Book Description

The #1 New York Times bestselling authors of the Rich Dad Poor Dad series deliver a financial plan to help Baby Boomers survive an impending economic crash. Anyone with a 401K knows that investing in mutual funds is not safe, or so claim Kiyosaki and Lechter. Even worse, they warn that a devastating economic crash is imminent because Baby Boomers will soon be required by law to drain trillions of dollars stashed in 401Ks, IRAs, SEPs, and other mutual-fund savings accounts as they start to retire. In short, the country's financial system won't withstand the drain, and relying on a 401K and Social Security will mean financial disaster. Here, Kiyosaki and Lechter provide a financial roadmap for readers to prosper during these troubled times. ... Read more

Reviews (94)

Prophecy: Timely and Scary for Majority of Baby Boomers
I did not expect to get much out of this book. I expected the usual litany of admonitions and suggestions available in hundreds of articles and basic books on finance for the masses. Despite that low expectation, the first chapter had me hooked.

With an aging population, turmoil in the stock markets, and lack of knowledge about how much money is needed for retirement, author Robert Kiyosaki gives specifics to support his theory about predictable problems facing those who hope to retire.

The book won't appeal to people who are satisfied with their current job and have no plans to change in the future. But for those who care about government policy and how these policies and demographics are impacting our society, the book is eye-opening as well as easy-to read.

The "rich dad, poor dad" vehicle gets old but is stiff an effective and sometimes entertaining vehicle for conveying information.

Definitely a must read.
Rich Dad's Prophecy is most certaintly a must read book for anyone who has money invested, especially in 401 (k) plans.

While some of the information in RDP is similiar to Kiyosaki's earlier books, the pension, retirement and 401 (k) is fresh, startling and hopefully alarming to anyone who plans on investing their money between now and 2016.

2016 is the year when the bulk of the baby boomers will be forced to liquidate their retirement funds. When this happens, a major stock market crash is expected (no kidding!) that surpass the bear market from 2000 to 2002.

Another problem is what kind of money will current savers have in their 401 (k)s? For example, before going into self employment, I worked in a local office for one of the top 6 banks in the USA and had been putting all I could into my 401 (k) savings plan. Despite this being one of the "Big 6" Banks, matching by the bank was about average (and any matching reflected in reduced wages), options to invest in were patheticly weak and the bank would match us only with shares of Bank One stock.

After reading RDP and going into self employment, I rolled my 401 (k) into a self directed IRA with a brokerage firm. I now choose my investments between stocks, mutual funds and bonds or even Tax Liens, Discounted Mortgages and Real Estate. I'm in control, not my employer.

The only real benefit of a 401 (k) is the borrowing provision which unfortunately too many so called fiancial experts discourage.

And after the Enron issue, who wants to have that much money in company stock?

Kiyosaki is alerting people and none too soon. I am certain that all of the one star reviews are from brokers, financial planners and benefits directors from companies that hope that you blindly follow their advice even it means not having anything for retirement.

I cannot emphasize the importance of reading RDP and more importantly, following the advice.

To repeat, Rich Dad's Prophecy is definitely A MUST READ!

A Bold Contrarian View
It takes guts to write a prophecy, and it takes particular guts to write this prophecy. It is a refreshing, and probably correct, "contrary" opinion to the endless optimism that you get from Wall Street. For this reason alone, the book deserves five stars. (It is also better written than some of the earlier works, probably the result of practice.)

Early in the book Kiyosaki starts by pinpointing the central problem of retirement income--that ERISA, the so-called Employees' Retirement Income and Security Act, had actually undermined the security of workers' retirement incomes by replacing so-called defined benefit plans, underwritten at fixed levels by companies, with defined contribution plans, under which workers were individually responsible for investing their own contributions. Baby Boomers bought this snake oil because of their desire for individual, rather than collective, security. The results, and wreckage, can be seen at places like Enron. But the marketers of the new plans certainly knew what they were doing.

The underlying problem is that the Baby Boomers were the last American generation to be more numerous than their parents. Every succeeding generation has been of comparable, or even smaller, size because the Baby Boomers' fertility only approximated replacement rates. Thus, there is a flat, rather than broadening, pyramid as age groups get younger. This historic demographic shift called for far-sighted savings and investment plans designed years ahead of Baby Boomers' retirements. (Japan has a much higher savings rate than the US and is now staring this issue in the face.) Because Baby Boomers have put off retirement planning too long (as they have earlier in life with other issues), they are facing a massive financial crunch. The result, as Kiyosaki points out, will be a stock market crash that's almost a foregone conclusion: It's more a question of when rather than whether. The fact that this prophecy originated with "Rich Dad" doesn't make Kiyosaki less of a prophet. After all, God gave Moses the ten commandments.

My main quibble, and it's really a difference of opinion, is with the 2016 target date. In my new book, "A Modern Approach to Graham and Dodd Investing," I outline a target date closer to 2006 (along with some proposed solutions). That's when early Baby Boomers turn 60,and can start tapping their IRAs without penalty. (And they've never been ones to postpone gratification.) It's possible that my target date is too early, and that Kiyosaki's is too late, with the truth somewhere in between. But he and I agree on major concepts, while differing in detail.

A poorly written book based on a bad assumption...
Basically, RK uses this installement in the Rich Dad/Poor Dad series to claim that the stock market is due a big fall when, by federal law, Baby boomers start to withdraw equity from their tax deferred retirement vehicles at age 70.

This means that RK is predicting not only stock market performance over a decade in the future, he's also predicting tax law over a decade in the future.

The chances that the tax code governing 401k's will weather the years unscathed are miniscule. And it's a good thing too. RK's "ark" of choice - real estate - would also plummet in value during a massive depression where paying tenents would be scarce.

Going into a depression saddled with large real estate debt is a surefire way to be living under an overpass in a cardboard box for your retirment.

RK's got a point -- the market will be hurt when Baby Boomers liquidate their assets to live off of in retirement. But its doubtful that the government will force this selloff when the boomers get here. This shouldn't stop a wise investor from making long-term stock purchases or using more creative vehicles to make money.

I like that RK is so enthusiastic and assertive about getting your financial life in order and making a change in the way that you make money. Investments are great and people should build up some investments for their futures. But this book is founded on such shakey soil that it's difficult to stomach. Pick up some of his others (Rich Dad/Poor Dad or the Cashflow Quadrant) if you need a pick-me-up.

Promising more than delivering
The premise of this book is tantilizing: 1) The stock market will crash, and 2) here are some investment ideas to survive and prosper when the crash comes.

The author presumes that when retiring baby boomers begin to withdraw their 401(k) and mutual fund assets there will be more "sellers" of shares than "buyers" - thus the market will fall. This is a two-dimensional vision of the marketplace, yet plausible.

Regarding investment ideas for the reader: other than recommending the purchase of "income producing" real estate the second half of this book is hollow, and used by the author as little more than a platform for promoting his cash-flow board game and additional books he has written.

