Planning Wealth

Everyone arrives someplace. Few get there on purpose.

August 26th, 2009

Rule the Freakin’ Markets: How to Profit in Any Market, Bull or Bear (Paperback)

Author: Michael Parness
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Publication Date: September 09, 2004
Binding: Paperback
ISBN: 0312303076
Pages: 256
Price: $10.85 (USD)
Amazon Customer Rating: 4.0 Stars





In 1988, Michael Parness followed a stockbroker’s advice and lost nearly all of his nest egg of $150,000. In 1999, he opened an online brokerage account and set out to get his money back. In fifteen months, he turned $33,000 into $7 million, started the online trading Web site TrendFund.com, and developed a trading strategy that delivers profits in both bull and bear markets.

In Rule the Freakin’ Markets, Parness uses visual aids and practice exercises to show online traders and investors how to:

- Practice responsible trading techniques that maximize reward and limit risk
- Avoid the “Seven Deadly Sins Plus Fear” that block success in the market
- Protect investments no matter what the market does
- Understand how market technology drives daily and cyclical market moves
- Avoid the pitfalls of trading in cyberspace
- Recover and learn from significant losses
- Strategize and anticipate, rather than overreact or freeze, when change occurs
- And finally, live full and satisfying lives as traders

With its lively tone and refreshing approach to trading and investing, Rule the Freakin’ Markets is an essential guide to profiting from today’s turbulent market.

Amazon.com Review

Those who can ignore the rather garish cover on this book will find a solid, straightforward guide to making winning trades in even the most bearish of markets. The author, who millions of insomniacs know through his middle-of-the-night infomercials, writes with a highly personal voice that some may find a bit grating, but his rags-to-riches story is compelling and needs to be told.

In a nutshell, Michael Parness went from living on a park bench in Brooklyn to a summa cum laude degree from Hunter College in New York City to founding a successful sports memorabilia company. After making $150,000 in that business, he followed his broker’s advice in 1998 and ended up losing virtually his entire nest egg. Since then, he has invested carefully after studying media reports and understanding “market psychology.” Now a broker-averse multimillionaire, he shares with readers a number of strategies that have worked for him in both bull and bear markets.

Augmented with exercises that truly help readers determine their own level of risk aversion, this guide shows online traders and, particularly, investment clubs exactly how market psychology drives daily and cyclical market moves. As Parness says, “I’m not mechanical, and I’m not good at figuring out technical stuff like computers or plumbing or chain saws, but I can figure out how things measure up in terms of probability. And probability is what trading is all about.”

A few too many ka-chingos and wowsas mar an otherwise informed writing style, but nevertheless the book offers some excellent insight into how the market actually works, and how one can make money using that insight. Those looking for a serious study of economic trends and forecasts may want to look elsewhere, but readers interested in a breezy, anecdotal read about market bubbles and bursts will be entertained and more than likely enlightened. –Charles Decker

August 25th, 2009

Investment Strategies of Hedge Funds (Hardcover)

Author: Filippo Stefanini
Publisher: Wiley
Publication Date: September 29, 2006
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 0470026278
Pages: 336
Price: $72.45 (USD)
Amazon Customer Rating: 4.0 Stars





One of the fastest growing investment sectors ever seen, hedge funds are considered by many to be exotic and inaccessible.  This book provides an intensive learning experience, defining hedge funds, explaining hedge fund strategies while offering both qualitative and quantitative tools that investors need to access these types of funds.  Topics not usually covered in discussions of hedge funds are included, such as a theoretical discussion of each hedge fund strategy followed by trading examples provided by successful hedge fund managers.
August 21st, 2009

The Perfect Portfolio: A Revolutionary Approach to Personal Investing (Hardcover)

Author: Leland B. Hevner
Publisher: Wiley
Publication Date: March 23, 2009
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 0470401745
Pages: 282
Price: $19.77 (USD)
Amazon Customer Rating: 4.5 Stars





Praise for The Perfect Portfolio

“Today’s markets are rife with challenges that confound novice and professional investors alike. Thankfully, The Perfect Portfolio provides the type of ‘outside the box’ thinking that can enable individual investors to not only cope with these challenges but also to view them as profit-making opportunities.”
—Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, The Money Coach (from the Foreword)

To achieve long-term success in today’s market, you can’t place your faith totally in financial “experts” who are far too often salespeople first and objective advisers second. You must take personal control of your hard-earned savings and build a portfolio that gives you a realistic chance of earning returns that enable you to meet the investing goals you really want to achieve in life.

