Investment-company

Looks like the effective date of the info is 1993 from a legal disclaimer in the begining of the book. For the price, this book packs a lot of good information on the IPO process. It thoroughly covers the ins and outs of IPO, SEC regulations, investment bankers, underwriting, etc. Gives a lot of good info regarding the advantages and disadvantages of going public. Lots of reference to the hot bio stocks of the late '80 (Genentech). Nice coverage of the Microsoft IPO. Good reference source for choosing underwriters, but probably needs updating. Would be great if this book could be updated to reflect the current .com IPO era.

I originally purchased this book to study for the Series 6 exam. I found it very helpful since it covered all the topics I wanted to review. Equities, bonds, economic policy, mutual funds, and even retirement planning were all covered in great detail. It's a good study guide too, because it has questions at the end of each section. If your taking the Series 6, I would like to recommend this book, and wish you good luck!

Robert Sobel wrote the best biography of Calvin Coolidge I have seen so far, which means best of five. Even better than Coolidge's autobiography. His contextualization of Coolidge included astute observations on the American economy, and on Wall Street in particular. So I searched out this out of print book on an online service and began to read. To Dillon Read.

This is the firm which gave us George H.W. Bush's treasury secretary, Nicholas Brady, whom Sobel also covers pretty thoroughly in this book, hinting that his undergrad grades were not so hot and that he may be dyslexic. But great connections.

Clarence Dillon is the star of the book, which starts with the Dutchman Vermilye and his investment trading operation in New York. Dillon joins after Read joins, and Dillon is the gutsy Jewish guy (although Dillon cloaks that in an effort to run with the WASP dominators of New York at the time) who engineers brash and bold, huge deals, then makes a lot more money by taking over companies (buying them by lending them money) and hiring "management" firms secretly owned by....Clarence Dillon.

The Pecora hearings are profiled, and Sobel gets into the 1933 and 1934 Securities laws and the SEC, giving us the impression that Pecora was a little extreme, and the SEC--although harshly received by the "Street" at the time--was a pretty good idea.

Sobel does not stop there, though. He follows the Dillon Read firm past Clarence, and on to Douglas (who also became a Secretary of the Treasury, but who didn't have the same pizzazz of the old man, who drifted off into old age in aristocratic fashion on a huge New Jersey estate). Then on to the Bechtel and Wallenberg family connections of Dillon Read, and terminating in the mid 1980s with a glimpse of new ways-a-borning with the addition of New Court Capital and the opening of the firm to modern V.C. investment.

A great companion to this book is the very recent book "The Last Partnerships" which does the same biographical analysis of our entire economy, by profiling a whole collection of investment firms, Dillon Read included. Sobel has less range, in comparison, but Sobel's mission is to drill into Dillon Read. This book does not "sing" like Sobel's Coolidge, as I said, but forms a link in Sobel's scholarship which I'm glad to have. Next will come a read of Sobel's history of the New York Stock Exchange, to lengthen the chain.

Although written primarily for financial planning professionals, this book is very accessible for individuals seeking guidance for creating and managing personal wealth via trusts. Readers will learn how the development of mega-banks and baby-boomer wealth has changed the nature of trust management. The authors (principals of investment advisory firms) include many helpful questionnaires and decision trees that will help with the planning process, both for existing trusts and for those developing new trusts. Sophisticated readers may find the lack of thorough footnoting disappointing.

Here's a no-nonsense book that will blow away the clouds that block your vision of your company's future. It opens with an explanation of forecasting and planning, then explores a variety of methods. And last, the meat of the book, 100 pages on forecasting everything from sales to (ouch!) bankruptcy. This book is for the person wanting dependable results and willing to work to get them

Would recommend anyone intersted in this book to first read "Bogle on Mutual Funds" first as it's an excellent book and covers similar material. If you are still interested in learning more about Vanguard, then this book is an excellent compliment. It's not as critical of it's subject as I would have liked, and really doesn't cover the personal life of the subject so as a biograhy leaves a lot to be desired. It does, however chronicle the amazing story of Vanguard.

