Mutual funds are marketed and sold as reasonably safe and effective investment vehicles; put your money in and forget about it until you retire. They can provide returns, sure, but they often perform less well than the S&P, and upwards of 60% of profits made in an account can be taken by fees and market action. It may sound unbelievable, but guest host Garrett Holden has been a mutual fund salesman himself, and attests that the figure is accurate. He didn't initially know the take from investors was so high until he started doing research to improve his performance for both the company and his clients. Shortly afterword, Garrett started looking for other ways to help people financially, and it came down to educating them about finance so people can act on their own. Hence, this month's book, Money: Master the Game by Tony Robbins. It lays out the details above for the average layperson and how stacked mutual funds are against investors in such instruments. The book goes on to draw the same conclusion: teaching oneself how to trade and manage finances independently is more effective in the long run provided you're willing to learn. What you invest in and how is up to you (although, Tony makes several suggestions), but the most important thing is taking action. Join guest host Garrett Holden as he breaks down the book section by section along with his own commentary throughout in the August edition of the Trading Justice Book Club. September's book is Market Wizards, by Jack D. Schwager (July 2012 edition). You can find it on Amazon right here, or check your local library. We'll be doing a live audience podcast on September 29 at 7 PM ET to discuss the book. You'll be able to join us right here: Podcast Room For your free 15 day Tackle Trading Pro trial membership, follow this link (https://tackletrading.com/join-pro/) and fill out the form with the coupon code being: theta Also, we'll be giving away a free month of Tackle Trading Pro membership to the best, most interesting review left for the podcast on iTunes! You can leave a review right here.