Book Description

The classic bestseller by Benjamin Graham, perhaps the greatest investment advisor of the 20th century, The Intelligent Investor has taught and inspired hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. Since its original publication in 1949, Benjamin Graham's book has remained the most respected guide to investing, due to his timeless philosophy of "value investing," which helps protect investors against the areas of possible substantial error and teaches them to develop long-term strategies with which they will be comfortable down the road.

Over the years, market developments have borne out the wisdom of Benjamin Graham's basic policies. Here he takes account of both the defensive and the enterprising investor, outlining the principles of stock selection for each, and stressing the advantages of a simple portfolio policy. Among the book's special features are the use of numerous comparisons of pairs of common stocks to bring out their elements of strength and weakness and the construction of investment portfolios designed to meet specific requirements of quality and price attractiveness.

The Intelligent Investor may be the most important book you will ever read on making your investments a success.

"The Intelligent Investor is the best book ever written for the stockholder," says author and investment counselor John Train. Benjamin Graham's classic work offers sound and safe principles for investing-principles that have worked for more than forty years since the first edition was published. With an introduction and appendix by Warren Buffett, one of Graham's most famous students in investing strategy, this book takes account of both the defensive and the enterprising investor.

"By far the best book on investing ever written." -- Warren E. Buffett

"There have been other good books written about money since 1841, but only a few hold up. The best known and most likely to make you money is The Intelligent Investor." -- Andrew Tobias

"Graham ranks as this century's (and perhaps history's) most important thinker on applied portfolio investment." -- John Train, author of The Money Masters ... Read more

Reviews (55)

One of the best books on investing ever written
This is a must read for any person serious about investing (ie not gambling) in the stock market. The book is rather easy to read. Graham was an investor but also a teacher (at Columbia). He has a good balance between technical yet simple explanation. If you know absolutely nothing about the stock market and financials, you may still find it a bit obscure at time, but you should probably not invest directly anyway (at least not right away). For everyone else, read it.
Yes the latest edition was written in 1972. It is amusing at time to see the evolution. But actually this evolution is also part of what you learn by reading the book. You do see that some things never change (like valuing a company!), and others do change quite a bit. it gives you a nice perspective. Now the intersting part of the book is to understand the logic of Graham, less its conclusions. The conclusions date a bit. Graham used to work at a time when most corporations where industrial companies, when nowadays services are dominant for example. So take graham conclucions with a grain of salt. But do read in depth and try to understand his logic.
Value investing won't make you rich overnight. But reasonnably well done, it will avoid having you lose money, and can even open you the doors of year by year over-performance in the market. Warren Buffett and several other successfull investors have followed the approach of Graham. But as they all say, when you first read about value investing, you either understand it right away, or you never will. But trust my 15 year of investing on the stock market, you're better of understanding the value of value investing. And this book is the key to it.

Somewhat out of date
Before deciding on whether to buy this book or not, one should take into account that even this version is 30+ years old, and that the original version was written over 50 years ago. Though successful investing for the greater part is founded on principles (which are timeless), the content, style and writing of the book is old-fashioned, which makes it a bit tedious to read.

Stock market history may be interesting, but the book continuosly refers to the 1971 - 1972 stockmarket, which is quite a bit out of date. There have been considerably better books written on investing since then (Hagstrom: "The Warren Buffett way", Lynch x 2: "Beating the Street, One up on Wall Street").

Yet there are still interesting chapters in the book, and some valuable pieces of advice as well. The book contains what Buffett views as the most valuable words ever written on investing: "Investing is most intelligent when it is most businesslike". Other valuable pieces of advice include why one should be careful about investing in IPOs.

Since one basically only has to understand and follow a couple of basic laws to become successful as investor (and those laws has nothing to do with beta or APT) and this book contains some of them, it can be recommended, with some reservation. But it is tediouos to read and better books on investing have been written since 1973.

Buy it !!! For any investor
The issue is how to make money on the stock market.

The conclusion is that if you have the discipline and follow the advise with rigour, you will make money on the stock market. It is not for a day trader but a genuine investor.

There are many pieces of sound advice. One of the recommended easy and time saving way to pick a stock: buy the stock of Dow Index companies with minimum P/E ratio.

It is a classic.

Use With Caution
It may seem an odd thing to say about a book whose hallmark is prudence, but this volume is dangerous. The general principles it inculcates are fine but be very wary of following its more specific recommendations such as avoiding a stock if its price/book ratio is greater than 2. Under current conditions you would end up with an odd, unbalanced portfolio. The basic premise of this book, that Mr. Graham could reduce his complex discipline of value investing to rules of thumb simple enough for individuals to follow, may just be a mistake.

Eye Opener
Graham's book is by far the most thorough, well thought out volume on investing that has ever been produced. Graham's thought processes and advice are indispensable. ... Read more

Book Description

"Once I picked it up I did not put it down until I finished . . . What Schwed has done is capture fully—in deceptively clean language—the lunacy at the heart of the investment business."—From the Foreword by Michael Lewis, Bestselling author of Liar's Poker

This hilarious portrait of everyday Wall Street and its denizens rings as true today as it did when it was first published in 1940. Writing with a rare mixture of wry cynicism and bonhomie reminiscent of Mark Twain and H. L. Mencken, Fred Schwed, Jr., skewers everyone including himself in his brilliant send-ups of bankers, brokers, traders, investors, analysts, and hapless customers.

"How great to have a reissue of a hilarious classic that proves the more things change the more they stay the same. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent." —Michael Bloomberg President, Bloomberg, LP

". . . one of the funniest books ever written about Wall Street."—Jane Bryant Quinn, The Washington Post

"It's amazing how well Schwed's book is holding up after 55 years. About the only thing that's changed on Wall Street is that computers have replaced pencils and graph paper. Otherwise, the basics are the same. The investor's need to believe somebody is matched by the financial advisor's need to make a nice living. If one of them has to be disappointed, it's bound to be the former."—John Rothchild, Author, A Fool and His Money Financial Columnist, Time magazine

"A delightful classic and reminder of excesses past and how little things change." —Bob Farrell, Senior Vice President, Merrill Lynch ... Read more

Reviews (21)

A Look at Wall Street Excess with Classic Humor
If Will Rogers and Mark Twain got together to write a book on the excesses of Wall Street, the outcome would have been this book. Having stood the test of time and now displayed as an investment classic, this book is a must read for anyone who works in finance.

The author does a great job of humorously outlining the excesses of Wall Street, the classic conflicts between bankers and their clients, and the fickle nature of the market. It is a very quick read with many anecdotes that are relevant to this day.

An Investment Classic All Stock Investors Should Read!
This book clearly deserves more than five stars for exposing the folly of Wall Street in the most humorous possible terms.

This book's fame far exceeds the number of people who have read it. Almost every experienced stock investor will cite examples from the book, without even knowing their source.

The title refers to an ancient story (which the author finds is probably at least 100 years old by now) about a visitor to New York who admired the yachts that the bankers and brokers had in the harbor. Naively, he then asked where the customers' yachts were. Naturally, there were no customers' yachts.

Let me set the stage. The author spent two years on Wall Street in the 20s, but knew it better than that and continued to invest in stocks. He wrote the book in 1940 after the horrible bear years of 1929-1940. The memories of the 1920s were still fresh. Then he updated the book in 1955 in the midst of the 50s bull market with a new introduction in which he explained that the book did not need updating.