I don't feel that the day I spent reading this book was wasted, however, I'm not going to recommend it to any of my "thoughtful" friends. ... Read more

Book Description

This book explains how emotions drive the financial markets and demonstrates how technical indicators can be used to forecast market turning points. This edition includes a trading system and provides practical advice on how to profit from changes in crowd psychology. Specific topics include: The ``logic'' of the crowd; Techniques for forecasting crowd behavior; The mathematical basis of price movements; Price patterns at turning points; The mechanics of trading success. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Efficient market or the herd behavior?
Everyday, reporters and analysts produce dozens of reports about the markets and they try to forecast what will happen next. Most of the time, analyst forecasts are wrong. Market action is in the unexpected direction. The reason why the analysts are often wrong is that they use efficient market hypothesis as a method to forecast the market action. Is the market really efficient and individuals behave rationally or the herd psychology is the main reason of the price action which is following certain patterns?

Read this book.

Mr. Plummer's book handles the problem as a psychological phenomen and examines the dynamics of crowd behaviour. This book clearly describes how financial crowds integrate and disintegrate. Every crowd has a life cycle and in this cycle, the growth, maturity and decline periods follow each other. Mathematical model of the formation and disintegration periods of the bull and bear crowd life cycles, is the Fibonacci number series and this book explains the connections between the growth and decline periods.

Mr Plummer further explains Logarithmic spiral and golden ratio in detail and how they can be used to forecast the future market movements.

This book is a must-read for the financial professionals and the traders.

Harder then hell to read
Hardest to understand book on stocks to date for me. Where is my asprin :0)

The market Lives
Tony Plummer did a great job in helping me understand thisliving, breathing, and ever changing organism, the crowd/market;brevity and clairty and beautiful presentation; this book will never be outdated.

B. L.

The Most Revealing Modern Book on Mass Psychology of Markets
Tony Plummer's recent visit to New York and his speech at the Princeton Club had prompted me to reread his book. In his quiet, understated, very British way, but with a tremendous clarity and style this professional money manager reveals mass psychology is behind market moves. If the markets drive you crazy with their seemingly irrational swings, read this book to see the logic behind disorder. Tony Plummer illuminates market movements for you in a way that will impact your understanding for as long as you trade. Then he shares some of his analytic techniques. This book belongs on the desk of every serious technical analyst and trader! MAKE SURE you get the latest edition - Forecasting Financial Markets, published in 1998. For some reason, the three editions of his book have been published by three different publishers under different titles (marketing geniuses!!!) who continue to sell their outdated editions. So make sure to get the latest one!

Pushes at the frontiers of understanding about markets
A very easy to read analysis of the influence of crowds. It opened my eyes to the influence of the Golden Ratio. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Very pleased. Good read, clearly explained.
This book was well worth the price. It was a very good read with clear, real world examples and illustrations. It's not just about picking winners, it's a whole fundamental philosophy on trading. ... Read more

Book Description

From America's liveliest writer on mathematics, a witty and insightful book on the stock market and the irrepressibility of our dreams of wealth.

In A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market best-selling author John Allen Paulos demonstrates what the tools of mathematics can tell us about the vagaries of the stock market. Employing his trademark stories, vignettes, paradoxes, and puzzles (and even a film treatment), Paulos addresses every thinking reader's curiosity about the market: Is it efficient? Is it rational? Is there anything to technical analysis, fundamental analysis, and other supposedly time-tested methods of picking stocks? How can one quantify risk? What are the most common scams? What light do fractals, network theory, and common psychological foibles shed on investor behavior? Are there any approaches to investing that truly outperform the major indexes? Can a deeper knowledge of mathematics help beat the odds?

All of these questions are explored with the engaging erudition that made Paulos's A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper and Innumeracy favorites with both armchair mathematicians and readers who want to think like them. Paulos also shares the cautionary tale of his own long and disastrous love affair with WorldCom. In the tradition of Burton Malkiel's A Random Walk Down Wall Street and Jeremy Siegel's Stocks for the Long Run, this wry and illuminating book is for anyone, investor or not, who follows the markets-or knows someone who does. ... Read more

Reviews (48)

Excellent and realistic investment book.
This is an excellent book on investment theory. It reviews fundamental analysis, technical analysis, option theory and many other topics. The author explains exceptionally well the Efficient Market Hypothesis and the debate surrounding it. He also introduces basic concepts of behavioral finance.
Abstract.

As a mathematician having studied the stock market, he believes the stock market is pretty efficient; and that both technical analysis and fundamental analysis do not have much predictive value.

Technical analysis according to him should be renamed trend analysis, as it consists in graphing and extrapolating current stock price trends. He covers the major strategies technical analysts use such as buying stocks when their current price breaks through its moving average, and selling them when they fall under this same moving average.

He covers fundamental analysis and their associated metrics in good details. Reading this section, you will become familiar with all the usual metrics, including P/E, PEG, P/Book value, P/Sales.

Mr. Paulos makes a case that the stock market captures the aggregate of all our psychological foibles, and goes on giving a good introduction in behavioral finance. He illustrates the common psychological flaws associated with investor behavior, including: the confirmation bias, anchoring effect, status quo bias, endowment effect, and Richard Thaler's mental accounts. He also illustrates flaws we incur when doing investment research, such as: data mining back testing, and the survivor bias. But, in aggregate these human errors partly cancel themselves out rendering the stock market pretty efficient.

The book's gem is the debate on the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH). The fewer the investors believe in EMH, the more they will engage in technical and fundamental analysis to extract excess return above the index. These "active" investors will render the market increasingly efficient, and negate their opportunities to earn excess return. The opposite is also true. If investors believe in EMH, they will become "passive" and just buy the stock index through a Vanguard fund or an ETF. As a result, the market will not be so efficient, and the EMH will not hold up in such a situation. So if you believe in EMH, it is false. But, if you don't believe in it, it is valid.

Paulos argues that enough active investors do not believe in the EMH to render it valid. This argument is convincing when you think of the thousands of mutual funds, hedge funds, and private managers on Wall Street. Thus, there are plenty of professional active investors to render the market very efficient. But, Paulos does not deny that certain markets at certain times, temporarily ignored by Wall Street, may be less than efficient. Thus, for him the EMH debate is not just a true or false question, it is a matter of degree.

Active investors play a crucial role in making the market efficient. Paulos makes an interesting distinction between the technical analyst and fundamental analyst. He states that technical analysts are momentum investors. Thus, they cause market volatility to increase. When stock prices increase, these guys buy even more. When stock prices decrease, they sell. Thus, they accentuate the swings in stock movements. Notice that they break the rule of Buy Low Sell High. The fundamental analysts are really value investors or contrarians. They do just the opposite of the technical analysts, and cause stock price movements to moderate. Thus, the two types of analysts/investors play a different role. But, together their active analysis make the stock market very efficient. The EMH states that all information is disseminated and absorbed immediately within the investment community, and thus is fully reflected within stock prices. But, somebody has to process this information. And, that is what the technical and fundamental analysts do.

One of Paulos other big concept concerns the statistical distribution of stock price movements. According to the EMH, stock price movements are random. And, this is true as confirmed by the autocorrelation on any time series of stock prices that is typically very close to zero. If stock prices move randomly, they should assume a normal distribution. But, Paulos indicates it is not always the case. In other words, extreme events (stock crashes or booms) happen more frequently than in a normal distribution. He adds that at the tails, the price movement of stocks is better captured by the power laws. Check page 178 for a detailed explanation on power laws. This is fascinating, and it may represent an upgrade to the EMH that relies solely on the normal distribution.

