Book Description

The purpose of this book is to help you learn how to manage your money to derive the maximum benefit from what you earn.Mixing investment instruments and capital markets with the theoretical detail on evaluating investments and opportunities to satisfy risk-return objectives along with how investment practice and theory is influenced by globalization leaves readers with the mindset on investments to serve them well. The material is intended to be rigorous and empirical yet not overly quantitative.We continue with unparalleled international coverage, newly rewritten and reorganized derivatives material to be more intuitive and clearer, three additional chapters on derivatives pricing for those who want more detail, rewritten material on multifactor models of risk and return, and new CFA problems for more practice on computations concerning investment decisions. To manage money and investments, one needs to learn about investment alternatives and develop a way of analyzing and thinking about investments that will be of benefit and allow a foundation as new tools and investment opportunities become available.Reilly/Brown provide the best foundation, used extensively by professionals, organizations, and schools across the country.A great source for those with both a theoretical and practical need for investment expertise. ... Read more

Reviews (18)

Very thorough! The only real book on PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
I would have given Reilly's book a five (5) star if its explanation had been slightly simpler and there were key check figures / solutions for chapter exercises & problems at the back. The coverage on most topics in both "Investment" and "Portfolio" parts has been written in much depth supported by research from various well-known journals. I have 3 editions of this same book (1989, 1997 and 2001 - the one just before this edition) and each time Reilly has improved & updated it a great deal. This is the ONLY textbook which really examines the subject of PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT in detail (especially on bond & derivatives) unlike other texts which merely "introduce" the subject after covering the Investment Analysis part in some depth. Eventhough it is meant for those who have some knowledge of finance or basic investment, its comprehensiveness makes it a great reader for those who want to know more about the subject e.g advanced undergraduate in business. Excellent text for those pursuing MBA in Finance or CFA professional qualification but will require some asssitance in getting the problem figures checked. Overall, a fantastic piece of work; unfortunately not meant for self-study...

Excellent compendium of theory and practice
Whether encountered through an MBA equity analysis course or the CFA program, Investment Analysis will be an indispensable reference book for investment analysts, fund managers, and finance professionals for years to come. Although it is not an introductory finance text, it covers most of the basics. The book also delves on esoterica about derivatives, value investing, hydrid securities, and hedging. All in all, Investment Analysis is a good textbook that will be appreciated by academics, professionals and students alike.

Prof. Reilly is awesome!
Buy this book! GO IRISH and GO AIM XVIII!!! (aim.nd.edu)

Perfect intro
It is perfect for an introduction, and shows you the way where to learn more

Traditional, but not mainstream finance
As an introduction to traditional finance, this is a very good book. Most recent financial innovations that got a company like Enron into trouble are not covered, however. In addition, other off-balance sheet products that are financings or are fungible with bonds aren't covered. For instance, total return swaps and the exploding credit derivatives market are ignored, and that is a shortcoming in a book on portfolio theory and the capital markets.

Credit derivatives and total return swaps are used to round out and diversiry both equity and bond portfolios. Tavakoli has written an excellent book on these products: "Credit Derivatives" (Second Edition). ... Read more

Book Description

Get the bestselling guide to trading systems, now updated for the 21st century.

For more than two decades, futures traders have turned to the classic Trading Systems and Methods for complete information about the latest, most successful indicators, programs, algorithms, and systems. Perry Kaufman, a leading futures expert highly respected for his years of experience in research and trading, has thoroughly updated this bestselling guide, adding more systems, more methods, and extensive risk analysis to keep this the most comprehensive and instructional book on trading systems today. His detailed, hands-on manual offers a complete analysis, using a systematic approach with in-depth explanations of each technique. This edition also includes a CD-ROM that contains the TradeStation EasyLanguage program, Excel spreadsheets, and Fortran programs that appear in the book. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Good Tools
Actually a 4.5 star. Not the same remixed crap that bloats a traders library. Useful strats that actually work not just in theory but where it counts....in your portfolio. ... Read more

Book Description

You work hard -- really hard -- but it seems like there's never enough. Never enough to cover all the bills. Never enough to relax and have some fun. Never enough to save some real money. What has gone wrong? What is the secret that you haven't figured out?

In All Your Worth, Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi -- mother/daughter authors of the acclaimed The Two-Income Trap -- tell you the truth about money. They lay out the new rules of money -- the ones nobody talks about. They show you how to get out of debt, cover your bills, and start getting ahead -- without needing to carry a calculator everywhere you go. All Your Worth will help you get control over your money once and for all so that you can finally start building toward the life you've always wanted.

All Your Worth isn't based on lucky guesses or gut reasoning; it is the result of more than twenty years of intensive research. As a result, the authors don't offer you a few quick fixes destined to fall apart, and they don't waste time trying to solve problems you don't have. Instead, the authors lay out a breakthrough approach for getting control over your money. And they use this approach to help you conquer your financial problems, step by step. They help you create a plan that isn't just for a week or for a month; this is a plan that lets you master your money for the rest of your life.

The secret? It's simple, really: Get your money in balance. Warren and Tyagi show you how to divide and conquer. You will learn to balance your money into three essential parts: the Must-Haves (the bills you have to pay month after month), the Wants (some fun money for right now), and your Savings (so you can build a better tomorrow). No complicated budgets, and no keeping track of every penny you spend. Once you have the basics, it gets easy. You can put your money worries behind you and get on with what really matters -- living your life.

Whatever your struggles with money, Warren and Tyagi can help you get your finances on the right track. They will show you things about yourself that you have never quite seen. Are you an emotional spender? Is debt robbing your future? Do you spend too little on fun? Are you and your partner trapped in the Money Blame Game? After you read this book, you will never look at your money -- or yourself -- in quite the same way again.