Although commissions are no longer fixed, and few spend the day sitting in a broker's office, many of the other observations in the book remain as timely as those in The Madness of Crowds. Human nature doesn't change.

Behind all of the hype about getting rich with stock investments is a sad reality. Over a lifetime, the vast majority of people get poor results from their stock investing. Around 90 percent of professionals will also underperform the market averages over their careers.

But the desire to "outsmart" everyone else is almost universal. Raging bull markets, like the one we had until March 2000 on the NASDAQ, only tend to reinforce these ultimately expensive urges.

I have been around professional investors for over thirty years and all the big scores I remember involving stocks came after someone who was a founder or worked for a company that went public cashed in their stock and stock options after many years of service. These are not stock-investing events, they are entrepreneurial compensation. In the Money Game, Adam Smith pointed that out, and it remains as true today as it was then.

One of the classic stories in this book is about what would happen if 4000 people started flipping coins against each other. You are eliminated from the competition after one loss. Although by definition, half would win and half with lose with each flip, those who had won ten times in a row (as must happen for some in this format) would soon start to give lessons in coin flipping techniques. That story nicely captures the folly of Wall Street. Even though some may win, it usually doesn't mean anything.

The book contains other investment classic stories that you must have in your repertoire. The book is brilliantly illustrated by the classy cartoons of Peter Arno. It is worth acquiring the book just for those.

The subjects covered include Wall Street's passion for prophecy, financiers and seers, customers (or the sheep to be shorn), mutual funds, short sellers, options, speculators and the bull market of the 20s, and the excuses handed out to those who are relieved of their money.

The writing style is urbane and witty. For example, there is the usual disclaimer on not following the advice in the book in the beginning. Except, it is illustrated by two hands with fingers crossed. And, the warnings are a just little different. The information in this book "while not guaranteed by us, has been obtained from sources which have not in the past proved particularly reliable."

The author had discovered that titles cannot be copyrighted, and he "had planned to have my book appear under a good title, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."

The author's favorite review of the book contained this phrase, "If I were J.P. Morgan, and I have no reason to suspect that I am not . . . .", and was signed by the author of the review, Mr. Frank Sullivan. The subsequent witty correspondence between them is included in the introduction.

If you are a fan of Louis Rukeyser, you will find the humor here comparable with the badinage on Wall $treet Week during the opening comments.

Seriously, the humor in this book will help you to better understand the risks associated with stock investing. There is a wonderful quiz you can take that will tell whether or not you should be a stock investor. Most will not pass that quiz.

If you still want to own stocks, I suggest that you advance to John Bogle's book, Common Sense About Mutual Funds. It can make you some real money.

If you do not want to own stocks, go instead to Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Follow on to Cash Flow Quadrant.

I also suggest you think about where else folly is taken seriously. This will also put things in perspective for you. My favorite location is the Congress of the United States.

Keep looking for those yachts when you make your investments! To whom do they belong?

Laymen's Fun
Well, maybe this was a 2 star book, but to me it was hopeless from the start. "Fred Schwed", a jokester of a name to begin with talks about Wall St just as naively as anyone who barely knows it.

His viewpoints are clearly from the beginner's point of view, or rather the beginner intermediate- the guy who has just accepted that trading is luck only and that long term investing is simple diversification. He hasn't quite accepted that there are true winners out there and that there is something of an art to the game and eagerly puts any down who attempt to play it. Clearly he has associated with those who are not "in the know" [...]

Anyways, I started at page 1 and read almost to halfway through the whole book before I could bare no more. I really did try to read it through, thinking that I could squeeze something worthwhile out of it. No, I can stand it anymore. I think I'll leave it at the train station on the way to the coffee shop right now! Waste of $[...] and an hour or so of my time..

Definitely not deserving of "Wiley Investment Classic" with the likes of Fisher and LeFevre.

Of the Advantages of Insular Thinking on Wall Street...
This book is very lucidly and wryly written, has sometimes a bit of a cynical objective tone (the author did get burned), but is definitely very humorous, as well as light and agreeable to read. The book is also spiced up by over a dozen of humorous old-fashioned cartoons from Peter Arno.

In essence, this books very entertainingly demonstrates the many advantages of having or gaining an independent critical thinking when facing the follow-the-pack mentality of Wall Street mobbers of all sorts (personally, people in a hurry always made me confused). Indeed, if you hadn't already discovered, the world of finance is probably one of the most implicitly and subtly coercive one there is ...

In these entertaining pages, you will discover that the vast supply of sheer mercantile marketing strategies of Wall Streeters of all sorts are only matched by the benevolent gullibility of a big deal to many Main Streeters. So if you might say there is a certain justice to it after all, you will definitively agree that there is a definite direction as to where the money flows, that is statistically at least... Check out those yachts!

In a broader context, the toll bridge of random walks leading (eventually) to so-called efficient markets does indeed feed on stocks being erratically transferred to and fro at whim, but you can be sure that Wall Street's marketers and intermediaries do have a vested interest in getting their (fair) share out of the (many transaction) deal(s), i.e. the more activity, the better (for them)... But keep in mind that these frictional and parasitic costs are totally non-productive in their ultimate economic end-result, apart from the fact that they provide a liquid (and sometimes efficient) market... a high price to pay for short-term inefficiencies, that also tends to favor a trading instead of an investing mentality...

People's biggest problem seems to be that they just can't sit still (cf. a 17th century author named Pascal...)... But just in case you believe this is another story altogether, let me quote the final words of Fred Schwed's Introduction to the 1955 Bull Market : "[...] my tendency has been to buy stocks, [...]. Then when they show a profit I sell them, exultantly. (But never within six months, of course, I'm no anarchist.) It seems to me at these moments that I have achieved life's loveliest guerdon - making some money without doing any work. Then a long time after it turns out that I should have just bought them, and thereafter I should have just sat on them like a fat, stupid peasant. A peasant, however, who is rich beyond his limited dreams of avarice."

If you are looking for a similar, but more recent, and probably a bit more sophisticated book on insular independent thinking in the face of interested so-called Wall Street and/or corporate professionalism, check out Lawrence Cunningham's fine collection of Essays on Corporate America, also a very worthy and enjoyable read.

To come back to Fred Schwed's book, you will probably enjoy it a great deal, and, 'tell you what, it might even make you richer in what you already have, instead of just making you richer in what you might have, if... to put it otherwise, five hundred dollars and some common sense are often worth much more than ten thousand dollars and the lack thereof, at least in the end result...

Original Motley Fool
"The more things change, the more they stay the same." That's how Fred Schwed, Jr. introduces this gem, if my translation of the French is correct. The book is timely, even though it was first published in 1940. The author shares his observations of Wall Street with wit and humor.

"The chief concern of this book", he states, "will be with an examination of the nonsense ... ." One example is this excerpt from a paragraph he takes out of The Wall Street Journal: "the action of the market was regarded as in the nature of a technical recovery, with little thought of the imminence of dynamic action." Nonsense was apparently well articulated before the bull market of the '90s. Another example is his explanation of why people buy high and sell low when they go to the stock market. They mistakenly believe that once prices are rising (or falling), they'll continue to rise (or fall). "But it is not a fair thing to say of the stock market," he claims,"which, not being a physical thing, is not subject to Newton's laws of propulsion or inertia."