It Doesn't Add Up
Anyone familiar with mathematician John Allen Paulos wonderful Innumeracy book from the 1980s will be sorely disappointed with his latest effort.

Innumeracy set a standard for clear and relevant explanations related to math literacy. Even the title Mr. Paulos selected became part of the country's every day lexicon, a simple way to refer to the challenge of understanding the way the world is influenced by probabilities, variables, and equations.

A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market, to use a metaphor Mr. Paulos might use, falls short of that level by a degree of magnitude.

Part of the problem, I will admit, is the high standards set by Innumeracy. If it weren't for that effort, the author's humorous and candid accounts of his own investment failures here (no, math geniuses aren't any better at it than the rest of us) and his clear and easy-to-understand explanations of what the stock market numbers actually reflect would result in a better reception for A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market.

Then again, it may have been Innumeracy's success and critical acclaim that allowed A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market to even be published.

The actual text checks in at just over 200 pages, and yet the book spends a great deal of time beating around the bush, promising to come back to certain points in the future in several instances, making the slim volume feel more unwieldy than it should. And it is repetitive, using the same story about a stock scam based on mass mailings on three separate occasions. It even shows poor editing: the author can't seem to settle on a single spelling for the bankrupt consulting firm Arthur Andersen, or is it Arthur Anderson?

Yes, there are lessons to be learned in A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market: investing is complicated, for example, and a strategy of diversification and investment in simple index funds can yield strong results. But a reader doesn't have to delve into A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market to glean these nuggets of wisdom -- they are just as available in the Sunday newspaper's investment columns and from any number more complete investment guides.

In this book, Mr. Paulos warns again and again that he made an error by not judging the financial results of WorldCom, the company whose failure forms the centerpiece of this book, objectively enough. It's an important point; he wanted the company to succeed and so he failed to recognize evidence to the contrary. And it's a lesson that people who buy this book because of the esteem they have for Mr. Paulos after reading Innumeracy and other efforts will wish they applied to their decisions on book buying as well as stock buying.

A Sucker Plays the Stock Market
I do not plan on going gentle on this book, so if you are fond of the book or the author, you needn't read any farther.

My first complaint about this book is it implies that mathematicians, by virtue of their chosen profession, are all world class fools when it comes to investing. Surely Mr. Paulos is outstanding in that regard, and he has no business blaming mathematics or anything other than his own lack of character for his stock market fiasco.

Time was, if you did something shameful or grossly stupid, you suffered sociatal approbation. Mr. Paulos, in keeping with current ethos, chose to write a book about it.

Mr. Paulos regals his readers with how he managed his investments, which is a chronocol of almost every mistake a person could make:
$he bought at the top
$he did'nt put in a stop-loss order
$he used margins to increase his investment
$he willfully ignored all signals that something was wrong
$he threw good money after bad
$he was unlucky to have chosen Worldcom in the first place

Interspersed with this confessional is a lot of mathematically oriented stories which illustrate the counter-intuitive nature of probability. If you are interested in the psychology of investing, I highly recommend "Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes" by Blesky.

Perhaps the silliest thing about this book is that Paulos does not even entertain the possibility that it is theoreticlly possible to beat the market. It seems obvisous that if some people (such as Mr. Paulos) have above average losses, somebody somewhere has to have above average gains. Mr. Paulos, who is obviously highly intellegent, seems unable to make this observation.

This book is a two hundred page affirmation of what anybody who ever went to high school already knows: the smartest kids in the class often lack common sense.

Good Reflective Piece
This book is a good reflective piece on markets and luck and the odds.
Clearly it is a business book. Business buyers are looking for a way to get rich and get stock tips. Such reflective pieces may not be welcome.
Read it and reflect.

Informative, but pretty random and basic
Pallos explains the concepts of mathematics and how it relates to the stock market. Is there financial analysis that can lead to increasing market gains? Is it all random? If it is random, why is everyone trying to beat the system and get better returns? If there are inefficiencies, why haven't they haven't been exploited yet?

He goes into such topics as the psychology of losses, the analysis of risk, the diversification of portfolios, and how it all relates to strategies, probabilities, and many mathematical topics. He often interjects how he went against common mathematical theories by personally sticking with his WorldCom stock during it's huge crash.

It's hard to explain or give a synopsis of this book because it really doesn't have a concrete point, nor does it really have anything that really stands out. It's a bunch of somewhat interesting mathematical concepts that either loosely or strongly correlate to the stock market.

All in all, it's a decent easy read, but nothing eye-opening or memorable. ... Read more

Book Description

Stocks markets go up and down, but no matter what the economy is doing, people worldwide continue to drink, smoke, gamble, and fight. Why not invest in vice?

Vice Fund Manager, Dan Ahrens focuses on "sin stocks"- tobacco, alcohol, adult entertainment, gambling, and aerospace/defense, contending that even during an abysmal economy, people will continue to indulge in these goods and services.

In Investing in Vice, Ahrens explores all major aspects of the vice industry and provides traders and investors with:

o A brief history of each principal vice industry
o Strategies for building a profitable portfolio
o Charts of each industry's stock performance
o Instructions on how to invest in vice-pros and cons of full service brokers, managed portfolios, and mutual funds
o Top Picks-of the best companies, and top stock holdings
o Reasons why Socially Responsible Investing may not work

With its lighthearted tone and simple approach, Investing in Vice is the ultimate defense in these troubled economic times.
... Read more

Reviews (5)

Is it fun or profitable to sin?
This simple financial advice book focuses on 'sin stocks.'The writer in his portfolio states that this is a perfect world, the world of sin and corruption.Where has he been all his life?We read about such in the Bible.Is there such a thing as a 'perfect world' -- not that I am aware of the possibility.

This world has been at war since the beginning of recorded history and before.According to this web page, "these industries are nearly recession-proof."They will continue to experience 'significant capital appreciation' during good and bad markets.Why not invest in vice?

He touts these illustrious sin stocks as being in Gambling, Alcohol, Cigarettes, Aerospace & Defense, and Adult Entertainment (movies, live, massage parlors, and even porn on the computers).At a local computer lab, you can't sit down in peace to check email without porn popping up.

His version of defense is not creating weapons to invade, conquer, and destroy other nations.What about homeland defense from terrorists from the places living in the 'old ages'?

Alcohol is a thriving thing in this town and has a history of moonshiners and illegal consumption throughout the years.It is touted as a highly profitable business.It definitely is here, as all the men of Knoxville think they must drink as much as they can, to drown their sorrows.In an article written by a local journalist for the Summer '98 special, 'CELEBRATING KNOXVILLE & EAST TENNESSEE' entitled "Two Centuries of Growth," I learned some factsabout my hometown which appalled me:
Not one permanent church here during the first quarter century;Knoxville's chief export was liquor: in the 1820s, the town had sixty distilleries; in 1906, there were 100 saloons downtown (imagine!)
It was criticized nationally as being the most sinful city in the South (after New Orleans). Saloons were banned in 1907 here, and the ban wasnot fully lifted until 1972 when the "city" reinstated liquor-by-the-drink.

