropist particularly active in the Boston area. His books include One Up on Wall Street, Beating the Street, and Learn to Earn (all written with John Rothchild).

John Rothchild was formerly a financial columnist for Time and Fortune magazines.
Excerpt
Chapter 1

A Short History of Capitalism

The Dawn of Capitalism

Capitalism happens when people make things and sell them for money. Or if they don''t make things, they provide services for money. For much of human history, capitalism was an alien concept, because the bulk of the world''s population never got their hands on money. Over thousands of years, the average person lived out his or her life without buying a single item.

People worked as serfs, slaves, or servants, for masters who owned the land and everything on it. In return, the workers were given free room in a hut and a tiny plot of ground where they could grow their own vegetables. But they didn''t get a paycheck.

Nobody complained about working for zero pay, because there was no place to spend it. Once in a while, a pack of traveling salesmen