Fund-manager Books

The Washington Post praised this as a "how-to classic" and I would agree with them. It's well-organized and filled with top-quality professional advice. It's also very 'readable' - which sets it apart from so many public speaking texts.

I found this book saved me a lot of time and worry, both in preparing formal speeches and informal presentations. Most important, it will make you a much better, and more confident, speaker.

So you followed the advice to carry as high a mortgage as you can, based on your house's rise in value. Bought your house for, say, $200K, it went up to $450K. Banks too willing to lend, you have a big mortgage now. Value of house dropped to $175K and you need to sell it. Lost your job, want to retire, whatever. Can't sell it, you took out a mortgage for $400K. Now what can you do? Wait 10 - 15 years for the value of your home to go up? How old are you? You're definitely in trouble. How many took Ric's advice? And now he comes out with "The Lies About Money." What did he do, rewrite his first book and change all his advice? The lies were what he wrote in "The Truth..." And it seems to me he sold his company although he's still with it. Avoiding lawsuits? I don't know. I do know I went to see him for $500 and all his financial planner did was try to sell us more and more insurance: disability, homeowners, yada yada yada. What a waste of my time and money. Use common sense, not this book. Or any of Ric's books. Or any of his services. I'm glad I didn't follow his advice.

Do you wonder why there are so many persons struggling with financial problems? The answer is simple yet only a few know the answer. We simply don't know the rules of the game. The problem also is that it is very difficult and time consuming to figure out the "Game of Money".
The good news about this book is that the author explains and clarifies a lot of myths and misunderstandings about money,investments,markets,stocks,mutual funds,taxes and a lot more about subjects directy related to money and wealth. Are you going to be rich after reading it? Maybe,maybe not, but I do know that you will turn into a well educated person regarding how to make sound financial decisions. I bought this book and I plan to keep it because the information is priceless. This is the kind of book that you read, reread it and then keep it for future reference.

I received the book in short order. Haven't read it yet; however plan to.
Ed

Very readable book on personal finance across the entire spectrum of insurance, mortgages, investing, credit management, etc. After reading, I gave copies to siblings and children so that they'd have the information at their age that I wish I'd had when I was their age. Can't recommend it highly enough. Edelman's a fun writer to read. It's not a heavy financial text at all; it's all in street English!

Its really that worth reading! It spans a variety of subjects relating to money and is a must read for any new investor. I really like the seetion on paying down your mortgage. It is very different than many rules of thought that you hear or see on TV and Radio.
Adam http://www.halfpricebob.com

No new thing in this book. It only show ordinary concepts.

This book was well researched and offers some great ideas. I'd recommend this book for anyone in the business.

This book sets new standards in the industry. The best advisors in the business share their best practices--something every individual in the business should learn.

The brokers who produce the most in commissions, by CHARGING THE HIGHEST RATES, are considered to be the most successful.
What are their customers returns? Are there any returns?
For all of the changes in the financial industry, the one tenet that remains is the importance of separating the customer from his money, and that is what this book is all about.

Probably the best book on the subject. You can glean insights here from the real masters in the business.

Ron Orol has written a thoughtful and provocative book that gives an inside view into the world of activist hedge funds and how they are transforming the business world. Not since the "greenmailers" of the 1980s have corporate boards of directors and managers been so challenged by activist shareholders. The book explores the different kinds of thinking and strategies employed by activist funds and the challenges they pose to corporate insiders. "Extreme Value Hedging's" extensive analysis, documentation and insight are invaluable in understanding this new world. The book should be required reading for anyone trying to understand corporate governance dynamics in the 21st century.
Owen Kurtin

Very useful book for those trying to understand how activism works today. Great detail and use of examples.

I've been working with companies under attack from activist hedge funds since 2001 and this is the first book I've come across worth reading on the subject. Orol has done a nice job compiling the things that really matter - from the strategy and tactics used by some of the most proficient activists through the changing SEC rules and broader use of technologies that will make defending against these insurgents much more difficult in the near future.