Ahrens claims that our very first US President George Washington was a drinker (of malt!) -- I like malted milk, so I guess I am a drinker, oh my.Three years ago, I was invited to a gathering at a local pub and saw first hand how alcohol affects diverse groups and I was most uncomfortable in that smoky atmosphere.Needless to say, I was not invited back.

Lincoln is quoted as saying, "no vices have very few virtues."I'd suggest he read William Lee Miller's LINCOLN'S VIRTUES (An Ethical Biography).What we need more in this world are ethics.
Now, I understand why the Knoxville I grew up in during the '50s was the "glory days" of this town. Religion apparently didn't dominate society,but we had a background of morals which are not prevalent today.

With its lighthearted and simple approach to the vices he concentrates on for financial reasons, this is the ultimate defense in these 'trouble times' -- why not just get drunk, play the lottery (which is real big here at this time), look at naked women, smoke,smoke,smoke that cigarette, and play war games.

Investing Should Be About Making Money..............
.....and not about making a social or political statement - that's what investing in "vice" is all about. "Investing in Vice" is a straight forward read with many interesting facts that I am sure many investors are not aware of - but should be! At times, the book can sound simplistic, but then again - investing should be simple. It is no surprise to me that many of the so called "sin" stocks have - on average - outperformed the markets with significantly less volatility over the long term. Ahrens does a great job explaining everything you ever wanted to know about investing in Booze, Bets, Bombs and Butts.

Investing in "Sin" Stocks made easy
I will be the first to admit that I know very little about stocks in general. But after reading numerous articles about investing in so called "sin" stocks, I became very interested in learning more. Mr.Ahren's book is an easy read full of clear, insightful information. He not only explains why investing in these stocks makes so much sense, he lays out the facts to back up his statements in a way that is easy for even novices like me to understand. If you are interested at all in investing, especially in "sin stocks", this is a must read.

Lord Help Me
Investing in Vice is a very insightful with straight forward and well developed ideas on the virtues of investing in vice.A must read for all investors and a great portfolio diversification strategy.The author is a sage voice in a sector where the hype, glam, politics, and zeal often overshadow the reality that many of the companies are great performers and stocks.

Refreshingly straight forward investing talk!
I thought Ahrens book would be gimmicky, as it turns out, it was anything but gimmicky.Ahrens' take on the gaming, alcohol, tobacco and defense industries being an essential part of any investors portfolio is well thought out and credible.For those investors looking to recession proof their portfolio, Ahrens' book on vice investing is a great resource.I enjoyed the book in large part because it was an easy read, but very informative. ... Read more

Book Description

Finally, a book by an author that understands what the average investor needs! The information in this book will give you the ability to make money using real tried-and-true techniques. No special knowledge required, no strings attached. These tools can help you secure real wealth-not through get-rich-quick schemes, or any other tried-and-failed method, but through large cash returns from the stock market. ... Read more

Reviews (36)

You'll want to add this one to your library
Wall Street Money Machine-Stock Market Miracles is an excellent companion to Wall Street Money Machine for the new millenium. It goes beyond WSMMFTNM and covers more information like selling puts and tandem plays. As for the advertisements, I think the bashers mean testimonials and whats wrong with listing success stories? I enjoyed this book and made money with the strategies. Recently, I bought puts on Cpq for 1/16 and sold them for 7/16 five days later using the peak strategy that Wade talks about. I knew Cpqs run wasn't sustainable based on valuations of their stock.There is a wealth of information in these books. Use them and benefit from them.

There may be other books, but are they better?
There certaintly have been a lot of books on stock market investing released since Wade Cook's first book came out. Isn't it interesting how quickly imitators jump on the bandwagon of a popular topic, but only after someone else has paved the way?

As for the 1 star reviewers, I would be very skeptical of people trashing a NY Times, USA Today and WSJ best selling author. Who are they representing?

Wade Cook's techniques flat out work. And obviously there is alot of money to made in selling stock market investing. Just look at all of the Wade Cook imitators, books, tapes and seminars that have popped up lately.

Wall Street Money Machine Vol 2 is a great book for any serious investor.

Sorry, I hate to see an accomplished teacher, writer like Wade Cook get treated undeservedly. I guess I'm "old fashioned" that way.

More strategies by Wade
In this second in a series of books on cash flowing the stock market, financial expert Wade Cook goes even deeper into his revolutionary strategies. You'll read more about covered calls, rolling stocks, stock split exit strategies, naked puts and more. This book will put your cash flow on turbo charge!

Demystified option trading for me
Before buying this great book by the great Wade Cook, I knew nothing about trading, the stock market and thought options was a choice on which stock to buy. WADE COOK helped demystify the whole darn thing for me. Trading became easy, fun and very profitable. Even without knowing what I was doing completely, I was able to make 200%-1000% annualized returns.

This book is different than Wall Street Money Machine VOL 1. It covers trading much more completely. Another winner from Wade.

Good followup to Wall Street Money Machine Volume 1
Wall Street Money Machine Volume 2 picks up where Wall Street Money Machine vol 1 leaves off. There is more powerful information on stock splits, options, rolling stocks PLUS Wade goes on to discuss the why and how of trading puts. He also offers tandem plays, mixing strategies and more.

Vol 2 is not just Wall Street Money Machine on another cover. Itis different. More complete. Goes deeper into the strategies of how to cash flow the stock market successfully.

Read this in addition, not in place of vol 1. It's a great addition to any serious investors library. ... Read more

Book Description

This inquiry into the rise and fall of the great Wall Street boom of the 1990s, from bestselling author Roger Lowenstein, has all the hallmarks of a financial classic.

Roger Lowenstein, recognized as one of the best financial reporters of our time, turns his focus to the 1990s stock market and economic boom and bust in Origins of the Crash. With his singular gift for turning complex financial events into eminently readable stories, Lowenstein lays bare the labyrinthine events of the manic 1990s-including the collapse of Enron, the dot-com bubble, the accounting scandal at Andersen, and much more.

Drawing on his sense of history, Lowenstein inquires how a financial system that arose out of the wreckage of the Depression and that was intended to avert the miscues of that era could ultimately repeat the very same scenario of massive speculation and corruption leading to collapse. He discovers the roots of the recent crisis in the financial culture that cropped up in the 1970s and 1980s as America encouraged companies to hand out ever greater packages of stock options to their executives. In an enthralling narrative, Lowenstein ties together all of the characters of the great boom and bust: Alan Greenspan, Jack Grubman, Jack Welch, Abby Cohen, Henry Blodget, and a host of dot-com pioneers. But it is the collective rendering of such figures-the unique portrayal of the culture of the era-that truly distinguishes Origins of the Crash as the book that will frame our appreciation of the period.

