I meet with clients every week who have been devastated by losses, frustrated by lack of returns and feel anxious by the lack of knowledge they have about their investments. I often tell my clients “what good is a great estate plan if you are financially bleeding to death while you are alive?”

I tell them that they are trapped in the Investors’ Dilemma and they need to get basic financial education to protect themselves.

I recently finished one of the best books I have read in long time on investing. I would tell anyone that has money to invest for their estate or retirement planning to add this book to your reading list. You will not regret it.

It was co-authored by Gordon Murray and Daniel Goldie. In less than 100 pages, it clearly tells everyday investors nearly everything they need to know about investing in the stock and bond markets to beat 95% of Wall Street’s best money managers.

Murray had a 25-year career on Wall Street that included stints at Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse First Boston. His career, like those of many in the investment community, was built around beating the marketswhich many claim to do but few pull off.

Murray retired in 2001. He later met Daniel Goldie, a former professional tennis player and financial adviser, who taught him the virtues of passive investments.

While active investors try to beat the markets, passive investors are content to tie them. The irony, however, is that passive investors over time do better than the vast majority of active investors, due in large part to the excessive fees and taxes faced by people who try in vain to beat the market.

As The New York Times reported in a great article last month called A Dying Bankers Last Instructions, (NY Times article) , Murray was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in 2008. He has ceased treatment and doesnt expect to live past his 61st birthday in March of 2011.

Murray decided to use his last days on earth to write about his new investment epiphany. His friend Goldie co-authored the concise paperback The Investment Answer, which was published in August, 2010.

It is easy to read and anyone who doe not think they understand investing should read this book. It will be out in hardcover later in January 2011

Link to The Investment Answer

Leave me a comment after you read the book.