There's more than "an examination of the nonsense" here. Readers may take "A Little Aptitude Test" to see if finance is their calling and consider "A Little Wonderful Advice" on getting rich. If Schwed's advice doesn't make you rich, his hilarious insight will at least make you laugh. ... Read more

Book Description

This classic book secured Benjamin Graham's status as a Wall street immortal. the carefully honed methods for finding undervalued stocks and bonds he described here have never been equaled, and have already outlived their author by more than 20 years. Even as Security Analysis has gone through five editions and nearly a million copes, you can learn time-tested investment secrets and strategies by going back to the source - THE ORIGINAL - and paying close attention to its wisdom. Written just five years after the crash, Security Analysis's message today is just as vivid, just as lucid, and just as vital as it was in 1934. ... Read more

Reviews (35)

must read
I just finished reading Grahm and Dodds Security Analysis, and
was completely overwhelemed. If you can read this book, understand everything in it, and be able to apply it, you are golden. However, if you do not really have much background in finance and accounting, it will be VERY hard to read certain parts. As a college sophomore, who has not yet taken any finance or accounting classes, i was only able to understand and benefit from perhaps 50% of the books content. This is a book where after further education in finance and accounting, it will be absolutley essential to successful investing. Also, because of the year the first edition was written, certain terminology, and examples (ie railroads) will not seem useful, however the principles those examples demonstrate are still very much applicable.
I would recommend reading the book to anyone who is interested in investing, however do not think it is something you can finish in a weekend or even a week. It took me a month.

Everything after 1934 looks suspicious
Someone wrote reviews to this book indicating that the major downside to it is its age. The book was written in 1934 therefore it misses all the modern developments of finance - modern portfolio theory for example - and all the new techniques that Wall Street "experts" use today.

As an answer I give an anecdote from Warren Buffett's life:
When stock investments started to become popular, the volume increased ten fold, and the modern techniques to make a profit were developed, Warren Buffet was extremely worried. He remembered what happened in 1929. He loathed the new trends in investment that tried to predict the future price of a stock. Therefore he had a meeting with all his fellow Graham students, he expressly forbid to bring anything newer than the 1934 edition of Security Analysis.

This happened decades ago, but history repeats. We all know what happened 3 years ago. We all know how "experts" thought that the market was booming, and how they let it crash. We all know how they made a profit on the money that private investors lost.

Nowadays when I go shopping for a book I always look at the date of pubblication, if it is between 1997 and 2000 I'm very wary. All those books about "new economy", "digital era", "e-commerce", "dot coms", etc. have to be taken with the maximum attention. Usually they contain a lot of inflated ideas that as we look at what happened after they were written we understand how much those "experts" really understand about stock investments.

If they were wrong then, why should they be righ now?
Trust me, but more importantly, trust Graham, trust Buffett, (those that have been consistently right for 50 years) this is the book to buy, "anything newer looks suspicious."

Packed With Knowledge!
A book that has been continuously in print for nearly 70 years obviously has timeless relevance. The principles of value investing, spelled out for the first time in Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham and David L. Dodd, have made fortunes for investors since it was first published in 1934. For example, Warren Buffett calls this book his Bible. Much has changed on Wall Street since the 1930s, but the concept of buying undervalued companies has not. In addition to its lucid explanation of investment basics, the book is a fascinating picture of a time when the lessons of the Great Depression were still being absorbed. The Securities Act of 1933 had just changed the rules of financial disclosure, and most public companies were manufacturers, mines, railroads or utilities - not the makeup of today's blue-chip portfolio. We recommend this book to serious investors who want to cut through modern Wall Street jargon, and to students of financial history.

ripping off graham and dodd
In a moment of confusion, I bought the so-called "fifth edition" of Security Analysis ... what a scam! This almost unreadable text may be more "up to date" than the 1934 or 1940 editions, but it completely lacks the beautifully elegant prose of the original.

The "fifth edition" is just another fat and overpriced textbook, taking advantage of the Graham and Dodd brand to sell a quite unrelated product. By all means, buy the classic written by the original authors (1934, 1940 editions), but stay away from this "fifth edition." It's really the "first edition" of something quite different and not very impressive.

Warning: Not Light Reading
Just like Intelligent Investor, my only complaint here is that they should make a travel sized version so you can keep it with you all the time. This one is at a higher level than any other investment book out there, but it is difficult without being convoluted. If you work in investing and have never read this, you should be ashamed. Of course, people who don't read this book are the people who make the market inefficient (thanks guys!). ... Read more

Amazon.com

From the school of unemotional investing comes the classic How to Make Money in Stocks, by Wall Street analyst and publisher William O'Neil. Readers new to securities will find it an excellent primer, one that relies on time-honored indicators such as quarterly earnings, market capitalization, and daily indexes. O'Neil's study of winning stocks stretches back to the 1960s, and he shares his insights here, describing what characterizes a growth stock, when to cut your losses (at 7 or 8 percent, no more), and how to spot a market top.

The techniques in How to Make Money in Stocks are hardly revolutionary, but therein lies their strength, as O'Neil claims his is "a winning system in good times or bad." Investors interested in Net stocks might be disappointed--the author's first rule is that a company must show a pattern of growing profits, which disqualifies many dot coms. (TryRule Breakers, Rule Makers for a different take.) O'Neil's approach to stocks is, above all, rational, and he pays little heed to market hype.

Those new to investing would do well to read this book before embarking, and even more seasoned traders may find How to Make Money in Stocks a refreshing return to basics. Markets may swing bull and bear, but O'Neil promises to stand firm. --Demian McLean ... Read more

Reviews (158)

An excellent book for the beginner to moderate investor.
This is an excellent book for someone starting out in investing. It teaches you WJ O'Neil's CANSLIM method of picking stocks.

What's CANSLIM you ask? CANSLIM is a method of picking stocks developed by William J. O'Neil. He's taken his years of investing knowledge and developed a system of picking stocks that has repeatedly proven to be successful.

The book takes you through each part of this method from quarterly earnings through annual earnings, when to buy, trading volume, stock leaders, institutional support and market direction.

He also teaches you when to sell a stock even in a bad market. He'll show you how to cut your losses and why it's important to sell at the right time to prevent major losses on a stock.

Finally he takes you through some of the best stocks in recent history and shows you how to read the signs that they put out. This will teach you how to recognize today's stocks that are ready to burst from the pack and soar to new highs.

This book pushes WJ O'Neil's newspaper, Investor Business Daily, as it has much of the information needed to use the CANSLIM method. But even without his paper this book teaches you the methods needed to make money in the stock market.

All in all I think this is a great book for investors.

The Book I Started Trading With...
Ten years ago, this book probably launched tens of thousands of eager investors on a journey towards riches. Two years ago, it probably ruined thousands more. I'm not saying that O'Neil's methodology doesn't work. In fact, I have great respect for O'Neil and this book because it launched me on my journey into the markets just a few years ago. The only drawback is that this methodology works best in a bull market environment. When you hit a persistent bear market like we've seen for nearly 2 years now, you are basically sitting in cash spending endless hours looking for that perfect stock to break out of a long-term consolidation. If you don't have the time to search chart-after-chart every night for the perfect setup then you should try a great investment book I just heard about called the 401(k) MarketBuster. The 401(k) MarketBuster will probably find you the same, or better, account returns in the long-run that you'd find with intermediate-term trading; at a fraction of the research time (literally minutes a year). If you are like me and have the time and inclination to learn more about the markets so you can find that elusive "perfect" setup to trade (Lord help you), then you might want to take a look at Dave Landry's book on swing trading. It will offer you more opportunities more often.

