Investment-Risk

Gerald Ashley's book is a trenchant analysis of many issues associated with the stock market. Calling on his own extensive experience and utilizing a variety of keen arguments, he clearly explains the failure of technical analysis, the appeal of behavioral finance, and a host of other matters. A very satisfying read.

I like this book. It provides a good summary of a complete list of the term structure models. Best of all, it contains a consistent methodology for deriving interest rate derivatives. The forward measure technique is explained very well. However, symbols are not clear and later chapters are too "concise". I would like to see more numerical examples. Also, an inclusion of numerical methods should be helpful.

Of the 175 books in my real estate library, 18 deal strictly with foreclosure. This was the first of that group that I read, back in '87, and it was instrumental in leading me to concentrate on this area of investment. It is simple, straight forward, not wordy, but quite concise and comprehensive. No seminars are in the offing. Excellent at revealing all the information required to get off to an educated start, without the fillers, come ons, and misdirection of many of the current crop. In retrospect, it was probably the best one I could have stumbled upon early on. Have you ever read a book and then wished no one else could? I felt I was given the secrets to life. One of my most cherished.

Charles Given's "More Wealth Without Risk" is simply the best financial book ever written. The techniques are safe and effective as well as time tested.

I saved or made over $20,000 within my first 6 weeks of applying these strategies.

The investing information i.e. money movement strategy saved me a small fortune and allowed me to continue to make money even after the stock market collapse of March 2000.

The chapter; "Whom do you trust" helped get my estate in order and is a must read for anyone with assets and heirs.

To the American Media, Givens was their favorite whipping boy at the time. Then, as now, the media doesn't like a hero and Charles J. Givens was a hero to the millions who bought his books and the nearly million who joined and still belong to his organization.

Unfortunately, the media tried to revise the image of Givens even though it had nothing to do with fact or reality.

The fact that this book along with Given's other blockbuster books "Financial Self DeFense" and "SuperSelf" are still selling and popular today, many years after Mr. Givens has passed away, prooves that the American public does not buy into everything that the media tries to sell.

This family will be forever grateful to Mr. Givens for sharing his wisdom and left us his legacy with hsi books.

Thank you Mr. Givens!

Using the strategies espoused by Charles Givens in More Wealth Without Risk made 2003 this families best year ever.

We reduced our personal financial expences, debt shifted our higher interest credit cards to lower interest credit cards, redid out auto insurance, health insurance and life insurance.

Foolowing the Givens "Money Movement Strategy", we were solidly in stocks from January 2003 while others were still thinking we were in a bear market and paralyzed by fear. As usual, Givens Money Movement Strategy had us in the right investments at the right time. By contrast, I know some people that listened to so called financial "experts", were in bonds and got shallacked.

We are using the Givens Money Movement Strategy in our regular account, IRA's and even our childrens IRA. We employ them in our home based business and pay them a salary instead of an allowance.

After tax deductions, we are driving a Cadillac for the same price our neighbors pay for their Chevy. We also own rental properties and invest in passive forms of real estate like tax liens and notes.

Following Givens advice, we are now debt free and earning more in passive income than we used to on our jobs. My spouse was able to quit her job and help me in our family home based business.

All in all, we couldn't be more pleased. Thank God for Charles Givens!

This great book by the late Mr. Givens contains the most powerful money strategies available.

Givens divides his program into three parts:

1) Personal Finance Strategies
2) Tax Reducing Strategies
3) Powerful Investing Strategies

The personal finance strategies will save you an easy $1,000 per month or more. Most people are unaware of the financial mistake that they make on a consistent level.

Tax reducing strategies will further add to you wealth and increase your cash flow. Here again, most people are overpaying their taxes and in some cases, feel that it is their democratic duty. Too many people are still getting that once per year refund of their own money.

Givens offers strategies on increasing your take home pay now. This is money you never have to pay back. It's money you can use to fund your IRA, 401 (K) or your childs college or just give you that extra emergency money.

LASTLY, powerful investing strategies. Like another reviewer noted, we used Givens Money Movement Strategy as well and were safely out of stock funds in 2000 when the Clinton Stock Market Crash occurred. We temporily moved into money market funds and then into other no load funds and investments.

As Givens states so well "Every economy has one best investment." We found that stocks were no longer the best investment in 2000 so took our profits and moved.

We have also begun investing in real estate, notes and tax liens as well as started our own business. We opened up a home equity line of credit and use that money to invest in real estate. It has worked extremely well for us.