If you're looking for a "lifestyle" perspective on the quirky behavior and actions often written about activist hedge fund managers, you'll have to look elsewhere.

author does a very thorough job citing quantitative analysis and primary sources of information on a variety of activist situations and topics.

however, IMO book could have used some better editing and sequencing. chapters frequently reference those same academic research and primary sources and in each chapter we are introduced to those sources as if it was the very first time they were mentioned. the upside to this is that chapters can stand on their own. the downside is that chapters don't flow, can be more lengthy than necessary, and leads you to wondering if this book could have been better organized.

This thoroughly researched book is a good introduction to the arena of hedge fund activism. The chapters are sprinkled with examples from the activist playbook - and the tactics of companies dealing with an activist uprising.
The writing is even-handed and the anectodes -- especially the several regarding public-pressure campaigns by activist managers -- make for engaging reading.

Business-related books can be generalized into certain well-defined categories such as (i)"how to" books (and management books), (ii) profiles of famous people (and the alleged wisdom they impart), or (iii) case studies on the rise and/or demise of firms. The "how to" books are often the most instructive to a practitioner, however, with few notable exceptions (such as Joel Greenblatt's recent book "The Little Book that Beats the Market"), the "how to" books tend to be the most boring of the bunch and are too often filled with seemingly endless lists of best practices. The profile books are often incredibly entertaining but, really, how many books on Donald Trump and Warren Buffet does the world need? The case study books are the most likely to produce `can't-put-it-down' page-turning classics such as Michael Lewis' "Liar's Poker" or Brian Burrough's and John Helyn's "Barbarians at the Gate." Some authors, such as Roger Lowenstein are able to produce terrific books in all three genres.

Randy Shain's book, "Hedge Fund Due Diligence" is primarily a "how to" book primarily targeted to individuals interested in conducting background investigations of hedge funds and hedge fund managers, yet, at the same time, the book's numerous anecdotes about failed hedge funds serve to illustrate not only the best practices in hedge fund due diligence but results in an informative, interesting, and entertaining read that reminds me of the case study classics cited above and makes the book superior to the vast majority of "how to" books.

The title, "Hedge Fund Due Diligence" is very functional and, admittedly, not particularly scintillating. When ordering the book, I feared that the writing would be quite dry and technical, thus it came as a pleasant surprise to find the writing to be quite witty as evidenced, at the outset, by the acknowledgements section at the beginning of the book, which reminded me of Dave Eggers' brilliant author's note introducing his first memoir "A Heart Breaking Work of Staggering Genius."

The book details the areas to examine and the steps to take when conducting due diligence of hedge funds and hedge fund managers. Most chapters focus on a particular type of due diligence such as the examination of public records or analysis of credit searches with practical insight into the accuracy and value of each type of due diligence action.

Would I recommend this entire book to the general populace? No, though the first few chapters and the concluding chapter are sufficiently informative and entertaining for the person with slightly more than a layperson's knowledge of, or casual interest in, hedge funds. However, this book is an essential tool for any fund manager that invests in hedge funds or any high net worth individual considering making a major investment in hedge funds.

Randy Shain's book is an essential tool for anyone interested in the process of performing background checks on hedge fund managers. Randy has written about the processes that are necessary to conduct this type of due diligence. The book is very detailed, leaving nothing out about the procedures his team performs on the hedge fund manager. At times it is almost too detailed, explaining explicitly how some specific searches are performed. However, Randy often interjects amusing anecdotes or opinions to keep the book interesting and lively. These often involve stories of how people who fail to perform his recommended steps do not discover crucial facts about the manager that could be a determining factor in whether or not they invest with that manager.

The book's title is a bit of a misnomer, as it covers only the background check process and does not cover the entire due diligence process that sophisticated investors need to follow. However, Randy makes it quite clear within a few paragraphs that he does not attempt to describe the whole due diligence process.

It is likely that Randy's firm has run more hedge fund background checks than any other firm in the industry, making him an expert in regards to performing background checks on hedge fund managers. This is a must-read book for all investors in hedge funds.

