Kiplingers Guide to Investing Success Making Money Today in Stocks Bonds Mutual Funds and the Real Estate Kiplingers Personal Finance
May 30, 2009 by Stocks And Bonds · Leave a Comment
Investing can often be like riding a roller coaster—your portfolio will likely experience euphoric gains and nail-biting loses. With choices ranging from stocks and bonds to mutual funds and real estate, the need for sound financial advice has never been greater.
The updated Kiplinger’s Guide to Investing Success, from the editors of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine, will give you the knowledge and perspective you need to reach your investing goals—from how to define those goals to tips for creating a diversified portfolio with the most effective investment vehicles to help you reach them.
Kiplinger’s Guide to Investing Success includes valuable worksheets, charts and graphs as well as standard financial formulas and a glossary of terms. People of all income levels will find this book a “must-read” for creating the right investment plan.
Margin of Safety Risk Averse Value Investing Strategies for the Thoughtful Investor
May 29, 2009 by Stocks And Bonds · Leave a Comment
Margin of Safety Risk Averse Value Investing Strategies for the Thoughtful Investor
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Great book
Klarman’s record speaks for itself, shame that this book is out of print.
Greg Gurevich
1 Star Margin Of Safety
I was very pleased to receive this book , Klarman is a legend in the investment community ,,, the book was tired,, but most distrubing is that it appears to have been taken from a libiary on the west coast … not very nice to be selling a stolen item ,,,
5 Stars Don’t confuse price with value
Price aside, this is one of the best value investing books I’ve read. Of course a lot of the ideas have been put forward before–Klarman is a longtime resident of “Graham and Doddsville”. But he does a great job explaining the philosophy and process in clear and simple language, and there are a few gold nuggets scattered throughout that might even be worth the $1000+ price tag. One simple rule he proposes: “If you don’t quickly comprehend what a company is doing, then management probably doesn’t either”. Many investors in 2007 also could have benefited from Klarman’s 1991 advice to “shun” financial institutions speculating in junk bonds or “complex mortgage securities”. The book is full of these simple yet brilliant observations. Ignore the price, and spend an afternoon at the library with a copy. You’ll be glad you did.
2 Stars Packed with banalities, “Margin of Safety” rarely satisfies
Unwilling to purchase a copy for $1200, I read the NYPL’s copy in the “cage” at the business library at 35th and Mad.
“Margin of Safety” comes up with some excellent investment ideas. For example, if you find a spinoff at 1/5 of book value which under a reasonable scenario could earn $8 and currently costs $3, you should buy it.
If the S&L industry goes through a colossal shakeout and some S&L’s demutualize at 50% of book value, and you are confident of their loan book, buy shares of those companies.
If a company has a multi-hundred million dollar equity market cap but its bonds are trading at 13, buy the bonds and short the equity.
Such investment ideas will make you rich if you capture a few of them. Unfortunately, over the past 16 years literally trillions of dollars have been invested with people who are looking for such opportunities, which outside the pages of this book are called “no brainers.”
The book is well written and the mystique makes it perhaps more fun, but for actual investment value you could just as well buy a copy of Ambrose Vollard’s memoirs and follow his “investment advice” to buy Cezannes direct from Cezanne, then justify your decision with a rapturous review on Amazon.
4 Stars This book is a fascinating indictment on a very odd side to human nature
First, let me say that I’ve only actually seen a physical copy of this book once. I did have an opportunity to read it when a stained, paper-clipped pile of 15th or 20th generation photocopied pages comprising the entire book made the rounds at my office.
The content is impressive, somewhat unique and very incisive, however, I think that in the year 2008, with copies of this book selling for $1500+, Margin Of Safety is now only 50% “book” with the remaining 50% being folklore and mythology. Owning a physical copy of MOS has become like a $25,000 wristwatch for value investors. It isn’t about telling time… It’s about how much you spent and showing the world what you have… and yes, you will find that the “value investors” who spent four figures for a copy of this book will defend their prize purchase to their dying breaths.
That Klarman has never ordered a reprint of this book tells us that he probably regrets having published it in the first place, not because it’s a bad book but quite to the contrary, because it’s a very good book that outlines much of his game plan; the profitability of which is greater the fewer competitors he has practicing it along with him.