We recommend More Wealth Without Risk to everybody we know. Two other books that we recommend are The Truth About Money by Ric Edelman and The Automatic Millionaire by Dave Bach.

In these days of dismal stock market performance it's refreshing to find an investment that combines safety with good returns. My interest in the good returns available in real estate have always been offset by the amount of effort usually required from its owner. Virsnieks' book has changed that all for me.

Here in one place is a comprehensive collection of what every investor needs to know to make money in real estate the low maintenance way. The book is straight forward, easy to read and even the beginner can learn all he or she needs to know to profit from investing in condominiums.

It is a wonder how much good, useful information is contained in this book. This book is a real find!

This is the best book for the beginning investor and for all those who ned a place to live. The author of "How to Invest in Condominiums" bought his first condominiumum as a residence rather than throw away money on rent. Hence the first principle of is invest plan to invest in a place that you yourself would live in. The second principle, as I see it, is do the research and make sure that most of the units are owner occupied. This will insure pride of ownership and ensure that your investment is protected by all the other owners. I am recommending this to book to my friends in San Diego. Those who invested or bought condominiums in 1997 are now very happy. Those who rented and invested in the booming 1997 stockmarket are now crying ower spilt milk. Even for those who are not investors but need a place to live this book is an excellent easy to follow guide to fiscal security. This is a risk free, insofar as life can be risk free, and can't lose investment guide.

This book is so easy to read and understand. After watching my stocks loose all of their gains from the last 10 years almost over night, I determined to use this investment formula for my future. The plan is straight foreword and can be applied any where you live. I have already purchased my first rental and it is paying for itself.

I am about halfway through this book, but so far I enjoyed Frank Partnoy's first book, "FIASCO: Blood in the Water on Wall Street", much better. FIASCO was mainly an auto-biographical account of Partnoy's career at Morgan Stanley. Writing about his own life afforded Partnoy the opportunity to be more anecdotal and humorous about his subject matter. In this book, his focus is on scandals that made the headlines, or even worse, were suppressed from greater public knowledge. (Enron, LTCM, Orange County, the Salomon Bros Treasury auction scandal, etc).

He recants these tales with tongue in cheek humor, and he translates finance-geek-speak into a language which people outside of the business can understand. However, in his Vernacular translation, he loses some of the wind of the real story. Maybe its because I am in the business, so no details need to be spared for my benefit, but I would have preferred reading more technical accounts.

At any rate, Partnoy is a crusader, out to teach the world about the dangers of financial products. Frankly, I think he goes to far in his ranting, and this book is merely a vehicle for him to advance his agenda of reform and regulation. Its true that some people have exploited the market for less than altruistic purposes, but the truth is that derivatives have been more beneficial than harmful to the global financial system. To tell the tale all of the evil in the financial markets without mentioning the good is misleading.

This book is an absolute must read if you want to understand Wall Street shenanigans. Partnoy has done a phenomenal job of demystifying the world of swaps, derivatives and other exotic financial instruments. Even better, he shows how investment banker antics have affected Main Street inhabitants including yourself. How did Orange County and so many other municipalities get so deeply in trouble? The author explains.

I have a Ph.D in business and many finance courses under my belt, but I never quite understood the systemic dangers of the 'financial innovation' that is sweeping our markets. Now that I have, I will sleep much less well at night.

Partnoy describes the evolution of exotic instruments and the characters involved in this evolution. How CS First Boston made securites of virtually any type of debt, Salomon pioneered the CMO and so on. He details the specific wrongdoings of companies like Enron, Global Crossing and WorldCom. He shows you the enabling role played by gatekeepers like accounting firms, law firms, analysts and credit rating agencies.

Even more important, he shows you exactly how the collusion happened and why. He gives you both an aerial view of the markets and a down-in-the-trenches description. I often wondered why, in efficient markets, participants voluntarily involved themselves in such convoluted transactions that had high costs in terms of record-keeping and fees. The answer, as Partnoy shows, is that virtually all of these arrangements permit some set of parties to subvert law or regulation or both. This is true domestically and internationally.

He graphically describes how lobbying keeps regulators at bay and the venality and ineffectuality of politicians. The chairperson of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, for example, exempted important parts of Enron's business from regulation and, just weeks later, joined Enron' board. There are many such stories that show exactly how self-serving our legislators and regulatory guardians are.

My quibbles are minor. While Partnoy is clear, his language is colorless. Perhaps his legal background has something to do with this. Given the strength of his material and the depth of his research, he could have made this book a popular bestseller if he had used more forceful colloquial expression.

