I still consider myself a newcomer to value investing and am always eager to learn more about it. So when The Little Book of Value Investing came out last month, I decided to take a look.

The Little Book of Value Investing is written by Christopher Browne, of Tweedy, Browne Company, a well-respected, 86-year-old investment firm who counted Benjamin Graham as both a client and mentor several decades ago. As such, Browne is writing this book based on years of experience and hard-earned knowledge.

I think the book can best be described as a nice little reference manual. In it, Browne details both his mindset and philosophy as well as details on the calculations and ratios he uses to evaluate a company or stock. Actually, from what I could tell, all the financial ratios and criteria that Browne uses are identical to those written for the defensive investor in Graham’s The Intelligent Investor. (Here’s a quick summary of Graham’s defensive value investing ratios and criteria.) I would have liked to have seen Browne’s own tweaks to these ratios, if he had any, given that many people believe some of Graham’s criteria are a little out-of-date.

The chapter I found most interesting was entitled “Send Your Stocks to the Mayo Clinic”, in which Browne summarizes the questions he asks before investing in a company. To me, the following questions (taken from the chapter) are great ones because they force investors to consider the company, not just the stock symbol, and really get in the mindset of evaluating what makes a company tick, grow, succeed, all of which which, after all, should be long-term reasons why a company’s stock increases or decreases in value. (I’m only listing the questions, but Browne devotes a few paragraphs to explaining each one.)

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George of Fat Pitch Financials has started a new site called Value Investing News that’s worth a look. Think of it as a value investing version of reddit, where users can contribute posts they’ve enjoyed and have members rank them higher or lower in importance. Right now, he’s giving away a few copies of The Little Book of Value Investing to the highest users in October, and there’s also a way for you to share in ad revenues as well. You can also find a link to the Festival of Stocks homepage there.

Along the same lines, but a site that’s been around for much longer is GuruFocus, which provides information on the stocks that gurus like Buffett, Soros, and other well-respected fund managers are buying and selling. I’m guessing that the info comes with a time delay and mimicking the pros’ picks won’t be an easy way to make money, but it’s a neat site anyway.

Ramit over at I Will Teach You To Be Rich did a nice interview with Pamela Slim of Escape from Cubicle Nation. Her story and advice on moving from being a “corporate prisoner” to “thriving entrepreneur” (that’s actually her business, helping people do that) are both inspiring and practical, well worth a read.

Following up on my earlier post this week about buying the 3-month T-bill at Schwab, I also used Treasury Direct to buy my first 4-week bill this week. T-bill rates are rebounding after a big dip in September, as you can see below:

This chart is based on data from Treasury Direct’s official auction results page. Keep in mind that “Investment Rate” is the same as APR, not APY. This week’s investment rates were 5.038% for the 28-day bill, 5.072% for the 91-day bill, and 5.132% for the 182-day bill, which are equivalent to APYs of 5.156%, 5.169%, and 5.198% respectively.

I’d linked an account at my credit union to Treasury Direct back in August, which was surprisingly easy to do. At one point, I managed to forget my password and get locked out of my account, so had to phone Treasury Direct to get help. Much to my surprise, my phone call was immediately answered by a woman who sounded like she was sitting at her desk in her office, not at a call center. That was by far the fastest service from the government that I’ve ever received!

So, kudos to Treasury Direct, though I still prefer to buy my 3- and 6-month bills via Schwab just because it saves me the hassle of moving money back and forth between my accounts. However, at some point, the difference in yields between the 4-week and 3-month and 6-month T-bills might be great enough that going through the hassle of transferring money to buy the 4-week might be worth it.

For those interested and who qualify, registration for Barron’s annual stock-picking challenge is currently underway.

The challenge lasts 5 months, from October 30, 2006 through March 31, 2007, and there are two divisions: one for students (pretty much anyone doing full- or part-time studies at an accredited junior or four-year college or university or graduate school), and one for professors currently employed at the same criteria. Top prizes are $1500 to the winners in each group, $1000 for those in second-place, and $500 for those in third.

Yours truly doesn’t qualify, but I know of many people who would (including fellow bloggers). If you don’t qualify and would still like to compete in a mock stock-picking challenge, you might want to check out Equitrader, though because they focus on trading, competitions only last for one week or a month at the longest.

Hopefully, Barron’s will publish standings and winners at the end, because I’d love to see if any winners used a good strategy that I can learn from!

I’m really embarassed to say that I didn’t find out that Muhammed Yunus and Grameen Bank have won this year’s 2006 Nobel Peace Prize until today.

Somehow, I noticed all the announcements for the other Nobel prizes during the last week or so but managed to miss out on the biggest one. I’ve been a big fan of Mr. Yunus and Grameen ever since I first read his book Banker to the Poor a few years ago.

To celebrate the Nobel, all of this site’s earnings in October will go to Grameen. So far, it looks like my October earnings will only be comprised of Adsense, as the other affiliate programs I’ve participated in the past are currently inactive, but the whatever comes in from whichever affiliate will be contributed online via Grameen Foundation USA.

As of this writing, my earnings stand at $49.04. I’m not expecting to break any records this month, but I’m sure wherever my earnings land, they’ll go much further in Grameen’s hands!