Having finally “proven” everything he wrote in MOS with the Buffett’esque performance of his Baupost Group, I would wager that if he could go back in time and ‘unpublish’ this book, he probably would.
Still, would I ever pay this kind of money for a copy?
Heck no. Of course, I won’t buy a $10,000 wristwatch, either.
Sector Trading A Year in Exchange Traded Funds
May 27, 2009 by Stocks And Bonds · Leave a Comment
Sector Trading A Year in Exchange Traded Funds
“Buy to the sound of cannons, sell to the sound of trumpets”, stated Lord nathan Rothschild in 1810, nearly two centuries before the rise of Exchange Traded Funds in the modern market. In Sector Trading: A Year in Exchange Traded Funds, Finanacial analyst Jonathan Bernstein follows ETFs through an in depth exploration of macro and micro economic factors that influence these fascinating products. Suitable for both retail and institutional investors, the book includes: Portfolio development strategies, Real world case studies, Blow-ny-blow commentary, and more.
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Sector Trading: A Year in Exchange Traded Funds
Good book, helpful for understanding the ETF funds. Not helpful with charts of past performance or strategy. Good if you buy it used!After the market crash, some of the info is not up to date. General information useful if in beginning stage of development.
3 Stars A great Diary Living in the Trenches
I enjoyed this book, which is a light easy read which shares the thoughts of the author as he trades ETFs each week for one year. Sadly, his performance for the year shows the weakness in his methods, which he reviews at the end of the book. (Which is good, and well worth studying). I professionally design sector rotation portfolios using ETFs, and will now require many of our staff to read this book so that they understand why we do what we do.
3 Stars A year of ETF trading
I was disapointed with the book. I was hoping for a varifiable process that I could follow and test. Instead I got guesses as to what happened to a market on each specific day. The usual kind of media invented stuff that you get when the pros can’t figure out what really happened with the market. I got through about thirty days of the year and gave up[
4 Stars Sector Trading: A Year in Exchange Traded Funds
Interesting. I heard Bernstein talk at nyc ETF evolution 2007 on International Exposure and emerging markets and bought this book. Mostly a collection of what moved ETFs on a weekly basis in a particularly volatile year. Carbon based economy, geo-political, biotech, those kind of macro analytics. Only a small nod to quants. But with the world outlook as it is, it seems these kinds of issues may be driving things for awhile. I would have liked a lot more focus on the macro analysis than he fit in here, but then it would be an expensive textbook. The breakdown into macro-indicators by week is unique and could be a worthy tool if developed more.
1 Star sector Trading: A year in Exchange Traded Funds
Don’t expect much from this book except a novices personal experience trying to do weekly trades
Market Volatility
May 26, 2009 by Stocks And Bonds · Leave a Comment
“A specter haunts modern economics: ‘individual stocks perform random walks in efficient markets, but the level of the whole market displays no demonstrable efficiency.’ Bob Shiller is the key economist in this great debate. Buy his book and think on its contents. Learn what the October 1987 crash was all about.”
—Paul Samuelson, Institute Professor, MIT
“Shiller’s book should be read by anyone with a serious interest in the functioning of markets.”
—Richard A. Grasso, President and Chief Operating Officer, New York Stock Exchange
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars A low volatility review
I give this book 4/5 stars despite the fact that it appears to deserve full credit because a) I’m not smart enough to fully understand Shiller’s work, and b) the average book should earn around 3 stars. By recognizing my own lack of understanding, I admit that portions of Shiller’s analysis which appear to be both interesting and correct, could in fact be wrong or misleading and therefore less deserving of stars. My lack of understanding creates volatility in my rating ability. By averaging my belief that this book is worth 5 stars with the long-run average review of 3 stars, I should reduce the expected error and volatility in my book reviews.
The book is very interesting if you like this sort of thing, but it’s also a very challenging read. My background in finance is stronger than my background in math and statistics, so I usually had to read the book with wikipedia nearby to reference math terms. Even with wikipedia, the equations got too hairy for me to follow with less than 100% concentration. I found myself flipping back pages almost as often as I moved forward, and there were parts I had to just skip over. If you read this book be ready for a serious challenge. Caveat emptor.
[...]
