Random Walk

As part of my goals for the year, I'm reading nonfiction, which includes books related to finance. Random Walk Down Wall Street was the first one for the year, and it was interesting, but 90% of it can be summed up by the Amazon review:

Since stock prices cannot be predicted in the short term, argues Malkiel, individual investors are better off buying and holding onto index funds than meddling with securities or actively managing mutual funds. Not only will a broad range of index funds outperform a professionally managed portfolio in the long run, but investors can avoid expense charges and trading costs, which decrease returns.

He adds that an index fund which includes small caps is likely to be better than the S&P, and that reliable profit is the realm of the long term investor. If you like day trading, that's fine, but recognize that you're gambling rather than investing.