As the end of each year winds down, there are five distinct procedures that you need to be sure to do in order to keep your stock portfolio current as well as to save you some money. This also helps to get your stock trading in check before the start of the new year. By providing a little maintenance to your stock portfolio, you can guarantee that your stock trading will be ready to go for the new year.

The following are five procedures in which you, the investor, need to be aware of before the end of the year in order to properly maintain your stock investments.

author: Peter O'Shea Jonathan Worrall asin: 0471479632 binding: Hardcover list price: $29.95 USD amazon price: $21.86 USD

Beating the S&P with Dividends

Soaring stock prices, dot.com millionaires, and day traders are things of the past. The time has come for a safer and smarter way to build wealth. No matter what your investment objectives or risk outlook, Beating the S&P with Dividends can show you how to accomplish this.

Dividend-yielding stocks have made their long-awaited comeback, and in today's financial environment, they should be a part of your investment portfolio.

author: Jeremy J. Siegel asin: 007058043X binding: Hardcover list price: $29.95 USD amazon price: $29.95

If anyone told you that investing in the stock market was the safest investment you could make, you might raise an eyebrow. However, if Jeremy Siegel tells you this, prepare to be convinced. Siegel's book, Stocks for the Long Run, is a comprehensive and highly readable history of the stock market that dramatically makes the case for long-term investing in stocks.

In summing up his approach to investing, Siegel writes, "Poor investment strategy, whether it is for lack of diversification, pursuing hot stocks, or attempting to time the market, often stems from the investor's belief that it is necessary to beat the market to do well in the market. Nothing is further from the truth.

author: Stephen A. Jarislowsky asin: 2894722591 binding: Hardcover list price: $19.95 USD amazon price: $19.95 USD

From one of the greatest money managers Canada has ever known, The Investment Zoo is an incisive work in which history, culture, politics and finance are intermingled.

Stephen A. Jarislowsky has had a single goal throughout his career: the defence of the shareholder. He has been outspoken in his criticism of breaches in ethics: overpaid bosses, directors who close their eyes to questionable practices, grossly over-compensated lawyers, and brokers who inflate their commissions by encouraging unnecessary trading.