That’s why Leland Hevner—President of the National Association of Online Investors (naoi.org) and a longtime educator in the financial field—has created The Perfect Portfolio. This reliable resource outlines Hevner’s proven investment approach, known as the Perfect Portfolio Methodology (PPM), and shows you how to use it to thrive in today’s challenging market conditions.

Divided into three comprehensive parts, The Perfect Portfolio will enable you to:

  • Build a powerful and efficient portfolio using nine asset classes instead of the traditional three

  • Completely avoid the complexities of analyzing individual stocks and mutual funds

  • Virtually eliminate company risk from your portfolio

  • Use amazing new Web-based tools to enhance and automate your trading activities

  • Easily design a portfolio that matches your investing style and thrives in any market condition

  • And much more

This is not the stuff of your average investing book. The author is not simply putting a new “spin” on the outdated investing concepts being taught today. He is providing nothing less than a dramatically new portfolio design model and a revolutionary approach to the entire field of personal investing. And this bold challenge to the status quo is long overdue!

With The Perfect Portfolio as your guide, you will realize that investing does not need to be as complicated as the financial services industry would like you to believe. You will learn a simple methodology for building a portfolio that can produce incredible returns with minimal risk. You will be empowered to take personal control of your investments. It’s time to start your new life as a confident investor.

August 20th, 2009

Stan Weinstein’s Secrets For Profiting in Bull and Bear Markets (Paperback)

Author: Stan Weinstein
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Publication Date: January 01, 1988
Binding: Paperback
ISBN: 1556236832
Edition: 1
Pages: 348
Price: $13.57 (USD)
Amazon Customer Rating: 4.5 Stars





Stan Weinstein’s Secrets For Profiting in Bull and Bear Markets reveals his successful methods for timing investments to produce consistently profitable results.

Topics include:

  • Stan Weinstein’s personal philosophy on investing
  • The ideal time to buy
  • Refining the buying process
  • Knowing when to sell
  • Selling Short
  • Using the best long-term indicators to spot Bull and Bear markets

Odds, ends, and profits

August 19th, 2009

Crash Proof 2.0: How to Profit From the Economic Collapse (Hardcover)

Author: Peter D. Schiff
Publisher: Wiley
Publication Date: September 22, 2009
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 047047453X
Edition: 2
Pages: 364
Price: $18.45 (USD)
Amazon Customer Rating: 4.5 Stars





A fully updated follow-up to Peter Schiff’s bestselling financial survival guide-Crash Proof, which described the U.S. economy as a house of cards on the verge of collapse, with over 80 pages of new material

The economic and monetary disaster which seasoned Wall Street prognosticator Peter Schiff predicted is no longer hypothetical-it is here today. And nobody understands what to do in this situation better than the man who saw it coming. For more than a decade, Schiff has not only observed the U.S. economy, but also helped his clients restructure their portfolios to reflect his outlook. What he sees today is a nation facing an economic storm brought on by growing federal, personal, and corporate debt; too little savings; and a declining dollar.

Crash Proof 2.0 picks up right where the first edition-a bestselling book that predicted the current market mayhem-left off. This timely guide takes into account the dramatic economic shifts that are reshaping America and provides you with the insights and information to navigate the dangerous terrain. Throughout the book, Schiff explains the factors that will affect your future financial stability and offers a specific three step plan to battle the current economic downturn.

  • Discusses the measures you can take to protect yourself-as well as profit-during these difficult times
  • Offers an insightful examination of the structural weaknesses underlying the economic meltdown
  • Outlines a plan that will allow you to preserve wealth and protect the purchasing power of your savings
  • Other titles by Schiff: Crash Proof and The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets

Filled with in-depth insights and expert advice, Crash Proof 2.0 will help you survive and thrive during the coming years of economic uncertainty.