The best you'll find.
This is the best system you'll find anywhere. I originally worked as a broker for a firm that followed the Bill O'Neil philosophy and that firm made $$ for their clients consistently. Now I follow this system and trade for my own accounts with even better results. My last stock, TASR, was up roughly 100% (much more on margin) in one month and I found this stock by using the fundamental & technical analysis that I've learned through Investors Business Daily along with dailygraphs (www.dailygraphs.com). His strategy of cutting losses quick and letting winners ride is necessary to preserve capital and maximize gains. AAII (American Association of Individual Investors) rated this as the best performing strategy over several years period.

sparse on some concepts, but relevant in bull markets
First, I would have to comment that the criticism about IBD as a normal newspaper is unfair. Its analysis and opinions are encapsulated in the numbers, systematically compiled for any common stocks worth considering as investments. Any individual investor would see that at one dollar, IBD is a bargain. "How to Make Money in Stocks" is the guide to understanding the ratings of IBD, as well as a clear introduction to O'Neill's investing philosophy. The prevailing market conditions are very important to the success of CANSLIM, and reviews of the book written in the depths of the 2000-2002 stock funk may be colored indeed.

I, too, had some questions about "pivot points," etc. that seem sparsely described. This is because you are supposed to look at the charts. If this isn't enough, look at more charts (the book has plenty). "Pivot points" and "accumulation" are not exact concepts, so one has to practice looking at the chart and acquire an understanding of these concepts. "How to Make Money in Stocks" is one of those rare books that relies on the graphical presentation of data as much as copy writing to communicate its sometimes fuzzy ideas.

This book is superb at describing the CANSLIM method on analysis, which can be done these days with free internet sources. An excellent description for novices of investing research.

My advice would be to pick up this book, read it, buy a copy of IBD, and keep track of ten or so stocks for 60 days or so. If the market goes up and these stocks don't, look for a better method. If you need more comforting words in the newspaper to guide your money decisions, drop this stuff and hire some investment professional.

Invest comfortably
I have been investing in the stock market since 1998. I've made my share and lost my share. However, it was always a chaotic affair. I wasn't investing based on anything solid, it was just going with the market. Besides who could lose in the 90's? Then came 2000 and 2001.
Lucky for me I ran into this book and let me tell you something, it has made me comfortable with the way I invest. I don't need to keep up with the market every minute and I don't stress as much. I also understand better how to read graphs and how to interpret market activities. A book well worth it.
It does mention the Investors Business Daily paper a lot because they publish it but it's a worthy paper also so I don't see anything wrong with that. ... Read more

Reviews (44)

A Very Compelling And Focused Job-Search/Interview Tool
The majority of career books advise you to send out dozens of resumes, take a passive role, and then practice hundreds of "tough questions" to win the job in the interview. Few books have ever discussed the real objectives of the hiring equation: Can an applicant do the actual job? How can this be determined during the interviewing process? What is the best way for a candidate to demonstrate that they can do the actual job? Mr. Corcodilos has solved the equation with his focused and enlightening advice.

Most of the techniques in this book are unconventional. But as the author stresses, being different works in the ruthless hiring game. The author forces you to examine yourself, focus your search, and concentrate on only a few jobs and companies. His most compelling advice is to do the job in the interview itself. Most of us have never been taught the importance of this simple yet powerful technique. "Do the job in the interview." It is the mantra of this book.

It is rare for a headhunter to share the secrets of his success. But the author strongly believes in his philosophy, and graciously shares it with us. After reading this book, your perspective of the hiring process will be altered drastically. That alone might be the most salient feature of this tremendous work.

The subjects discussed in this book will make you a more attractive candidate, along with a better interviewer. You will learn how to target your job search, and to focus on what you do best: your work. Regardless of which side of the desk you find yourself, this book should be required reading. As an applicant, you will learn strategies to make you stand out from the crowd. As an employer, you will learn to make more informed hiring decisions, and to reduce the chance of a costly mistake. This book is a powerful tool.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this book.

Do you want a COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE in your next interview?
Nick Corcodilos, the author of 'Ask the Headhunter', has taken job hunting to the next level!

Maybe I'm totally naive when it comes to job hunting (well, at least not anymore), but this book changed my entire mindset on the conventional methods of seeking employment. To cut directly to the chase....

THE NEGATIVES:

* Some of his writings get really redundant. He's trying to drive home a point, but too excessive.

* His method could leave you spending weeks if not months preparing and researching information just for one company; Especially, if you are changing careers or a recent college graduate seeking employment in an industry you're totally unfamiliar with.

THE POSITIVES:

* Easy to read. I like that!

* Will this book help you get the job you are seeking? - Without reservation nor hesitation, if you follow the method Nick has outlined, your probability of success is greatly enhanced. The real question is 'how could you not?' (beware of personnel jockeys)

* The 'added-value' to this book where the others leave off is simply the difference between SHOW & TELL in your 3rd grade elementary class (showing was always more interesting, huh?) Where the other books will TELL you how to get the job, Nick will SHOW you how to DEMONSTRATE your abilities to DO THE JOB in the interview.

Mark Fredricks

Extraordinary!
This work reveals an extraordinary approach that shows us the simple ways to always stand out from the crowd.

An Honest Book for Jobhunters
The book Ask the Headhunter by Nick Corcodilos can best be described as an honest book; it has done some plain speaking. It should be admired for novelty of style and for propagating proactive and revolutionary ideas in job hunting. It reflects originality of approach to job search; and is conceptualized on hard realities and not imagination and fantasy. It reinvents the concept of interview and explores how it can be used in securing the right jobs and hiring the right candidate. It exhorts job hunters to refrain from gimmicks or perfecting any meaningless interviewing skills. The reader gets provoked into re-examining the interview clichés and stick to responding to the exigencies of the job. The central message of the book should also be viewed as indirectly communicating the changing hiring practices that are being resorted to in the new corporate world. In nutshell, the book helps the jobseeker in many respects including: discovering the job that best suits her disposition, assessing the requirements of the employer, the "how" of taking control of the interview so as to compel the employer to hire her, bargaining the best possible deal, and appreciating issues related with these points of key focus.

In its efforts to focus on some plain speaking, the book contains a good bit of hard-hitting advice. It has succeeded remarkably well in exploding several myths about job hunting and in expounding a new approach to winning job offers. It has tremendous potential of becoming perhaps one of the finest job search books emphasizing ways to get jobs on merits. Of course, it may not be of much help in situations where suitability of job seekers is decided by incompetent or unmotivated and unprepared interviewers, and also where jobs are fixed and pre-decided on extraneous considerations no matter how talented, competent or fit the job-seeker is. Such practices can be seen even in some private sector organizations where the hirers fear talent and innovate ways of finding pretexts for rejecting them so as to hide their own weaknesses and incompetence. Candidates seeking jobs with such employers may therefore need standard how-to books on perfecting the traditional interview skills, along with mastering effective ways of lobbying to get jobs. But as organizations move towards greater degree of transparency and sense of professionalism in a real sense in their working including hiring practices, they will be guided more and more by considerations of merit and purposiveness. Job seekers and employers whose considerations are delivering their best and employing the most suitable will benefit immensely by following the prescriptions and messages contained in this book. It is also interesting to note that the author's website (asktheheadhunter.com) permits access through free membership, and provides a "free sample" of the Ask The Headhunter concepts

Nicky Knows The Score
Got to hand it to you, Nicky baby! When it comes to the REAL WORLD, You know the score! All these negative reviews are from people who have their heads buried in the sand.