Also, he does not talk at all about the role of technology in this evolving mess. Greedy, incredibly smart bankers have always been with us. What has permitted them to have this huge impact now is the ability of computers to churn massive amounts of data, pick out the faintest of patterns and keep records of incredibly complex transactions involving dozens of parties over vast stretches of time.

This said, this is the best book I have yet come across that explains how and why large scale financial malfeasance happens. And why it is hardly ever punished. You will understand why the perpetrators of Enron, Global Crossing, Adelphia, WorldCom, Sunbeam and so many others will walk and hold on to their vast gains. Start praying that there is justice beyond our courts.

POSITIVE: In-dept overview of what happend in the last 15 years in "high finance". The authors knowledge on the topics can hardly be beaten. Author pretty harsh in critisicing Moodys, CDOs etc. Very interesting findings (e.g. trading profits at Enron, harsh treatment of Quattrone). The author provides some good solutions in the finance world at the end of the book.

NEGATIVE: Value creation, especially of derivatives, is not mentioned in the book. Thus, book rather critical. Book not as readable as FIASCO due to more difficult topics (and NOT authors fault).

Well, what can I say. I am extremely disappointed and really upset. I want my money back. !!!They ripped me off!!!. I bought this book because Lev Borodovsky is the Chairman of the GARP, but unfortunately he didn't write the book. He didn't developed any theme. He is just a seller who recommends the purchase of the book. He plays a decoy role. It's a dishonest attitude towards the readers and risk management professionals. The professional's handbook of financial risk is no more than a dictionary, a big dictionary on risk management. As a reader said: a summary. There is NO huge and depth development of each subject. In this handbook the themes are presented in a simply and tiny way

One reader said, this book is for consumers who work in the field of financial risk management. Well, I work as a professional risk management consultant and derivatives lecturer. So, I can use this book as a simple dictionary. It doesn't add anything. I prefer Risk Management by Michel Crouhy as a better professional handbook on risk management. With respect to VaR, Jorion's Value at Risk is tremendously and immensely much better.

The second theme: Measuring volatility, ARCH models and GARCH specifically are terribly bad developed, pitiable and vague. There is no useful application. A great, objective, practical discussion on GARCH, estimating volatility and correlations are discussed in Options, Futures & other derivatives by John C. Hull. Believe it or not.!! Every book must have a balance between a theoretical and practical content, let's say 50-50. Borodovsky's Financial risk management has a 90% conceptual (not theoretical) and 10% practical. When I say practical, I mean effortless and unclear exercises, not professional solved cases and applications of the real world. Back testing and stress testing themes present a deficient, incomplete and poor development. A Montecarlo simulation very unsatisfactory and pathetic.

The professional's handbook of Financial risk management is a rip-off. Definitely a rip-off!!!. This book should cost $40.00 dollars. It's just a dictionary. It deserves 2 star.

This book is great for practitioners; if you are an academician it may not be that helpful. The book focuses on application, with easy to read sections, and is quite comprehensive. I'd highly recommend it for people considering a career in risk management or want to get a broad overview of the field.

I used this book extensively for the Financial Risk Management exam and I am pleased to say passed and am a certified FRM now. The contents of the book cover the syllabus of the exam well.

This book attempts to expose the reader in a nontechnical manner to the new technique of evaluating investments in the New Economy characterised by volatility and uncertainty.The author does so without resorting to mathematical methods.The book is basically expository and attempts to build upon the readers'familiarity with financial options.It concentrates in describing the real options which each business decision is confronted with and demonstrates the flexibility which managers face. He views these opportunities as options even the decision not to implement the plan. This is a creative approach to understanding what real options is all about.

I would like to congratulate Dr. Boer on his success with making "real options" real for the practitioners. I have read many, if not most, most of the books out there on this topic, and found none to be as accessible and fun to read as Dr. Boer's treatment of this subject.

I have also bought his other book, The Valuation of Technology - Business and Financial Issues in R&D. Again, full of practical insights that are not available elsewhere.

I fail to understand the scathing review of the reader from Norway. Was this person expecting to learn about financial options, instead of real options, from this book? In that case, it was the reader's mistake for picking the wrong book! For real options, this book has no peer. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to apply the real options theory to real-world problems.

Thanks Dr. Boer for a job well done and for making a real contribution to realistic valuation and pricing of business opportunities.

