5 comments about Stock Options for Dummies.

1. I was misled by the title of this book am disappointed. This book is NOT for individuals who want to take their investing to the next level and start trading options on the open market, as I had expected -- rather, it is for people who are offered stock options through their employer.
   
   If anyone knows of a good beginner's book for trading stock options, please clue me in.



2. First, disregard the 5-star rating. *I* think the book is good of course, but that's not why I'm writing this comment.
   
   To the two recent reviewers who complain that the book isn't about puts and calls but rather about ISOs, NQSOs, etc. - look, I'm sorry for your inconvenience but if you had taken about 2 minutes to skim the table of contents and the editorial review on the amazon.com page ("...your company's stock option plan..."), you would CLEARLY see what type of stock options this book discusses. In fact, taking less time to do so than it took you to write your complaint-reviews and give the book a poor review would have saved each of you $20 or whatever the book cost you.
   
   So my sympathies to you for your misspent $, but come on: blaming the author and publisher for your own haste and, further, feeling the need to do so publicly on an amazon.com review with one- and two-star rankings? (At least the other reader who did the same thing back in August, 2003 had the courtesy to give a 5-star ranking because of the reselling experience on amazon.com to rectify his/her error.)
   
   I sincerely hope that if you do begin to dabble in puts and calls - the other kind of stock options - that you do so with much greater care than you took in making your respective book purchases. Otherwise, you should really think twice about that side of the investing world.
   
   To the one reader who is looking for a beginner's book about the other kind of stock options: see "Futures and Options For Dummies" by Joe Duarte. But do your homework first before buying!



3. This book is aimed at employees elegible to receive stock options in the company they work for from their employer.
   
   It is NOT for investors wishing to buy and sell stock options through a stock broker.



4. This book, to me, was completely worthless. I purchased it thinking, like others commenting, that it was about options trading (puts, calls, etc.), not about "employee stock options" (which is what the book should be titled).
   I did read the author's response to criticism about the title, and I think he has some valid points; and in return I would like to sell him a coffee table book entitled "Cats" with a cute little kitten on the front. When he opens it I'm sure he'll be happy to see that it's full of pictures and information about catepiller industrial equipment.
   Also, his argument that anyone who looked at the table of contents would know what the book is about proves that he does not realize who his audience is: This is a "for dummies" book; it should be assumed that the reader knows very little about options. So, how would someone who knows extremely little about options know that chapters entitled "Stock Options: What you need to know right off the bat", Exercising your stock options", and "Finding stock option information online" are not what they are looking for?
   While this book may be very useful for someone wanting information about EMPLOYEE stock options, it was completely worthless to me. Make sure it's what you're looking for before you purchase.



5. This book is a review of employee options. I was hoping for a more comprehensive review that would explain options buying , trading etc.
   It is adequate for the topic of employee options , but nothing else.

5 comments about Safe Strategies for Financial Freedom.

1. Safe Strategies for Fiancial Freedom is by far the best book that I have found on the process of achieving/preserving wealth and finding financial freedom SAFELY. Virtually all of the other books on these topics are Ra-Ra pep talks with few substantial tools, or they are directed at giving you a Holy Grail system. If you are looking for a Holy Grail then you need to realize that there are no Holy Grail Systems, purchase Dr. Tharp's other works, work on yourself, develop your own systems, and read this book. If you are looking to take control of your personal finances, protect and grow your capital then start here.
   
   Of Dr. Tharp's many works, this is the most approachable (and is very approachable) for the average person, and it is very informative for the sophisticated investor. It provides a great foundation in assessing your financial picture, your responsibility for yourself and how your beliefs effect this, the components of a complete system for investing, risk control, assessing your system, the big picture of finance, and approaches to different investment catagories. At the core is Dr. Tharp's belief that whatever you trade or invest in needs to fit you. Fitting you means matching your beliefs about yourself, money, and the markets be they stock, bond, curreny, real estate, or baseball cards. If you do not believe that you can be financially free, you are not going to be. There are extensive tools provided to assist you in developing a target and game plan, continually assess where you are, what the big picture is doing, and where to find opportunity.
   