Whether you are knee-deep in past-due notices or you just don't think you're saving enough, money worries can chew away at your life. Warren and Tyagi are here to tell you that you can stop the worry. You can change it all. You can have enough -- enough to cover the necessities, enough to put some real money in the bank and start bringing your dreams into reach. You can even have enough money to have fun. (In fact, they insist that you have enough for fun!) Best of all, with All Your Worth, you can have peace of mind for the rest of your life. ... Read more

Reviews (18)

The basics on how to regain control of money
Middle-class Americans are increasingly making minimum payments on credit cards because they can't pay more - and debt loads for all are increasing as paychecks cover less and less. All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan by Elizabeth Warren & Amelia Warren Tyagi offers the basics on how to regain control of money, from balancing money with needs to handling a money emergency, loosening the grip on credit cards and their debt, and understanding common pitfalls of financial planning. All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan comes from the authors of The Two-Income Trap: Elizabeth Warren is a chaired professor at Harvard Law School, Amelia Warren Tyagi is a writer. Their combined expertise is invaluable.

A few good ideas
This book has a couple of really good ideas, but overall I was disappointed. The 50/30/20 rule was the most useful idea in the book. Some things I absolutely do not agree with - like keeping a $1000.00 emergency fund in your regular "Must-Haves" checking account. That's a disaster waiting to happen. Let's face it -- if you're reading the book, financial discipline is probably not your finest quality. If that money is that available, it's TOO available.

The basic premise of the book is good, however, and bit more nitty-gritty than most books on the same subject. Many such books are written for those who already have some funds to play with - this one is to help you get to where you have those funds.With the exception of a few ideas that seem out of step with the overall concepts, the book is worth a read.

Not geared to the Silicon Valley Reality
I bought this book anticipating that I could use the charts and formulas presented to see if my wife and I could apply it to our situation. We are two working parents of a 3-yr old living in expensive Silicon Valley. We both make decent money, but we have a very high mortgage and property taxes. This is a reality if you own a house in this area. This put our "Must Haves" well over the recommended 50% of our income. Even making some of the recommended changes, we still would be above the mark.

This is a good book for setting important goals for getting your money in order, and for gaining some focus on what needs to be done. It just doesn't work in some areas of the country unless you have a reasonably high income.

We will pay down our mortgage to see if we can apply the formulas at a different time.

Wants vs Must Haves?
I read through this book in one day and faithfully filled out the worksheets.It did seem that at last I had found a fairly simple, flexible plan that our family could easily follow.It was only after mulling over the Wants vs Must Haves that I realized there is a flaw in the authors' logic (unless in my fast read I missed a crucial step).

The authors define Must Haves (which should take no more than 50% of your after-tax income) as bills that you would have to pay even if you lost your job and became disabled.These include mortgage, insurance, medical bills, groceries & a couple of other narrowly defined categories.After you pay these Must Haves and save 20% of your income you're supposed to be left with 30% of your income to "play" with for your Wants, worry-free.

I started thinking about our real life expenses though and realized that if we lost our jobs would we stop buying light bulbs & just sit in the dark as they burned out one by one?Would we stop buying toilet paper & raid our neighbors' recyclying bins for newspaper?Would we drop off our beloved 12-yr old family dog at the Humane Society when we ran out of dog food?

No to all of that so where are those expenses supposed to come from?Somehow the thrill of spending my carefree 30% diminishes when I have to spend it on toothpaste and toilet paper.While there is some discretion in these types of items (we could go to the Dollar Store for many of the items)the real world cost of these really mounts up.For instance, if my husband lost his job I think his job prospects would look pretty dim if he stopped shaving or using deodorant.
So this realization really deflated my excitement about this book.I still think there's sound advice to be found in it and I think breaking your budget into broad categories by percentages is a great idea.I just think that maybe the authors' plan is a little too simple and following it to the letter might cause a problem

Excellent Truths
This book is truthful and to the point.Not everyone has hugh bank accounts.Most of us are struggling every day to make ends meet.This is an excellent guide to help every day Americans with real financial issues.Another excellent book that I recently read is called Stop Working by Rohan Hall.Also, and excellent book that everyday working people can use to get to the next level. ... Read more

Amazon.com

The rich are different from the rest of us, if for no other reason than U.S. tax and securities laws allow them to invest in ways that keep us from catching up to them. That's why 90 percent of all corporate shares of stock are owned by 10 percent of the people. Kiyosaki believes it's possible for anyone to move up into that 10 percent, but it takes a different view of investing than most people have: it takes a plan to be a successful investor. And a plan is more than simply buying and selling, or collecting "assets" that bring in no cash and are thus more akin to liabilities. The way most people invest, "they might as well be pushing a wheelbarrow in a circle," he writes. A plan is "mechanical, automatic, and boring," a formula for success that has worked historically for most of those who've used it. Kiyosaki's "rich dad" (actually, the father of his best friend) tells him the simplest analogy is the game Monopoly: buy four green houses, trade them for one red hotel, and repeat until you become rich.

The overall message of Rich Dad's Guide to Investing is that this is an abundant world, full of opportunity for the sophisticated investor. However, it sometimes takes a while to find this point. Much of the book is told in dialogues between young Kiyosaki and his rich dad, and these conversations can ramble. There are rewards for the careful reader--for example, in the middle of a section on the basic rules of investing, Kiyosaki's rich dad compares investor education to toilet training: difficult at first but eventually automatic. But getting to these inspired metaphors means wading through a lot of repetitive dialogue. It's a bit ironic that someone who advocates investor discipline should show so little as a writer. But by the end of the book, even the rambling starts to make sense. By the hundredth time you read that the rich don't work for money, and that you don't need money to make money, both concepts start to make sense. It still looks difficult to apply these ideas, but Rich Dad's Guide to Investing certainly makes the case that they'll work for anyone bold and smart enough to practice them. --Lou Schuler ... Read more

Reviews (143)

A must for those who want to be Financially Independent
This book continues from where Kiyosaki left off in Cashflow Quadrant, his 2nd book in the trilogy (now complete with Rich Dad's Guide to Investing).

In his 1st book Rich Dad Poor Dad, Kiyosaki addressed the differences in mindsets between the Rich and the Poor. Then, in his 2nd book Cashflow Quadrant, he spoke on the 4 quadrants from which one can generate income. To be wealthy, Kiyosaki recommended that we learn to generate our incomes from the "B" (Business-owner) and "I" (Investor) quadrant as opposed to the "E" (Employee) and "S" (Self-employed) quadrant.