4 Stars Good but technical
There are some long reviews on the book by professionals that I can’t match in content. However for readers interested in this book because of previous reading of ‘irrational exuberance’ or even ‘the new financial order’, be warned! It is a pretty technical book with lot’s of statistics. Without basic knowledge of all the R’s and covariances a lot of the true value gets lost. Still Robert Shiller is a clear thinker and even without a good grasp of teh statistics it still contains interesting observations.
5 Stars An Academic with a brain!
Shiller does to the Effecient Market Theory what Columbus did to the flat earth theory. This is one of the finest books on markets I have read, and I have read hundreds.
3 Stars Nice one but…….
It is a nice book.But for me,I love Shleifer’s “Inefficient market” more.This book focus on the Divident-to-price ratio and use it for the analysis of the market volatility.The writer does give us some insight about the market.But I doubt if it could stand for a long… since the market is changing all the time.
5 Stars The best book on volatility ever written!
I am a futures trader/ stock investor/ produce distributor. My constant involvement in markets of one kind or another led me to develop a deep desire to understand volatility. Unfortunately the only books I could find dealt with option volatility. “Market Volatility” has been THE best book dealing with market mechanics that I have ever read. I recommend the book as a “must have” to my friends in the industry.
Market Volatility
May 24, 2009 by Stocks And Bonds · Leave a Comment
“A specter haunts modern economics: ‘individual stocks perform random walks in efficient markets, but the level of the whole market displays no demonstrable efficiency.’ Bob Shiller is the key economist in this great debate. Buy his book and think on its contents. Learn what the October 1987 crash was all about.”
—Paul Samuelson, Institute Professor, MIT
“Shiller’s book should be read by anyone with a serious interest in the functioning of markets.”
—Richard A. Grasso, President and Chief Operating Officer, New York Stock Exchange
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars A low volatility review
I give this book 4/5 stars despite the fact that it appears to deserve full credit because a) I’m not smart enough to fully understand Shiller’s work, and b) the average book should earn around 3 stars. By recognizing my own lack of understanding, I admit that portions of Shiller’s analysis which appear to be both interesting and correct, could in fact be wrong or misleading and therefore less deserving of stars. My lack of understanding creates volatility in my rating ability. By averaging my belief that this book is worth 5 stars with the long-run average review of 3 stars, I should reduce the expected error and volatility in my book reviews.
The book is very interesting if you like this sort of thing, but it’s also a very challenging read. My background in finance is stronger than my background in math and statistics, so I usually had to read the book with wikipedia nearby to reference math terms. Even with wikipedia, the equations got too hairy for me to follow with less than 100% concentration. I found myself flipping back pages almost as often as I moved forward, and there were parts I had to just skip over. If you read this book be ready for a serious challenge. Caveat emptor.
[...]
4 Stars Good but technical
There are some long reviews on the book by professionals that I can’t match in content. However for readers interested in this book because of previous reading of ‘irrational exuberance’ or even ‘the new financial order’, be warned! It is a pretty technical book with lot’s of statistics. Without basic knowledge of all the R’s and covariances a lot of the true value gets lost. Still Robert Shiller is a clear thinker and even without a good grasp of teh statistics it still contains interesting observations.
5 Stars An Academic with a brain!
Shiller does to the Effecient Market Theory what Columbus did to the flat earth theory. This is one of the finest books on markets I have read, and I have read hundreds.
3 Stars Nice one but…….
It is a nice book.But for me,I love Shleifer’s “Inefficient market” more.This book focus on the Divident-to-price ratio and use it for the analysis of the market volatility.The writer does give us some insight about the market.But I doubt if it could stand for a long… since the market is changing all the time.
5 Stars The best book on volatility ever written!
I am a futures trader/ stock investor/ produce distributor. My constant involvement in markets of one kind or another led me to develop a deep desire to understand volatility. Unfortunately the only books I could find dealt with option volatility. “Market Volatility” has been THE best book dealing with market mechanics that I have ever read. I recommend the book as a “must have” to my friends in the industry.
Online Investing Hacks 100 Industrial Strength Tips and Tools
May 23, 2009 by Stocks And Bonds · Leave a Comment
Online Investing Hacks 100 Industrial Strength Tips and Tools
For the geek who’s an investor, and the investor who’s a geek, we present Online Investing Hacks, 100 industrial-strength, bleeding edge tips, tools and techniques for analyzing and managing online portfolios.