   Unlike Dr. Tharp's previous books, this book gives you systems (sets of rules) to use. You need to decide if these fit you and your goals. If these recepies are not quite right for you, you can adapt them. Back testing of systems is discussed, and the limitations of back testing systems are elucidated. There is an extensive discussion on how to improve this limited information through simulating your system and how the information gleaned from this exercise can inform your decisions regarding Risk and Position Sizing. Risk and Position Sizing are also thoroughly discussed as these are THE KEY to reaching your goals in terms of gains and smoothness of your equity curve. The classic Tharp marble game is presented and gives you a true feeling and experience of how position sizing can dramatically effect the results of your system. These concepts are critical to turning your investing (or non-investing) into something "safe" instead of "risky".
   
   The information in this book will repay you many times over the cost of the book and your time to read and implement its information. Read this book! Have your kids read it. Give it to family and friends, and you will be doing something to improve all of their lives. Safe Strategies for Financial Freedom Deserves a 7 out of 5.



2. I have read Van Tharp's first book, "Trade Your Way To Financial Freedom" and made a glowing review of that book....this book isn't a trading book (even though it introduces the concepts of Position Sizing, and Expectancy) ..but more of a general personal finance book...Instead of teaching you how to trade stocks...it teaches you how to trade mutual funds, and general real estate concepts (that you should look into more if you want to go that route, it'll be foolhardy to jump into real estate learned from only that book). It also tells you how to get yourself more familar with today's economy. Not only it teaches you how gets your finances in order with debt reduction and asset reallocation techniques, it shows how to protect your growing wealth and teaches your children how to start saving as well!! I wish this book was written decades ago...I'd be so much ahead...
   
   This is the only personal finance book that gives you all the tools you need to help you go in the right direction..



3. Great book for starter investors or for those who want to understand the market!!!



4. For the serious student in the field of personal finance, this book is actually written for someone above a 3rd grade reading level. Well organized, it is a progressive study of the various areas of personal wealth building, calling upon the expertise of authors for different topics. This is a must for any investor's personal library.



5. I bought this book because I had read a bunch of great articles in magazines by Tharp. I expected to hear a bunch of stuff about psycology in trading and that kind of stuff, but Tharp spends most of the effort telling about how to create a trading system that will guide your trades. He covers money management, risk management, and how to develop trading rules for your personal style.
   I wish I had read this book years ago when I began trading, but hey, I've got it on the shelf now. Great reference for both new and experienced traders.

No comments about Big Money, Less Risk: Trade Options with foreword by Michael Thomsett.

5 comments about Profit from Prices: All You Need for Profit in Stock Trading is Stock Prices.

1. I strongly recommend this book for the people who are interested in learning trading tricks and making profit from the knowledge. Profit From Prices is the best book I came across so far.



2. Absolutely the Best Trading Book you can Buy. Solid Grounding in Fundamentals, Investor Sentiment, Technical Analysis and Stock Psychology. The author has done a fantastic job in laying out the book with Practical Elements of Making Money - Long and Short instead of the Academic View of most other Trading Books.
   
   Best $20 Bill you will spend - Trust me this book will keep you off trouble. What do you expect written by a professional Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) knows how to make money. Good Luck to All
   
   
   Dr. Ram



3. PROFIT FROM PRICES stock trading strategy book was initially listed on eBay during Feb to March 2005. Here are the ***FIRST 10*** feedbacks received on eBay about this book. These were all voluntary, unsolicited feedbacks. (Remember: These are the "FIRST 10", not the "BEST 10" feedbacks.)
   
   1. "super info a MUST READ !!!!"
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   10. "Fast transaction, good communication, excellent ebook"
   Buyer: aurorazone eBay_listing_id:4524726870



4. This book is very well written and insightful. It offers the individual investor/trader a workable trading plan/method, without requiring that they sit in front of their computer everyday during market hours. The book goes into great detail in describing various trading signals, along with actual trading examples. While no method is successful 100% of the time, this method will help you put the odds in your favor with a mimimal amount of risk. The best part of the book is the confidence it will give you in making sense out of what is going on in the market, and then taking action based on those signals. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to better understand what prices are telling us in the market.



5. This product arrived on time and in the condition stated. The value of this book has yet to be determined.

5 comments about Strategies for Profiting on Every Trade: Simple Lessons for Mastering the Market.

1. I just finished "Strategies for Profiting on every trade". Just a couple of comments up front; first, I suspect that Paul Lange had much more to do with this book than he was given credit. Second, there were constant references to the color of bars and indicators in the book but the book is in black and white. At one point they labeled the lines "red", "blue" etc. but otherwise, throughout the book you had to find the lines based on the text, not the color.
   