I have worked for Randy Shain, and have known him for years. A constant subject of our thousands of conversations has been how to do the best possible job of acquiring and processing good information.

A lot of his competitors are pleased to provide oodles of records and listings that may or may not lead to sound investments. Randy has spent his career perfecting the kinds of research that actually give you a solid and reasoned grasp of an executive's business past -- history shows that's among the very best factors in determining their future. If you want solid information, you want to use the techniques described in this book.

Matthews, author of the well-regarded Blog "JEFFMATTHEWSISNOTMAKINGTHISUP,has written a very personal account of what it's like to attend the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. His pt of view is one of a brilliant hedge fund mgr/author who shares an appreciation of the intense integrity and social responsibility of Buffet, yet also points out some well known and not so well know contradictions. An easy read, in the sense of effortless prose, yet challenging in the intellectual content of the book. You'll love it.

I thought the most interesting element in the book was his criticisms of Buffet. He did it so nicely and yet he did it without holding back his punches. Again and again, he pointed out that Buffet doesn't follow his own advice and that his management philosophy doesn't always work and that he might be robbing the companies he buys by taking all their money and discouraging expansion plans.

The Graduate Finance Organization at the University of Wisconsin-Madison had the distinct privilege of hosting Mr. Matthews for a discussion of his book. We are a group of MBA students who are passionate about investing. As such, the opportunity to have Jeff on campus to speak with us about the greatest investor in the world was a truly outstanding event.

Mr. Matthews' book imparts all the respect due Mr. Buffett while never losing the healthy skepticism inherent in a successful hedge fund manager. I think this is a unique approach as the book mentions not only Mr. Buffett's investing coups but also some of his less successful ideas.

Matthews also reveals some of Mr. Buffett's human foibles. This tact humanizes Buffett and suggests he may be less "oracular" than the media sometimes portrays. I suspect some who deify Mr. Buffett may be dismayed by some of these details but I found the approach beneficial and welcome.

The book provides a window into the Berkshire-Hathaway annual shareholders meeting and the tens of thousands of people from around the globe who descend upon Omaha on the first weekend in May to take in Mr. Buffett's wisdom, wit and good old-fashioned, mid-western common sense.
Mr. Matthews' eloquent yet understandable prose coupled with his dry wit make the book an easy read while still providing fodder for the investor's mind. The book is filled with interesting ideas and insights while adding a sort of pop culture look at the world's greatest allocator of capital, making it attractive to a wide range of readers from those simply curious about The Oracle to the most ardent Buffettologist.

Every year, I read the Q&A of BRK Annual Meeting done by various nice people sharing their experiences in Omaha. To be frank, not all Q&A are that easy to understand without knowing the history and background of those subjects and this book supplements those history, ideas and background for newbie like me. Everyone will surely learn from that and this is so enjoyable.

Sometimes, I have this question come to my mind - `Why Warren and Charlie like to answer questions from different people on different subjects and share their successful ideas and thoughts with the other?'

Having read the Q&A for years and the book, I think what Warren and Charlie try to EDUACATE us their values towards money, life, friends, rationality, thoughts, integrity, giving-away, etc.

Years gone by, we could observe more and more talent value investors appears and found successful, such as Seth Klarman (I treat him as third generation). More and more people invest intelligently, behave more rationally and act positively. Warren and Munger are actually creating a group of rational intelligent people with handful gunpowder (money). To me, I think this group of people will grow larger and eventually change the world in way which leads us to a better world. It is a kind of cult.

Personally, from the Q&A and the book, it gives me the opportunity to stand down, read and think about the heroes/books that Munger introduced - like Benjamin Frank, John Rockefellers (esp. his Dear Father/Dear Son letters), Darwin, Richard Dawkins, etc. They change the way how I think, I behave. Thanks Munger for giving me the opportunity to meet these great men despite the fact that some of them are gone.