June 22nd, 2009

Ichimoku Charts: An Introduction to Ichimoku Kinko Clouds (Paperback)

Author: Nicole Elliott
Publisher: Harriman House
Publication Date: February 01, 2007
Binding: Paperback
ISBN: 1897597843
Edition: illustrated edition
Pages: 139
Price: $55.30 (USD)
Amazon Customer Rating: 3.0 Stars





Candlesticks charts, although originating in Japan, now play an important role in technical analysis worldwide. Now, for the first time in English, this book presents the next stage of candlestick analysis – Ichimoku Kinko Hyo. Sometimes called Cloud Charts, this analysis adds moving averages to candlestick charts. But moving averages a little different from those traditionally used in the West. For trending markets, Cloud Charts add an essential tool for analysing near-term areas of support and resistance.The book covers the history of candlestick charts – explaining the context in which they developed. And then moves on to explain how in the 1930s a journalist, with the pseudonym Ichimoku Sanjin, started refining candlestick analysis by adding a series of moving averages. The book explains in detail how to construct Cloud Charts and how to interpret them. A chapter is devoted to the advanced analysis of Cloud charts, with an in-depth study of the Three Principles: Wave Principle, Price Target and Timespan Principle. The book is illustrated throughout with numerous examples of Cloud Chart analysis.Walk into any Japanese dealing room today and you will see that the most common charts being used are Ichimoku Kinko Clouds. This book presents the definitive explanation of these charts for the first time to a Western audience.
June 22nd, 2009

Super Stocks (Paperback)

Author: Kenneth Fisher
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Publication Date: September 21, 2007
Binding: Paperback
ISBN: 0071499814
Edition: 1
Pages: 256
Price: $13.57 (USD)
Amazon Customer Rating: 4.5 Stars





Target the Super Stocks that deliver huge returns

One of the most successful investing books ever published, Super Stocks showed investors how to use innovative techniques and fundamental analysis for valuing stocks and predicting future profit margins.

You’ll gain valuable insight into Fisher’s original thinkin for valuing stocks and predicting future profit margins. A pioneer in the use of the Price Sales Ratio-a powerful analytical tool-Fisher regales readers with instructive tales of the businesses he invested in and profited from.

Super Stocks gives a historical perspective on how Fisher successfully researched companies and stocks—who he saw and what he asked—to get a better read on profitable returns.

“As rich in investment war stories as it is in knowledge.”-The Motley Fool

June 22nd, 2009

Understanding Credit Derivatives and Related Instruments (Hardcover)

Author: Antulio N. Bomfim
Publisher: Academic Press
Publication Date: December 20, 2004
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 0121082652
Pages: 368
Price: $46.83 (USD)
Amazon Customer Rating: 5.0 Stars





Understanding Credit Derivatives offers a comprehensive introduction to the credit derivatives market. Rather than presenting a highly technical exploration of the subject, it offers intuitive and rigorous summaries of the major subjects and the principal perspectives associated with them. The centerpiece is pricing and valuation issues, especially discussions of different valuation tools and their use in credit models.

* Offers a broad overview of this growing field
* Discusses all the main types of credit derivatives
* Provides back-of-the-book summary of statistics and fixed-income mathematics

June 22nd, 2009

The Day Trader: From the Pit to the PC (Paperback)

Author: Lewis Borsellino
Publisher: Wiley
Publication Date: January 22, 2001
Binding: Paperback
ISBN: 0471401617
Edition: 1
Pages: 256
Price: $24.25 (USD)
Amazon Customer Rating: 3.0 Stars





Praise for The Day Trader

“A legendary S&P floor trader has written a powerful, brutally honest chronicle of his determined rise to the top of his profession. Touching and insightful, this riveting account is one of the best trading memoirs ever.”–—NELSON FREEBURG, PUBLISHER, FORMULA RESEARCH

“The Day Trader provides a rare look into the events that shaped the extraordinary character of one of the most unique people to ever put on a trading jacket . . . it comes as no surprise that Borsellino places himself at the center of the maelstrom surrounding electronic trading versus open outcry and provides a truly balanced, intelligent, and unemotional view of the momentous transformation occurring in the financial markets. It is imperative that anyone involved in trading the markets–—either traditionally or electronically–—read this story and benefit from the insights of one of the great traders of our lifetime.”–—MARIO ALBERICO, FORMER SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, ELECTRONIC TRADING, CHICAGO MERCANTILE EXCHANGE