   Having said that, this is not a book to be missed, especially for intraday traders. Although the writers make it clear that most of the techniques can be applied to any time frame and that the daily charts normally set up the trade, you will find charts all the way from the weekly level to the 2 minute level, with the majority of the lessons seemingly taught and the trades played out on the 5 and 15 minute time frame.
   
   This is a much smaller book that the original Velez/Capra "Tools and Tactics for the Master Day Trader" and doesn't contain the psychology offered in that book, but it is, never the less, a book packed with information and insights focused on bar by bar chart analysis, much of it, I believe, gleaned from Paul Lang's daily, live, real world experience in the Pristine trading rooms.
   
   If you are new to Pristine trading methods, this will give you an insight and depth into chart reading that you may not have realized is possible. If you are a Pristine trained trader, as I am, this book reinforces what you should already know but will give you many "gems" that I am sure will be new and of value. In either case, this is a "must" book for the serious trader.



2. The senior author uses green and red candles in his website. Hasn't any reviewer, including Velez himself, noticed that the candles' colors should have been changed to black and white before publishing the book? A bad start for an otherwise welcome addition to every trader's library.



3. This is close to the poorest written book I've read. However there is useful info in it if you can decipher Velez's lingo. Basically Lange, the "co-author" typed what Velez recorded in his classes at Pristine. After I started crossing out hype and BS, I found the book much clearer.
   Also I agree with other reviewers comments that the book is an advertisement for Pristine. You can get some details on how Pristies are taught to trade, but don't think like I did that Velez covers much of it.
   The hardest part in finding useful info is that it appears Velez is so "elite" that he has to use his own slang in lieu of standard trading terminolgy (Ex: a play ILO a trade, topping tails ILO shooting stars on candle charts.) Velez names trade set-ups as though he discovered them. If he knew candlesticks he would realize many of his ideas are not his discovery. So why name them? Maybe because Velez seems to have a "special" word for almost every normal trading term. That's not teaching, nor conveying information which is what books like this should be written for, that's probably just to intimidate clients, make them feel like he is the master.
   I don't know that I would recommend buying it as I own it and am not sure I will ever reread it to jot down the useful parts.



4. Although there are many insightful and terrific lessons to be learned here if you are a Pristine Trained Trader you will recognize the book to be a compilation of Paul Lange's weekly trading lessons. A free weekly service from Pristine. I suspect Mr. Velez' name was added for name recognition and, thus more sales. It is Mr. Lange's book, however, make no mistake. That said Paul Lange is one of the most astute traders and best educators around. I had the pleasure of working with Mr. Lange and was constantly amazed at his trading prowess and his ability to convey the information. It's simply this book offered nothing new.



5. Purchased this book based on the introduction and the comments by a third party. I was intrigued by the title, but disappointed in the content. One very agravating thing is that most of the time the book is describing charts that are on the other side of the page. I should have figured this out by the words "Simple" and "Mastering" being used in the subtitle. 90% of this book is devoted to day trading. So if your strategies have you holding overnight this book may be a waste of time. I respect Mr. Velez's record and feel this book doesn't do his accomplishments justice.

5 comments about Investing with Exchange-Traded Funds Made Easy: A Start-to-Finish Plan to Reduce Costs and Achieve Higher Returns (2nd Edition).

1. The book covers ETF for investors - new or not - and does a very good job at explaining risk and volatility. From my point of view, it's more than just ETF and "how to", but also a good background on historical behavior of markets and a review of "well known facts".
   
   For example, read the following excerpt from page 69:
   "Since the start of 1941 - a period of 65 years - there have been 35 market corrections of 10 percent or more in the S&P 500, representing one correction every 1.9 years on the average..."
   
   Conclusion page 70:
   "Identify the worst period for each of the investments you are comparing..."
   
   and a question (page 70):
   "What if your investment was not around during a bear market?" (like the new ETF's offered)
   
   In addition, there are data tables and graphs (for the ones inclined to look at hard data).
   
   By the way, if you assume that investing in ETF's is superior to a mutual fund investment, think again. See page 22:
   "As already discussed, ETF share prices are sensitive to the balance between supply and demand - a risk absent from regular mutual funds.
   ----
   "The result is that at the time you are most anxious to sell, you might not be able to get a fair price (relative to the value of the underlying shares) as you thought you would."
   
   All in all, a good reading on markets and new investment vehicles like ETF's.