The Real Options Solution is a must read for anyone interested in the creation of value or wishing to understand or quantify the total value of a company. It clearly sets out why the value of any company must include the value of its business plans and the options that these afford, before going on to explain the more technical aspect of valuing such plans or options.

F.P.Boer, in the first section of this book, successfully achieves a discussion of value and its components that will satisfy anyone wishing to understand how to perform a calculation of the value of a real option, detailing what data would be required, how to build this into a total value caluclation etc. Yet the use of only a limited number of diagrams and numerical examples makes this book accessible to all, not just those interested in a text book approach, without in any way compromising the content or quality of the material provided. In the second section several topics are discussed, with numerous examples both contemporary and from history, including 1) risk, it's upside as well as downside potential and the treatment of different types of risk in valuations, 2) intellectual capital, what is and how it could be valued and 3) innovation and why this is essential to future value creation, with all issues discussed adding an important dimension to this very practical guide to value.

If it so good why would SOMEONE bother writing the same review over and over again. I have written many of covered calls and 25% is a bit lofty for a return. Look into more honestly reviewed/written books for details/strategies and see what you can do experientially. Start small and watch what happens to your returns on an annualized basis. Have an exit strategy before you start.

I found this book to be very interesting and powerful in that it not only provides a simple covered call strategy but a stock selection method that complements the overall strategy. The book gives any one the basics to set up a conservative covered call portfolio that should provide a comfortable income. You can order a set of CD's that implements the book's basics and the CD's are very reasonable.
I have set up my IRA account to implement the covered call/ stock program set forth in this book.

Over the last five years, I've examined hundreds of schemes for making money in the stock market. Now, I don't want to say anything bad about all those schemes, but I will say this: The concepts in The Money Tree actually work as advertised! I am retired, and need to make my meager resources last out my lifetime. My lack of success in the market had me ready to put my money in a 2% savings account and hibernate. But then I read this book. It has literally changed my life.

"Asset Allocation" is not an easy read. I have a degree in Business/Economics, and I found some of the topics rather complex (e.g.-bond default premiums). The book is informative, but it presupposes a certain degree of financial literacy. I would recommend this book as an intermediate-level book. Otherwise, you will put the book down very quickly.

There are many things to like about this book. The emphasis is on providing investment advisors with the information on asset allocation they need to connect successfully with clients. The only real flaw I see in the book is the watering down of material so that clients can understand it. I understand the necessity of doing this but it does leave open the door for dishonesty of the car salesman variety. Every investor even comtemplating using an investment advisor or even a broker should read this book from cover to cover. If he/she hears anything from the selected advisor that deviates much at all from what is here he/she should run not walk out the door. Perhaps the most important contribution of the book is the emphasis on the interaction of portfolio components to produce higher returns than undiversified or underdiversified portfolios. Gibson uses the Commodities Index as one of the portfolio components along with the EAFE, S&P 500, and REITs to show this. This index component is available in practical form as the Oppenheimer Real Assets fund. If you have net investment assets that allow private money management this is not a problem as the money management firm can buy more than 1 million dollars worth and distribute it among the clients. If you do not qualify for a typical money management firm the mutual fund charges a 5.75% load thereby making rebalancing something of a problem. Perhaps infrequent rebalancing would work. Therein lies the problem with the book. Even though Gibson is as honest as the day is long, the information presented is designed to handle the clients expectations and fears. All kinds of techniques and information are presented most of it assuming very little brains from the people who made all that money ( all of whom we would normally be assured are brilliant not just at making money but in all aspects of their lives ). A,B,C,D are all presented but when portfolio design time comes E is recommended and not just due to tailoring to the individuals needs or risk tolerance. Gibson tells the reader that it is necessary to manage the clients expectations and to make the portfolio more like that of the clients friends or more in keeping with clients prior expectations and thereby more acceptable. This may be true. But Berstein does the same thing in The Intelligent Asset Allocator. His reasoning is a little different:many of the models primarily rely on data mining or make certain assumptions and he believes in the use of index funds almost exclusively. So Bersteins portfolios also rely a great deal on judgement. Both believe that tracking error from the S&P 500 may be an issue. When all is said and done this is very much an art form. It is also very much a sales technique albeit an important one. Nevertheless, both this book and The Intelligent Asset Allocator are required reading for any serious investor. Gibson's book also has the best discussion of client risk assessment I have seen.

If you read just one book on investing, this is the book.

Gibson explains the principals of modern portfolio theory in a clear logical fashion.

Excellent.