Individual investors have become more computer-literate and technology-dependent than ever before. Whether you’re looking for suitable investments, studying alternatives, or managing your portfolios, you need data. The Internet can be a goldmine of financial data and research, but today’s online investors also use spreadsheets, databases, and financial applications to select, study and manage investments. If your proficiency has grown to the point where you crave industrial-strength tips and tools to turbo-charge your efforts, this is the book for you.
Online Investing Hacks covers:
Screening Investments
Collecting Data
Fundamental Analysis
Technical Analysis
Executing Trades
Investing in Mutual Funds
Portfolio Management
Updating Stock Data
Financial Planning
Other books for managing online investing are either out of date, are for beginners and don’t go beyond the most basic advice, or are so dull and boring they squeeze that last bit of fun out of the topic. Online Investing Hacks is for the customer who wants to know the latest techniques, to go beyond the basics, who gets jazzed by cool online tools and services, and who actually wants to have a bit of fun while trying to strike it rich (or at least not lose their shirt).
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars good information sources
This book is clearly written and user friendly. Biafore gives links to information sources, making it easy for the reader to get more information on each of the hacks. These links alone are worth the price of the book.
5 Stars Good book, useful tools, beginner thru expert
I’ve been trading for over twenty years, including a period as a floor trader on the Chicago Board of Trade. Even with that experience there are tips and tricks in this book I found useful to the point where I employ them daily. To be complete as a reviewer I will say there is a lot of pretty basic stuff from my point of view, but still well worth reviewing since some of it I had forgotten.
Well written, easy reading, well organized
5 Stars This book can pay for itself very quickly…
Online Investing Hacks by Bonnie Biafore (O’Reilly) is one of those books that can pay for itself in short order, as well as over and over.
Chapter list: Screening Investments; Hacking Excel for Financial Analysis; Collecting Financial Data; Analyzing Company Fundamentals; Technical Analysis; Executing Trades; Investing in Mutual Funds; Managing Your Portfolio; Financial Planning; Index
I worked at Enron from 1998 through 2001, and spent plenty of time during that dot.com era following my stock portfolio. I watched my Enron stock value go from incredible value to a point where it cost more to sell the stock than it was worth. I won a few bets (face it, that’s what they were) on a few dot.coms and lost many more. What could have been an incredible nest egg, isn’t. This book would have been a lifesaver if I had read and paid attention to it a few years ago. Biafore shows you how you can analyze and invest wisely using a variety of tools available to everyone.
If you’re an Excel user, you’ll find it an invaluable tool for analysis. She’ll show you how you can use it to create financial charts (#13), calculate compound annual rates of growth (#26), and use rational values to buy and sell wisely (#36). #39 - Spot Hanky Panky with Cash Flow Analysis (using Enron as an example) would have literally saved me hundreds of thousands of dollars had I known about it. Even if you don’t care about the investing tips, the hack on downloading data via Excel web queries (#7) was something I didn’t know how to do (or that you could even do it!). The book has a little something for everyone.
As with all Hacks titles, you probably won’t be interested in every single item. Some may not be applicable to your situation or may be too complex for what you care to handle. But all it would take is one hack to work out and change your investing for this book to pay huge dividends. If you do your own investing, you owe it to yourself to get this book.
5 Stars Excellent Reference/Resource
Online Investing Hacks is an excellent introduction to the world of investment. Though the title does contain the word ‘Online’, I would say that the general information the book provides on investing is not limited to the online realm.
Overall, I was very happy with the book, and found it incredibly useful. Though I do have several investments (401K, some stock, mutual funds etc) I would hardly consider myself an authority on the subject. This book provided very detailed explanations and tips on various forms of investment, from CD’s to Index funds, and everything in between. While the experienced investor might not glean much from reading this book, anyone just getting started will find it an excellent reference, and resource.
The format of the book is similar to the other books in the 100 * Hacks series published by O’Reilly. There are exactly 100 hacks, or topics, which are spread across 9 chapters. Each one is an individual entity and can be read and understood without reliance on any of the other hacks.
One minor annoyance I had with the book is that it is geared toward those of you who, for some reason or another, run Microsoft’s Windows OS, or have access to Microsoft Excel. Luckily, of the Excel examples that I played with, Open Office’s Calc program handled them with minimal tweaking.
