Friday Links 08-01-11

From the Web

Open Source Blogging – Feel free to steal from ZenHabits. In fact Leo, author and owner of ZenHabits, is encouraging it. He’s decided to make all of his content (including his $10 e-book) without copyrights. I’m interested in seeing how this will pan out. While I’m a fan of actions to lower the copyright and patent restrictions, many of the supporters of abolishing all intellectual property law seem to just want to get something for nothing.

From the Archives

The Seven Major Beginner Mistakes – Being a beginner at almost everything, I’ve made a lot of mistakes. Here are some of my observations about some of the most common mistakes you might not realize you’re making.

From the Shelf

The Intelligent Investor – I’m reading the revised fourth edition of this classic investing book that was originally released in 1973. As with almost any other reasonable source I’ve heard on investing, Benjamin Graham recommends index funds for the average investor. An index fund tries to match (not beat) the market and therefore has lower fees and higher returns.

Graham obviously isn’t a believer in the efficient market theory which suggests that it’s impossible to “beat the market” without simultaneously taking on more risk. I’ve heard arguments from both sides, but Graham believes that so-called “value investing” (buying more when stock prices are cheap) is the best strategy. I’m still really green when it comes to investing, but I hope to read a few dozen more books in the next year or two when I can start more serious investing.