Stop Working - A Trilogy by Derek Foster

This brief book review covers the trilogy of wealth-building books written by Derek Foster. The three books are (in chronological order):

"Stop Working, Here is How You Can." "The Lazy Investor, Start with $50 and No Investment Knowledge." "Money for Nothing, and Your Stocks for Free." The author is Canadian, and retired in his early thirties in the early 2000's. These three books are very short and can be read in a few weeks. Their length falls in line with the simplicity of the investment strategy they describe. By no means are they a quick-money-fix solution, and should be complemented with professional advice should you choose to follow up on these methods. The author also includes a list of books written by investors for additional knowledge.

The first book focuses on the concept of dividend investing. Typical, speculative investing is based on the asset's value changing in your favor. Dividend investing takes a step back from profiting from fluctuating stock prices, and focuses on finding companies that have a standing history of paying dividends.

The second book covers what to do to own a piece (one share, literally speaking) of a publicly traded company. Not just any company, but companies that allow you to reinvest your dividend payments towards owning additional shares.

The third book builds on the foundation of dividend investing laid out in the first two books. It introduces the concept of stock options in a way that ties heavily to dividend investing. The author makes a point of this book and its contents on stock options as not vital to becoming a successful investor, or taking advantage of dividend investing. In fact, you can own a stock as a minor. Trading options however, does require industry approval on some level. Not written as an alternative to dividend investing, this book does explore an alternative means in acquiring additional dividend-paying shares.