In his 3rd book Rich Dad's Guide to Investing, Kiyosaki tells how he got started in his investment journey, starting with nothing, and in fact at one stage, with a negative net worth. Most of us, having read his first 2 books, would have wondered if we could have embarked on our journey to become financially independent without much resource at hand. In this book, Kiyosaki shows how anyone can get started and how it does not take money to make money. He teaches how time is more important than money; how investing in one's self and getting an education and experience precedes excessive cash; how having a plan is more important than being in a hurry to make money.

This is not a book for those who want hot tips and quick fixes. This is a book on mindsets. Kiyosaki plants ideas and provides a road-map. The reader must take the first step and learn to navigate his/her own journey.

What I like about this book, is Kiyosaki's concept of being an Ultimate Investor, a "selling-investor". The Ultimate Investor creates deals and businesses that the public hunger for and are willing to pay a premium to acquire a share of. With the internet, it has never been easier to create businesses and deals which one can take public.

As in all his other books, Kiyosaki's book is worth reading again and again. I would also recommend that one reads Robert Allen's Multiple Streams of Income in conjunction with Kiyosaki's Rich Dad's Guide to Investing.

RDGTI is the Ultimate Investors Guide
This book is about the 90/10 investor difference. As Kiwosaki explains [quoting Rich Dad] "If you want to be rich, just find out what everyone else is doing and do the exact opposite"RDGTI explains the differences between the 10% of investors who make 90% of the money and the 90% who make only 10% of the money.It's not what they invest in, but how they think.The RDGTI goes against standard, accepted dogma. To me, the greatest revelation was when I realized that by changing my thoughts, as espoused by Rich Dad AND told to Kiwosaki, I could [and did] change my investment results.The average investors philosphy is to not take risks and buy and hold [actually buy and pray--average down]I like the fact that this book is written in an easy to read format. The story telling and metaphors help drive the ideas home. The mental attitude quizzes clears the cobwebs from your head and gets you thinking like an entrepeneur, champion investor. While some of the information is repeated from the RDPD and CFQ--so what? Ever taken a class? Don't teachers review previous material before moving on to newer studies? This book builds on the prior books Kiwosaki and Lechter will tell you some things that you don't want to hear and blow holes wide open on typical misconceptions.So where do you want to be, in the 90% who go nowhere or the 10% who succeed. I have chosen to be inthe 10%. Care to join me? Start by reading this book.

Powerfully impacted my investment results
Prior to reading (...and applyiny) the advice in Rich Dad's Guide to Investing I was like a gerbel in a cage going nowhere with my investing. I was loosing money, not making money and my broker wasn't making me feel any better by reminding me that all of his clients were loosing money, everybody is loosing money, the market is down and so on.

I recalled a saying by Will Rogers:

"I am not so worried about the return on my investment as I am on the return of my investment."

Listening to brokers was causing me to loose money.

Rich Dad's Guide to Investing gives you all the keys you need to get to where you want to go. It's not theory, it's how the rich invest. It is how the rich become rich.

I also recommend Rich Dad's Prophecy which since it has been written has been 100% accurate. That is a pretty good batting average. I'd count on the rest to be accurate as well.

If you are serious about making money investing, read and apply Rich Dad's Guide to Investing and Rich Dad's Prophecy my two favorite Rich Dad books after of course Rich Dad Poor Dad.

Great advice that really works
If you were one of those 80 million Americans who lost over a trillion dollars following your stock brokers or convential advice, then you will love this book.

While no one has a time machine, we can't correct the past, we can certaintly plan for the future and this great book by Robert Kiyosaki will show you how to do just that---plan for your future and actually make some money investing...and in more than just the stock market too.

CAUTION: Brokers won't like this book and in fact will hope you never read this book, but then, you know why they are called brokers don't you? It's because they are usually broker than you are! The massive downsizing of brokers by so many brokerage firms shows just how valuable these guys really are.

By the way, I also recommend Rich Dad's Prophecy.

ANOTHER WINNER BASED ON AUTHOR'S WISDOM
I am a fan of Robert Kiyosaki. On the book shelf next to me is his CD and workbook course titled "Choose To Be Rich" (produced by Time Life) bought at a live lecture in 2002 in Fresno, California where he took the time to autograph the course for me after he spoke even though he was trying to get away to get to the airport. So I have made it a point to read all the books he has written as he has walked his talk. In addition to this book, I would recommend that readers have on their bookself to read and constantly refer to "Making Dollars With Pennies: How The Small Investor Can Beat the Wizards On Wall Street," by R. Max Bowser. This book is also by an author who after many years created a system that enables investors to become wealthly over time. It is available used and new on Amazon.com. ... Read more

Book Description

Includes a series of end-of-chapter questions for students.
* Explains the subtleties of fixed income mathematics.
* Discusses multi-factor interest rate models and offers four original case studies.
* Covers the latest fixed income securities valuation models and techniques, and their application in real world situations. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

Excellent introdution to the world of Fixed Income
Tuckman's book is a lucid introduction to Fixed Income securities. It is an ideal mix of theory and institutional details.The book does not assume high mathematics knowledge, except for basic Algebra. Through the first few chapters Tuckman guides the reader through discount factors, spot rates, forward rates, Yield To maturity , duration and convexity; and with very good introductions to curve fitting, hedging and Term structure models.Part three, in my opinion is the highlight of the book, which is a detailed exposition of Term structure models.If there are any weaknesses in the book, I think they are in Mortgage Backed Securities(MBS). The treatment of MBS seems a little light. Also, the practice problems are fairly straightforward. But, the book is full of examples and practical case-studies. On the whole, this is a very good book,specially for those who are new to Fixed-Income securities.

This book is too simple, mostly words, no in-depth coverage
A big disappointment. I would like to see some coverage of the important fixed income pricing models instead of basic introduction. It is a waste of money. Maybe good for people who have no idea about fixed income AND know nothing about asset pricing. The author is an adjunct professor. Ajunct professors are usually people who have very superficial knowledge in the topic. Good books must be written by the good RESEARCHERS in the field.

I decided to discard the book and choose a better one for my students.

