Last Updated on February 14, 2024
The information contained in this article is for general educational purposes and should never be viewed as specific investment, tax, or legal advice.
The world of finance is vast, but here is the good news – you don’t have to be an expert or a master stock-picker to be a good investor. In fact, once you have some of the basics down, successful investing has a lot more to do with behavior than what you know. As Warren Buffet so perfectly put it: “The Stock Market is designed to transfer money from the Active to the Patient.”
Beyond all the resources shared in this article, we have written many articles on different financial and investing topics which you can find, here. For additional guidance, consider joining our guided investment program for A-Z support in getting your money out of the bank!
Table of Contents
Podcasts
There are now hundreds of thousands of podcasts with millions of episodes of content available, almost all of which are completely free. I often feel like I learn more listening to podcasts than I learned in an entire course in college. Podcasts can be an excellent resource for learning more about investing – here are some of the best:
Investing – Money for the Rest of us, The Stacking Benjamins Show, The Dough Roller, Portfolio Rescue, Barron’s Streetwise
Finances in Israel – Aliyah Money Talks, Goldstein on Gelt Show, The Aaron Katsman Show, Finessing your Finance
Financial Independence – Choose FI, Radical Personal Finance, MadFientist, Afford Anything
Beyond the basics – Masters in Business, Animal Spirits, The Long View, Capital Allocators
Top articles
- How to build wealth by Four Pillar Freedom
- 4 Timeless Investing Principles That Never Change by Darius Foroux
- How I failed my daughter and a simple path to wealth by JL Collins
- When Holding is the Hardest Part by Ben Carlson
- How to Be a DIY Investor by Dr. James M. Dahle
- The flight path to retirement by Cody Garrett
- The Seduction of Pessimism by Morgan Housel
Books
If you ever wanted to read a book about investing but find finance boring – here are 3 fantastic investing books that are also interesting to read:
- Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
- The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
- The Simple Path to Wealth by J. L. Collins
Online Courses
There are tons of different courses about stock market investing online but many are focused on the stock-picking game rather than actual long-term investing. Two very basic courses that cover some of the most important principles of investing are “Wealthsimple’s Investing Master Class” (About 30 minutes and somewhat entertaining) and “Bogleheads® investment philosophy” (About 1 hour). Keep in mind that while these courses may be helpful for learning general principles, some of the issues discussed may not be relevant for Israeli investors.
We designed our online Guided Investment Program specifically for those looking to start investing while living in Israel.
What is an ETF?
An ETF or Exchange Traded Fund is essentially a basket of stocks or bonds that can be bought and sold very easily. Many ETFs have very low fees and passively invest in major market indexes. Low-cost broad market ETFs are likely the single best tools for most long-term investors.
To illustrate this with an example – let’s say you wanted to own the S&P 500 – one of the world’s most popular indexes which tracks 500 of the largest US stocks. You can buy all 500 of those stocks yourself in the right proportion and try to match the S&P 500. Obviously, this will be very difficult. Instead you can buy an ETF that tracks the S&P 500 and with a single purchase, gain access and exposure to all those stocks.
Keep in mind that you don’t need to set aside extra cash to pay ETF fees – those fees (also called expense ratio) will be automatically deducted from the fund itself – they’re not fees you have to worry about paying on your own.
If you are not an American citizen it may be advisable for you to avoid US based ETFs because of potential complications with US estate tax (death tax). Many choose to use Ireland-domiciled ETFs instead. For more info please read Schwab International’s guide to US taxes and Bogleheads Non-US investor’s guide to navigating US tax traps
Model Portfolios
Check out some of the free portfolios available online to help you get started thinking about how you want to build your own portfolio. All of these can help you start thinking about what it means to build a globally diversified portfolio using low-cost index funds:
Professional Advice
Lastly, don’t be afraid to seek professional advice. The truth is that there are more options than ever to get started investing – even for those of us that don’t have the millions needed to get independent investment advice. See our full article “How to invest when you’re not rich (yet)” for a detailed comparison of the options.
Summary
Most of all, remember that ultimately, the purpose of investing is to improve your life and give you more freedom. Your life and emotions can’t be put into a spreadsheet. Taking on more risk may make sense mathematically for achieving higher returns but if you aren’t going to be able to sleep at night that math is meaningless. Look for a plan that you can stick with in the long-run.
For more tips on how to grow and maintain your investments from Israel, click here. To learn more about short-term savings option in Israel, click here.
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I help Olim make more confident decisions by sorting through the complexity around personal finance in Israel and delivering a well organized path forward.
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