5 comments about Online Investing Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools (Hacks).

1. 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.



2. 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.



3. 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.



4. 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. 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 comments about Sector Trading: A Year in Exchange Traded Funds.

1. "Sector Trading..." shows how selection of ETF baskets as an investment strategy works both in the short term and long term. By writing specifically and enthusiastically about ETFs, Bernstein throws light onto this newest investment mechanism that is increasingly popular, even among individual investors such as myself. I especially liked the connections made between ETF investing and financial sectors trading and daily news events on the world stage. The charts are also a significant new tool for me to try to use. Bravo.



2. Don't expect much from this book except a novices personal experience trying to do weekly trades



3. 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.



4. 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[



5. 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.

4 comments about High Yield Bonds: Market Structure, Valuation, and Portfolio Strategies.

1. I have had the privilege of reading the galley proofs of this book and find it to be THE definitive word on High Yield Investing. This book develops the blueprint for how to navigate, understand, and analyze High Yield Bonds. A must for MBA students, a requirement for anyone in the field already, and a vital tool for investors.

   The book's three authors (The George Washington University Business School, Georgetown Business School, and 20+ years High Yield Experience) have used their knowledge and connections to get the best information available




2. I can't say enough about this book. The book is suprisingly easy to read, and uncovers insights from some of the most prominent names in HY research. A must for HY analysts, MBAs, and CFOs.



3. This is an excellent book that is now showing its age and needs an update. It also lacks a CDROM with data sets which would make more explicit many of the points authors make. In addition, Drexel Burnham Lambert, like Banquo's ghost, is alluded to on nearly every other page, yet the authors here are hesitant to differentiating between high yield bonds (non-investment grade debt) and junk (anything issued by Michael Milken).
   
   This work also glaringly lacks some crucial work by Paul Asquith on seasoned high yield bond defaults. Don't stop here.



4. 
   
   Now, im not a quant, but it seems like many of the studies are misleading. There were/are several studies where they run econometric tests using 1-3 variables... ommitted variables anyone? I cant see how anyone can jump to conclusions on such brief analysis. Whats more, there are several parts in the book where text is copy/pasted verbatim from an earlier section! What the hell?

5 comments about Margin of Safety: Risk-Averse Value Investing Strategies for the Thoughtful Investor.

1. Definitely this book is absolutely the best overview of value investing I have ever read!



2. 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.



3. 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. 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.



5. 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 ,,,

No comments about All About Bonds, Bond Mutual Funds, and Bond ETFs, 3rd Edition.

3 comments about Alpha Teach Yourself Investing in 24 Hours.

1. Congratulations to Mr. Little for having written a fantastic easy-to-get-through primer on the investing world. All essentials are explained and explained WELL, and no relevant terms are left out. For an investing manual, this read went by fast!
   
   The author didn't make you feel like a dummy, even though the subject matter could've easily led to a condescending approach. Ken Little's tone was like that of a friend. Examples: "Don't get too hung up on being precise with these terms, because their definitions are very fluid. Toward the end of this hour we will introduce you to a widely accepted way of classifying mutual funds that is not arbitrary." (page 163); "The lesson here is that you shouldn't get tripped up over broad terms such as 'growth' when considering stocks. If you want an objective determination, use one of the several systems available, such as Morningstar.com. This will help you compared like stocks and avoid ridiculous questions such as, 'Should I buy AT&T or Amazon.com."
   
   The book was divided into 24 chapters, with each chapter organized to take up one hour of time for the average reader to get through. And because this book is sincere in trying to get the reader to learn and be serious about what he has just read, every chapter/hour has a short multiple-choice quiz to test the reader's understanding and retention of the material for that chapter. That's a nice touch.
   
   This book takes a proactive stance in getting the amateur investor up and running. For beginners who are intimidated about getting their feet wet and those who don't know where to start, the book frequently offers lists of "5 things you can do today."
   
   This book is a great instruction manual for novices, a good reference guide, and is very well-crafted. Bravo.



2. One of the best books. The best book I ever read on Investing. You will LOVE this book. You will learn a LOT! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT.



