Most beginners stare at a brokerage app, see a grid of tickers, and close it without buying anything. The knowledge is out there, but scattered, contradictory, and never built for someone starting from zero. This book fixes that: a starter kit from first login to a funded, automated portfolio in 90 days, no terminal, no advisor, no course.
Thomas Shores teaches the 3 asset classes in plain language. A stock is ownership in a business, a bond is a loan repaid on a set date, and an ETF is a basket of hundreds of companies in one click. You learn which accounts to open and in what order, from the employer match to the Roth IRA, and why that choice is really about when you pay taxes. You also meet the tool that gives a beginner more power than a professional had a generation ago: the AI assistant. As tutor, screener, fee auditor, and devil's advocate, it explains anything, screens the market, verifies numbers, and challenges your ideas, as long as you keep checking its work.
You also get the machinery: a 3 fund core, dollar cost averaging, dividend reinvestment, position sizing, and a quarterly checkup, plus a 90 day plan in 3 phases, from emergency fund to first purchase to a system that runs itself.
What you will find inside:
• The 4 tests to pass before your first purchase, from emergency fund to automatic saving
• A 3 fund starter portfolio plus the core and satellite model for stock picks
• The PE and PEG ratios, the margin of safety, and the value trap
• Copy and paste AI prompts that audit fees, translate fund sheets, and run checks
• Why a 1.5% fee can cost $25,000 on a $10,000 investment over 30 years
• How to rebalance with new contributions so you never create a tax bill
• The 3 rules: foundation first, broad and cheap and automatic, write it down and hold it
For beginners, teens, and young adults with a paycheck and idle money in checking, the goal is not to get rich fast. Start now, because every year of waiting is compounding in reverse.