Just as John Kenneth Galbraith's The Great Crash was the canonical text of 1929, Lowenstein's Origins of the Crash is destined to become the definitive account of the 1990s. ... Read more

Reviews (24)

The Naked 90's
In Origins of the Crash, Roger Lowenstein has written a fascinating account of the late 90's stock market bubble and subsequent collapse. The overriding theme of the book is that the culture of "shareholder value" was twisted from creating true long-term value into an obsession with the daily ups and downs of the companies' stock prices. It's an interesting way to view things and should prove thought provoking to many. Lowenstein makes a compelling case that the scandals of the past several years are not the work of just a few bad actors, but rather were symptomatic of widespread failures throughout all levels of business, government and the public. The cast of villains is extensive including the now common ones like Ken Lay (along with Skilling and Fastow), Jack Grubman, Bernie Ebbers (and Scott Sullivan) and Henry Blodget, but also includes the complicity of weak boards (and overall lax corporate governance), conflicted accountants and lawyers and an investing public (both individual and professional) that was too busy making money to worry about any of it.

I am not sure how much new reporting there is in this book... much of it is pulling together various stories that have been widely reported on. But it is put together artfully into a compelling narrative. It was fascinating to watch Michael Jensen, who was one of the earliest advocates of the use of stock options, eventually turn on his own creation. The section on Enron, while obviously not as extensive as some of the works devoted to the subject, is one of the best condensed accounts I have seen.

I do have a few quibbles with the book though. First, it winds up being something of a polemic. Reading Mr. Lowenstein's book, you get the distinct impression that there was not a single positive thing that happened at any time during the 90's. I found myself wondering if any companies managed to get it right... and if so, how and why? Second, in highlighting the abuses of options at the executive level, I think Mr. Lowenstein gives short shrift to the positive effects they can have on the lower levels of an organization. In the same way, he glosses over that there are some justifiable reasons for not expensing options. Finally, I question some of his comments about deregulation. He argues that the deregulation of telecom went to far or was perhaps even a bad thing. And yet, the purpose of regulation is not to protect the value of companies, it is to ensure access at the most reasonable costs possible. By that standard, deregulation of telecom should be seen as a success. Sure, lots of capital was destroyed and many companies failed, but it is not the government's job to prevent that.

But those issues aside, the book will stand as one of the more definitive accounts of the excesses of the 90's and Mr. Lowenstein's case against the culture of shareholder value will hopefully inspire some new thinking amongst executives, boards and investors. In short, I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in recent market/business history.

The Theme Never Changes, Only the Stories
There are only two emotions that motivate the stock market: fear and greed.

In his latest market history, Roger Lowenstein explores how the theme of creating shareholder value morphed into unbridled greed and led to the latest stock market crash.
Delving back to the 1970s and 1980s, Lowenstein spins a compelling narrative, of heavy hitters -- Jack Grubman, Sandy Weill, Frank Quattrone, Henry Blodget, Mary Meeker, Abby Cohen, Bernie Ebbers, Frank Lay, Jeffrey Skilling, Gary Winnick -- who checked their moral scruples, fiduciary responsibility and better judgment at the door in the pursuit of personal wealth. Along the path, they co-opted the system's traditional restraints: full disclosure, public accounts and corporate attorneys.

I was disappointed Lowenstein failed to include the Richard Grasso incident. As the head of the New York Stock Exchange and regulator of virtually every individual mentioned in the book, his pursuit of personal wealth at the expense of those he was charged with regulating would have served as the icing and cherry on top of this tale of greed.

Regardless, this well-researched and powerfully written portrait of the rise and fall of the bull market of the 1990s will studied by market historians for decades to come.

dry, acerbic wit accurately dissects the money culture
This is a really good, introductory book that explains the whole money culture of the 90s, its origins, and many of the seemingly absurd and illogical justifications used by various players to justify the bubble that permeated Wall St.

It is quite informative, always entertaining, and Lowenstein's wit and acerbic sense of humor make one chuckle at the outrageousness of some situations.

That said, the book, while descriptive, is not prescriptive: it does not offer much in the way of solutions to the issues so eloquently raised in its pages. It is quite easy, after all, to determine that a hitter swings his bat too wildly to make contact with the ball; it is much harder to tell the batter how to make contact with the ball. Describing the history and culture that gave rise to some of the more egregious practices of the past ten years is certainly informative; however, such descriptions merely contextualize the problem and do little to advance debate on how to overcome such problems.

For example, Lowenstein quite correctly points out that one big cause of the mania for shares was managers' sudden infatuation with hitting quarterly earnings targets...which fascination these managers fixated on because the Street told them that is the yardstick by which they would be judged. So? Good analysis, good explanation that the logic implied in the relationship between managers, their colleagues on the street, and the maniacal focus on hitting earnings targets is self-referential if not outright incestuous. But Lowenstein does not take this argument to the next step: what do we do to cut off such self-referential silliness as that which is described?

That is a discussion he does not approach, and one that neither he nor anyone else seems to have. History, of course, will judge if the corporate reforms as of late, such as Sarbanes-Oxley and the focus on corporate governance will have the desired effect.

The Clinton boom wasn't a boom - it was a sham.
What really caused the great stock market bubble of the 90s? Who was responsible for the economic growth of that decade? Who are the villains that robbed millions of their life savings?

Lowenstein weaves a stomach turning tale of rampant dishonesty and criminality; individual, corporate and political greed; the willful failure of law enforcement on the federal level; the blindness created by greed and exposes the myth of the so-called Clinton boom years.

In the end, Lowenstein shows how the Depression-era laws intended to protect the public against stock swindles were simply ignored by the Clinton Administration. Sharp-witted corporate executives learned that they could loot the companies they ran in behalf of the shareholders and the shareholders themselves. The investment bankers learned that they could tout stocks with impunity, no longer having to fear being penalized for lying about the companies they cheered and simply turning a blind eye to accounting arcana and bad news. The accounting and legal professions, supposedly self-policing, dedicated themselves to finding ways to make dung look like gold, even if they couldn't remove the smell. The media, with its legions of financial "reporters" and their dependence on the advertising revenue of the very businesses they reported on, did no fact checking of their own, but simply parrotted the lies they were fed.

And the government? Then President Clinton and legislators simply took the donations of the very people who were fomenting the bubble - and turned a blind eye to enforcing the laws.

Several thousand people grew very, very rich from all this chicanery - while millions lost money, sometimes disastrously so.

Lowenstein describes how it all began with the inflation of stock options awarded to executives. It didn't take long for corporate executives with compliant boards, lawyers and accountants to realize that a seemingly unlimited flow of wealth was waiting to be tapped. The investment bankers and stock analysts saw - as it always has been - how stock prices could be run up without a whit of truth supporting their claims. Buy, buy, buy became the mantra to the public - while the folks on the inside saw profit on every transaction.

Enron and Worldcom were but the largest perpetrators of this sham on the company side, assisted by legions of lawyers who sought loopholes, accountants who looked the other way, stockbrokers who didn't care as long as the public kept buying - and regulators and politicians who lined their own pockets.

It's a sad tale of the Clinton boom. It never was what it was publicized as being - it was a sham and millions of ordinary people are the poorer for it. But not the fat cats in the White House, Congress, the brokers or the others who pulled it off. A few may ultimately go to some country club jail, but they'll be able to afford whatever they want from the commissary.