I can easily recommend this book to anyone who wants to invest, but is unsure of what to invest in, or needs some tips on making the most of preexisting investments. Those of you who enjoy research and building your own stats and graphs will also find parts of this book rather intriguing, as it covers data acquisition and manipulation with Excel in great detail. It will make an excellent addition to my reference shelf, and I have a feeling it will be well thumbed through in a very short time.
5 Stars Excellent resource for all investors
It seems like everyone is involved in investing in some form or another. While I always felt like I should be investing too, it was never clear to me how to begin this process. After all, it’s my money. How can I be sure I’m investing in something that will provide some sort of reasonable return? This book is an excellent resource in answering some of those questions and putting the new investor on the right track.
This book is written in the same format as the other “hacks” series by O’Reilly. This format is very easy to read, and the format makes it very easy to find answers. Rather then having to read the book from cover to cover, the reader can pick out topics they are dealing with, read the answer, and move on. Since many of the people interesting in a book of this nature will likely have little time, the book’s format works to its advantage.
The book begins with some basic introduction to the stock market and tips for selecting appropriate stocks or mutual funds. The whole middle section of the book deals with data analysis. The author discusses how to understand a company’s balance sheet (e.g. what that P/E ratio means), how to spot companies in financial trouble, how to pick a good stock, and even how to trade. There is also a good discussion on minimizing the effect of taxes on your little return on investment.
The author even goes further and gets into a discussion on financial planning. In addition to discussing debt reduction, the author also talks about IRA plans and different strategies for saving for your child’s education expenses. I think my favorite part of this book was the discussion on different education savings plans. The author discusses the ins and outs (as well as tax consequences) of each of the plans, and provides some examples illustrating the fact that it’s better to start saving earlier than later.
This is an excellent book, not just for its investing advice, but also for its sound financial planning. This is a great book for anyone who is interested in increasing their wealth, saving for a rainy day, or simply saving for future financial goals.
Fall from Grace The Untold Story of Michael Milken
May 21, 2009 by Stocks And Bonds · Leave a Comment
Fall from Grace The Untold Story of Michael Milken
An account of the crimes of Milken describes the events that led up to his sentence, discussing how he used high-yield bonds to allow entrepreneurs and corporations to borrow money on an unprecedented scale.
Quantitative Financial Economics Stocks Bonds and Foreign Exchange
May 20, 2009 by Stocks And Bonds · Leave a Comment
Quantitative Financial Economics Stocks Bonds and Foreign Exchange
This new edition of the hugely successful Quantitative Financial Economics has been revised and updated to reflect the most recent theoretical and econometric/empirical advances in the financial markets.
Investing in Preferred Stock An Introduction for Modern Income Investors
May 19, 2009 by Stocks And Bonds · Leave a Comment
Investing in Preferred Stock An Introduction for Modern Income Investors
Preferred stocks, also known as preferreds, have attracted a lot of attention in recent years, but few investors understand the typical features, risks, and returns of these intriguing investments. In this book, Paul Josephs provides an unbiased and easy-to-understand introduction to preferred stocks, including: –The features of typical preferred stocks, including their pros and cons relative to common stocks and bonds. –How to research and buy preferreds, including individual stocks, ETFs, and closed-end funds. –Major risks of preferred stocks. –How preferred stocks behave in good, stable, and tough economic times. –Investment strategies and practical tips for investors who choose to invest in preferreds. This book provides modern income investors with the facts they need to decide if preferred stocks deserve a place in their portfolio.
Unknown Emissary Movie Showcase From Christian Ackermans Old School Movie Vault
May 19, 2009 by Stocks And Bonds · Leave a Comment
Unknown Emissary Movie Showcase From Christian Ackermans Old School Movie Vault
Unknown Emissary is an independent action movie from Christian Ackerman’s old school movie vault. A movie made from duck tape and spray paint. Not even made on any editing device except for a video camcorder and some VCRs. It has been modified just slightly–digitally re-mastered, you can say. It is an action flick with car chases, knuckle cracking, gun blasting, and high impact raw insanity. This is definitely the bottom of the barrel independent awesome action movie, starring Christian Ackerman and Matt Thomas.
This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com’s standard return policy will apply.