To you readers out there, let me put it bluntly. You can go on doing what you've been doing, sending out thousands of resumes with no results, or you can do the HARD WORK that Nicky tells you to do. If you're not willing to do that, don't blame Nicky if you get bupkis in return.

Nicky, You the Man! FIVE STARS! ... Read more

Amazon.com

Should you let a Fool tell you where to invest your money?If he's aMotley Fool, the answer is a resounding YES!David and Tom Gardner launchedthe most successful investment information service ever to grace cyberspace,and now they show you how to beat the market, even if you don't know adividend from a divining rod.With this guide, you'll find out how theinformation revolution can put money in your pocket. ... Read more

Reviews (100)

Finally, an investment guide for normal people
Dave and Tom have created an immensely readable and informative book for the average Joe who wants to learn how to invest in the stock market. Their liberal use of humorous examples makes the book hard to put down. They explain why mutual funds are usually a bad choice, how to do your own research, how to avoid sky-high commissions, how to do your own research on companies, the difference between fundamental analysis and technical analysis (and which one is basically worthless), and even how to make money in a bear market (yes, it can be done, and it's a lot easier than you might think). Overall, if you are looking for a simple and fun explanation of how to get started in investing, you can't possibly go wrong with this one.

Foolish, in the Very Best Sense
So, are you young enough to be looking at 10 to 30 years ahead of you to cosset your investments into something bigger than a breadbasket? Are you, at the same time, flush enough to have (perhaps after a few years of scrimping) 25 to 50 thousand dollars that YOU DON'T NEED? Are you comfortable with numbers? Can you, or can you learn to, look annual reports and financial statements in the face without flinching (or glazing over)? Does making an average of 15 to 20 percent per year on your portfolio over the long haul (for the ride may be bumpy, with some dives as well as climbs) sound sufficiently enticing? Do you have a day job that you intend to keep? Do you have a life outside of playing the market that you intend to live? Then, and only then, this could be the book for you!

I love these guys. They're a couple of fresh-faced young men, brothers, who treat investing seriously, but that doesn't mean somberly. The first chapter or so of this book was so jokey I thought the ratio of matter to chatter was going to be about 1:1, but they got down to business, as it were, soon enough.

Their basic point is that anybody who is willing to do some work looking at the fundamentals of companies can find some to invest in and, usually, stay with, that will significantly outperform the market. A person can build a portfolio of stocks that will beat the Dow, or the S&P 500, by several percentage points every year. Since the market, overall, is rising at 10 or 11 percent (ok, bad year to convince you of THAT) annually, over the long haul this 15 or 18 percent compounding of one's portfolio can lead to significant gains.

And the lovely thing is, most of these are tax-deferred, since only the dividends of stocks that you hold are taxed, and the plan is to hold your stocks, not to churn them. If you do your homework well you should have stocks that you stay with for years - perhaps even leave to your loved ones, who will therefore treasure your memory.

Yeah, yeah (I can hear you muttering): "willing to do some work"? Well, yes. YOU CAN'T GET AROUND IT! You have to crunch a few numbers, but it's fifth-grade math (some long division is required). You have to get cozy with financial statements. It'd be nice, moreover, if you understood something of what the company you want to own a chunk of does for a living (it might become YOUR living!), and some of the high points of its spectrum of the economic universe.

The brothers will introduce you to some good ideas, and puncture some bad ones. They demonstrate why small caps are so great for the individual investor, for example. They tell you when, with impeccable logic, it is a bad idea to short a stock (even a stock about to plummet). They talk turkey about the real costs of trading - the commissions AND the spread. They quickly demolish the allure of day-trading. They campaign tirelessly for honesty and transparency in investment advice, and point out the problem with almost all mutual funds (except for the index funds, which they like, but just not as much as individual stocks).

Oh, and they run a web site, which no doubt nets them a few bucks, which I certainly don't begrudge them. They are for power to the people, online power to the upwardly-mobile investor-class of people, anyway. (Hey, you have to start somewhere!)

Mostly, this book is inspirational. It's message is that you, the ordinary Joe or Jane, can put away a few bucks and then invest it intelligently. If you're not using the rent money, and if your time horizon is meaningful - 10 to 30 years - you can come out the other end with a real, honest-to-goodness nest egg. This is NOT a book about making quick profits, or getting wealth without work. It DOES say that it doesn't take too much work, and it does take several years, but that if you apply yourself, and hold the course, you will do better in the long run than all the fund managers in the financial industry. But more importantly, you'll do well. Also they start the book with a snippet from one of my favorite poems, so I have to trust them!

Good intro for wannabee Fools
This book is pretty good for first time or novice investors, the Gardner brothers discuss the advantages and disadvantages of different investment methods most notably: mutual funds, index funds, and stocks. Also it seems these Fools (yes they like to be called that) like investing in Dow stock, much of their information regarding Dow stocks appears to come from Michael O'Higgins author of Beating the Dow. Another method that the brothers introduce is one of their own for picking out small cap growth stocks, here's what they look for:

Sales of less than $200 million
Daily Dollar Volume of $3 million or less
Low Price $5-$20
Net profit margin of 10% or more
Relative Strength (IBD) of 90 or higher
Earnings and sales growth for the most recent quarter of 25+ or more
Insider holdings of 15%+
Cash flow from operations should also be a positive number

This book is primarily aimed at beginning investors who want to hold growth stocks for a year or more, however a lot of this book is focused on them talking about their website www.fool.com

My favorite part of this book would have to be the chapter on Zeigletics: The Penny Stock That Never Was.

Reed Floren

Decent Investing Primer, but not much more
The Motley Fool Investment guide by the Gardners was a fairly interesting primer on the subject of investing, with a particular emphasis on stockpicking. However, that is ALL you should take it as. It should merely be viewed as ONE type of overview of the stock market that may or may not be valid under current market conditions.

Note: Beginning investors should be very wary of following the strategies outlined in this or ANY investing book with any significant sum of money. Run a simulation portfolio and test out the validity of these methods before you plunk your hard earned cash into some particular system. Be warned. My opinions may sound very negative and you may be at a loss of confidence, but I do believe you'd rather take a beating in your emotions before you take one with your portfolio.

Now, overall, the book offers some nice stratagems for newer investors and is written in a very friendly style to keep people interested. The book is laced with the Gardners' personal style of humor(which I wasn't particularly fond of), but they did manage to keep the book fairly light-hearted and easy to read. With that said, I believe a key flaw of this book is that it makes achieving market-beating returns seem fairly easy.

