Just Keep BuyingJust Keep Buying

Nick Maggiulli is a data person, and this book reads like one. He takes the questions people argue about most, like how much to save and whether to wait for a crash before buying, and answers them with numbers instead of opinions.

The book has two halves, saving and investing. On saving, his point is that if you don't earn much yet, saving harder only goes so far, and growing your income matters much more. He also has a rule for spending without guilt: whenever you want to splurge on something, put the same amount into investments. On investing, the answer is in the title. Buy good, income producing assets regularly, and keep buying, whatever the market is doing. He shows that waiting to buy the dip usually loses to simply buying every month, even for someone who could somehow spot every dip perfectly.

There's nothing exciting in it, and that's the reason to trust it. Most money advice sells excitement. This one sells patience with charts.

What I took is that the answer to money is mostly dull, and the dull part is where it works. It sits right next to The Richest Man in Babylon on the shelf. They're a hundred years apart and they say almost the same thing.