Investment-bank

I used this book to write a discussion of Organisational management - I felt the authors were very clear in their objectives and that it was a great book for understanding exactly what went on - an interesting and detailed account.

This was a great read, and a wonderful insight into Asia's greed. A gritty account.

Steve Coates, Hong Kong.

My department has found this and previous additions extremely helpful in cutting through IRS compliance language. However, it is outdated in some areas. Inquiries to the publishers regarding a new edition have not received any response.

This guide is excellent in providing a comprehensive review of tax reporting requirements. The authors have taken a complicated subject and simplified it, telling you what you need to know in a format that is easy to read. This guide also contains detailed excerpts from the IRS tax regulations for your additional reference. A must read for those wishing to understand the basics and some of the details about tax reporting requirements.

If you are looking for a comprehensive book that explains and analyses quantitative portfolio optimisation and asset allocation, then this is probably the one for you. The author has clearly taken a lot of time to lay out the subject in a logical and easily understandable way, despite the fact that the subject matter is very complex. Having read this book, you'll be able to apply quantitative portfolio analysis and optimisation techniques yourself, and the book's final part on risk management - which includes chapters on active risk management, monte carlo simulations and extreme value thery - is a must for anyone in need of more adcanced risk management skills. Only draw back is its somewhat technical nature, but since the most technical stuff is in the appendices, the reader can skip it without major problems. An excellent and very accesible book.

Whenever I buy a book I try to look for ones that have a strong practical aim. This is definitely such a book. It starts off with a fair amount of theory, which is required to fully appreciate it, but then moves into very practical territory with lots of real life problems and situations. This book is one of those A-Z books that ties all the treads together, but spiced up with practical applications in almost every chapter. Definitely worth reading if you need to understand the mechanics of quantitative portfolio optimisation and risk management.

I enjoyed the story, have been reading Westlake since I was a kid and read The Spy in the Ointment. The Parker books by Stark were (are) more edgy and well written, good solid stories. Other reviewers here have done a much better job than I can discussing the merits of the story and the characters, etc.

I found Comeback to be a bit disappointing, however - it was too easy a read. Amazon so helpfully shows the books dimensions (slightly larger than your typical paperback) and it's page count (304), but when it arrived and I opened it, I was dismayed to see that the book had huge margins and very generous line spacing - I had to doubletake and be sure I had not ordered the "large print" version!

Overall, a good story, there just wasn't quite as much of it as I had expected.

I just finished COMEBACK by Donald Westlake writing as Richard Stark. It was a heist novel starring "Parker" , the thief from Stark's novels written in the 1970's. It was great to see Parker back in this updated adventure. I hope Westlake writes more of them. In this book, Parker and his crew rip off a TV Preacher during his stadium show. Doublecrosses, violence, and cat-and-mouse games ensue. Westlake never gives the name of the city that 99% of the action takes place, but he seems to be dropping many clues. Its not California, the Midwest, Memphis or Baltimore. Can anyone tell me the setting for this novel? My guess is Philadelphia, although I can't be certain. Anyway, go out and read this book. Make some noise about it, too, so Westlake writes some more. This wasn't the best Parker novel ever, but it was head and shoulders above most of the crime novels written today. Also, if you are intersted in seeing where Quentin Tarantino got many of his ideas, read other Parker novels.

After a very long hiatus, arch criminal Parker is back. This time he is involoved in the robbery of a Jim Baker-like tele evangelist's revival. After he steals the money, one of his partners tries to double cross him and steal the money from Parker, but he fails. Now Parker must find and nutralize the traitor, find his other partners who are lost, and avoid the law and the evangelist's head of security. Like all the other Parker books, "Comeback" is fast paced, action packed and contains ingenious capers I myself wouldn't stake my life on. But in Richard Stark's world, the cops aren't that bright, most of the crooks aren't either, and Parker is nearly omnipitant. It is still a lot of fun to read, and for some reason, these robbery thrillers never get old.

Of all the offshore investment books that I have reviewed, this is the best for the price, especially for US citizens. I found this book to be full of usable information and a 'must read' for anyone considering an offshore investment or business strategy. The author offers some very worthwhile advice. While most worthwhile offshore books on the market cost in excess of $200, this book provides some good useable information in both the 'do' and 'don't' department and is an excellent and inexpensive way to get started or come up to speed with recent US legislative changes.

