In a discussion with G about new religions the other day, the topic somehow moved to how they are a lot like startups. Their advantage is that they are small and agile and can cater to the unhappy 'customers' of the established religions. They first target the 'earlyvangelists' who have a strong need and are actively looking for a better product. They need to be aggressive to push their product and convert users to their product.
I've read my share of '… for dummies' books and they're usually a good guide for beginners in many disparate fields. I believe, however, that investment should not be one of those fields. We all spend a good deal of time and effort earning money and saving it. However when it comes to investment, people don't seem too keen to spend time and effort to in protecting their savings. I've picked up this book called 'The Intelligent Investor' that provides rational advice to investment. I think it would be even better named 'The Rational Investor' since actuall intelligence is not required. Much more important is dilligence in fact-checking and courage to ride through the good and bad times.