“The Day Trader is must reading for anyone in the market. Lewis Borsellino is an Italian American hero who climbed the mountain with guts and honor. The neighborhood kid will always remember where he came from.”–—DOMINIC DI FRISCO, PRESIDENT EMERITUS, JOINT CIVIC COMMITTEE OF ITALIAN AMERICANS

Amazon.com Review

The subtitle of The Day Trader, From the Pit to the PC, indicates the evolution of the trader from floor jockey to computer cowboy. But this is less an account of the trader’s changing arena than the story of Lewis Borsellino, a fist-shaking Italian American from Chicago’s West Side whose grit and determination helped him become one of the top traders in the Standard & Poor futures pit. “When the world around me goes nuts, I become more sane. The wilder the market gets, the more disciplined I become.” He credits this focus to his tough but compassionate Italian American father, a truck driver with a penchant for lightening the loads of his deliveries. “I do what I do so you don’t have to,” says the elder Borsellino, prior to getting busted by the feds for hijacking a million-dollar shipment of silver.

Shedding his father’s mobster ties, Borsellino quickly moves up the trading ranks, establishing a position–literally–on the second step of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. For 18 years, he doesn’t budge, sometimes using his fists to ward off aggressive traders, and gaining a “sixth sense” that helps him determine which way the market is headed. Although Borsellino provides a good deal of technical reasoning behind his many successes and failures, he repeatedly returns to this intangible quality, stressing its importance and describing how it’s made him millions.

The Day Trader concludes with some thoughts on the pit’s computerized future. Since writing the book, Borsellino has left the S&P to become a fund manager. He relies on computers now more than ever, but wonders how digital day traders without floor experience will get their sense of market flow, timing, and price patterns. Borsellino’s The Day Trader is a good place to start. –Rob McDonald

June 22nd, 2009

Candlesticks, Fibonacci, and Chart Pattern Trading Tools: A Synergistic Strategy to Enhance Profits and Reduce Risk (Wiley Trading) (Hardcover)

Author: Robert Fischer
Publisher: Wiley
Publication Date: August 14, 2003
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 0471448613
Pages: 256
Price: $62.37 (USD)
Amazon Customer Rating: 3.5 Stars





An in-depth examination of a powerful new trading strategy

“Fischer provides an intriguing and thorough look at blending the Fibonacci series, candlesticks, and 3-point chart patterns to trade securities. Backed by explicit trading rules and numerous examples and illustrations, this book is an invaluable tool for the serious investor. Read it.”
–Thomas N. Bulkowski author of Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns and Trading Classic Chart Patterns

In this groundbreaking new book, Fibonacci expert Robert Fischer and coauthor Dr. Jens Fischer successfully merge Fibonacci applications with candlestick charting to create an innovative trading strategy that will help you enhance profits and reduce risk.

Filled with in-depth insights, helpful charts and graphs, and practical real-world examples, Candlesticks, Fibonacci, and Chart Pattern Trading Tools reveals how correctly combining these different strategies can give you a noticeable edge in challenging market times–regardless of whether you are a short-term or long-term trader–and improve your chances of success under a variety of market conditions.

You’ll be introduced to the critical aspects of this synergistic approach through in-depth analysis and detailed explanations of:

  • Core combinations of Fibonacci trading tools with candlesticks and regular 3-point chart patterns
  • The magic figure “three” and its relevance in pattern recognition
  • Fibonacci-related trading strategies, selected candlestick chart patterns, and regular 3-point chart patterns
  • Applications of these trading strategies–double tops, Fibonacci price extensions, PHI-channel applications
  • PHI-ellipses as trading tools
  • And much more

Along with the computer technology of the WINPHI charting program included on the companion CD-ROM, Candlesticks, Fibonacci, and Chart Pattern Trading Tools will help you understand and implement this profitable trading strategy to the best of your ability.

June 22nd, 2009

The Compleat Guide to Day Trading Stocks (Hardcover)

Author: Jake Bernstein
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Publication Date: August 30, 2000
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 0071361251
Edition: 1
Pages: 216
Price: $27.33 (USD)
Amazon Customer Rating: 4.0 Stars





Day trading is Wall Street’s hottest trend and, in The Compleat Guide to Day Trading Stocks, famed futures trader and author Jake Bernstein turns his attention, knowledge, and experience to the exciting world of stock trading. Bernstein covers timing systems, trend following systems, breakout systems, and more–all illustrated with chart examples based on intra-day time frames, and supported by results from his meticulous, historically accurate back testing.