Jerry

Origins of the Crash: The Great Bubble and Its Undoing
Lowenstein, a well-known author and financial columnist, has crafted a lively and readable account of the last 30 years on Wall Street. Starting with the creation of 401(k) accounts, proceeding through the boom years of the 1990s, and then moving to the downfall of Enron and its brethren, he ties in the various factors that have inexorably led us to where we are today. While none of this is new information, Lowenstein includes enough personal details to make it seem fresh and interesting. The last chapters are particularly relevant, covering the fallout when the various deals and compensation scandals came to light. The effect of 9/11 on the government and the country in general is also touched on, particularly with regard to the rising budget deficit. Finally, an epilog discusses the fines and reforms (including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002) that resulted from the various debacles and opinions about what else must be done. The book is heavily documented throughout with quotes and sources, making it authoritative as well as informative. Recommended for public libraries.- ... Read more

Book Description

A FAMILY THAT LEARNS TOGETHER EARNS TOGETHER!

Whether you're a novice stockholder or a seasoned investor, you can teach the next generation of stockholders how to invest successfully. Creative, practical, and full of savvy financial advice, Wow the Dow! is a family-oriented guide to the workings of Wall Street that shows parents how to start investing in the stock market with their children and encourages kids to think intelligently about money.

Cofounders of Stock MarKids,™ the nationally affiliated parent-child investment club, Lynn Roney and Pat Smith explain the important aspects of the stock market and provide parents with easy-to-follow advice for introducing the exciting world of finance. Complete with games, exercises, and real-life profiles of successful child investors, Wow the Dow! covers:

• The basic concepts behind investing
  
• Teaching your children how to read stock quotes and understand business news
  
• Building an appropriate portfolio with stocks your kids will pick
  
• Creating strategies for making investing fun and profitable
  
• Where to go online for stock games, investment sites, and financial resources
  
• The advantages of joining an investment club
  

With its commitment to educating kids and encouraging them to find new and creative ways to invest, Wow the Dow! is a must-have handbook for every parent. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Wow The Dow! The Complete Guide To Teaching Your Kids How to
This is the type of book I wish I had when I first became interested in investing. It is so elementary that I can actually understand what the stock market is all about, and how I personally can benefit from getting myself educated about investing. What's more my teenage daughter is learning about investing and investment clubs and students from her class are getting together weekly to talk about the stock market, using this book as a guide. This is a wonderful book to introduce kids and teenagers to investing.

extremely informative
I found this book to be extremely helpful in decoding a very intimidating topic. The forum in which the book was layed out made for an easy and exciting read. I finally feel comfortable and adept to invest, in addition to having various resources for doing research. I highly recommend this book and have bought several copies for friends and family with and without children.

A great book for kids and adults alike!
This is one of the easiest to read and understadn investment books I've ever found. Teaching children the value of long-term investment and money is a wonderful gift to give anyone. Adults will find the clear explanations, sound advice, and tips on getting started no matter how much you have to be valuable as well.

This and Jason Kelly's "Neatest Little Guide..." series are my favorite introductory investment books.

E-Trade Meets Sesame Street!
"Wow The Dow" is an easy to read book geared toward showing parents and children how incredibly easy it is to invest in the stock market. Not only will this book strengthen your parent child bond but you will be amazed at how easy it is to invest in the stock market. Inside there are easy to read graphs, games, puzzles and too many other neat little side bars to mention. The side bars themselves make great reading.

The best part about this book is that it teaches adults and children that you don't have to be Bill Gates to be an investor. In fact, you can begin your investment portfolio with less money than you spend buying this book.

Being a stock market novice myself, this book taught me how to identify companies, learn everything about the company and most important, how and where to buy their stock. It also stresses the importance of not using a full commission broker to do what you can easily do yourself for a fraction of the cost.

After reading this book, I find myself very hesitant about unwise spending. I now have a little voice in my head that is saying, "If I invest that $1.05 that I spend at WaWa for coffee, every morning, and I use that money to buy one share of EMC every 6-9 months, and the stock does a two for one split every Spring, how much is that coffee really costing me? "

I don't have any children, but I can only imagine where I would be today if my parents showed me how easy it is to start investing in the stock market when I was 10, 7 or even 4 years old. This book uses true life scenarios where one of the author's daughters invested two thousand dollars when she was a small child and now that money will more than cover her college education.

Do yourself a favor and read this book. Although this book is very new, it won't be long before it's on every coffee table in America. ... Read more

Book Description

If continuing corporate collapses, Wall Street lies, and economic uncertainties have left you wondering whom to trust and what to do with your hard-earned money, the time to take action is now. Immediately stop any losses, get on a fast track to recovery, and potentially make more money in the next few years than most investors made in the 1990s.

Author Martin Weiss has built a national reputation as a fiercely independent critic of Wall Street practices and as the one advisor showing hundreds of thousands of investors how to make solid profits even while most others are losing their shirts. His previous bestseller, The Ultimate Safe Money Guide, gave readers the know-how to invest wisely and cautiously. Now, in Crash Profits, Weiss arms you with the tools and techniques to profit both while the market is falling and when the market recovers.

Crash Profits gives you . . .

• The proven methods to profit from a stock market crash
• Seven practical strategies for building wealth in any environment
• Fifty stocks you should sell immediately–plus advice on how to sell
• Six steps to take right away to protect the value of your home and real estate
• More than seventy-five safe alternatives for your money, so you can sleep nights
• Practical ways to protect your job, reduce debt, and save more
• Specific instructions to turn economic disasters into great opportunities for profit

The message of Crash Profits is original, powerful, and comprehensive. Pick up this book and learn how to win in the market and the economy while nearly everyone else is losing. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

Well-written description of bearish scenario
By combining fiction with non-fiction, Dr. Weiss' had made his extremely bearish outlook a page turner. Advice on protecting yourself from loss during such a crisis is coupled with stratgies allowing you to prosper.

By now, it is common knowledge that many in the financial community gave bad advice to public investors with the sole purpose of lining their own pockets. Weiss' description of those abuses is worth the retelling, as it offers an additional warning to all of us.

Whether you agree with his outlook or not, there is much to be gained from reading this book. His suggestions on keeping your assets in the safest banks, money market funds and brokers is sound advice for everyone. Weiss provides lists of those safer institutions.

Plain simple language, just the facts
This book is the BEST one you'll find that could be "Bubble Economy 101" or "Bear Markets for Dummies".

If you've felt betrayed and blindsided by the stock market declines since 2000; if you have ever felt the least bit intimidated by the economists, the Wall Street pros, and the guests on financial TV and assumed they know more than you do; if you have been arguing with yourself over whether to sell your stocks; if you have been debating over whether to buy a house; if you have wondered if the yields on corporate or muni bonds are a good deal; if you've ever wondered how our economy has gotten itself into the fix it is in; if you've looked around and felt like we aren't "bouncing back" and wondered why; READ THIS BOOK!

The book is practically worth it alone for the discussion of the government bond market, and why confidence MUST be maintained in it.

The author has a "followup" website at www.crashprofits.net.