Unmatched clarity
Books like Tuckman's are hard to come by. I'm currently preparing for the FRM certification exam and this is a recommended text. Of all the books listed as required readings for the exam, this is the one I have learned the most from. The first 4 chapters are worth the book price by themselves - from a clear understanding of discount factors to building rate curves - Tuckman always takes pains to illustrate real-world examples, but never skips essential math. I think the section on derivatives has by far the clearest explanation of the oft-used but little understood notion of risk-neutral pricing that I have seen to date. I'm still in part 2, but will take my time and re-read if necessary.
The only other remotely comparable book is by Martellini, Priaulet et al

Great overview of fixed income securities
This book provides a valuable reference for all types of fixed income securities.I lost my previous copy and immediately had to repurchase.

Excellent book for novice or practitioner
Tuckman's explanations are practical and clear, his math is elegant, and examples are to the point. Either novice or professional fixed income securities trader can find a lot of interesting material in this book, and I highly recommend it. ... Read more

Book Description

Accessible to non-finance and finance professionals alike, this book explores 10 easy-to-understand core principles (axioms) that drive the practice of corporate finance. Eliminating non-essential material and keeping mathematics to a minimum, it features an intuitive approach that helps readers develop a solid understanding of the logic that drives finance—rather than concentrating on easily forgotten formulas and calculations which may not neatly fit all the situations encountered in the real world. Features in-the-trenches interviews with business professionals, a refresher on Understanding Financial Statements and Cash Flows, and frequent Financial Management in Practice boxes.The Financial Markets and Interest Rates. Understanding Financial Statements and Cash Flows. Evaluating a Firm's Financial Performance. The Time Value of Money. The Meaning and Measurement of Risk and Return. Valuation and Characteristics of Bonds. Valuation and Characteristics of Stock. Capital-Budgeting Techniques and Practice. Cash Flows and Other Topics in Capital Budgeting. Cost of Capital. Determining the Financing Mix. Dividend Policy and Internal Financing. Financial Forecasting, Planning, and Budgeting. Introduction to Working-Capital Management. Liquid Asset Management. International Business Finance.For anyone involved in Corporate Finance and Financial Management. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

difficult read
it seems like the writers of this text's intentions were to confuse the hell out of finance majors and intimidate them so that they would stay away from the finance 'game'.

I'm sure the book is chockfull of information, but using it for the two past semesters, i havent learned as much as i wanted to. Perhaps in the next edition they will be able to make the text easier to understand and read.

Finance can be a very intimidating subject, and the writers of this book seemed to have no intention of making the book easy to understand.

Review of Foundations of Finance by Arthur J. Keown
This is an excellent text. I've read it thoroughly. The material , as presented, assumes a robust course in accounting at the college level. This text is for a student desiring a complete rendition in basic finance topics and techniques. The text is replete with many examples and challenging problems of various complexities. The presentation is easy to read. The book is directed to students perhaps majoring in economics or finance. It is not a purely descriptive rendition of finance. A

considerable amount of so called "numbers crunching" is involved in reviewing this text. As such, the book serves the analytic student optimally. The text is devoid of the most complicated analytics inherent in "quantitatively oriented texts".There is a good appendix on the use of financial calculators,as well as, present value calculations and other useful knowledge supplemental to the study of finance. This book would be most useful to students planning their careers as financial analysts, corporate planners or private entrepreneurs.

Of all those Management books...
This was the best.A very clear and concise book for the serious student being introduced to the subject of Finance.Other books on the subject I've seen are very abstruse or just plain hard to read aside from weighing a ton. I had another book twice as thick to complement this one and my class abandoned it in short order.This book is comparatively light and chalk full of useful ideas and examples laid out in anorganized and methodical manner.The generous use of charts and tables was executed well. Probably as simple as finance can possibly be put while still retaining the rigor and teaching the processes necessary for making financial computations.

Topics included are on basic valuation of various securities and projects using discounted cash flows, capital budget management, liquidity management, etc. I'm still learning from it after school.There simply wasn't enough time to fully cover everything in the book that I would have wanted.Now I'm ready to tackle more advanced corporate finance books/materials.

This is an introductory book for someone who may be interested in becoming a financial analyst but is obviously geared to the educational market for use in schools.The academic slant limits its applicability somewhat.Although it may give a stock market player who wants to start understanding the systematic process involved in the valuation of securities on a cash flow basis some insight for example, discussion on valuation by multiples like P/Es is virtually absent.

Nonetheless a great book.

Best Finance Book It will help You Make $$$
I use this book at the University of Wisconsin Stout.I think this book is excellent.I'm taking a copy with me to London."A must" if your a Finance major. ... Read more

Book Description

Fundamentals of Corporate Finance (FCF) is written with one strongly held principle– that corporate finance should be developed and taught in terms of a few integrated, powerful ideas.As such, there are three basic themes that are the central focus of the book:1) An emphasis on intuition; underlying ideas are discussed in general terms and then by way of examples that illustrate in more concrete terms how a financial manager might proceed in a given situation.2) A unified valuation approach; net present value (NPV) is treated as the basic concept underlying corporate finance.Every subject covered is firmly rooted in valuation, and care is taken to explain how particular decisions have valuation effects.3) A managerial focus; the authors emphasize the role of the financial manager as decision maker, and they stress the need for managerial input and judgment. ... Read more

Book Description

A comprehensive overview of the fixed income investment arena

Investors who’ve primarily purchased equity securities in the past have been looking for more secure investment alternatives; namely, fixed income securities. This book demystifies the sometimes daunting fixed income market, through a user-friendly, sophisticated, yet not overly mathematical format. Investing in Fixed Income Securities covers a wide range of topics, including the different types of fixed income securities, their characteristics, the strategies necessary to manage a diversified portfolio, both domestic and non-U.S. securities, bond pricing concepts, and yield curves. These and other issues will be explored, so that readers can make the most informed investment decisions possible when dealing with fixed income securities.

Gary Strumeyer (New York, NY) is the Managing Director (Bond and Money Market Group) of BNY Capital Markets, a registered broker-dealer subsidiary of The Bank of New York Company, Inc. He was the former adjunct professor (Economics and Finance) of New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies. ... Read more

Book Description

This text, now in its tenth edition, is clear and concise with shorter chapters that allow for flexible course organization without compromising coverage.Designed as a mid-level approach to personal financial planning, this text is written in a conversational style with many real-life examples.The life-cycle approach, practical applications, and decision-making focus are reinforced with expert advice, helpful tools, and real-life examples. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Superb Introduction to Financial Planning
I bought this book for a non-credit Financial Planning class at Florida State.I didn't stick with the class, but I'm keeping the book.It seems to cover just about everything anyone except a financial professional could ever need to know about the financial planning process.If there's a downside to the book, it's that it reads like a textbook; HOWEVER, that's what it is.AND, being a GOOD textbook, the writing is clear and understandable.