2. Not as clear or as useful an introduction as the 'Dummies' series book on ETFs, but a good additional introduction if you have no knowledge of statistics and time-series etc, and want a little more detail patiently explained to you.
   
   If you already know basic statistics and correlation, you don't need this text - as the explanations are rather long-winded and, at times, irritating.



3. I read this book over the Christmas holidays and found it very helpful. It is one of the best books on investing that I've read of late. The best part about the book is that it gives you some guidelines on how to develop a diversified portfolio. The author gets a little long-winded in some parts, but he gives you a good idea of what to look at in terms of trends and sectors of the market to get into. I appreciated the list of Web sites he provided.
   
   I found the book very readable, but I would not recommend it to a novice investor. Overall, this is a very good book for an intermediate/advanced investor and it encourages using the Internet to track price movements. Bear in mind that the author assumes that you have the time of day to get on the Internet and track prices in order to observe trends, which may be profitable. This is a book for those who can devote some spare time to investing on their own. If you don't have the time or energy, buy a bank CD and call it a day.



4. Like other Appel books, this one is too heavy on fluff and not enough on the real thing: solid strategies. There's also way too little discussion on international ETFs, esp. given how such ETFs account for a large percentage of all ETFs out there in the marketplace. I also have doubts about the buy-and-hold strategy; after all, one can easily have done that with mutual funds.



5. Marvin Appel does a very thorough job covering ETFs. His book is surprisingly wide-ranging. On the one hand, he explains some very basic concepts, for example explaining a bid-ask spread. On the other, he gets into the sophisticated details of ETF composition. This book is a like a small ETF encyclopedia. Well done!

5 comments about The Little Book That Makes You Rich: A Proven Market-Beating Formula for Growth Investing (Little Books. Big Profits).

1. Very simple to understand and very straightforward. It helps an investor to understand he needs to remain cool, rely on facts and forget about emotions.



2. The book provides 8 clear ways to evaluate if you should buy a stock. These ideas are similar to William O'Neil or other investors, but overall good reminder as to what to look for. You can read this book in an hour. The only issue with this book is that you are basically buying and holding even when the market is down.
   
   Do you want to know what the Author is buying? Go to his web site at www.navellier.com where he manages funds. His model portfolio's are down, some over 20% ! Yes, the issue here like many people that manage funds or model portfolios is that they stay invested even in the worst times.
   
   Indicating what to buy is good as this book outlines, but having people hold on for a gut wrenching ride losing over 20% to wait YEARS to get it back to me is foolishness.
   
   What is missing in this book is an overall market viewpoint to answer the question "Should I be a buyer, selling short, or stay in cash?"
   
   This book does not answer that question. A great book that will and pointed to the down market in 2008 is the classic "Martin Zweig Winning on Wall Street." This book is a real winner and has a similar formula for picking stocks but you will get few results.
   
   I would take Navellier stock picking recommendations then be a buyer based on Zweig's marketing timing model. Why buy big in a down market? If you want a gut wrenching experience go to Cedar Point or 6 Flags.



3. Before employing this strategy, i suggest you review the performance of Navelliers mutual funds on Morningstar.com and/or other websites. Despite tremendous performance figures presented in the book, most of his funds rank poorly over the last 5 years on an annual basis. They are typically in the bottom quartile. Yes, his long-term numbers are still good and occasionally he has a decent year, but the reality is that the performance outlined in the book isn't what he's delivered over the last 5 years.
   
   I'm always very leary of performance claims without the supporting data. For a "numbers guy" I was suprised only the basic return numbers were included. No supporting information is provided the shows the annual returns, risk or tracking error. Nor is the benchmark discussed. Further digging showed why. There is s huge disconnect between the real performance of the funds he runs and what's presented in the book. Be care employing this magic formula as, for the most part, even Louis doesn't produce the numbers he claims.



4. Overall, this is a good book. I think the whole "Little Books, Big Profits" series is great and I hope they continue releasing more books.
   
   Navallier isn't the greatest writer, but he's not all that bad either. He's a self-confessed number crunching geek and it shows through his analytical style of writing where he wastes no words.
   
   However, I question his true motive in writing this book. Was it truly to divulge his successful technique or was it the perfect book to guide you to subscribe to one of his newsletters? He offers a free (currently) website that evaluates stocks based on the criteria he lays out in his book, but sign up for it and hope you have a good spam filter.
   
