The Four Pillars of Investing

William Bernstein lays out a self-directed approach to building a portfolio without a financial adviser, organized around four subjects every investor needs to master: risk and reward, market history, the psychology of investors and markets, and the folly of taking advice from people who sell investments. He explains how to blend asset classes, warns against picking individual stocks instead of owning the whole market, and shows how state of mind can undermine decisions. Bernstein argues that the brokerage and mutual fund industries are often investors' most direct competitors and urges managing savings, retirement accounts and home equity as one portfolio. The book also includes exercises for gauging tolerance for risk.

Bill Earner, founder of Connect Ventures, said it offers a good method for thinking about personal saving and investing and called it definitely useful.