Basic enough for novice traders–yet with enough detail for the most demanding market veterans–Bernstein’s book gives day traders the tools they need to succeed in this fast-paced, relentless market. Special attention is given to:
• Day trading the technology sector
• Risk management and diversification
• Little-known nuances of order placement Jake Bernstein (Northbrook, IL) publishes MBH Weekly, a newsletter covering the commodities and futures markets. Author of The Compleat Day Trader and Strategies for the Electronic Futures Trader, Bernstein is a popular speaker at trading seminars and regularly appears on radio and television.

June 22nd, 2009

Getting Started in Stocks (Getting Started In…..) (Paperback)

Author: Alvin D. Hall
Publisher: Wiley
Publication Date: July 25, 1997
Binding: Paperback
ISBN: 0471177539
Edition: 3
Pages: 320
Price: $17.05 (USD)
Amazon Customer Rating: 5.0 Stars





Now completely revised and expanded!

THE bestselling guide to Getting Started in Stocks

Thinking of getting your feet wet in the stock market, but don’t know where to begin? Perhaps you’ve already taken the plunge but would like to know more about the stock and mutual fund investments you’ve made? Tens of thousands of investors already know the place to start is this best-selling guide by Alvin D. Hall, whose dynamic style of teaching investment professionals has earned him the moniker, the “Professor of Wall Street.” Packed with new material on mutual funds, dozens of new real-life examples, and up-to-the-minute information, this thoroughly updated edition will help you:

  • Set clear financial goals
  • Determine the level of risk you can afford to take
  • Evaluate stocks and securities for risks and rewards
  • Track market trends for solid, informed choices
  • Use mutual funds to diversify and cut risk
  • Determine the right proportion of stocks for your portfolio
  • Fully exploit international market opportunities

June 22nd, 2009

The Wall Street Waltz: 90 Visual Perspectives, Illustrated Lessons From Financial Cycles and Trends (Fisher Investments Press) (Hardcover)

Author: Ken Fisher
Publisher: Wiley
Publication Date: November 12, 2007
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 0470139501
Edition: Rev Upd
Pages: 240
Price: $19.89 (USD)
Amazon Customer Rating: 4.0 Stars





The Wall Street Waltz

Introducing the new Fisher Investment SeriesComprised of engaging and informative titles written by renowned money manager and bestselling author Ken Fisher, this series offers essential insights into the worlds of investing and finance.

“Any investor who fails to read and heed Ken Fisher’s book will have only himself (or herself) to blame if he loses his shirt in the market. Using simple words and dramatic charts, Fisher packs a whole financial education into one neat package.”

James W. Michaels, Editor Emeritus and Group Vice President-Editorial, Forbes, Inc.

“Ken’s book vividly presents a complete picture of the stock market’s history-a vital tool for the savvy investor.”

Charles R. Schwab, founder, Chairman, and CEO, The Charles Schwab Corporation

“If a picture is worth a thousand words, then these charts could be worth your life savings.”

William E. Donoghue, Chairman, W. E. Donoghue Co., Inc.

“Ken Fisher’s clear, insightful analysis makes this a compelling book. For information and entertainment, this is a book to turn to again, and again, and again.”

David Dreman, founder, Chairman, and CIO, Dreman Value Management, LLC

June 22nd, 2009

The Dick Davis Dividend: Straight Talk on Making Money from 40 Years on Wall Street (Hardcover)

Author: Dick Davis
Publisher: Wiley
Publication Date: December 10, 2007
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 0470099038
Pages: 471
Price: $19.77 (USD)
Amazon Customer Rating: 4.5 Stars





A pioneer in the financial media, Dick Davis has interacted with the investing public for over forty years. With his new book, he continues this trend. The first part of The Dick Davis Dividend contains an easy-to-read, yet profound discussion of the essentials of investing—focusing on the savvy veteran’s often unconventional, core beliefs. While the second part of this engaging guide makes a compelling case for combining both passive investing via index funds and active investing via stocks and mutual funds.
June 22nd, 2009

Beat the Market: Win with Proven Stock Selection and Market Timing Tools (Hardcover)

