As a service to my current readers and readers-to-be, I am pleased to offer you the worksheets from my money management books. Each fits on a single sheet of paper and is saved in Adobe PDF format, so you will need the Adobe Reader to view and print them. It’s free here.
| The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing |
Reasons and Limits [PDF 304 KB] Presents a simple form summarizing your reasons for investing in a stock and the price limits at which you will buy more shares or sell. Use this sheet to keep a cool head when others panic. Stocks to Watch Worksheet |
| The Neatest Little Guide to Mutual Fund Investing |
Financial Goal Worksheet [PDF 339 KB] Breaks your financial goals down into manageable monthly amounts, identifies your time frame, acceptable level of risk, and target investment allocations. Mutual Fund Information Sheet |
| The Neatest Little Guide to Personal Finance |
Net Worth Worksheet [PDF 306 KB] Tallies your assets and liabilities for calculating your net worth. Monthly Expenses Yearly Expenses |
30 Comments
I just finished the 5th edition of your “Neatest Little Guide…” and absolutely loved it. I’m a straight-up newbie, starting from ground (dollar) zero. For the first time on my life the stock market makes sense and seems “approachable”, if that makes sense. I’m looking forward to putting the plan into action! Thank you!
Thank you, Clayton! I’m happy to hear it.
To really get going on the right track, be sure to read The 3% Signal, as it expands the value averaging plan you read about in my stock book. The 3Sig plan, and two leveraged variations on it, are all I run in my letter.
Thank you, again!
Do you have the worksheet in excel?
Not these, but I do have a 3Sig sheet for Excel on the 3Sig page.
The 3% Signal is a great book. I can hardly wait to get my hands on your book “Stock Market Investing”
Thank you!
Thank you, Ken!
Have a merry Christmas,
Jason
Hi Jason,
I’m in the process of reading your book ‘The neatest little guide in stock market investing’ and I absolutely love it. I’ve been playing lightly in the market for a few years and now I really want to get serious and understand it. I love your practical explanations and mathematical breakdowns to clarify area’s that sort of understand but now really get.
Thanks again and please keep writing!
Lisa
You’re very welcome, Lisa, and thank you for the kind words!
If you want to reach another level of understanding, please read The 3% Signal as well. If you’re like many who read it, you might just conclude it’s the only approach to the market you’ll ever need.
All my best,
Jason
You made learning all about the stock market fun! Great book, well written; will recommend to friends and buy people copies when they wonder where my new found wealth came from! I’ve read a few books from that crowded shelf and yours was the only one I really needed, thanks for writing the neatest little guide to stock market investing.
I’m currently reading The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing and I’ve gone from not knowing anything about the stock market to being able to identify potential investments. I sincerely feel there couldn’t have been a better book to learn from.
Thank you, Luigi! I’m very happy the book is helping you.
LOVE YOUR NEATEST LITTLE GUIDE. A LOT OF USEFUL INFORMATION TO THE NEW INVESTOR. I’M SENDING COPIES OF ALL MY FRIENDS. I ALSO BOUGHT “INTELLIGENT INVESTING” AND “COMMON STOCKS AND UNCOMMON PROFITS” ARE OF WHICH ARE QUITE BORING COMPARED TO YOUR BOOK. THANKS SO MUCH, JASON GOOD JOB!!
You’re most welcome, Shonsaya, and thank you for sending copies to your friends! Glad to have you and yours in the circle.
Hi Jason,
Truly fantastic book, very easy to read with great tidbits of humor (always appreciated). I have the same question as Arno above: Do you have the “Stock to Watch” worksheet in some editable format? It would be great to be able to just copy and maintain online.
Thank you,
George
Hi George,
No, it’s just the printable form to maintain by hand. People have turned it into a spreadsheet, and I could offer one of them here one of these days.
Jason
Jason,
Let me just add to the praise that your book deserves and thank you for providing a very insightful and clear summary of the stock market. It has been indispensable for me in getting a grasp on the market and the options available. I wish someone had given me a book like this when I was 15!