Matthews' book is a chronicle of his visit to a Berkshire Annual Meeting in Omaha. Details include his trying to change his ticket at the airport, the taxi ride into Omaha, dinner recommendations from the concierge, and a number of often snarky observations at the annual meeting site. Spicing up these details are a number of Buffett sayings offered with little background, mostly gleaned from various Berkshire Annual Reports, or those who have worked with Buffett. The supposed highlight of "Pilgrimage to Warren Buffett's Omaha" are answers to already well-covered questions such as "Why does Buffett avoid technology stocks?," and a few attempts at shockers - eg. "Buffett is liberal in his thinking, yet his audience is mostly white."

Suggest instead anything by Mary Buffett (daughter-in-law), or Alice Schroeder's "The Snowball."

I heartily share the author's premise that an individual can produce better investment returns than a hired hand. No one takes your money more seriously than yourself. But it takes a focused and disciplined approach to produce excellent results.



An investor's biggest enemy is his own emotional involvement. The DIY Portfolio Management system helps to keep the emotional reactions out of the way and create a disciplined long-term focus to investment decisions. This guidebook gives a step-by-step methodology for producing better returns. It requires some work, but so does every successful system. There is no free lunch. I highly recommend this book

I worked as a licensed rep at Vanguard Mutual Funds for a while, talking to clients about their investments. The vast majority of the clients were lovely people, the kind you could happily spend a few hours with at a party. Unfortunately, that vast majority, pleasant though they were, didn't know much about investing. They were looking forward to financially stress-free retirements based pretty much on the luck of the draw. Often the ones in the worse shape were the ones following investment advice from an "expert." The best part of my job was quickly explaining some tips and strategies to help them understand and succeed.

I don't know Mr. Wilkinson, but he's a man after my own heart. He, too, wants to help people succeed at investing. His book DIY Portfolio Management is chock-a-block full of good stuff. Using the information Mr. Wilkinson provides should lead to more than satisfying results.

However, Mr. Wilkinson does not always speak in nouns and verbs, but launches into mathematical formulae at the drop of the proverbial hat. This will be disconcerting if you're a dedicated noun/verb person, but with a modicum of mathematical knowledge, you can step through the formulae with great benefit to your bottom line.

If talk about such things as standard deviations and regressions causes your brain to freeze, though, this is not the book for you, excellent though its information may be.

Ah, but if you speak in mathematical formulations with ease, get this book and march through its pages to investing comprehension. Knowing what you're doing is the secret to just about anything, including, maybe especially, investing.

Bette Dowdell, Author, How to be a Christian Without Being Annoying, The Christmas Invitation [..]

I've always thought that the difference between a "How to" book and a textbook was that the "How to" book was more often the easier book to digest. Not so in this case. This book takes on Portfolio Management like a tiger tearing into raw meat.

If you love with manipulating your financial funds to the degree that you have a stock ticker on your PC at all times, then by God, this is the book for you! This book drives down into the statistical analysis of why the popular methodologies work and then - without any ado - provides you with a straight forward, no frills equation for calculating the method yourself. I was impressed with that part of the book the most. A straight answer is usually the one thing that textbooks lack.

If you're looking for pictures and 1,2,3's for a DIY environment, then this book isn't it. Given the volume and depth of information presented, I'd be tempted to categorize this as a textbook. If you are serious about managing your portfolio, then this is the textbook you're looking for.

If you don't know the difference between a Savings GIC or CD and a balanced fund then this book is definitely not for you. Written to an audience of more savvy investors, DIY is designed to help experienced investors make the transition from a professionally managed portfolio to a self managed, successful investment future. DIY- Do it Yourself or Direct Invest Yourself is not for the faint of heart.

Knowledge breeds power and this book will help empower the DIY investor; filled with strategies designed to help the reader develop creative investment principles in a disciplined, intelligent manner. The book is written in three parts: Background, Trend Regression Portfolio Strategy and Portfolio Management Issues. Topics covered include: Market Timing, Stock Picking, Trading History and Risk and Reward, just to name a few. Investors are shown how to access and use MS Excel portfolio tracking spreadsheets to produce a comprehensive portfolio workbook. Sample graphs, models and illustrations are explained in detail. Many references and quotes from Robert F. Drach's, High return Low Risk Investment as well as the Drach weekly newsletter are included throughout the book.