Author: Gerald Appel
Publisher: FT Press
Publication Date: December 21, 2008
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 0132359170
Edition: 1
Pages: 208
Price: $17.24 (USD)
Amazon Customer Rating: 2.0 Stars





“In this compelling book, Gerald Appel distills a lifetime of learning about what works on Wall Street into key principles of investment success. Whether you are new to the world of finance or you’re a veteran portfolio manager, you will gain from Gerald’s innovative research and his discerning insights into price behavior.” Nelson Freeburg, Editor and Publisher, Formula Research “This new book by Gerald Appel follows the rich legacy he has established over the years; it is a treasure chest of valuable advice which bestows on the reader the benefit of his decades of investment experience. It receives my highest recommendation.” Edward D. Dobson, President, Traders Press You can clearly outperform the stock market indexes and a “buy and hold” approach to investing. Leading investment expert Gerald Appel shows you how. Appel introduces The Weekly Stock Market Power Gauge that employs three specific market timing indicators that have had excellent performance histories going back as far as 1970. These timing indicators enable you to gauge the market strength and can be maintained by almost any investor in only a few minutes per week. Using Appel’s techniques, you’ll learn how to forecast the likely direction of the market, and its relative strength compared with fixed income and other investments. The book provides exact buy-sell indicators, with specific signal generators and track records for readers to follow. In addition, Appel’s techniques help you identify the specific mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and market sectors that are likely to be most profitable. Simply put, Appel shows you what information you need to forecast the direction of stock prices with high probabilities of success, where to readily locate that information, how to interpret that information, and when to enter and when to exit the stock market. *Gauge the market’s true inner pulse…and identify major market shifts in time to leverage them *Optimize your portfolio’s blend of risk and reward Use proven timing models to systematically reduce risk and maximize profit opportunities *Master powerful momentum investing techniques Win by going with the flow, not against it *Select the right equities, ETFs, and mutual funds Objectively choose the best investments in any market environment
June 22nd, 2009

Wall Street Money Machine, Vol. 2, Stock Market Miracles w/cd (Hardcover)

Author: Wade B. Cook
Publisher: Lighthouse Publishing Group
Publication Date: June 01, 2000
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 1892008645
Pages: 320
Price: $26.95 (USD)
Amazon Customer Rating: 4.5 Stars





Finally, a book by an author that understands what the average investor needs! The information in this book will give you the ability to make money using real tried-and-true techniques. No special knowledge required, no strings attached. These tools can help you secure real wealth-not through get-rich-quick schemes, or any other tried-and-failed method, but through large cash returns from the stock market.
June 22nd, 2009

Triumph of the Optimists: 101 Years of Global Investment Returns (Hardcover)

Author: Elroy Dimson
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication Date: January 01, 2002
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 0691091943
Edition: illustrated edition
Pages: 320
Price: $94.50 (USD)
Amazon Customer Rating: 4.0 Stars





Investors have too often extrapolated from recent experience. In the 1950s, who but the most rampant optimist would have dreamt that over the next fifty years the real return on equities would be 9% per year? Yet this is what happened in the U.S. stock market. The optimists triumphed. However, as Don Marquis observed, an optimist is someone who never had much experience. The authors of this book extend our experience across regions and across time. They present a comprehensive and consistent analysis of investment returns for equities, bonds, bills, currencies and inflation, spanning sixteen countries, from the end of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the twenty-first. This is achieved in a clear and simple way, with over 130 color diagrams that make comparison easy.

Crucially, the authors analyze total returns, including reinvested income. They show that some historical indexes overstate long-term performance because they are contaminated by survivorship bias and that long-term stock returns are in most countries seriously overestimated, due to a focus on periods that with hindsight are known to have been successful.

The book also provides the first comprehensive evidence on the long-term equity risk premium–the reward for bearing the risk of common stocks. The authors reveal whether the United States and United Kingdom have had unusually high stock market returns compared to other countries. The book covers the U.S., the U.K., Japan, France, Germany, Canada, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Australia, the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, Ireland, Denmark, and South Africa.

Triumph of the Optimists is required reading for investment professionals, financial economists, and investors. It will be the definitive reference in the field and consulted for years to come.