The Internet is big factor and one that has had a major impact in offshore planning. However, it is a double-edged sword. It has allowed clients access to new information and providers with the ability to promote themselves worldwide. It takes skill and knowledge, however, to separate fact from fiction and legitimate provider from suspect.

Offshore investing and stock trading have grown exponentially in the last 3 years but the trick again is distinguishing truth from fiction. Arnie is disturbed by the number of US investors who believe that simply setting up an IBC or other offshore entity and trading through an offshore broker removes them from the responsibility of paying taxes on capital gains in the US. While this may be possible for foreigners investing in the US stock markets, US citizens and residents do not escape income taxes at home simply by investing through offshore structures or an offshore broker. With that said however, an offshore strategy does permit deferral of taxes due on capital gains earned offshore if properly set up, similar to strategies for onshore investments but such structures are often complicated and expensive.

If it were easy and inexpensive to set up a legal structure to eliminate taxes, everyone would do it, which is something that the Internal Revenue Service and Congress will not tolerate. Once this is understood, a strategy for the US person who is an offshore trader and investor does offer other significant advantages as well. These include asset protection and greater privacy. One of the greatest benefits is access to broader markets not normally available to individual onshore investors thanks to the raft of stringent Securities and Exchange regulations.

Finally, if you are looking for a magic strategy in a book (or books) you will probably be disappointed. As attorney Jay Adkisson said recently, the author who puts a technique for reducing taxes down in print usually dooms it to attack by bureaucrats at home. I have certainly found this to be true in my years of reviewing offshore texts and one to be remembered when reading The Offshore Money Book. Even if such structures remain viable, offshore books do not offer sufficient enough detail to permit them to be applied without professional assistance. However, only by reading lots of books will one be able to know the difference between a good offshore professional and one who doesn't know his elbow from a hole offshore in which to sink your money!

Matt Blackman goldhaven.com

This book should definitely be on the bookshelf of anyone seeking to invest offshore. The author provides excellent insights into the hows and why's of offshore investing. Although the organization of the book was sometimes hard to follow, and did assume some technical knowledge of trust concepts, overall it was a good book and worth the money.

Arnold Cornez is an attorney and an authority in the field with long experience working closely with and on the inside of offshore banks, trust companies, and other entities. He's the one I call first when I have an issue to discuss.

This book is for teaching juveniles about the basics of money, not for people who have already read other personal finance books. I would have sent it back, but it wasn't worth the shipping charge. I will probably save it for my child.

I am inspired to clean up my act and start saving my money. I never really thought about handling money as described in this book. I was the 'make it and spend it' kind a' guy. After reading this book, I'm reluctant to spend it foolishly. Instead, I'm looking to invest it wisely.

This book is wonderful. It never assumes knowledge, but it doesn't insult intelligence. I particularly enjoyed the very simple and basic task of penciling my budget as I did learning about stochastic, MACD, etc... What more can I ask for?

This book is a good overview of the investment banking business, but it is quite expensive. I would strongly recommend instead or in addition the Vault Career Guide to Investment Banking.... The Vault guide includes more detailed overviews of all the departments and functions of an investment bank including corporate finance, M&A, sales, trading, private client services, credit, etc. If you are a job seeker in investment banking also try the Vault Guide to Finance Interviews, which contains actual investment banking finance interview questions and answers and which I found to be enormously valuable in my Wall Street job search.

This is an excellent book for anyone wondering what Investment Banking is all about, but who doesn't want to learn how to price a company. It describes in sufficient detail, for the reader to understand, the concepts underlying Investment Banking and what they really do in the Investment Banking world as well as explaining in easy (relatively) terms the jargon that is used in the business.

If you want the theoretical underpinnings of the financial world, this book is not for you. If, on the other hand, you're an aspiring Investment Banker that wants to know what it is all abour or if you're just curious about what the Investment Banking business is about: buy this book as a primer/introduction and if you find it interesting, search for a more theoretical book.

This book is very well written and very easy to understand. It touches on most of the various aspects of the business without over-focusing or under-focusing on any particular area. A definate business school quality textbook, or an excellent reference source. Real life examples are given to further your hands-on understanding. I emailed the author, and my email was quickly responded to in a very friendly manner. I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to learn the business of investment banking.