Misleading title, but story interesting in the beginning
The title of the book is probably the most misleading one I have come across for a while, as it has nothing to do with the books contents. The cover would have you think this is a book about how to make money and give you the strategies promised on the back cover. It isn't. It is a storyline about a CEO and some friends who get caught up in some financial tricks and end up blowing the whistle in a financial thinktank called CECAR. It is designed to be a lesson in macro and micro economics. The problem is that the story is interesting at the start, but drags on and on with the unplausible existence of the thinktank (as no-one would fund such a thing) that grows in size, profile and importance to the point where there is a meeting with the US President. Get the drift ? I read all but the last 40 or so pages. My recommendation is not to buy this unless you want a few pages of an interesting story on how financial cover-ups can work.

Crash Profits
Truly a worthless book written by someone who has little insight into how the capital markets really work. Comments on high yield bond and guidance about which stock in your portfolio to sell demonstrated that the author is devoid to any true investment knowledge. My credentials to make the judgments: Certified Financial Planner, MBA Degree, fee based financial advisor.

1 star is too generous
By way of explanation, I read an excerpt from this book in a popular tout sheet and bought it merely to pad my order to get to the free shipping level. What a mistake. (The lesson here is to just pay your shipping charge and be done with it).
My own personal view of the equity markets is one of a longer term secular bear market and I've been trading options for a number of years so I should be sympathetic to Weiss' thesis. However, all of Weiss' insight in this area is summarized in 15 rules covering 4-1/2 pages. While mostly accurate, there are some glaring errors, e.g. Rules 3 and 4 advising you to avoid contracts of a certain price range. Option prices are based on the cost of the underlying shares so to avoid contracts over $500 is to limit yourself from companies with high share prices with potentially the most room to fall.
Perhaps I was expecting him to elaborate on some other bear option strategies, but all he offers is buying puts. As for directly short-selling (the only other way to benefit from 'crash' markets) all he says is 'don't do it'. He fails to sufficiently describe the time decay problem with long options in his 15 rules. E.g. with respect to the interminable Japanese bear market, simply long puts may not have made you any money because of the graceful but inexorable decline punctuated with sharp rallies. You would have needed a bear-neutral strategy. The problem is that with a preponderance of contracts at a certain strike, the market makers may ride the underlying shares past the expiry so that they all close worthless.
The rest of the book recounts recent financial scandals such as the $6k shower curtain, but I found myself skipping over several chapters at a time because I'm one of those odd people who remembers what they read in the paper or saw in the news.
There were some odd chapters on real estate and moving your money to a safe bank, which suddenly struck me as the same stuff Prof. Ravi Batra was writing in the 80's (to wit 'The Great Recession of the 90's'!). To his credit, Batra caught the 'Great Recession' of 1991 (as did your local evening news) but by 1992, the stuff was all nonsense.
Could anyone benefit from this book?
Those interested in the subject would probably already be in the bear camp, but the book is insufficient as an introduction to options trading so there is little practical value. And those unfamiliar with his filler material probably don't read the newspaper, so why would they read a book?

For any practical benefit, this book should have been published 3 years ago. So perhaps publication now is actually a contrarian indicator?
BTW some of the rave reviews are just bizarre, one guy recommending "9 Free Secrets of New Sensual Power" in the same breath. I can't comment on that selection, but if you're trying to pad your order to get free shipping, that is probably a better choice. ... Read more

Book Description

A new foreword by the author in 2001 brings new perspective to the original How to Buy. This book compliments Mamis’ When to Sell by providing a concrete path to reaping profits in the stock market year by year. How to Buy’s chapters include information on:
—Safe times to buy
—How to pick a stock that’s about ready to move up
—Exactly when to buy (what day and hour)
—How to check out rumors and recommendations
—Market action indicators
—Basic buying strategy ... Read more

Reviews (2)

This and 'When to sell' should be required reading
From covering all the thoughts that go through ones heads at the time of pressing the trigger, to all the consequences of these thoughts. Everything is covered in this book.
Then it helps one create a strategy for buying based on facts rather than emotions.

I would recommend this book and When to Sell above most books about trading.

Great series of Books.
I can't say enough about the series of When to Buy, When to Sell, and The Nature of Risk. Ironically, I bought the When to Sell years ago, read it and shelved it. It's pages would have saved me a bundle over the past year. As the worst seems to be behind us, knowing when to get back in is key. Simply written with great examples, make this book a must own. ... Read more

Book Description

In The Great Game, acclaimed business historian John Steele Gordon chronicles the rise of Wall Street from its humble beginnings as an American trading post to its domination of the world economy, bringing to life the remarkable cast of bankers and brokers, visionaries and crooks who made it happen. From Alexander Hamilton to Michael Milken, the history of Wall Street is a history of risk, courage, avarice, patriotism, power, genius, and, occasionally, remarkable stupidity. In Gordon, Wall Street has finally found a biographer worthy of its extraordinary story. ... Read more

Reviews (14)

The great game is a great book
If money interests you, then you should read this book. As a Wall Street professional I was enthralled by this easy read about the history of Wall Street. Mr. Gordon does an excellent job of taking us from Wall Street's unambitious start as a northern line of defense for a wilderness trading post to the its role as the most powerful stretch of pavement on Earth.

Some of the unique things you will learn include

1. Who invented modern capitalism (hint: Tulips, 1700th century)? 2. The establishment of our federal tax system 3. What structure made NY city the US's largest city 4. Wall Street's first and greatest speculators 5. The creation of the Federal Reserve System

Gordon does a great job of introducing us to the most powerful people the world may have ever known. The most notable include JP Morgan, arguably the world's greatest banker; Hetty Green, the richest (and most paranoid) woman in the world; Charles Merrill, the man who brought Wall Street to Main Street; and Michael Milliken, the world's most famous Wall Street villain to wear a toupee.

The story of Wall Street is truly extraordinary. Its history is littered with courage, greed, jealousy, genius and lots of stupidity! John Steele Gordon does an admirable job of hitting all the salient points while making the journey enjoyable and memorable. Buy this book and read it!

Interesting Overview of Wall Steet's History
John Steele Gordon is an engaging writer. Anyone familiar with his magazine articles in American Heritage knows he is adept at holding readers' attention over several thousand words.

This book reads like a collection of magazine articles. The chapters focus on different personalities or events that shaped (or epitomized) Wall Street over the last two centuries. While there are some attempts to link subjects to their past (notably in the development of rules and regulations), the book reads more like a collection from various time periods rather than a synthesized whole.

What the reader gets are interesting snapshots. And Gordon does make them interesting. Always an engaging writer, he mixes the right amount of fact and commentary to keep a credible story moving along at a nice pace. The author does justice to many fascinating personalities (Hamilton, Fisk, Gould, Vanderbilt, Morgan, Greene, Kennedy, Milkin and Boesky), and events (panics, depression, corners, theft, corruption, manipulation) that have shaped the American financial system since the dawn of our Republic. The chapters are just long enough to gain an appreciation for the subject at hand, but not too long as to bore.

This book is not a study or treatise on financial products or their development. These are mentioned in passing so as to give familiarity to the reader. But, do not expect to learn about how stocks, derivatives or mutual funds (etc., etc.) work in detail here.

While this is not an in depth study of the Street, it is an excellent and engaging survey that will interest the general reader.

