5 comments about The Craft of Investing.

1. This book is an easy to read primer on investing and other financial matters such as estate planning and retirement planning. There are no specific formulas to follow. Rather, the book is loaded with common sense and practical advice. As far as investing, Train as one would expect discusses growth and value investment styles. But there are gems not found in other books such as his comments on emerging markets, real estate and art. Beginning and experienced investors will get alot out of this book. I'm reading it for my second time - always a sign of a good book.



2. "The Craft of Investing" is a short, basic, and fun-to-read book that teaches you a bit about conservative investment. It doesn't go into analytic detail but emphasizes the broader concepts. The first half of the book is the best and deals mainly with stock investment. You can neglect most of the later chapters if you want and still benefit greatly.

   You will learn how not to sit on a bad investment, or as John Train says, not "become a boiled frog." It is claimed that if a frog is put in a cup of warm water, it will just sit there, even as the water is slowly heated. If the poor old frog had been tossed into a pan of boiling water he would have realized the situation was not good and immediately jump out. But, as the water is slowly heated, the frog decides he can tolerate the slight change in temperature. Never making his mind up to get out, the frog boils. Many investors do the same with bad investments. As the company gets progressively worse, they hold on hoping the situation will improve--only to lose more and more money.

   Much of successful investment demands little more than learning what not to do and John Train will help show you what not to do.

   Peter Hupalo, Author of "Becoming An Investor: Building Wealth By Investing In Stocks, Bonds, And Mutual Funds."




3. It is impossible to praise this book enough. I have been actively investing for greater than 10 years, and I have read more books than I care to count. You will feel much more confident in your investing and making choices. I finally have a good grip on why do stocks go up and down. But you get insight into other matters as well ,and get to feel the wisdom of a true master,in a well written easy style. Just what we need during this deflating bubble we are in now.



4. Overall this is a great investment book. It covers an extremely broad range of topics and for the most part the reader cannot go too far wrong following the author's advice. The sections on the nature of markets and his advice on commodities alone makes the book worthwhile. Bear in mind that the book was published in 1994 but most of the content is timeless. Another book with much of the same advice is The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need by Andrew Tobias. One additional thing- some of the charts and tables and examples date from the 1970's and are evidently from magazine articles that the author wrote. Just so you know what you are buying. The example are good ones and mostly remain relevant today. The only real limitation of the book is Train's simplistic approach to growth stock picking.



5. John Train's slim book The Craft of Investing has a title that might mislead some readers into thinking that it is another one of his well-crafted overviews on investing. A good portion of the text, however, deals with topics that are probably most relevant to high networth individuals, family wealth management professionals and private bankers. Other investors will find chapters such as "Family Capital," "The [Trust] Executor's Job," and "How to Use a Safe-Deposit Box" less than relevant.

   There are passages that are of interest to a wider audience. The first portion of the book is a brief, but useful survey of different investment styles. Other passages provide an interesting distillation of Train's tips on what makes a good investor, for instance, his advice about reverse engineering the trades of well-regarded institutional investors ("start by piggybacking on the thinking of the best professionals"); keeping a conservative approach to investing (which he says favors " sober, seasoned, careful older people"), and honing of investment skills to a professional level. "Most points are lost on errors, rather than by forcing shots. Since the investor never has to act, he should focus on not making avoidable mistakes." There is not enough meat on the bone here, though, to rank this book as one of Train's better ones. Instead, readers new to his work are better off starting with The Money Masters and The New Money Masters, two books that rank among the best in the investment field.

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