3. This book is a broad introduction to the concept of investing. It is broken into five major sections:
   
   1. Getting Started, which talks about goals, credit card debt, budgets, and basic investment vehicles
   2. Doing the Research, which discusses retirement plans and ways to find information you need to invest
   3. Mutual Funds, Stocks, and Bonds, which finally dives into the details on those investment vehicles
   4. Making Choices, which introduces various investment strategies
   5. Working Toward a Goal, which wraps things up with portfolio examples, the level of participation in your investments, and retirement
   
   First off, I want to note the author's tone and his style of writing - Little presents information in a very easy-to-understand manner, with simple examples and witty jokes. The book does not feel tedious, and you can fly through it quickly.
   
   Each of the five sections consists of multiple chapters, which Little calls "Hours." The idea is that you can, of course, learn about investing in 24 hours - so there are 24 chapters. At the end of each chapter is a hands-on workshop and a quiz. While the quizzes are basically a joke (the answer choices are beyond obvious), the workshops are a great practical way to get your hands dirty and start looking at the wealth of information available to investors. Little provides multiple websites (although some are, of course, outdated) and other ways to get the information you need. I suggest you follow through some of the book's workshops - i.e. look over some annual reports, think of investment goals, etc.
   
   A big plus for this book is that it provides very practical information. It describes (although very briefly) the financial documents that a company publishes (balance sheet, income statement, cash flow) and some ways that companies can be evaluated using some basic ratios - EPS, P/E, PEG, P/S, etc. Unfortunately Little does not spend a lot of time on how to use these values to help determine the financial strength of a company. He just instructs the reader to compare the values to those of other companies in the same sector/industry.
   
   In Hour 6, the diagrams used to demonstrate how to read stock/fund price changes are unfortunately botched in a major way. The columns are not wide enough, and values are truncated or carried over to the next line. This is very confusing. In addition, some of the columns referenced in the text don't seem to exist at all in the diagrams. This is a huge miss by the editors - very disappointing.
   
   While Little attempts to target a very broad audience by demonstrating investment strategies, goal planning, and risk management for various age groups, the overall feel of this book is that of one written for a very specific group of people: individuals who are suddenly realizing that retirement is not so far off - and that it's time to start planning for it.
   
   Little constantly reinforces the notion of tax-protected accounts (i.e. the 401k and the IRA family) - yes, we get it, it's nice to have tax-deferred and even tax-free growth, but some of us would like to use the money we make before retirement. Little furthermore explicitly recommends moderate-risk investment strategies (even though he describes aggressive strategies, as well), spending many pages on why mutual funds are great. He also has a section on how to get rid of credit card debt and find money in your budget to begin investing. Finally, Little targets "retirement" as the example of every long-term goal he discusses.
   
   Don't get me wrong - Little does an excellent job making the reader comfortable with the notion of investing. He stresses again and again that you don't have time to lose - and you need to start NOW. But it always feels like he's addressing the middle-aged individual who needs to get his/her finances in order and start thinking about retirement.
   
   I wish Little would spend more time on stocks rather than concentrating so much on mutual funds. He groups stocks into 3 very broad categories - value, growth, and income. While this might be the way that some mutual funds label their holdings, I feel that this classification of stocks is a gross oversimplification. Peter Lynch does a much better job of this in his One Up on Wall Street. But then again, Little's goal is not to teach the reader everything about stocks - but rather get him/her familiar with the basics. His ultimate advice is to go with stock index funds rather than individual stocks.
   
   Finally, I wish Little would spend a bit more time on advanced topics such as options, futures, and shorting. He defines each concept, but he dismisses these vehicles as overly risky - yet he doesn't describe the risks very well. He also mentions that options can be a good hedge to protect your investments, but he stops there. I feel that Little could have spent more time describing HOW to use these vehicles, and WHY they can be so risky. Simply saying that, in options trading, you could lose all of your investment (meaning the premium) is not enough.
   
