I will be the first to admit I have absolutely no clue how one goes about investing in the stock market. I mean, other than actually paying someone else (I’m assuming a stock broker or something) to do it for you… I wouldn’t know what to do myself. I supposed that is exactly why Chris Camillo wanted me to read his new book, Laughing at Wall Street. It’s one of those books that was written for people like me. People who are on the pulse of what is going on in our world… but don’t really know how to turn that knowledge into profit.

Oh boy, do I want to know how to turn something… anything… into profit.

So the book, Laughing at Wall Street, has a tag line that reads: How I beat the pros at investing (by reading tabloids, shopping at the mall, and connecting on facebook) and how you can, too. Well, my oh my. I shop at the mall. I’m on facebook (and twitter) every day. I read (ahem) tabloids. Okay, not the really trashy ones… just the semi-trashy ones like People and Us Weekly. So, with all this “knowledge” I have, how am I going to make some money?

Laughing at Wall Street breaks it down into terms even I can understand. We all have this psychological fear of losing money. We want to be able to invest in order to build on what we have, but we are afraid of making a mistake and winding up with less than we already have. The problem is rich people CAN afford to take chances with their money. They can afford to lose a little when the rewards can be so great. People like me (and you) can’t do that so we have to be a little smarter. Camillo lays it all out. How we can actually take the money we save by brewing coffee at home and using store coupons and translate that into investment money.

The plan? Focus on the target. The target being the money you can earn. Another tidbit I love is his theory that you can turn every $1 into $100. I think it’s a lot like making a vision board. If you can see it and believe it, it will come to you. But to do that… you have to be proactive. How can we possibly know what to invest in?

Camillo shows us in simple terms how to spot the trends that are all around us. Thinking about what we read, see, experience on a daily basis can all translate into brands and companies we know are going to have a big future. The big Wall Street guys? They are guessing just like the rest of us. The only difference is that our guesses can end up being more accurate because we are living in the moment. We are the ones shopping, posting on facebook and watching TMZ. We can do this!

The books tries to bypass the really technical stuff we don’t need to know anyway. But, it does teach the difference between bid and ask; limit order and market order; and what a call option is. Camillo gives you the tools to do your own online trading. Do you know how much money a stock broker charges just to buy and sell stocks for you? If you could take THAT money and invest it yourself, you would be up several hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars.

My favorite part of the book is the Success Stories. Reading about people who have taken their common knowledge about everyday items and used it to become millionaires. I want to do that. And why shouldn’t I be doing that?

We’re going to give it a shot. We’re going to take that “extra” money we have (ebay sales and grocery savings) and try our hand at a little stock trading. It’s scary but a little exciting. If you are thinking about trying to bump up your nest egg, read Chris Camillo’s book, Laughing at Wall Street. I think we all deserve to be rich!