Would it be feasible to believe that anyone could suddenly start playing NBA quality basketball were that person to read and follow some simple exercises in a book entitled "Play Basketball like Michael Jordan"? How about "Tiger Woods in 20 Minutes"? Yes my friends, it is very possible to play pro ball by doing my secret exercises for only 20 minutes a day, because in my new book, I have outlined some very secret and powerful methods that will make your growth in talent and muscle EXPLODE! *cue slightly altered techniques found in a basic exercise manual wrapped around in clever and seductive writing.

The notion that someone can play professional, all-star level ball by reading a book and following simple exercises would quickly be dismissed as utter BS. But in the world of investing, 'secret methods,' 'the methods of the pros,' etc. etc., always seem to entice new investors into buying a $15 manual to learn the secrets to beat the market. Maybe Peter Lynch can get by on beating the pros by looking at investments only a few hours a week because his decisions are built on experience... It may be easy for a professional bodybuilder to lift 350 lbs, but does that mean the average man can expect to do the same? To suggest that the newcomer can beat the pros by spending only a few hours a week and using a very simple system sounds quite like the 'pro ball' scenario, no?

You certainly won't get consistent market beating returns by following the very scanty guidelines offered in this book. Another area of fault with the book is that, at times, it seems like you've just spent your hard-earned money on a big advertisement. The constant plugging of their website is extremely annoying to say the least. It almost seems as this book was geared to get you to join their website.

With all of that said, the book offers a decent, easily followed write-up of long term investing fundamentals. It's a nice overview of the subject of investing, and beginners will learn some good lessons, but by no means should they believe that by reading a couple of investing books and following the simple guidelines within should they expect to beat the market over the long-term. There's a reason most mutual funds don't consistently beat the market over the long-term. And no, it's not because the majority of mutual funds are run by complete dunces (some of you may tend to disagree). The objective of obtaining market beating returns isn't nearly as easy as it seems.

this book is bad
The information contained in this book has been discredited by lots of academics and yes, even by the Gardner brothers themselves. Don't buy this or any of their terrible books. ... Read more

Book Description

Clearly written, The Dividend Investor comes complete with a step-by-step method to implement the strategy, as well as detailed research on the long-term performance of dividend-yielding stocks. It provides investors with a safe and effective system for beating the stock market. Specific topics include: The foundations of dividend investing; The mechanics of dividend investing; A high-yield strategy to beat the market; Why dividend investing works; How to make money in a bear market. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

At last, a reasonable "how-to" investment book.
Most investors want a simple formula for making reasonable gains in the stock market. The authors have done just that. Early in the book they tell you what their five simple steps are (in one paragraph) then proceed to explain why their method works. My only criticism is that the book is 1/3 text and 2/3 performance tables backing up their research. Does dividend investing work? My stock portfolio has beaten the S&P 500 for the last 2 years since I began using their technique. ... Read more

Book Description

"You will find lots of jewels in these pages that may do as much for you as they have for me."—from the Introduction by Kenneth L. Fisher Forbes columnist

Widely respected and admired, Philip Fisher is among the most influential investors of all time. His investment philosophies, introduced almost forty years ago, are not only studied and applied by today's finance professionals, but are also regarded by many as gospel. He recorded these philosophies in Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits, a book considered invaluable reading when it was first published in 1958, and a must-read today.

Acclaim for Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits

"I sought out Phil Fisher after reading his Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits...When I met him, I was impressed by the man as by his ideas. A thorough understanding of the business, obtained by using Phil's techniques...enables one to make intelligent investment commitments."—Warren Buffett

"Little known to the public, rarely interviewed and accepting few clients, Philip Fisher is nevertheless read and studied by most thoughtful investment professionals . . . everyone will profit from pondering—as Warren Buffett has done—the investment principles Fisher espouses."—James W. Michaels Editor, Forbes

"My own copy [of Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits] has underlinings and marginal thoughts throughout."—John Train Author of Dance of the Money Bees ... Read more

Reviews (25)

Solid read; practical ideas
This book is a classic in the investment field. Fisher is acknowledged as one of Warren Buffet's intellectual fathers and it shows. However - like many books on Buffett - Fisher's approach relies on the ability of the individual to spend large amounts of time researching companies and stocks. While this minimizes the risk of investing badly, it also assumes that picking stocks is your life. I recommend that anyone interested in investing read this text as an example of how to think about companies in which to invest. However, be prepared that it won't be as directly usuable as, say, the writings of Peter Lynch.

Not your typical investment book
"Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits" was an investment book with a different focus. Fisher focused not on valuation aspects such as the ones Ben Graham would use or technical trends that other would use, but instead focused on seeking out stable companies with good management and other qualities. Fisher prefers growth companies exhibiting substantial income and revenue growth. He likes what I would call the intangibles of stock investment; exceptional management, marketing, sales, and many other segments of a company. The only knock on Fisher's work is that he assumes normal people have the time or resources to seek out the leaders of a company. He also assumes that if you don't seek out the leaders of a company that you aren't doing your due diligence. Either way this book did provide me with several new concepts that I knew were important to investing but hadn't really thought about. This book will cover topics that Lynch, Graham and the other investment writers haven't covered.

quite a few nuggets, but impractical at times
when "scuttlebutt" is one of the leading litmus tests before investing, you're dealing w/ a program that is impractical for average individual investors. but the book is quite valuable for its focus on long run investing, its 15 rules for investors (and moreso, the rules for investors to NOT follow), and its stress on conservatism in practice is very helpful.

ultimately, this book is less about security selection than it is in investing philosophy---which it excels at. that's why buffett loved it, and you may too.

A Must for Every Investor's Library
I first read this book over ten years ago, and like the other reviewers, I too found it a difficult read. When I first read it, I thought the advice was somewhat impractical for the small time investor (try to imagine calling Bill Gates asking him what he thought of Steve Jobs' company). Graham's security analysis was much easier for the little guy investor to apply. Yet Fisher's techniques were and are used by the big time investors ( most notably Peter Lynch, and though I don't think he gives Fisher enough credit, Warren Buffett). Even the rankings of "Top CEOs" by Forbes, Businessweek, Fortune etc. was based on Graham's security analysis. Then came the corporate scandals of the 1990's, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and Elliott Spitzer of New York and now the little guy investor can apply Fisher's theory of investing. Fortune Magazine's CEO ranking has as much to do about corporate governance as it does with security analysis. There are websites devoted entirely to corporate governance. The Institutional Shareholder Service was created solely to act as a corporate governance watchdog. I recently re-read Common Stocks. It's still a difficult read and you can't read it in one day or even in one week. It's a book that you have to read and re-read to get the most out of it. The most useful chapters for an investor are Chapter 3 "What to Buy: the fifteen points to look for in a common stock", Chapter 8 "Five Don'ts for Investors, and Chapter 9 " Five More Don'ts for Investors." Fisher's Common Stocks and Graham's the Intelligent Investor are the two basic building blocks that every investor must master to be succesful in the stock market.

The Best Investment Book of All Time
I first read this book in 1992, and it did nothing for me. At the time, I had very little investment experience and was only starting to study the market. I re-read the book again in 2001 and, wow, it took me to a different level.

I would not recommend this book to investors who have less than 5 years of stock investing experience. You simply wouldn't get much out of it and might unintentionally lead you down the wrong path. Once you get your investing fundamentals down, this book will expand your horizon beyond your dreams.