   In conclusion, I have mixed feelings about the book. I was very skeptical half-way through, but the book picked up in the middle and taught me some things I didn't already know - so I am glad I finished it. It got me to look at a balance sheet for Goldman Sachs and try to figure what's going on. However, keep in mind that, unless you have absolutely no knowledge of investment vehicles and their markets, this book will not teach you a lot. It will get you started - perhaps you will muster up the guts to invest into an S&P 500 index fund via your 401k plan... but to do anything else, you will need more. Nevertheless, if you are new to investing and are realizing that retirement is not far away, this is a great book to get you started.
   
   Pros:
   + easy and quick read, lots of examples, witty jokes
   + practical information - financial docs, stock ratios, general tid-bits of advice, examples of portfolios
   + useful workshops that make you try things on your own
   
   Cons:
   - diagram errors in Hour 6
   - some things are repeated many times
   - could spend a lot more time on stocks and on advanced topics (options, futures)
   - feels like it's targeted for a very specific audience

5 comments about The Electronic Day Trader: Successful Strategies for On-line Trading.

1. This book is essentially obsolete just three years after its publication. Stocks are now traded in decimals, and the spreads on heavily traded stocks are now almost nonexistent, sometimes being less than one cent a share. Consequently, you can forget about any of the strategies or information regarding "pocketing the spread", "getting between the spread", etc. With the proliferation of ECN trading, the influence of the market makers in a stock has been markedly reduced. In a stock that trades 80 million shares per day, a market maker with a 100,000 share block is not going to be able to move the stock significantly, and ECN trading can overwhelm his influence. Likewise, information gleaned from the Level II screen, while still useful if one knows what to look for, is no longer the Holy Grail. Also, day trading firms, like the authors' "Broadway Trading" are on the way to extinction, now that some big online brokers offer direct-access trades for less than a quarter of what day trading firms charge, as well as offering free Level II quotes and other information not available to the day trading firms.

   While the book contains a few nuggets of trading info, it was not written in a logical, easy to follow manner. As has always been the case, aspiring traders need to study the markets intensely and develop their own trading techniques; they cannot expect that any book will teach them how to be successful in a field where very few people ever succeed.




2. good book , nice condition



3. This book completely fails to realistically convey the relative risks and profit potential for the average wannabe day trader. Im talking about someone with less than a few thousand to play the market. Unless you have big bucks and Level II quotes forget day trading unless you are very lucky. In the trading parlance, I wish I had a short position on this book at its current price, and could cover my short at the current used price! Save your money.



4. They went bankrupt, which is where you would be if you followed West and Friedfertig's methods. The book was a copy of Jack Schwager's Market Wizards series, due to the interviews conducted with "traders". You would be amazed if you saw some of these people and didnt read their words in print. Somehow they would not come off so sharp. Trust me!

   Also do you think our authors would be able to spot "managerial talent" over a few aspiring proprietory traders? No they hire guys who have previously filed bankruptcy in their past and pipe up their accomplishments, which are a joke when you realized they bailed on creditors!!

   Save yourself a dime and avoid it-if someone gives it to you, and you can't return it, use to start the BBQ grill. I could go on and on about SEC/NASD violation, getting short on a downtick, etc but I wont!




5. There are some good ideas that you can rescue from this book. Therefore I think you should buy it since you can make much more money and certainly recoup your small investment if you employ 2 o 3 good tips.
   
   Any way, from my point of view a trader must always read as much as he can. There is simply no other way to prepare one self for this difficult yet incredibly rewarding activity, but to learn and put into practice as much ideas as you can, at least by paper trading first.
   
   The are a lot of books on the subject, however many of them where written 2 o 4 years ago and that kind of makes them obsolete in this constantly changing field.
   
   The internet offers great places where you can learn more specialized trading techniques. One of those places that I have found to be worthy is ProfitableStockmarket dotcom.
   
   They focus mainly on momentum trading and employ a rather simple yet effective strategy. I think that for a trader to survive and be profitable, its neccessary to keep their trading as simple as possible. To much confussion and technical indicators will most of the time make you slow in your decisions and froze you up when a good opportunity is right in front of you.
   