Ok let me get this straight. Here is a guy that believes in the efficient market theory but was a salesman/trader. There are tons of conflicts in the book. Partnoy is obviously a professor now. He is practically begging for more regulation in investment banking and feels that financial reporters and professors are not only smarter but deserve more money compared to the investment bankers. He starts out at First Boston and is doing well financially. Then moves to Morgan Stanley and does complicated derivative deals and makes a ton of money. Now a professor and investment banking is pure evil (now that he made a ton of money). Another conflict is Partnoy said he quit Morgan Stanley but on page 277 he writes "...I am not referring what Morgan Stanley did to me." This is where he is talking about another Morgan Stanley employee being fired. I rate this book 2 stars because it was somewhat entertaining but think about this before you buy it. Do you really want to read a book by an author who believes in the efficient market theory but also worked as a salesman/trader? I only bought this book for $3.29 used on amazon.com. I definitely wouldn't recommend paying full price for it.

Now that there is a proven market for recent financial history/humor books, after the stunning success of Liars Poker, Predator's Ball and Den of Theives, this book FIASCO is another one of these books that tries to emulate the financial stories from the 1980's.

To my knowledge it is the first book to take on the derivatves trading industry, which is extremely volatile and can be the most risky sector of the financial markets, if you choose to speculate in it. More importantly, there will eventually be a derivatives disaster outside of the Long-term Capital one that occurred a couple of years ago.

This book, as I read it, is highly sensationalist. I have worked in the financial service industry with institutions and chose to leave the industry about a year ago. Here are my thoughts on this book as it relates to the derivatives markets.

1.Mr. Partnoy gives a high level description of some of the transactions that he was involved in

2.He seems to be indicting the market in derivatives, which I disagree on since he is dealing with institutions, which already should have a fiduciary responsibility to their clients. If they are dumb and allow an investment bank to "rips their face off" as Partnoy claims then they shouldn't be 1) in those financial products or (2) doing business with them. It is their choice!

3.From the reading it seemed as though Partnoy doesn't understand his role in the machine known as Wall Street. He is a salesmen, pure and simple. He gets paid to ring the register, nothing more. Other people construct the deals and he is the marketer to clients. If he makes clients money they should come back more and more. Often times, there are MANY other factors that cause business to vary from firm to firm. LOTS of different agendas/goals in mind.

4.Some of his anecdotes, particularly those in which he discusses the atmosphere in an investment bank around bonus time (pg.40 - 42, 202 - 205), are pretty amusing and dead on accurate.

5.The author's descriptions of some of his deals are clearly told from a junior banker's perspective, but they do a good job of putting forth what was being done, how it was being done, what everyone's perceived incentives for the transaction were, the work required to get the deal done, what kind of money, and importantly what kind of fees were involved.

In conclusion, like all books written by former investment bankers the book contains liberally sprinkled anecdotes regarding job interviews from hell, the ridiculous daily escapades that can occur on a trading floor, strip clubs, the lack of personal lives, gambling trips and other stories which could easily have been pulled from the pages of Mr. Lewis's book or "Monkey Business" by Rolfe and Troob. Folks, not all folks on Wall Street are like that but a HUGE percentage are. Nothing wrong with that lifestyle but it is a choice everyone is free to make. Hope this helps everyone.

The book has the merit of going through the most complex derivatives and structured products explaining to a fair extent business motivations behind the deal, an information that is not only confidential, but that constitutes the bread and butter of investment banks.

I loved the book until I got to the last chapter. I would have rated this book ... if it wasn't for this last chapter that the author has added in more recent editions.

I would like to make two comments:
The book tends to explain the concept of present value in simple words, but still wants to go through the most complex derivatives. As a result, certain parts are boring to someone without the financial background, but I would doubt that anyone without the financial background would make it to the second chapter or even be attracted to the book.
My second criticism is regarding the last chapter, "Epilogue". This chapter ruins the book. The author develops an anti-derivatives theory that turns to be amusing. As everyone knows, a tool is neither good nor bad by itself. It is what one achieves with the tool that is good or bad. This principle is also valid for derivatives. It is useless, not to say irritating to go through a list of lawsuits and settlements. This is not proving any further that derivatives are bad or that investment banks are evil.