Author, Lyle Wilkinson is Canadian earning his BBA and MBA in Hawaii where he now lives. In 1999, he began researching a disciplined, mechanical system's approach to the stock market. The result of that research is DIY-Portfolio Management.

Considering taking your portfolio into your own hands? This book is an excellent learning tool and a practical, comprehensive guide for remodeling your financial future.
Reviewer: Shirley Roe, Allbooks Reviews

It should be no surprise to anyone these days that over time money funds tend to track the stock indexes. Some do better, some worse, but over time they tend to track the average. So, how do you do better than average? How do you beat the indexes? Lyle Wilkinson proposes that the answer is really fairly simple. If the stocks tend to track toward a mean then trends can be examined to see where a stock is located on its mean. This fancy term for this is trend regression analysis. In his book "DIY Portfolio Management" Mr. Wilkinson provides a great explanation of trend regression analysis - what it is, what it is not, why it makes sense, and how to do it. For those who like statistics he builds the complete formulas and rationale, for those who don't he points out that many services provide trend analysis on their sites. You don't have to calculate the trend regression but you do need to understand what it is and how it works if you want to use it. This book shows how to use the information to pick a stock that is likely to rise or fall. However, this is not the only analysis in the book. He includes information on TRiPS, market timing, risk analysis, cycles, and even an action plan. "DIY Portfolio Management" takes a very technical subject and makes it available to the layman. Lyle Wilkinson's excellent and thorough job of explaining trend regression analysis and its use in the stock market is the primary reason "DIY Portfolio Management" is a highly recommended read for the technical investor looking to take control of his investments.

So how inspiring should a hedge fund manager be? In light of the recent and ongoing debacles on Wall Street, and the mostly subpar performances of hedge funds, perhaps this book is necessary. Offering advice about how to boost morale amongst the traders and other staff.

Some of the advice is fairly general. Like eliminating or at least reducing non-productive behaviours. Applicable in any workplace. There is other feel good stuff scattered throughout the book. It seems like the financial workplace has a need (probably more so right now) for an antidote to heavy stress.

I am lucky enough to have Mr. Crerend as one of my closest friends both inside and outside of the workplace. His book is a good one, especially for the new investor who is looking for advice and guidance from someone with years of experience in the field. Mr. Crerend has a unique point of view that makes his book a great one, and also made him successful.

Even though this book is 3 years old, it still serves as a very good primer to the hedge fund industry. Anyone wishing to gain a fundamental understanding of how hedge funds work and how they can be used will find the book easy to read. A lot of details are covered; e.g., a discussion about hedge fund indexes. Even for a professional like myself, I find the book to be a good reference every time I forget a concept or two.

Not bad for a someone on the street, however, it has very limited use for a professional. Contains a lot of repeats (and I mean a lot of). Would not recommend if a professional insight to hedge funds is being searched for. The book would be useful for those who are completely hedge fund illiterate or just curious what a hedge fund is.

Little information other than extremely general data on historic returns. One of the few investment books I have ever read that I did not find something useful to remember.

Contains same facts as other hedge fund books, but seems to be outdated. Little info on recent trends in industry.

I bought this book hoping to learn some real insights. What I learned is that this author doesn't understand the business.

One of the finest all-around investment books I have seen. Lots of wisdom from many excellent managers.

I'm not sure I found one decent idea in this book

This wasn't one of the better books out there. It may have been one of the worst. I personally liked: "Secrets of the Wealth Makers: Top Money Managers Reveal Their Investing Wisdom."

This book is full of great and timely investment advice from some leading investment managers. I also really enjoyed how the author took the best advice and put it all together to form specific strategies every investor can use to manage a profitable portfolio. It will be an insightful read for investors of all experience levels.