Yao 1

Jerry Yao
Ms. Thompson
AP Language Block 2 Skinny B
1 March 2015
Final Draft
Personal Investing and its Influence on the Individuals Welfare
Is money the root of all evil? Many people have regarded money with an immoral
connotation because it has caused many individuals or big time companies, such as Enron, to
perform fraudulent schemes to obtain more profit (Andrews). However, money mostly provides
an individual with many beneficial aspects. Because currency has a greater value; most people
widely use part of their profits towards investing. As our modern society becomes more
dependent on personal investing to increase their profit, individuals who invest efficiently and
intelligently have greatly increased his or her personal financial welfare.
Over the past decade, investing has greatly increased the value of the world economy and
also hugely impacted the assets of individual who are considered investors. Investing can be
traced historically to around 1700 BC with the introduction of the Code of Hammurabi, which
provided a means of money transaction and collateral (The Intelligent Investor). Although
investing is associated with major corporations, individual stock holders also constitute the
success of investment. The individual share of stocks generally can double, even triple, after a
few years (Rich Dad, Poor Dad). For example, one of the most well-known investors in the
twentieth century is Warren Buffet. Buffet is ranked consistently among the worlds richest
individuals, and is attributed to as one of the worlds most influential people by Times Magazine
(Warren Buffet on Investment Strategies). As an early investor, Buffet started his career by selling
candy and other miscellaneous and other trivial objects from door to door. As he grew older, the
more astute man took more risks and invested in many early companies and other partnerships

Yao 2
by buying shares from their company; he hoped that after a decade the shares would at least
double. Unexpectedly, each of his partnership shares rose by two hundred percent, and he
quickly became one of the high- rise investors in America. Buffet looked up the Benjamin
Graham, the father of value investing (The Intelligent Investor). Warren Buffet adopted his own
methods of investing, and often expresses his risk-taking and investing methods to incite a
greater demand for investors. One of his most famous quotes is Opportunities come
infrequently. When it rains gold, put out the bucket, not the thimble" (The Intelligent Investor).
The meaning of this quote is that whenever an opportunity arises in the world of investing,
always be willing to take that opportunity in order to reach personal success. Buffet and many of
his successors have left an instrumental piece of investing on the rest of the world. Overall,
investing, as shown with Warren Buffet, can clearly benefit a persons personal assets.
In relation to its benefits to assets of an individual, modern investing in the stock market
has allowed people to invest more efficiently and effectively towards a persons financial goals.
Over the last few decades, the average person's interest in the stock market has grown
exponentially. What was once a toy of the rich has now turned into the vehicle of choice for
growing wealth. This demand coupled with advances in trading technology has opened up the
markets so that nowadays nearly anybody can own stocks (Warren Buffet on Investment
Strategies). There are many online trading companies such as Invesco Inc or Scottrade that help
manage accentuate an individuals stocks and accentuate the need for investing. Investing has
also an education impact on an individual. In the 2014 Trends in Investing Survey, studies show
that people who invest more were able not only to add fifteen percent to their overall profits, but
also able to gain a lot of acumen about investing and money management. Investing has also
been rated by Galileo Polls as one of the most useful skills among early adults to elderly

Yao 3
individuals. By investing, more individuals are able to reach their financial goals every year,
some even exceeding their limitations (Everyday Finance).
Thirdly, investing also has many strategies that allow common people to succeed at
money management. Investments require strategies such as compounding which allows a person
to accumulate more money in a shorter amount of time. Compounding in investing has been
regarded by Einstein as one of the most important mathematical concepts. Compounding ones
money allows it to grow exponentially depending on the interest rate of the finances and the
assets of the stocks. There are also more than one type of investments that allows one to expand
their wealth as well as explore more options to handle their money. Investing has a broad range
of diverse types such as mutual funds or bonds that can generate more profit for a person
depending on their situation. in our novel, The Intelligent Investor, teaches the readers practical
investment techniques to improves an individuals finances. Graham devises methods that are
common in the world of investing that is also instrumental in investing. A renown novel states
that:
The thing that I have been emphasizing in my own work for the last few years has been
the group approach. To try to buy groups of stocks that meet some simple criterion for
being undervalued-regardless of the industry and with very little attention to the
individual company.................. I found the results were very good for 50 years. They
certainly did twice as well as the Dow Jones. And so my enthusiasm has been transferred
from the selective to the group approach. (The Intelligent Investor)
In the novel, Graham's favorite allegory is that of Mr. Market, an obliging fellow who turns up
every day at the shareholder's door offering to buy or sell his shares at a different price. Often,

Yao 4
the price quoted by Mr. Market seems plausible, but sometimes it is ridiculous. The investor is
free to either agree with his quoted price and trade with him, or ignore him completely. Mr.
Market doesn't mind this, and will be back the following day to quote another price. (The
Intelligent Investor). These strategies can greatly impact an individuals investing stocks.
Much like the renown investors including JP Morgan and Warren Buffet, anyone can
invest with enough assets and a set goal in mind. In order to be better adapted to the ever short
fluctuating stock market, people must be flexible enough to quickly change to that of the stock
market. The Intelligent Investor talks about different types of investments:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Stocks
Real Estate
Precious Objects
Business
Lending
In conclusion, because society is more dependent on the stock market and finances,

personal investment has not only augmented the flow of money throughout the capitalist
economy but also increased its essential effect on a persons financial welfare. If people have no
clue as to where to start, they can start by following many investing greats and predecessors,
including Warren Buffet and Benjamin Graham. Overall, people should start investing to gain an
upper hand in society.

Works Cited
Andrews, Crispin. "Technology Versus Piracy." Engineering and Technology Magazine June
2013: n. pag. Rpt. in Piracy on the High Seas. Ed. Debra A. Miller. Farmington Hills, MI:
Greenhaven, 2014. At Issue.Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 13 Jan. 2015.

Yao 5

Graham, Benjamin. The Intelligent Investor: A Book of Practical Counsel. New York: Harper &
Row, 1985. Print.
Kiyosaki, Robert T., and Sharon L. Lechter. Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their
Kids about Money-- That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! New York: Warner
Business, 2000. Print.
"Overview: Saving and Investing Money." Everyday Finance: Economics, Personal Money
Management, and Entrepreneurship. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2008. 435-38. Gale Virtual
Reference Library. Web. 4 Feb. 2015.
2014 Trends in Investing Survey. Dansk Metal, 2014. OneFPA. Financial Planning Association,
Mar. 2014. Web. 4 Feb. 2015.
Warren Buffet on Investment Strategies. Perf. Warren Buffet. Youtube. Fortune Magazine, 7 Oct.
2014. Web. 4 Jan. 2015.