Anyone who would order this book should know that I received an e-mail today (February 24) from the instructor of the intro class at Florida State, making reference to a ninth edition.The instructor did not specifically mention this book by name.However, since [Amazon.com] is showing the eighth edition as of February 24, it may be safe to assume that this is the book the instructor was referring to.

Excellent resource for taking financial control
I had to purchase this book for a university course I once took (several editions earlier).This book is a great resource for taking you through the personal financial planning process.This book may seem a bitintimidating but if you want personal financial success, it is worth goingthrough the book.It will take you step by step on how to achieve yourfinancial success.This is the best textbook I have ever purchased.

Looking for help
This isn't a review.I'm looking for help.Anybody order this book?The one I need for a course at Florida State has this description:

Personal Financial Planning by Lawrence J. Gitman & Michael D. Joehnk (Note:This shrink-wrapped package should include worksheets to accompany thePersonal Financial Planning textbook as well as a computer diskette.) ISBN:0-03-028076-1 (Eighth Edition - 1999) Published by Dryden Press (asubsidiary of Harcourt Brace)

The Amazon.com description doesn't say ifit includes the goodies.Anybody know?

E-mail me atmark_n_tam@yahoo.com

Thanks ... Read more

Book Description

Covering the same topics found in more advanced-level texts, Investments incorporates minimal math and is much more student-friendly, resulting in an increased excitement for and understanding of the basic investment course material. It is the text of choice for the College of Financial Planning. It includes a strong focus on the individual financial planner and features a ?Financial Advisor?s Investment Case? at the end of each chapter. These short cases illustrate how text material applies to real investment decisions. Financial calculators are introduced and utilized throughout the text with explanations employing both interest tables and the calculator. It is also ideal for non-majors courses. ... Read more

Book Description

Bestselling author Salih Neftci presents a fresh, original, informative, and up-to-date introduction to financial engineering. The book offers clear links between intuition and underlying mathematics and an outstanding mixture of market insights and mathematical materials.Also included are end-of-chapter exercises and case studies.

In a market characterized by the existence of large pools of liquid funds willing to go anywhere, anytime in search of a few points of advantage, there are new risks. Lacking experience with these new risks, firms, governmental entities, and other investors have been surprised by unexpected and often disastrous financial losses. Managers and analysts seeking to employ these new instruments and strategies to make pricing, hedging, trading, and portfolio management decisions require a mature understanding of theoretical finance and sophisticated mathematical and computer modeling skills.

Important and useful because it analyzes financial assets and derivatives from the financial engineering perspective, this book offers a different approach than the existing finance literature in financial asset and derivative analysis. Seeking not to introduce financial instruments but instead to describe the methods of synthetically creating assets in static and in dynamic environments and to show how to use them, his book complements all currently available textbooks. It emphasizes developing methods that can be used in order to solve risk management, taxation, regulation, and above all, pricing problems.

This perspective forms the basis of practical risk management. It will be useful for anyone learning about practical elements of financial engineering.

* Exercises and case studies at end of each chapter and on-line Solutions Manual provided
* Explains issues involved in day-to-day life of traders, using language other than mathematics
* Careful and concise analysis of the LIBOR market model and of volatility engineering problems ... Read more

Reviews (5)

All the old & all the new...
The world of finance has moved quickly, with new instruments, synthetics, cash flow instruments, and dozens of other new products. Neftci does a great job explaining all of them, pricing them, and gives wonderful examples of the uses of them. Not as academic as his other works, and I think even more helpful. A must have for those who work in the City or on the Street.

Bravo!
It is such a comprehensive and reader-friendly financial engineering book! Neftci explained the complex financial concepts with plain English, simple examples and graphs. Any one with less financial background can understand the concepts with less effort. It describes and covers the most concepts that many financial practitioners may use at daily business. From Volatility surface to Greek Letters, from Convertible bond to Synthetic CDS, it provides the most financial concepts than any other books. It is one of the best reference books that are available in the industry.
Even though it explains the structured financial products, such as CDO, it will be much more valuable to the book, if it describes in more details on valuations of CDO and MBS. Since those structured financial products are started to pick up on Wall Street and becoming fashion in the financial industry at the current stage. After adding those products, the book will become the most comprehensive and sophisticated financial engineer's handbook.

An excellent reference for professionnals and students
Principles Of Financial Engineering came as an excellent surprise to me, it will probably make a lot of people feel more intelligent about themselves as it explains fairly complex technicalities in a comprehensible way. Neftci book is a very good reference for market professionals like myself in need of a rapid answer, or anyone with a desire to understand more about fixed income and derivatives. Graphical illustrations enhance the text and should make it particularly easy for finance students to understand subjects like synthetic alterations using various financial instruments.

A Sophisticated Treatment of FE as Actually Practiced!
The current crop of texts on financial engineering range from dull and plodding approaches to mathematically rigorous yet borderline unintelligible analyses. By changing the conventional vantage points, Neftci is able to strike a pleasing balance between intuitive justification and elegant mathematics. At the same time he is able to convey the inherent excitement of the subject with a true-to-life flavor. Practitioners will benefit by finding many of their tricks-of-the-trade justified, made explicit, and clarified. Students, on the other hand, will feel ready to march directly from the classroom to the trading floor. If you are looking for detailed mathematical proofs, this book is not for you. If you want a compendium of financial products and their properties, you will not like it either. On the other hand, if you want a sophisticated, up-to-the-minute account of contemporary financial engineering as it is actually practiced, something that has connections to the "real" world, you will thoroughly enjoy this work.

