Credit Suisse lost billions of dollars last week. I don't think those millions of dollars would have been lost if they used their education instead of two of the seven sins (e.g. Greed, Sloth). 'Don't invest in something you don't understand' clearly was thrown out the window by oh-so-many banks around the world.

Education about investing is very important because it allows you to build a framework of knowledge from which you can utilise to drive your investment decision making.

As investors, it is our responsbility to be aware of the risks, potential rewards, implications, and costs of all of our decisions.

The good news is you don't need to go to business school to aquire this knowledge. The Internet and the Bookstore are your friends and with a small investment of your time and effort, you can get educated fast.

Morningstar, one of my favourite resources for all things educational, recently published an article entitled 'A Beginning Investor's Reading List'. It is a great summary of books that really capture the essence of what we are trying to do here at Slow Fortune. This article really excited me because I had not read four out of six, and I am eager to read them.

The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need
by Andrew Tobias

Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist
by Roger Lowenstein

The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing
by Taylor Larimore, Mel Lindauer, and Michael LeBoeuf

A Random Walk Down Wall Street
by Burton G. Malkiel

Stocks for the Long Run
by Jeremy Siegel

All About Asset Allocation
by Richard A. Ferri

Managed funds, are mutual funds or exchanged traded funds that are managed by professionals.

On the whole, index funds are much cheaper (i.e. lower management fees) than professionally managed funds. However, managed funds can be utilised so make up a smaller component of your overall portfolio (This is called the 'Funny Money' section of my portfolio)

One interesting piece of research on managed funds was presented by John C. Bogle in “The Relentless Rules of Humble Arithmetic,” in the Financial Analyst Journal,
November/December 2005.

Two charts he presented in the article struck me as really insightful and offer some guidance in selecting a managed fund.

The more funds a company offers, the lower the returns

Funds from private companies perform better than Financial Conglomorates and Publically Traded companies

Suck down this data with a grain of salt. Correlation does not always imply causation.

This provides you with another two additional perspectives, in which you can use to analyze a managed fund and whether or not to invest. However, you will also need to do the standard due dilligence by reading the fund prospectus, background checking the fund manager, considering tax implications and many other factors.

Interesting stuff.

The One Minute Manager is a book by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson, which reveals three secrets to productive and efficient managing as told through a young man's search for the perfect managing and leading skills.

This great short read, which I recommend that everyone should read, helps people manage their managers (Manage up!), and anyone they supervise.

But what can the one minute manager teach us about investing and managing ourselves?

The first management secret in the book is One Minute Goals. This involves a meeting of the manager and the employee where goals are agreed on, written down in a brief statement, and occasionally reviewed to ensure that productivity is occurring.

Before starting to invest, it is important for you to set goals regarding what you are trying to accomplish, and then deriving actions from those goals. Take the time to actually write out your investing goals and investment strategy in a brief statement, and regularly audit yourself against your investing goals to ensure that you are adhering to them. Your actions need to be aligned to these goals.

The second secret to one minute managing is One Minute Praisings. This involves being open with people about their performance. When you catch someone doing something right, a goal of the one minute manager, you praise them immediately, telling them specifically what they did correctly.

While investing, try to catch yourself doing "something right". For example, if you execute a trade, but researched effectively and the action is in line with your goals -- then remind yourself that you did the right thing (Action based on knowledge and understanding of risk). Take a moment out of your day to give yourself a positive affirmation.

The third secret is the one minute reprimand. Being honest with those around you involves reprimanding when a wrong has occurred.

We are humans. We crave excitement. We have emotions. As such, investing mistakes occur. However, if you do make a mistake, take one minute to reflect on why the mistake occured. Inform yourself what you did wrong, what drove you to do it, and how you will update your goals to ensure it does not happen again. Furthermore, remind yourself that you are becoming a seasoned investor, and that this will only prevent you from making the same mistake in the future.

If you are in a position (I.e. you are still holdings the shares) make a action for them, based off of your goals.

As an entertaining real life example, let's say you drank one too many glasses of red wine one night and started to foolishly buy some Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) on Margin (Loan). Leverage is not inline with your goals, although buying a balanced portfolio of index funds was. You reprimand yourself for the margin use, and establish a new goal that you can never trade while drinking ever again. You praise yourself for having good intentions -- after all, what you were trying to buy was in line with your one minute goals.