On the day this entry was published, the S&P 500 reached an all-time high of 1,565.42. If you had invested $10,000 in a Standard & Poor's 500 index fund a just six years ago, it would now be worth $14,348.49. That works out to a 43% rate of return over the six year period. Not bad!

So how can you get a piece of the action? Well I'm not a financial planner, but I can point you in the direction of some terrific information resources here at the library. First of all, I'd recommend a new book titled All About Index Funds : the easy way to get started by Richard A. Ferri. In the book, Ferri discusses why index funds "beat most other funds", and reviews asset allocation basics, as well as how to define your financial goals and your index fund portfolio.

Two other new books about investing that I recommend include Cocktail Economics : discovering investment truths from everyday conversations by Victor A. Canto, and The Smartest Investment Book You'll Ever Read : the simple, stress-free way to reach your investment goals by Daniel R. Solin. In Cocktail Economics, Canto, chairman and founder, of an economic consulting firm, provides investment advice using a conversational tone and anecdotes to transform complex economic theories into "common-sense basics." In The Smartest Investment Book You'll Ever Read, Solin outlines an easy-to-follow plan that allows investors to create and monitor their portfolios in 90 minutes or less per year. Both books will undoubtedly help you understand investment concepts and get you started in the right direction.

Another invaluable investment research resource available at the library is ValueLine. To read more about our print and electronic ValueLine resources, take a look at this earlier entry.