   The true value of this book is actually part of the other "Little Book, Big Profits" series. First, read the whole series and you'll have a good understanding of how the market works and how to invest. But the true value is in combining this book with Joel Greenblat's book and Pat Dorsey's book. Greenblat has a stock screening program as well that is also currently free. Start with Greenblat's screened stocks, evaluate their economic moat, as described by Dorsey, then check the grade Navallier's program gives the stock. Between all three steps, you're sure to find winners.
   
   Good book, great series. Combine the knowledge of all these professionals and you'll learn a lot.



5. I bought this book last year and subscribed one of his services bluechip growth. Up to now, the whole portofolio is down more than 50%. What is relative unbearable is:
   
   (1) When his stocks hit hard, he did not take risk control. Instead, he insisted that he focus on fundenmental and wall street is wrong. So he should go back to school to learn the first rule of investment.
   (2) When he finally decided to sell of some of really bad stocks, he kept saying he did good job and looked for better ones.
   (3) Even with the fact that the whole portofolio has down more than 50%, he manupilate the performance of his certain stocks in certain period to boost his service.
   
   I believe I am not the only one who suffered his lier and marketing crap. The following blog has the collection:
   
   [...]

5 comments about Generate Thousands in Cash on your Stocks Before Buying or Selling Them: Third Edition.

1. The strategies in the book are attractive. However, there seems to be a constant underlining theme: "All the setups will work". There should be more material on considering the downside risk also. For example, in the strategy that focuses on stock with price less than 5 dollars, the trade example only focuses on the amount of profit a person can get when the stock increases in price. There is very little discussion how to manage the position when the stock price goes down.
   In summary, use more caution when using the strategies in the book.



2. I had began studying this book aside my trading courses and it has been very helpful filling some gaps, especially on technical analysis.
   The technical analysis part is very well done and worth the price of the book alone.
   This book will teach you also how to get out of trouble when things will not works as planned.
   When followed to the letter, the methods in this book are very reliable and successful.
   You need to be patient of learning very well what it is written and be sure you are really executing the trades with very good attention to detail.
   Probably you will need to study this book as you would do it at school.
   Do not rush in to trade just because it seems very doable, wait until you are sure you are executing precisely what is written on the book and that the stock you are going to trade, has the fundamental and technical requirement to apply the strategies of this book. that is very important.
   The only difficult part is to find the stock that meet the requirement, But once you find the right stock or wait for the right conditions on your preferred stock before placing the trade, it will work as planned.
   Some trades are pretty aggressive, and I advise to do them only when you have developed some experience.
   In any case a great book with great technical and sentiment analysis, some very interesting strategies and a lot of examples of real trades. It will teach you how to pick your stocks, how to find good entry and exit points, especially how to anticipate downturns in the market and your stocks and how to protect your gains.
   again, I suggest of being very carefully on following instructions in detail and picking the stock and the market trend that meet all the requirement described in the book.
   
   Of course, try of getting the third edition of this book because it is the most up to date.
   
   In any case, for those that are not fluent with "options" trading, I suggest you to read some other books or take courses that teach you the options instrument and its implications, in order to understand your obligations and risks in using options. another important thing that you need to get familiar with, and this book does not cover completely is, what i would call: "options behavior" (for not being technical), which sometimes may be quite unsettling to the inexperienced trader and scare him/her out of a trade even when nothing is wrong, but to the inexperienced trader may look like things are not working as they should.
   hard to explain in few words... you need to take your time learning.



3. In my quest to become a profitable trader I have read many books on both stock and option trading. This book is unique in that it combines trading stocks with practical option strategies to reduce risk and increase profits.
   Most books exclusive to stock trading tend to reduce risk using stop loss points.
   In addition to offering insights on how to place stops so you are not a victim of "stops running" and `Front running" traps by market makers (explained in the book); the author shows you how to use options to enhance profits and minimize losses when trading stocks. A chapter entitled "risk control and money management" discusses how to strategically place stops and how to use options as a risk reduction tool applicable to most trades in the book.
   On the other hand most books dedicated to trading options tend to discuss esoteric and theoretical aspects of option trading such as greeks and implied volatility etc . Rather than rehashing what is present in most books, the author focuses on simple option strategies that can be effectively used by the small stock trader to improve results.
   To me this was a breath of fresh air, since almost in every options book each author goes through the same things (greeks, implied volatility etc) in a different way. This book offered me what I was looking for. Strategies that are simple and practical and help me make money.
   There are many firsts in this book. It is the first to offer a practical and simple method to manage long term holdings as represented by convergence/divergence charts. Having heard about the potential explosive profits reaped from short squeezes, this is the first book I have seen offer a stepwise procedure to identify stocks with the potential of a short squeeze . The author also discusses a scan to find stocks reversing from a bottom that he uses to identify low risk trades. He then goes through the process step by step to show you how to narrow down candidates to find profitable trades.
   My favorite Chapter is the one entitled "Tricks of the Trade" where the author discusses how to play different trading strategies based on his practical experience in the market.
   As another reviewer mentions this book deserves multiple readings and constant reference due to the practical and innovative concepts it offers.



