Most books about investing usually have very short shelf lives. In many cases, they hit the bookshelves right at the peak of customer enthusiasm and then quickly lose their relevancy. It certainly is a challenge to write something new, and even harder to write something about investing principles in one generation that will be just as relevant in the next.
More than 17 years ago, the stock market was raging to all-time highs. Investors were told that we were now in a new paradigm. Companies with no earnings and very few assets had market valuations in the billions of dollars. By the end of 1999, the NASDAQ was up over 86%. Here are a few hot sellers that were flying off the shelf toward the end of 1999:
Instead of the “Roaring 2000s” or “Dow 36,000,” the stock market plunged into the steepest bear market in 30 years. The Dow Jones lost 36% and the NASDAQ fell 77% from their highs before finding a bottom in October 2002. And Y2K proved to be a bust; planes didn’t fall from the sky, computers didn’t freeze up, and electronic equipment didn’t go haywire when the clock struck midnight on December 31, 1999.
How many successful investors do you know who keep these books on their desks, quote from them often, and refer to them when the financial world is in flux? I’m sure you’d have a hard time finding one. These books remain relevant for a few months at best, and then remain tucked in bookcases, never again to see the light of day.
Still relevant after 79 years and six editions
In September 2008, the sixth edition of Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd was released. The book has been continuously in print since it was first published in 1934. Benjamin Graham’s most famous student, billionaire investor Warren Buffett, wrote the foreword to the current edition. He wrote, “[T]hey [Graham and Dodd] laid out a road map for investing that I have now been following for 57 years. There’s been no reason to look for another.”
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