June 22nd, 2009

Investing in One Lesson (Hardcover)

Author: Mark Skousen
Publisher: Capital Press
Publication Date: October 19, 2007
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 1596985224
Edition: 1st
Pages: 175
Price: $23.04 (USD)
Amazon Customer Rating: 4.5 Stars





Mark Skousen, who has built his impressive reputation as one of the industrys best-known investment advisors, passes along his entire investment philosophy, based on his decades of experience, in a single, one-lesson book.
June 22nd, 2009

Just One Thing: Twelve of the World’s Best Investors Reveal the One Strategy You Can’t Overlook (Paperback)

Publisher: Wiley
Publication Date: November 10, 2006
Binding: Paperback
ISBN: 0470081813
Edition: illustrated edition
Pages: 262
Price: $11.53 (USD)
Amazon Customer Rating: 4.0 Stars





Mastery made easy!

In traveling the shifting terrain of the financial world, one is often met with confusing and even contradictory directions. In the search for a reliable path, there’s nothing like a personal guide-one who can show you the most direct route to your goal. In Just One Thing, author John Mauldin offers an incomparable shortcut to prosperity: the personal guidance of an outstanding group of recognized financial experts, each offering the single most useful piece of advice garnered from years of investing.

Never before has such an esteemed assembly of financial gurus offered their most valued insights in such a succinct manner-and in a single volume. In marvelously readable essays of uncommon clarity, each contributor presents the most precious kernel of advice-just one thing-that he would pass on to his own children and his children’s children. And now these gems of investment wisdom can be yours.

What is the most important piece of investment advice you can find? Let these twelve investment gurus share with you the “Just One Thing” each of them has learned:
* Rob Arnott
* Bill Bonner
* Ed Easterling
* Mark Finn
* Dennis Gartman
* George Gilder
* Andy Kessler
* Michael Masterson
* John Mauldin
* James Montier
* Richard Russell
* A. Gary Shilling

Amazon.com Review

Whether from business-focused cable TV channels, newspapers, magazines, Web sites, or friends and family, investment advice comes these days from every corner. The nagging question for conscientious investors remains, though: how to separate good advice from bad? In a world of squawking television commentators and garish headlines, who and what should we trust? With Just One Thing, veteran investment writer John Mauldin offers his answer: take just the best advice, from the best investors, and discard everything else. Mauldin has solicited 12 leading investors for what each considers his most valuable insight or lesson over a long and illustrious investment career–the “one thing” he considers most important to investing–and gathered the tips for future generations of investors to learn.

The lessons which Mauldin has compiled in this thin, readable volume range widely. Some readers may enjoy the folksier tone of hedge fund manager Andy Kessler’s piece, which analogizes investing to a hike up New England’s Mt. Washington, on a foggy day. Other may prefer the approach of bond investor Gary Shilling, who argues for finding and developing a consistent and long-term narrative (or “story” about a market) around which to build investment picks. Yet others may find it most comforting to go with financial analyst Rob Arnott, who runs a multi-billion dollar fund for Pimco and who anchors his market analysis in deep skepticism and extensive quantitative analytics.

As with the larger market, Mauldin’s group of 12 expert investors brings its own mix of philosophies, tactics, and personalities to investing, and in his notes between each selection, Mauldin is careful not to tip his hand favoring one or the other. Instead, quality for Mauldin rests in the survey of the masters, and the restriction of those masters to “just one thing” each. Mauldin should know: as the author of Bull’s Eye Investing: Targeting Real Returns in a Smoke and Mirrors Market, as well as a weekly investment newsletter with readership over one million, he has seen his share of both charlatans and geniuses.

Mauldin’s work can be taken a couple of different ways. For younger investors, it may provide a valuable survey of different investment philosophies, and the opportunity to learn just enough to undertake further research elsewhere. For more experienced investors it can provide the possibility of a new idea gleaned here or there, some new concept that may have been overlooked previously. Either way, both audiences will benefit from the diversity of perspectives included in this book. In an increasingly chaotic and noise-filled world, trusted sources which give such sure-handed perspective on the business of investments deserve high praise. –Peter Han

June 22nd, 2009

Investing In Preferred Stock: An Introduction For Modern Income Investors (Paperback)

Author: Paul Josephs
Publisher: CreateSpace
Publication Date: December 15, 2008
Binding: Paperback
ISBN: 1440489114
Pages: 100
Price: $14.95 (USD)
Amazon Customer Rating: 4.0 Stars





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.