From the inception to present day stock market
This book describes the events and how the stock market came into exsistence.It mentions the events that has fuelled the market booms and busts , the regulations and new rules that were placed after each bust to prevent another bust and the great people involved -- just reminds you that their is nothing new under the sun especially what is happening in the stock market now .I recommend this book to anyone interested in the mechanisms in the stock market and how the booms and busts have created a stock market that has created wealth and admiration all over the world

Outstanding History of a Global Power
I purchased this book after watching the CNBC adaptation, and was prepared for a less than sterling treatment (given CNBC's past book adaptations). I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Gordon has written an enjoyable and thorough treatment of the street. Indeed, in retrospect, the CNBC adaptation does not do justice to the work. I highly recommend this work.

The best financial history book I read
This book gives a comprehensive history of Wall Street from the colonial times to the present day. It is very comprehensive and detailed. ... Read more

Book Description

THE SHORT BOOK ON OPTIONS is just that: a concise easy to understand primer that first teaches the basics of stock options and then offers a hands-on approach to using options in a conservative manner.Beginning with a description of what an option is and how an option works, THE SHORT BOOK ON OPTIONS takes the reader on a journey from learning the language of options to being prepared to trade.The book provides detailed answers to these important questions:What are the steps involved in trading options?Why would you want to sell a stock option?

What do you have to gain?

What do you have to lose?How do you choose which option to sell?THE SHORT BOOK ON OPTIONS is especially useful for long-term buy and hold investors, owners of a self-directed retirement plan, investment club members or anyone who wants to increase the performance and safety of his/her investment portfolio.The author teaches a conservative strategy focusing on profitability and safety.By the time you finish reading this book, you will be eager (and prepared) to make your first options trade. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Excellent
This book delivers, I did not know about options prior reading, the simple and yet comprehensive presentation allows to develop a good grasp of how to use options on a conservative and solid fashion.
What he advocates (protection and enhancement) of a portfolio is well presented and plan to use his advice.
More likely will now seek more information and knowledge with more elaborated books (not sure is really needed) but the basics are here.
thank you Wolfinger

Clear concise primer for understanding options
I found this book to be just what I was looking for. After a complete introduction to the topic, Mr. Wolfinger helps the novice options investor clearly understand one conservative strategy. The author is very dedicated and thorough in explaining the concepts. He makes no assumptions that the reader has previous knowledge of what he teaches, yet he is never condescending. I also appreciate the easy to read font size. The text is large enough that I can read it without my glasses! Many thanks to the author for having the patience and know-how to start a beginner from "square one". I look forward to other books on the subject by this author.

I am a satisfied options novice
Enjoyed this book! It delivers as promised. I picked it up hoping to get a clear understanding of options and how they work. I was more than pleased, as this book provided all I was looking for, and more. The author presents material in pleasant, easy to grasp language. I now have a very clear understanding of options. The covered call writing strategy sounds good to me. I never knew it was so easy to obtain some safety for my stocks. I have already opened my options account and my broker is offering encouragement.

I'm no longer "clueless"!!
Since reading this book, I have learned how to use options, opened an options account, and made several successful transactions. The author's style is easy to understand and the recommended strategy has been working for me. PS...I have set aside a small amount of my own money to work with...I haven't told my husband about my newly acquired skills. Hopefully one day in the future I will be able to give him a $$ surprise!
GIRLFRIENDS...GET THIS BOOK!

Great options strategy
This book not only explained the concept of options in a simple to learn manner, but it also demonstrated how to use one simple options strategy. I am much more comfortable with my investments now that I have added safety to my holdings. I recommend this book to anyone who is worried about the safety of his current investments. ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Simply the Best Trading Book Ever!
I've been a professional trader for 20+ years and this is simply the best book written on the art of trading. Trading is about all about overcoming the inner self which is driven to failure. This book, more than any other I've ever read, cuts to the heart of the matter and gives the reader real, tangible, and specific advice on how to approach the markets, him/herself, and how to deal with the daily pressures of trading. Those pressures are not only external, i.e. the markets, but also internal, i.e the mind. I've read all the other "Zen" books, I've read all the other books on the proper psychological mindset, and this one beats all the others hands down. If you buy no other trading book but this one, then you are already way ahead of the game. This is the single most valuable book in my trading library. I highly recommend its purchase.

A Complete Insight Into Zen in the Markets
Here's a book that gets to the point quickly. I read this book in less than an hour. But in that amount of time, it really packed a punch and I suspect that many traders will find its key points to be of immense help from the next opening bell.

Author Edward Allen Toppel is a trader with a background in the S&P Futures Pit of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. He's been at it for 20 years. So he isn't your typical vendor just in it to sell you books, courses, and seminars.

His book is based on his experiences both as a winning and losing trader. His thesis is simply this:

To succeed as trader, you have to trade with the flow with the market.

As incredibly simplistic and mystical this sounds, Toppel gives powerful suggestions on how to accomplish this.

Here are three of my favorites:

1) A loss is a loss, whether or not it's unrealized. Many traders mistakenly think that if a position goes against them, they haven't lost any money until they sell the stock.

2) Buy high, sell higher. The odds of success are much better if you buy stocks that are trending higher, than if you try to bottom fish and buy a stock because it's cheap.

3) Keep your positions small enough that you ego does not get in the way of good judgment.

On that last point about keeping position sizes small, I want to expand a bit.

To me, that was the single most profound statement in the book. I've heard it hundreds of times before, but Toppel's discussion of position size was riveting and had me thinking deeply about my own performance as a trader. His thesis is this:

We all have some threshold of position size which, when exceeded, transforms us into complete morons.

Keep your position size below this threshold, and you'll likely make money over the long haul if you're any kind of decent trader. But exceed the threshold, and your ego will inevitably cloud your judgment when something unexpected happens on a trade.

Think about it.

Bravo!
Straight to the point unlike the crooks aou there. You see in this little book the author shows what correct frame of mind you need to have in the markets, unlike others that sell "courses" for USD[money]...Not all that shines is gold!

My most useless read of the centruy
This book isn't really worth 1 star but that's the lowest rating allowed....I found this book a total waste of time. I read it carefully as I was sure I was missing something. Lots of platitudes, but no real substance. Perhaps you have to be a Zen follower to get something from it. How else could all these other reviewers think it was so great? There are many better books written about the psychology of trading. I see it's out of print. Wonder why?

You got to full understand zen before you can appreciate it
I wonder why there are so many readers who regard this as their favourite trading book. This is a good book. Concise, intelligent, and to the point:- no matter what skills/knowledge you have, all you need to do for long term success is to beat your ego, or in zen terms, forget and get rid of your own "self".

I believe Mr. Toppel really knows zen. He quoted excellent zen sayings in his book. However, I really doubt how many westerners can understand the true meaning of "When I eat, I eat. When I walk, I walk. When I sleep, I sleep." As subtly expressed in the suggested reading, this book needs to be read together with other zen readings for maxi impact.

Finally, to justify my rating of this book, I would like to raise the following complaint: Mr. Toppel quoted six rules for all successful investors and traders. 1. Never add to a loser. 2. Add