I do have one quick question about your 3% VA strategy. I currently have money in a Vanguard retirement mutual fund (VTTSX) and was wondering if this strategy holds true for mutual funds as well ( if it’s even worth it) or if it would serve me better to transfer it to the VTI fund you recommend in the book?
Thanks!
You’re most welcome for the book, and thank you for the kind words about it!
On the VA strategy, yes, mutual funds will work just fine. The quarterly pace of the plan gets around all short-term trading restrictions and/or fees, and many funds offer very cheap expense ratios, so there’s no reason that mutual funds can’t work just as well as ETFs. Vanguard, by the way, is an excellent plan to run the plan because it specializes in low-cost products.
Best of luck,
Jason
Hello Jason, I am 16 years old and I just finished reading the Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing(2013 Edition). I just wanted to say that this book is absolutely amazing. It is very detailed yet simple enough for a beginner, like me, to read. It gives you all the information you need to get started in the stock market. However, its information is good enough to be used by Warren Buffet or any other master investor. I just wanted to thank for writing such a well-rounded book that was very fun to read as well. Soon, I will be purchasing my first shares of stock. I have $500 to start off with and I was just wondering if you have any extra advice before I head out to the scary waters of the open market.
Thanks,
Steven
Thank you, and congratulations on starting your investment career, Steven! I wish you well with it.
My advice with your first $500 is to put $400 into IJR and $100 into BND and then reactively rebalance the portfolio the way you learned in the value averaging plan on page 119. The approach will safely acquaint you with the real stock market, which is the best way to learn.
Go get ’em,
Jason
I read your 2013 Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing. Enjoyable read. However, I noticed that you do not address tax implications at all. It seems that some of your strategies would have generated a good bit of capital gains. For example, the core portfolio strategy of value averaging the IJR would have about $3200 of gains for the year 2010. That could become significant for larger starting amounts. How do you handle the tax implications of this strategy in your own investing?
Many thanks!
True, Kevin, taxes are a drag for all of us.
The best place to run any investment strategy is a tax-advantaged account, such as a retirement account. Within that shelter, an investor can trade to his/her heart’s content without worrying about tax implications.
Outside a retirement account, you’re stalked by the short-term capital gains tax at your regular income rate. However, this is usually easy to minimize by tracking when you bought various lots of stock. Even the VA plan with its quarterly signals can be run by selling lots that were bought more than a year ago. This will limit the tax liability to 15% rather than the income tax rate, which is usually more than 25% for investors.
Really enjoyed your book but as a Canadian not all the information is applicable. Eg. is there a similar method to the Dow strategies for the TSX? Also, what are some good online resources for Canadians.
Thanks!
Almost all of the book’s strategies are applicable to other countries’ indexes. Dividends operate the same way everywhere, etc. The best strategy of all, the 3 percent signal, operates merely by comparing price changes quarter over quarter, which is also univerally applicable. Percentage growth is the same everywhere on Earth.
As for Canadian resources, I like Globe Investor.
I just finished reading (10 minutes ago) The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing. I have to say this was the best book on personal investing I have ever read. For the first time in my life I feel like I really know how to invest and be successful. I’m excited to get started.
Great, David! Thank you for mentioning so here. I should have seen it earlier.
Mister Kelly, I read your 2013 Neatest Little Guide.
Can you please send me The Stocks to watch worksheet in Excel?
Thank you very much
Arno v.d. Maarel
I’m afraid I don’t have it in a working spreadsheet format, just the printable PDF. I’ve made note of your request, though, and will see about creating an online public spreadsheet at Google Docs. Thank you for the suggestion!
Hello Jason!
Just wondering if you have an ongoing project to help those in Japan affected by the flood. Also, I hope that your sister was not effected by the fires in CO. (Hope I am not being too snoopy.)
Been training for the App. trail in the Spring breaking in new boots sure is hard on the feet.
Love the new site! Hope to be able to budget the price into next months wish list.
Hope this finds you well:)
Marilyn
Hello to Marilyn. Hope you have begun the AT. Read a great book just this year by Bill Walker a.k.a. Skywalker about his experiences on walking it.
Don’t miss Bill Bryson’s indispensable A Walk In The Woods about the trail. A great read!