A great book for financial engineering
I think, that book is the best financial engineering book ever. I believe that it will be a main text book for finance and financial engineering master- Ph.D. programs together with John Hull's book. It is useful for those who studied (or wants to study) more advanced books like Musiela's or Domiano's, as well. It is a gerat combination of theory and market practice. ... Read more

Book Description

The CPA exam is changing. You need to change as well...to a book that better prepares you for the CPA exam and for business. This is the only book of its kind that demonstrates how to prepare financial reports and then how to analyze what those numbers really mean. Every manager has incentives to present his or her firm in the most favorable light to lenders, equity investors and others. And, every manager wants to use the flexibility allowed by GAAP to manage the firm's earnings to achieve certain goals. Revsine, Collins, and Johnson explain these incentives and help readers spot cases of earnings management, which disguises a firm's true performance. For anyone preparing to take the CPA exam, and for anyone who wants or needs a working knowledge of accounting, financial reporting, and financial statement analysis. ... Read more

Book Description

The ninth edition thoroughly involves students with financial statements by using real-world examples. It builds skills in analyzing real financial reports through statements, exhibits, and cases of actual companies. Emphasis is placed on the analysis and interpretation of the end result of financial reporting--financial statements. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Excellent Derivatives Book
The cover and page quality make this book a joy to read compared to other derivatives texts on the market.

Even more important, Dr. McDonald's writing is clear and logical. His theory is current and well laid-out. Compared to Hull it has more PDE's and sound theory. Compared to still other derivatives texts, Dr. McDonald gives more applications to supplement the theory.

If I could only recommend one derivatives texts to students and practitioners needing a thorough overview of the market, this would be the one.

A brilliant book by a master teacher
Far too many books on derivatives are written by academics who claim to be writing for intelligent professionals but are in fact really trying to impress their colleagues. This book is a wonderful exception to that general rule. It is written by a master teacher who understands the importance of knowing several different ways to solve problems, and who provides numerous examples so that the reader can check his/her own answer. The book also provides software in VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) so that the reader can experiment with the results explained in the text and apply them to his/her own problems.

McDonald is very concerned to explain the intuition behind the numerous formulas presented in the text, and presents the various chapters in an expertly-designed sequence so that new results nearly always become understandable as more general ways of seeing results presented in earlier chapters. The material progresses gradually from basic to complex, so that the dedicated reader becomes thoroughly acquainted with results that have only recently been discovered. As a consequence, this textbook becomes a handy reference work to be kept at one's desk for daily use.

I came across this book more or less by accident, and as I was browsing through it I noted with particular interest several substantial discussions of how derivative pricing can be done with real probabilities so as to arrive at the same results as pricing done with the pseudo-probabilities (or risk-neutral probabilities) discussed in most texts. These sections provided an extremely important clarification of an issue that undoubtedly occurs to nearly all students of derivative pricing but is nonetheless ignored in nearly all of the relevant textbooks and literature. I knew right then that the author understood what questions were occurring in the minds of his students and how to deal with them.

This book is a bit more expensive than some rival texts, but it is entirely worth it because of its tremendous clarity and because of the software that accompanies it. In reality, this book is a bargain.

Excellent Book on Derivatives Markets
I had the privilege of using the manuscript of this book for two advanced finance courses I did at Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University---the Author's home) and just got a chance to read the final published book. This is an excellent book on derivatives markets which should appeal to three types of readers: 1) MBA students doing their first finance course on derivatives; 2) Non-finance professionals who can easily grasp quantitative aspects of derivatives pricing schemes but lack an an intuitive understanding of why, where and how derivatives are used (I was in this category until I attended Kellogg); and, 3) Corporate finance professionals trying to understand different risk management tools. Bob McDonald did a great job in maintaining a good balance between mathematics of derivatives pricing schemes and logical explanations of several economic concepts one would encounter in derivatives. This book is going to be a popular MBA text book very soon.

In the first four chapters of the book, the author assumes that the prices of different derivative securities are known and discusses how these securities can be used for insurance and speculation (Chapter 4 has a nice introduction to risk management). Chapters 5-8 explain pricing methods for futures, forwards and swaps using simple discounting models. Chapter 6 has a lucid discussion on how would "futures contract price vs. time" curves for different commodities differ based on the seasonality, transportation costs and storability aspects specific to each commodity.

Starting in Chapter 9, the author discusses different option pricing models. The material presented in Chapters 10-13, where in the author discusses binomial option pricing models, Black-Scholes formula and delta hedging, is clearly the highlight of this book. I did not find such a crystal clear discussion of binomial pricing models and the rationale behind delta hedging in any other text book. In Chapters 15-17, the author discusses financial engineering (how to create a required payoff from basic building blocks) and corporate applications of derivatives (including real options). In the remaining chapters (Chapters 18-24), I would recommend Chapters 18, 19 and 24 to all the readers. The other chapters are not really necessary unless you plan to work on developing derivatives pricing schemes.

In summary, I strongly recommend this book to every serious student of finance. ... Read more

Book Description

The classic source for the technical analysis discipline now brings readers up to date in techniques and technology
Now, in this second edition of the classic text, expert Thomas Dorsey shows, step-by-step, how to create, maintain, and interpret your own point and figure charts. He explains how you can use your findings to track and forecast market prices and develop an overall investment strategy. Perhaps most importantly, he helps you develop confidence in the market and take decisive action at the appropriate time, rather than reacting after the fact. Dorsey also highlights new developments in the field and incorporates the use of recently developed software to track any market using point and figure methods. Written for both new and experienced P & F chartists, this updated edition of a technical analysis classic brings point and figure charting into the Internet age.
Thomas J. Dorsey (Richmond, VA) is President of Dorsey, Wright & Associates, a registered investment advisory firm that uses point and figure charting as its main source of technical analysis. ... Read more

Reviews (27)

A vital addition to your library.
Some people find a good thing early on and are smart enough to stick with it. I am not one of those people, but Tom Dorsey is. I've read about every TA book ever written, I've studied everything from stochastic to voodoo and back, and if someone asked me to recommend one single book for learning and successfully applying Technical Analysis in order to make money, it would be this book. The methods described are powerful yet simple, (which usually is the best), concise, (no filler), and include a strategy for any plan to make money in the market and avoid giving it all back.

From the overall concepts of Point and Figure Charting to the specific rules for managing your trades, your portfolio, and your money, you'll be happy you took the time learn what Tom Dorsey has shared about those little Xs and Os.