4. This probably has to be the most valuable book I've bought to date on share/options trading. Maybe not a lot of new info for the "experienced" options trader, although it may be a reminder even to them of how truly effective certain strategies can be... especially with relatively little risk. But I would say a MUST-HAVE book for anybody else and especially for those considering a start in options trading.
   
   It's a book that gets the point across of ensuring you're getting paid FIRST, when entering a trade, and not just hoping that you make money later.
   
   Here is a book that goes beyond just the theory and ideas repeatedly covered in other books. The tools and methods suggested may not be new, but the concepts are certainly eye-opening, well described, and certainly achievable. It's more a book on how to EARN AN INCOME (more than capital growth) and how to TIME your trade/adjustments-to-trade to achieve this most profitably.
   
   The greatest benefit I gained from this book was that it gave plenty of suggestions and ideas on how to salvage a bad trade, using strategies such as covered-calls, writing puts, and collars (to name the main strategies). He also does a great job describing how to "fine tune" his techniques, by using certain indicators to better time entry and exit points, as well as going through how to deal with the number of possibilities of a position nearing option-expiration dates or if a position was to adversely/unexpectedly move against you before then.
   
   His techniques though are not all about salvaging any "bad" positions still held, but also useful in entering a new trade and maximising profits and reducing risk, through the use of selling options... and insights on how to monitor and profitably ADJUST those positions so as to maximise your returns by the time you exit the trades.
   
   The best thing though about the book is that he uses real examples and goes through how to handle a number of possibilities (negative outcomes as well as positive). One truly begins to understand a trader's thought process and mentality before and after entering a position, by going through his detailed examples.... and it's reassuring that the results claimed can truly be achieved using strategies and means that are readily understandable and available.
   
   The only negative(s) I have about this book, is that Samir doesn't go into the "finer" points about short-selling options and money management and could make somebody feel too overconfident and not appreciate ALL the risks involved. He eludes to them towards the end of the book but these very important points can easily be glossed over by the unwary reader. A lot of the examples he provides are stock/option positions in the tens of thousands... not so risky if you have an even larger starting capital, but potentially very risky if it's smaller and brokerage also begins to have en effect too.
   
   For example one would need to: clarify how much option collateral is necessary to open a particular position, take into account brokerage, take into account "slippage" between ask/bid prices, be prepared for and have a plan to deal with an increase in implied-volatility (something not touched on at all). All these and more, will determine one's starting-off capital and how much risk one is prepared to take per position.... Determining individual risk isn't covered very well in this book, thereby making these strategies and returns, to appear deceitfully "easy".
   
   Finally remember it's a percentage game, and it's very easy while reading his book, to get too carried away with the "tens of thousands" of profits one can make through his strategies... these returns are only possible on large initial positions... the percentage returns though will remain almost constant.
   
   Despite this negative feedback, I still think that the book deserves 5 stars, purely on the excellent information provided. Strategies, their execution, and profit returns, are truly realistic and within the means of most people... provided one has an adequate starting capital and sound concepts of money management