   In the end it's all about buying or selling with out hesitation, and doing it over an over again according to your set ups.

4 comments about Stocks Bonds Options Futures.

1. Great book. Complex concepts are explained clearly and concisely. Examples are abundant and helpful.



2. I have to point out that I have the first edition of this book (which did not have Veale's name on it). It is absolutely excellent at introducing the basic concepts behind all types of securities and futures investing one may be considering. They cover what stocks, bonds, etc. are, how they are traded, the terminology used by brokers, and even some historical background. I was really impressed at how clear and understandable all the explanations were. This book was written by someone who really understands the concepts and knows how to explain them well.

   The book does not have a glossary in it, but does have an excellent index, which is really better in many ways.




3. I am making the transition from hard sciences to financial markets. I have started reading many math oriented books on quantitative finance, like the great two volumes by Shreve, but guess what, I still could not understand a Bloomberg article or a report on the radio, all these market terms were a mystery to me. Not anymore. This book did it for me. It requires ZERO financial knowledge and yet it is not for dummies. It is perfect for the level of someone who never had a formal training on what is the definition of a stock, what kind of departments exist inside an investment bank, etc. etc.
   
   It is a clear book, I would not call it technical, it reads like a novell, and I can not overstate any more how cleat it is. I definitely recommend it to people who want an introduction on the subject.



4. This is a must read for all who feel the need to learn about these important investment vehicles. The writing is stellar and easily understood, even on such ideas as futures, hedging, and more difficult concepts like the yield rate curve.
   
   Mr. Veale is an excellent writer and deals with the common and uncommon uses of these vehicles. You will understand how to read any kind of quote, from stock to bond to esoteric qoutes like T-Bill spreads and ED futures.
   
   I usually sell books like this once I have absorbed the knowledge, however this is a keeper since it will be an important reference for well into the future.

No comments about All About Bonds and Bond Mutual Funds: The Easy Way to Get Started.

5 comments about The Bond Bible.

1. My name is Bond. Bond Bible. All jokes aside, bonds have been sorely underestimated. So many people forget that bond holders are creditors. So that when a company folds, shareholders lose out, but most often times bond holders get paid out. Ms. Cohen pulls no punches and is solid in her review of the bond world. I even like her inclusion of "Bowie" Bonds, the rock and roll bonds that were founded several years ago.

   In all her talk I found her discussion light on leveraged bonds. Bond futures are also a viable means to enter this fixed income investment. I should know I've been doing it for 11 years.
   
   That aside this is a one of kind book that no modern investor can do without.




2. You've heard the old mantra: Diversify, Diversify, Diversify -- but have you actually heeded that advice? Until I read this book, I had no real concept of what bonds could do for my portfolio. To me, bonds were boring, stale, stagnant, and, well, really couldn't hold a candle to the potential double digit returns stocks and mutual funds could produce. Why would I even bother?
   
   Marilyn Cohen takes you by the hand and walks you through the often convoluted terms (i.e. rate to maturity, convertible bonds, laddering, callability, etc.) and explains them in easy to understand terms with practical examples. Don't let that deter those of you that are experienced bond traders -- there are things in here for you too.
   
   After reading this, I feel a lot more comfortable adding bonds to my portfolio, as well as talking about them with investment professionals. There's a lot of potential out there in the fixed income field if you know what you're looking for. At this point, I know enough to adequately diversify my portfolio.



3. I would suggest that any reader wishing to learn about bonds in any detail other than the most simplistic, will be utterly disappointed. It was a waste of money, if I may be so blunt.
   
   
   Malcolm Yellon.



4. If you search Google for "When to Sell a Bond", the only book that comes up is this one, so I bought it. Unfortunately, it really does not describe this at all, only to sell when "Things Go Bad" or "there has been a good run-up"...so I plan to re-sell this book... otherwise if your looking for basic bond concepts and ideas this book is okay.



5. Very good book on bonds - easy to understand but packed full of information. Would highly recommend this book for someone looking at investing in bonds