Too Hard to Read, Concepts Available Elsewhere
Mr. Dorsey is a talented financial analyst and amateur weightlifter when he was younger BUT, he is not a good writer (this has been confirmed in my personal correspondence with Mr. Dorsey) and this book cries out for thorough editing. One can learn Point and Figure charting for free at the dorseywright dot com web site (just look for the point n figure university link at the bottom of the home page). Dorsey knows his stuff but the more easily bored one is, the more one will find this book aimless and boring. Point and Figure is superior to bar and candlestick charts because it records meaningful market movement while ignoring the small stuff. Another Point and Figure book, published in the 1930s by de Viller (?), is also very hard to read and not worthy of buying. Let's hope Mr Dorsey, a great guy and always terrific on CNBC, will get this book re-edited and whittled down to about 175 pages. Learn it for free at his website and order "Chart Reading Made Easy" by John Murphy to quickly and economically learn technical analysis.

Dow's Theory Rightly Attributed to Charles Dow
"indeed, Dow Theory, while credited to Charles Dow, was actually first put together by S.A. Nelson in the book The ABCs of Stock Speculation."

This reviewer's comment above is a bit misleading. The Dow Theory, as explicated in chapter's IV thru XX of Nelson's book, are actually abridged editorials written by Charles Dow (that orignally appeared between Dec 14, 1900 and July 31, 1902). Nelson in his book accurately attributes Dow Theory to Charles Dow, who was editor of the Wall St. Journal at the time.

Nelson's contribution to Dow Theory was the act of compiling Dow's editorials; William Hamilton (Stock Market Barometer, 1922) and Robert Rhea (The Dow Theory, 1932) were so impressed by Dow's ideas about how markets work that they were keenly interested in documenting his ideas in print, as well as extending those ideas.

Provides a Solid Market Snapshot
One of the toughest jobs every trader faces is accurately identifying solid support and resistance. This book clearly solves the problem of identifying reliable buy and sell signals that represent the big picture of longer term trend rather than short term noise.

one of the best books available on top down investing
This is first and foremost a specific methodology for a top-down approach. This is a style of investing where you look first at the market, then the sector, and finally the stock itself. This answers the question of when to buy, whereas fundamental analysis answers the question of what to buy.

It's true that much of this information is available elsewhere, a good deal of it on the dorseywright web page, but not all of it. This book is a great book for putting the pieces together in a sensible way.

This is a book for longer term investors, not day traders or swing traders who like to be in and out of a stock in a few days or a week.

This book goes very well with Pring's how to select stocks using technical analysis; this method is easier to use, and more sensible in my opinion, but elements of both fit very well together.

Note: This book has nothing to do with dow theory, which is concerned with identifying the primary trend of the market as represented by the DJIA. In this theory, the DJTA is used for confirmation. This has nothing to do with point & figure charting; indeed, Dow Theory, while credited to Charles Dow, was actually first put together by S.A. Nelson in the book The ABCs of Stock Speculation. Robert Rhea and William Hamilton further refined the theory. ... Read more

Book Description

Selected by Amazon.com and the Financial Times as one of the best business books of the year, Fooled by Randomness is an instant classic.It's uniqueness has drawn to it a wide following - from the New Yorker to the Pentagon.Already published in 14 languages, this new edition, expanded by over 80 pages, includes up-to-date advances from behavioral finance and cognitive science This book is about luckor more precisely how we perceive and deal with luck in life and business. It is already a landmark work and its title has entered our vocabulary. In its second edition, Fooled by Randomness is now a cornerstone for anyone interested in random outcomes. Set against the backdrop of the most conspicuous forum in which luck is mistaken for skillthe world of tradingFooled by Randomness is a captivating insight into one of the least understood factors of all our lives. Writting in an entertaining and narrative style, the author succeeds in tackling three major intellectual issues: the problem of induction, the survivorship biases, and our genetic unfitness to the modern word. In this second edition, Taleb manages to use stories and anecdotes to illustrate our overestimation of causality and the heuristics that make us view the world as far more explainable than it actually is. But no one can replicate what is obtained by chance. Are we capable of distinguishing the fortunate charlatan from the genuine visionary? Must we always try to uncover nonexistent messages in random events? It may be impossible to guard ourselves against the vagaries of the Goddess Fortuna, but after reading Fooled by Randomness we can be a little better prepared. ... Read more

Reviews (206)

One big texas hedge (long implied volatility)
Read the other reviews to get the flavour of the book. I'll only add a few points that haven't been mentioned.