5. I do not usually write reviews but I felt compelled to write one on this book since it proved to be invaluable in the recent down market.
   There is one chapter I found extremely useful for long term holders , namely chapter 14 titled "Do This Every Week and Never Lose Money in The Market". At first I felt that this is too much of a blanket statement, however, after I studied the real examples the author gives I decided to apply it to my long term holdings. This technique requires that you perform a couple of simple calculations each week on every stock. The final value is then plotted as one data point for each stock on a specific chart paper then the weekly data points are connected. To my surprise the negative divergence between the C/D indicator described in the book and price alerted me to the potential collapse of two of the financial stocks I hold. My first inclination was to ignore the warning especially considering the apparent name brand and stability of these companies .After reading the examples again in the chapter and remembering how companies like Enron and others collapsed I decided to get out. Within few weeks those stocks with many other financials literally fell off a cliff. In this sense this one chapter saved me thousands of dollars and the little time and effort I spent plotting data every week was certainly worth it.
   Although the author explains step by step the calculation procedure, as well as normalizing and plotting the data on the chart, I recommend, if he happens to read this, to put out a CD with a program that can automatically plot such data. Doing this will allow investors to back test data and see with their own eyes the utility of this concept and thus will be more likely to use it.
   Another valuable insight is presented in the parameters used to assess market trend. The author combines volatility, short interest and a timing indicator to determine whether the market is likely to go higher or lower. The past few months these indicators pointed to a weak and deteriorating market with rallies likely to be short lived.
   I am in agreement with other reviewers that the unique combinations of technical indicators used and trading concepts in this book are easy to follow especially since they are supported by real stock examples. A word of caution, however in regards to expecting to use this book to trade complex option instruments such as butterflies, condors etc.. The author says in the introduction on page xvii that the book is not intended as a comprehensive options trading book detailing the many complex option strategies. His goal as he states it is "to use simple but effective options strategies in combination with stocks to enhance profits and control losses".
   I strongly recommend this book to anyone looking to learn effective and practical money making and income generating tools.

5 comments about Exchange-Traded Funds For Dummies (For Dummies (Business & Personal Finance)).

1. Reading this 338-page book will make you a very intelligent ETF investor. Whether or not you will be successful depends on you. Russell Wild, the author, provides a solid, entertaining, and comprehensive analysis of ETFs - the latest Wall Street craze. ETFs have grown to over $400 billion in assets with over 438 ETFs in existence.
   
   Wild begins with the history of ETFs. Then he compares ETFs to stocks and mutual funds including the tax implications of selling ETFs, and the differences in annual expense ratios. A comparison to closed-end funds would have also been helpful, since many investors are not familiar with that useful investment category.
   
   One chapter introduces the need to open a brokerage account to buy and sell ETFs, and then focuses on the major firms offering them. Next, the author delves into the riskiness of ETFs, how risk is measured, and discusses beta and correlation. Many investors will learn a great deal about risk in this chapter, which they often neglect in making investment decisions.
   
   The author has multiple chapters on the basic ETFs, including large and small caps focusing separately on value and growth, and then reviews sector ETFs, REIT ETFs, and commodity ETFs.
   
   In one of the closing chapters, Wild provides sample ETFs portfolios for different risk levels, suggest that buy-and-hold is the way to go, and then provides a few exceptions to that approach. He also includes a chapter on using ETFs in retirement plans, as well as has chapters on the 10 most common questions about ETFs, and the 10 biggest mistakes investors make.
   
   Wild includes a 12-page appendix from www.etfguide.com that contains a listing of 300 ETFs by broad categories, their name, ticker symbol, expense ratio and exchange. Since there are now 438 ETFs, this appendix is out-of-date and useless, wasting twelve pages. The reader can go directly to the website to get the latest listings.
   
   Another appendix contains a cross section of ETF and other useful websites. Another excellent website to add to his list is www.etfscreen.com, which provides current short-term performance data after each day's market close on all the ETFs. The 6-page glossary of terms and the 14-page index all provide helpful information
   
   In conclusion, this is simply the best introductory book on ETFs. The author provides many useful tables, charts and diagrams to bring home his key points. For those investors looking to actively trade or invest in ETFs, or are searching for profitable back-tested strategies the next book they should buy after this one is Marvin Appel's Investing With Exchange-Traded Funds Made Easy (see my review of this book on AMAZON). If investors/traders want to use a simple relative strength approach, then they should consider David Vomund's ETF Trading Strategies Revealed paperback recently released.



2. Mr. Wild is an entertaining writer, who breaks down what is appropriate for small, medium and wealth investors. My only wish is his chapter on sample portfolios were more detailed. I would have liked to see sample portfolios optimized for cost, risk tolerance, equity only and for those nearing and in retirement. Vanguard should consider giving away this book out to anyone opening an account with them, given how much he repeatedly triumphs Vanguard's nearly universal low fees!



3. excellent book for people who know less than nothing about exchange traded funds. I found it very helpful with one or two areas not covered by this book. It does give you the basics to understand books that a weightier on the subject.



