Basics of Successful Investing

The secret to successful investing? That's simple. Build a time machine, go back to the height of the Depression and buy all the Coca-Cola stock you can afford. Or, you can use my investment strategy (buy Microsoft), which is dangerously non-diversified (but produces great returns). Or you can watch a primer on the basics of investing. In The Basics of Successful Investing, armchair hosts Ken Smith and Lorraine Brown spend an awful lot of time telling you what they're going to tell you in typical seminar-speak (you'll learn the "seven key investment strategies," and so on) and (accessories alert!) referring viewers to the guides and workbooks included in this "in-home seminar." The information presented in the video is about as vanilla-flavored general as you can find: defining and weighing the differences between stocks and bonds (other investment vehicles, such as CD's and T-bills, are addressed in the print material, but not on the video), a rundown of the various types of stocks available (large cap, small cap, mutual funds, etc.), the aforementioned seven key investing strategies (begin investing early, etc.) and very basic sample portfolios for various age groups are all discussed. In addition, although the program mentions Value Line and Morningstar, the sum total of its Internet advice is to access Morningstar through AOL (rather skimpy). The fill-in-the-blank workbook, coupled with the relatively high price for an intro to investing video, make this an optional purchase, at best. A better recent choice here would be: Rick Bloom's Guide to Understanding Investing (VL-11/97), affordably priced at $19.95. Aud: H, C, P. (R. Pitman)