1) There is good advice on avoiding some common mistakes that lead to "blowing up", which will prove useful to inexperienced market practitioners.
2) Taleb's own (claimed) trading methodology (buying OTM options) could easily fall victim to the "black swan" problem. A regime change to persistently higher implied than actual volatility would result in extended losses for his fund (unless he is bluffing us about its methodology).
3) Taleb only focuses on cases where volatility is underpriced - but some of the best opportunities come when it is overpriced, during market panics. Yet according to what he says in the book, one should continue buying such overpriced volatility! As someone whose bread and butter trade is fading market panics, I can confirm that premium selling can be highly profitable - the trick is to sell at the right time, and to employ risk control. Just because some practitioners are incapable of this, does not invalidate the method, any more than OTM options buying is invalidated because many naive speculators buy in a panic just before the VIX is about to collapse.
4) Taleb lumps MBA and businessmen types into the "fool" category. This misses the point. 99% of business is not about risk-assessment, dazzling insight, or grand strategic thought, but about successful *execution* of obvious ideas, and hard work. How many eggheads have had great ideas, but never done anything to put them into action? There is no point knowing that a beach bar in the Bahamas might be destroyed every 10 years by a hurricane, if you aren't even capable of raising capital, employing people, or working 16 hour days getting it off the ground. Good MBAs and CEOs will in any case employ people like Taleb to assess risk for them.
5) Taleb ignores the possiblity of using praxeological analysis (i.e. taking a set of demonstrable a priori truths, then using a logical train of deduction to discover what those truths necessarily imply about reality) to avoid the survivorship bias & noise problems. E.g. you can predict the effect of supply and demand on price without having to test it in the real world. This technique has been used by Murray Rothbard in economics (which has an even greater "non-falsifiability" problem than trading), and Warren Buffett in investing. As an example, you *can* judge if a good track record is "skill" or "luck", by examining the methodology of the trader/investor. If they operated solely during a period favourable to their style, it is probably luck e.g. if they made money buying emerging market bonds from 1994-1998. If they made a bucketload trading a style that was *against* the market regime, then it is almost certainly skill e.g. someone who made good returns as a shortseller of tech stocks from 1997-2000; or someone who has successfully sold premium during market panics. Since Taleb is a follower of Popper, and a hardened quant, it should come as no surprise that he is ignorant of praxeology, but it is a huge oversight all the same.
6) Taleb's scorning of Buffett as a lucky fool is ignorant in the extreme. Buffett clearly did *not* use naive analysis of past data to make his investment decisions, or rely on luck (he did well from 1969-82, a terrible period for equities). Rather he deduced highly probably consequences from demonstrable truths about investment (i.e. firms with pricing power, high barriers to entry, and low working capital requirements are likely to perform very well), and then saw that the market was not pricing these factors efficiently. Anyone reading his writings can see this. And Buffett's approach is ironically more rigorous and less dependent on luck than Taleb's professed trading methods. To elaborate - Taleb is relying on "black swan" events happening more often than people think. Therefore EITHER a reduction in the frequency of these events, OR an increase in people's expectation of them, would be enough to invalidate Taleb's approach - clearly neither can be ruled out. Taleb thinks he is betting on black swan events occuring, whilst ignoring the possibility of the "black swan" of major regime change making his own system unprofitable. Whereas with Buffet, the laws of supply and demand, and basic investment/economics, ensure that certain business methods will *always* work better than others.

To conclude - Taleb thinks he has a great idea, but it was already well known by most experienced market practitioners (see the Market Wizards books etc where multiple traders continually bang on about rare event risk and fat tailed probability distributions). He then goes on as if this idea is the only important thing, which is clearly not the case. Finally, he critiques some people, such as Buffett, who use totally rigorous methodologies, whilst himself employing a strategy that is by no means foolproof, and relies largely on past observation (data-mining!) to form its conclusions. All I can say is that he better watch out for the black swan of long-term declining volatility over the next decade!

Finally, I would just say that I found the book enjoyable, it's just that (luckily for future my P&L) Taleb hasn't got everything worked out just yet :) Looking forward to the follow-up Nassim!

Important topic - flawed explication
I really wanted to like this book because the it discusses an important topic. The role of randomness in our everyday lives versus our innate (lack of) capacity to deal with it without careful education is one that we need to talk about more in the popular culture. However, the problems with this book are several. Its casual and meandering exposition is supposed to make it more accessible, but it actually makes it harder to come to terms with the topic.

Also, Mr. Taleb is a bit difficult to warm to, although there are occasional flashes of wit and humor that help. For example, he is so proud of his personal achievements that he both disparages them (he is ashamed of his Wharton MBA), and uses them as proof of his superiority of almost everyone (he read a lot at the library). He also has some strange peccadilloes such as his passionate and disproportionate dislike of George Will because he interviewed Robert Shiller (Taleb's friend and author of "Irrational Exuberance") in a rather feckless manner.

In the second half of the book he does explain some interesting phenomena about human psychology and randomness in interesting ways, but he goes completely overboard on certain points. On page 173 he states that Khaneman and Tversky have exerted the most influence on economic thinking in the past 200 years. Come on! Name any major economics department that has become behaviorist in any major way. (Taleb might find such resistance to acceptance a proof of concept - but people weighing evidence seriously would find it a chink in Talebs case.

I think the reality is that what Taleb points to is important and does exist, but that it is something like a second order effect in the big scheme of things. It may matter an extreme amount in the narrow world of options trading where Taleb indicates he lives, but for most of us it is a minor issue. Not one of no consequence, but not a determinative effect in the broad sweep of our lives.

So, I continue to look for a really good book on this topic. If you know of one, please email me with information about the book.

loves and hates
so taleb loves
1) Sir Karl Popper
2) The Skeptic philosopher David Hume
3) Michel de Montaigne
4) Charles Sanders Pierce
5) Daniel Kahneman et al.
6) George Soros (with a tinge of patronizing)
7) Bob Shiller
8) Nassim Nicholas Taleb (sometimes; depends on his mood)
9) Constantine Cavafis

Taleb hates
1) George Will (he despises him)
2) Nassim Nicholas Taleb (sometimes, especially when exhibiting superstitions)
3) Myron Scholes Robert Merton, MErriwhether , etc. Notes that he says nothign of Fisher Black
4) Hegel
5) Spontaneous reviewers
6) Lawyers

Etc...

Fun read

Someone at least is still Thinking.....
Nassim's first edition quick became a touchstone in the markets... Rather than looking at someone's fabricated track record one could simply ask have you read Taleb, and understood him....

The answer was and is far more important than any "random" series of returns you show someone..

Happily, Taleb has not stopped thinking, and the new edition goes even further in exploring the basic roots of how we cope with randomness...
The second edition should give those interested a starting point on how to integrate the new "findings" from both Behavioral Finance and the even more exotic Neuroeconomics.....

Much ado about nothing
I found this book enjoyable. However, the salient points could have been written in two pages. The book drags on and seems intent on settling scores with, thinly veiled, former colleagues. A hodge-podge of faux intellectualism. While continually the author dismisses 'middle-brow' colleagues and to tries impress us, I am sure the author has an unread copy of 'A Brief History of Time' on his bookshelf. ... Read more

Book Description

A general introduction to the three primary aspects of Finance and examination of how they interrelate.The book discusses financial institutions and their roles in helping to allocate savings in the economy, along with a description and analysis of securities issued and traded in money and capital markets.The book covers fundamentals of investing in stocks, mutual funds, derivatives, and other marketable securities with an emphasis on securities markets, mechanics of trading, techniques of analysis, diversification, and valuation of assets.Finally, the book lays out the processes, decisions structures, and institutional arrangements concerned with the use and acquisition of funds by a firm.This will include the management of the asset and liability structure of the firm under certain and risky situations. ... Read more