Warren Buffett credited Ben Graham as the most influential force in his investment style/thinking, but I believe that it's Philip Fisher who gave him the edge and made him one of the great investors of the 20th century. ... Read more

Reviews (16)

Great!
I think this is a great book for someone wanting to get started in their personal financial planning. It is easy to read and not boring like other financially-oriented books. You'll be ready to develop your own financial actions plan after reading this!

If you don't want to die poor, you'll read this book.
At the time this book was given to me (by my Father), I was a Research Analyst for a mutual fund company. I thought I knew all there was to know about investing....but boy, was I wrong. In addition to working in a financial field, I was also married and had children. Reading this book showed me in such a simplistic and entertaining manner, how incredibly EASY it is to build wealth no matter what your income level is. I also learned about wills, life insurance, and other things that I never gave any thought to, but reading the book gave me insight as to just how important these things are...not to me, but to my family. My father is a very intelligent individual and has great money-sense. He is 51 years old and has never paid a single dollar in interest on his credit cards ! Now that is someone who knows how to properly manage his money ! He himself said that this book is propbably the most important and eye-opening book he has ever read - and that's why he gave it to me as a gift. If you are someone who has always been leary of investing, have no plan for retirement, or have a family, then you MUST read this book. It is written in a story-book format and reads just like any novel. This is not a financial lingo, how-to-get-rich-quick type of book. The "story" WILL show you how to build wealth....slowly, so you will be able to retire in style, not having to worry about money. Do yourself a HUGE favor and read this book. I guarantee that you will not regret it.

A Must Read!
Provocative, engaging and riveting are not normally words associated with a book on financial planning; however, I do not hesitate to use either one to describe this book. I was definitely not excited about financial planning until after reading the first edition of this book.

Chilton continues to uses a narrative style using characters that just about anyone could relate to. The Wealthy Barber breaks the age-old mind-set that only the rich can be rich. An excellent primer, you can apply techniques in his book today to ensure a better tomorrow. He also encourages further exploration and learning in order for anyone to become wealthy. Whether you're an executive or a gas station attendant, given patience and a little fortitude, you too can be wealthy!

I urge you, read this book!

AN AMAZING BOOK ABOUT HOW WEALTH IS BUILT
David tells us in this book how to build wealth. The tip he gives us is this...for us to save money out of every pay check. He recommends saving 10% out of every pay check. This is a very good idea and i strongly recommend this idea. If for some reason you can't save 10% out of each pay check, then i think that any amount that you can save should be adaquate. Please remember that saving money is just a small tip of the ice berg. You must remember that once we save our money, then the next step is to invest this money. Money needs to be growing at all times. Were you invest your money will be up to you. I personally invest in the stock market. I would strongly recommend this book. It can put you on the right track to financinal success.

Absolutely Amazing
This book provides the common working class man a opportunity to smartly and efficiently save money and achieve financial independence. The book itself uses a story to convey its message, and is easily understandable and readable. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to get ahead in life. ... Read more

Book Description

Lurking somewhere amidst all the figures in a financial report is vitally important information about where a company has been and where it is headed. But without a guide to isolate and interpret those numbers, the dizzying array of columns and rows doesn't add up to a hill of beans. That's why thousands of professionals and savvy individuals have referred to this bestselling resource that shows anyone how to make sense of all those numbers.

If you're someone who works with financial reports or needs to understand them—but have neither the time nor the need for an in-depth knowledge of accounting—this book will help you cut through the maze of accounting information to find out what those numbers really mean. It steers you quickly and painlessly through the basic accounting concepts and line-by-line explanations of the basic financial statement. Complete with a visual guide that leads you through the intricacies of financial reporting, How to Read a Financial Report shows you how the three essential parts of every financial report—the balance sheet, the income statement, and the cash flow statement—fit together and what it all means to you and your company.

Updated throughout, this new edition addresses the many changes in the financial world in the past few years, including new pronouncements of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, new income tax laws, and emerging financial reporting problems. Also, all exhibits have been made easier to follow.

Features updates on:

• Tax reform
• Recent FASB rulings
• Depreciation methods
• Spotting fraudulent reporting

"If you would like to have a minimal understanding of the numbers that make up a balance sheet, income, and cash flow statement . . . then How to Read a Financial Report might be just what you are looking for. Mr. Tracy's book explains in plain English the meaning of the major terms used in financial statements."—The Wall Street Journal

"What distinguishes Tracy's efforts from other manuals is an innovative structure that visually ties together elements of the balance sheet and income statement by tracing where and how a line item in one affects an entry in another."—Inc. magazine

"An excellent job of showing how to separate the wheat from the chaff without choking in the process."—Miami Herald

"A wonderful book—organized logically and written clearly. For a Fool to be an effective investor, she has to know her way around a financial statement. This book will help you develop that skill. It's the clearest presentation of many accounting concepts that this Fool has seen. "—Selena Maranjian, The Motley Fool ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Indispensable
John Tracy outdoes even Benjamin Graham's "The Interpretation of Financial Statements" with this work, which makes basic financial analysis accessible to anyone who wants to take the time to learn about it. Beginners should not expect to pick up everything this deceptively brief book has to offer on first reading. But the text's thoughtful layout fosters quicker learning than would otherwise be possible. This is an indispensable guide for anyone who wishes to buy securities but lacks formal training in financial analysis.

Well Written Overview of Financial Statements and Accounting
This book is great for anyone ranging from beginner to intermediate knowledge of financial reports. I have taken accounting and finance classes in college. This book tells the same things that 600 page textbooks and hours and hours of lecture can tell you, but it does so in an easy to understand and concise manner.

Most important it explains the relationships clearly between the income statement, balance sheet, and cashflow statement. This book would be great for anyone starting an education in finance or for any investor trying to broaden their knowledge base. If you invest in stocks, you should learn how to read financial statements. This book will give you some much needed knowledge that you can use as you scour for companies to invest in.

This author takes pride in his writing. John A. Tracy is a professor of accounting, but his knack for concise explanations and the clear use of the English language is evident throughout.

excelllent intro
This book is excellent in the following ways :

-succeeds in explaining in a concise (+- 100 pages) and clear way the basic principles of financial statements.
-the special format of the book is excellent in that it shows most examples and related text without having to turn the pages.
-there is enough white space, allowing you to make annotations.

Strongly adviced for anybody owning a company or for management / accounting students.

disappointed
John Tracy does explain the 3 important "sheets" of a complete financial report. But he failed to help me understand what can be ascertained from more abstract concepts like cash flow or depreciation. His (lack of decent) explanation of why depreciation expense shows up in cost flow calculation appears to account twice for the same $ (once in profit and once in cash flow). His explanation of trying to use EPS & P/E ratio to determine the value of a privately held company share went no futher than this: "you could try to sell my your privately held share at any price you want, but I wouldn't have to accept it". That's not an explanation, just a statement of the obvious. The book needs more prose and examples of how the concept of a healthy (or unhealthy) company can be determined from a financial report. In fairness to Tracy, perhaps the latter half of the book addresses my needs, but I quit at page 76 (1/2 way through the book) after an inadequate explanation of depriciation expense as positive cash flow. I'll give another, more rigourous text a chance at that.