4. I've been in the ETF 'game' for awhile now and have read quite a number of books on investings, ETFs, finance, and the whole lot. As always, the Dummy series does an excellent job in explaining what might be complicated for some folks in an understandable and fun way. The author does a superb job with cutting through the bull of the bear n' bull pundits and giving you very real and very good advice. This should be your first book to read if you are considering ETFs - then you can take on more detailed and convoluted volumes. Good job!



5. PROS
   - enjoyable writing style, easy read.
   - author's knowledge.
   - author provides specific reviews of many ETFs.
   - much additional information on financial management, beyond ETFs.
   
   CONS
   - the author carefully builds a solid case for buying ETFs, but does not adequately address why someone would buy an EFT over a low cost index fund held in a retirement account.
   
   - for some readers (like me), there needs to be more technical discussion of how ETFs are structured and how they operate, as opposed to describing ETFs merely by their benefits and roles in a portfolio.
   
   - the author's case for ETFs does not address one serious drawback of ETFs: difficulty of conducting automatic dollar cost averaging (DCA); of course, this is possible to do transaction-fee-free (or nearly so) at some brokerages, but ETFs require trading commissions and you have to conduct DCA yourself, as brokerage typically will not buy stocks (or ETFs) on an automatic schedule.

5 comments about Martin Zweig Winning on Wall Street.

1. I purchased this book because the AAII 8 year study of different strategies showed Zwieg's returning 1,659.3% from 1998-2005. He was #1 out of 56 others, including Buffett, Lynch, Fisher, O'Neal's CAN SLIM, Motley fools, and using ROE, P/E's etc. Second place was O'Neal's CAN SLIM with a 860% return, which is the strategy I use. This study got my attention.
   Zweig is a rare mix, he was previously a finance professor, (He holds many degrees in finance). He is a successful trader in his own right. He is the chairman of a very successful closed end fund and a mutual fund, and publishes one of the most successful newsletters the Zwieg Forecast.
   His super model for stock market timing focuses in on timiming for entries and exits based on monetary policy and market momentum. He uses the prime rate, Fed rate, and installment debt as factors to judge the markets performance. He also uses market momentum indicators like advance decline ratios being greter than 2 to 1, up volume being at a 9-1 ratio. He also discusses simplyfing into entering on a 4% advance and selling after a 4% decline. He puts these factors together to create a point valued timing system that was close to perfect during the past 30 years predicting the trend. He shows the performance of each factor in real historical data.
   He favors value combined with growth and to stay away from huge P/E ratios, and diversifying your portifolio across at least 5 stocks in different industries. Which is great advice for investors. (I am a stock trader so I play the market differently, but use this in my 401K).
   He does believe in using a trailing stop loss on your stocks to limit losses to 10-20%. He also does the best job I have seen explaining short selling and how it is the same amount of risk as going long. Excellent book I put it at the top of the list in my library of 75 trading books. A must have for all serious investors/traders.



2. While I was in high school, I bought this book at a neighborhood bookstore
   in 1987 if I remember correctly. It was my first stock market book ever. At the time, I did not know that it was going to be a Wall Street classic though I should have foreseen it. When I first browsed through the book initially, It was quite advanced for me. Many years ago, I carefully reread the severely bangged up copy of mine again. That's when it all became clear for me. In fact, the stock screening method in the book is the backbone of my stock selection process now although it's not the only criteria I use. If anyone believes that it is possible to beat the stock market on consistent basis by logical stock selection, this book must be read at least a few times IMO.



3. An excellent treatise on the use of data from the New York Stock Exchange. It may be a little difficult to obtain equivalent UK data but a very thought provoking methodology.



4. Martin Zweig states in this book that people buy it when they experience loss or frustration in the stock market. I have to agree and wish I would have found this book a long time ago.
   
   Zweig provides a model to tell you if you should be a buyer, seller, or stay in cash. Then outlines some of his work at picking stocks. If you follow his model (you need to get data from the U.S. Gov, Barrons, and some stock indexes all free) then you can track the model on a WEEKLY BASIS not DAILY. This really provides direction for bigger moves and keeps the "weekend" investor from looking at the market in detail a day at a time.
   
   If you ever found yourself wondering overall should you be a buyer or seller, this book will answer that question for you. You will know when to start moving to cash, when to start moving into stocks, and if you should be in stocks or cash 100%.
   
   Buy this book you will keep it as an investment book you return to again and again. The blog www.investorknowledgebase.org discusses some topics in this book.



5. Mr. Zweig is simply a genius. And his book is a reflection of it. A must read to every person dealing with the stock market.