This book is poorly structured. The author reiterates the same concept of going offshore over and over again. He does not reveal any detail on how to do it. Instead, he gives you a great number of short stories that he had heard from someone else. This was one of the worst books I had ever read! Stay away!

Much of us in the United States have a hard time thinking "outside of the box". Jerome Schneider's book "Complete guide to Offshore Money Havens" allows us the opportunity to do that. He also helps you identify that it is very difficult to grow your financial tree if Uncle Sam in continually pruning your branches. Chris A. Jackson President / CEO , ConSource Corporatio

As a reference to inform the uninformed about the topics addressed in Mr. Schneider's book, I would highly recommend this book as authentic and invaluable. Mr. Schneider brings an extremely complex subject to the layman in a language that is not unrealistically simplistic, but covers the essentials necessary when considering when, how and where to best invest monies offshore. His explanations of WHY in regard to his suggestions reveals his personal experiences and research that supports his advice. It is the inclusion of his "whys" that kept me reading.

I have been to a Finkel and Conti seminar and have read this book. Fortunetaly, I did not pay for the book. They provide no useful information, and promote practices which can be considered highly unethical. I am a real estate agent and a full time investor. If you really want to be an investor, buy ONE book, find someone who is already actively investing, and learn from them.

Finished reading this book quickly and am very interested in starting a RE investing career. The Authors paint a lovely picture of financial freedom. The purchase option lease in theory sounds very inticing.
I have 3 problems:
1) They never give you the language to use in with the seller in hammering out a contract. And knowing the bare minimum about investing in real Estate I am thinking you need some VERY specific legal language in any kind of deal like this. So now, i need to go about paying a real estate lawyer a big chunk of change to write the contract for me? And this can be done overnight? Before the owner changes his mind..?
2) It could take literally months and months to find a tenant-buyer - and then what, $2,000 a month that I dont have is coming out of my pocket?
3) The big red flag here: - I had come to the review section looking for some honest feedback - And then proceed to find about 30 of the 50 reviews all posted on or about July 16, 2002.
And 90% all give 5 stars. Unfortunately Ive become more skeptical because of this.. And not many actual testimonials of people giving actual sucess stories.. Only things like "what a great book" and "the best real estate book money can buy" etc etc

Suggested by "National Real Estate Investor" online.

This book is very poorly written, and turns simple concepts into difficult ones. I highly recommend Hull's book as an alternative.

I used this book to teach a Financial Mathematics course, and found its explanations to be generally clear and good. However, part of the reason the text seems so clear is that it doesn't explain much of what's really going on. It covers the right material, but not really in such a way that the reader can then go on to apply the knowledge gained.This is evidenced by the complete (and almost unforgiveable) lack of exercises in the book. It is very easy to feel you understand this sort of material, only to be completely lost when you actually have to solve a problem. Neftci will not help in this regard. I understand that it is difficult to create good exercises, but their absence almost makes me wonder if Neftci realized he was not explaining things in enough detail to let the student actually work with the knowledge. Exercises are the only way to really learn this subject.A basic problem with all these texts is that, try as they might, they cannot impart true understanding unless the student can grasp real analysis at, say, an undergraduate level typically reached by students at a good engineering school. This text tries to avoid the problem by failing to mention any of the analysis...that's not likely to work.

Students of derivative pricing techniques are often in a dilemma: Coming from their MBA or undergrad course, they have just build a "brealy-myers" type of intuition on options. Moving towards Hull then allows a deeper understanding. But any serious (eg PhD, Wall Street Analyst) student of derivatives needs to undertstand the math behind modern derivatives pricing. Essentially, this research divides into two streams: Solving Partial differential equations and developing equivalent Martingales. Without a rigorous pre-education (Maths, Physics), most students fail to understand (let alone learn to use) these methods. Nefci is the only book that does not assume lots of prior knowledge, as compared to Merton (1992) or Duffie (who is so bold to write "for mathematical preparation little beyong undergraduate analysis...is assumed" -ask PhD Students how easy this book reads! The answer is its tough!!). In Short, Neftci's book is a true blessing for all "normal" people. Can't wait to get the second edition!