Won't Help You Understand ENRON.
Concepts such as pro forma statements and restatement of earnings just aren't addessed in this 1999 book. Time for another update! ... Read more

Book Description

In 1991, Michael B. O'Higgins, one of the nation's top money managers, turned the investment world upside down with an ingenious strategy, showing how all investors--from those with only $5,000 to invest to millionaires--could beat the pros 95% of the time by putting 100% of their equity investment into the high-yield, low-risk "dog" stocks of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. His formula spawned a veritable industry, including websites, mutual funds, and $20 billion worth of investments, elevating the theory to legendary status.

Reflecting on the greatest bull market of our time, this must-have investment guide has been revised and updated for a new economy. With current company and stock profiles, as well as new charts, statistics, graphs, and figures, Beating the Dow is the smart investment that you--and your portfolio--can't afford to miss

Reviews (16)

Sounds too good to be true
This is a classic book describing a simple method for achieving outstanding results in the stock market by investing in a selection of five stocks from the Dow Jones Industrial average. There is one little problem. The method hasn't worked very well recently. Taking some data from the table on page 204 of the O'higgins book we see the % gain or loss of the selected five stocks compared with the Dow Jones Industrial Average: (Year, Five stocks, Dow Jones Average);(1994 8.6 4.9),(1995 30.5 36.4), (1996 27.9 28.9), (1997 20.5 24.9), (1998 12.3 17.9). The method has faied to Beat the DOW every year since 1994. My own calculations shows that this under performance continues into 2001. The Motley Fool Group has done extensive research on this method and after their initial enthusiam they have recently terminated their recommendation. Serious students of the market should buy this book. Further study of this approach may lead to new methods for "Beating the Dow".

Investing sensibly
Some people might laugh at this book specially the brokers who make living by sucking the commision out of an average investor. What had happened in the NASDAQ in 1999 before the correction was absolutely mind blowing and this book might have looked like a bad joke i.e. advocating to invest in companies like International Paper! but now that the dotcoms are down the drain, the valuations are somewhat back on earth, the margin-debt bitten people are done crying, maybe it is time that us i.e. average investors read this book.

This book as the name says is all about investing in Dow companies, the giants of the US and global economy. The companies which I truly believe that world could come to an end but GE would still be there. The book covers all the Dow components individually along with their historical financial performance, weaknesses, strenghts and their power to stay in business by being profitable over years and years. There are many different 'low risk' investment strategies covered in this book such as 'High Yielding 5'. These are the 5 Dow stock that you pick annually based on the criteria described, HOLD it for 1 year, redo the math (barely any)and pick your 5 stocks again. You also sell some at this point that didn;t meet your criteria and pick the new ones to fill their spot.

Sounds simple, yes! and that's the way it should be. Not only you can ride out the swings of the stock market in this way but also save a ton on commisions, taxes and most importantly be less stressed.

If you read the Motley Fool, you'll notice some of their strategies are derived from O'Higgin's methods.

A must read for all investors, specially younger people like myself who want to start building the nest yesterday!

Not a totally bad method of choosing stocks
"Beating The Dow" by Michael O'Higgins offers the following simple investment strategy. You simply buy the ten highest dividend paying stocks among the Dow Industrial Averages. The Philosophy is that as the value of the stocks increase, via stock price lagging or falling below the market, the dividend yield will tend to rise. (i.e. the assumption is that dividend yield is a proxy for value. One problem is that not all Dow stocks pay out the same level of earnings, so some stocks will tend to have higher dividends.)

While I tend to be skeptical of any investment strategy that is too simple, if you must use such a simple strategy, then you could do far worse selecting the highest dividend paying stocks from the Dow. Of course, the other option is just to index your money in a mutual fund that buys the entire stock market. Vanguard Funds is the leader in such index funds. But, I like dividends.

The difficulty with simple investment strategies is that they tend to be arrived at via data mining. The proponent of the investment method asks "What worked in the past?" and then tries to draw up a canned investment method. Almost always, the proposed method then starts to lag behind in the present and future stock market performance. (the recent performance of this strategy is discussed in another person's great book review. See that.) This is not due to market efficiency or that the method is becoming well known. It just means that the method wasn't entirely valid as a predictive method.

There is the old joke about the "X investment strategy." When a computer was asked to vigorously evaluate the stock market and look for predictors of future investment success, the computer spit back the answer, "Invest in stocks whose name begins with an 'X' and whose name ends with an 'X.' " Xerox was the top performing stock over the period.

"Beating The Dow" is one of those books, if read all by itself, might mislead a new investor into an over-simplified investment strategy. Yet, you might enjoy reading it. And, as stated, you could do worse than holding the ten highest dividend-paying Dow stocks.

"Beating The Dow" also mentions what Michael O'Higgins calls the "Penulatimate Profit Prospect (PPP)" which involves buying just one stock. The Stock with the second lowest price among the ten highest yielding stocks. I consider that Penidiotic. We conservative investors do love our stock dividends, and the focus on dividend yield gets "Beating The Dow" a solid honorable mention.

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

Beating the Dow, Still an Unbeatable Read
Michael O'Higgin's investing classic holds up as well in the New Millenium as it did when it first hit book stands 10 years ago.

He maintains that it is still possible to beat the DOW by buying the 10 highest yielding stocks and tweaking your holdings each year, with correspondingly greater rates of return with a two- or five-stock selection from the group. O'Higgin's admits in the new eidtion that the strategy has been muddied by a drop in the relative importance of dividends as a part of total yield of the DOW. Dividends and payouts have lost lost out to stock buybacks, in part because dividends are taxed at a higher rate than long-term capital gains from stock sales. Changes in the DOW have also reduced the overall dividend payout. Of the most recent additions, Microsoft pays no dividend and Intel and Home Depot have nominal payouts. O'Higgin's strategy may also be less effective because it's simplicity and past returns attracted the attention of Wall Street money managers and of many, many individual investors. There is at least one web site devoted to the Dogs of the Dow and a number of similar investment strategies were profiled for several years on the Motley Fool website.

Nor is the most valuable part of O'Higgin's book his thumbnail sketches of other value strategies for beating the market with a basket of DOW stocks. Several seem downright ridiculous. I remain skeptical that investing based on presidential election cycles or end-of-year asset sales by fund managers can yield meaningful, long-term results for individual investors.

The value of this book is O'Higgin's championing of value investing in general and his highlighting of the resilience of the DOW stocks in markets bull and bear. Most people aren't professional investors and lack the time and resources to profit from a strategy of active trading. If the efficient markets guys are right, then buying all 30 DOW stocks and holding on long-term will beat returns of most professionally baskets of stocks, with less risk and less payouts for taxes and trading costs to boot. Or maybe buying the highest yielders in any given year and holding. Anyway, you get the picture.

Regardless of whether you think the high-yield 10 is still capable of outgaining the overall DOW, O'Higgin's book is, to me, as valuable in 2001 as it was when I first read it in 1993.

Solid, Perhaps 1st Book Mentioning Yearly Good Season
This may be the first book that mentions how the stock market usually performs much better Nov. 1-May 1. This is a more important observation than the "Dogs of the Dow" strategy this book became famous for. Sy Harding's "Riding the Bear" thoroughly covers this "seasonality" feature. Though the manic bull market of Oct 98-March 2000 TEMPORARILY made this book seem outdated, it holds up well (had the non-updated version) and is a solid effort that is well thought out (which immediately puts it above 80% of stock market books). A keeper, re-read it. ... Read more