I spent 30 years at Goldman Sachs as a senior risk arbitrage trader in the equities division. I retired in 1995. The information contained in the volume has been carefully and thoughtfully researched and the result is a wonderful historical analysis of Goldman Sachs. The book is eminantly readable and easily understandable, even for those uninitiated in the banking business. My only negative criticism refers to the excessive space given to the recent history of the firm. There was a clear change in the firms' culture after the greedy portion of the 1980's. The author is right on the mark when she tells how important the people (not only the partners) were to the creation of the special atmosphere that pervaded the firm and how very special it was to be a part of it. Although profitability was always a clear motive, it surely was not the sole purpose for which the firm existed. To profile a few bond traders and enumerate their spectacular successes (and failures) in the 1990s clearly indicates how things have changed from previous decades. I worked with Gus Levy for 10 years and Bob Rubin for 20 years and from a trader's point of view these were the spectacular people at least in the Equities Division. I doubt that the client interest is foremost in the culture of Goldman Sachs today as it was for the first 125 years. Although the importance of the client remains high today, it is profitability and risk taking that are the motivating forces.

As one of the most successful Wall Street titans, Goldman Sachs has a history of empowering very smart and dedicated people. This is that story. It addresses the personalities and culture that drives Goldman to success. For anyone interested in the financial markets, it is a joy to read. Some things I did not know:

1) GS focuses on the client and maintains a long-term focus. Long-term greed.

2) During the 1980's, GS set itself apart from its competitors when they refused to represent any company that was the aggressor in a hostile takeover. As such, they billed enormous business as a "defense" investment bank. (pg 19)

3) "You cannot just be an employee. The firm demands that you be a contributor." (pg 21)

4) There is a culture of understatement. "A mild shabbiness seems to be almost a status symbol." (pg 25) The main office does not say Goldman Sachs on the front. It just reads the first two numbers of the address: 85.

5) GS started out as a family firm specializing in commercial paper. By the 1960's, it was handling 50% of the country's commercial paper. (pg 34)

6) GS was almost ruined when it was involved in the speculating leading up to the crash of 1929. The investors lost 92% of their investment in the infamous GSTC investment trust.

7) Sidney Weinberg is considered the father of modern Goldman Sachs. (pg 49) He worked at Goldman for more than 50 years and started out as a helper to the porter: cleaning shoes, and brushing hats.

8) Gus Levy became the next senior partner in 1969. Levy was from trading, not banking, and would "prepare the company for the trading-oriented work of the 1980's." (pg 63)

9) The next leadership was in teams: John Weinberg & John Whitehead, then Steve Friedman & Robert Rubin, then Hank Paulson & John Corzine.

10) In the 1980's, the profit centers were M&A and arbitrage.

11) Historically, GS was known for its excellent people, but not its innovation. One JP Morgan banker said that GS bankers were incredibly good, but predictable.

12) Partners were making incredible money in the 1990's, but naturally the competition was fierce: 4000 Vice presidents competing for 32 partner seats. (pg 135)

13) Numerous stories of GS's great traders (Becerra, O'Brien etc...) and how they would make $80 million in trading profits one month, then lose $100 million just one month later. At times, the speculation would get out of hand. One person commented that GS's London trading desk was "testosterone alley." (pg 192)

14) In early 1994, the firm was in a crisis. Its top management had stepped down and the company was losing $200 million a month due to heavy trading losses and a bear market. (pg 202)

15) GS invented, and still dominates, the block trading market. Great story: Kuwaiti Investment Office (KIO) gives three investment banks one hour to price $2 billion of British Petroleum (BP) stock. GS wins the bids, transacts the stock smoothly and gains a reputation as the firm able to handle block trades. (pg 248)

16) Paulson said, "Good firms worry about competition, great companies worry about clients" (pg 250)

Although it is clear from Ms. Endlich's tone that she nearly workships everything about Goldman Sachs, this is a well researched and competently written book. It covers in detail the history of the bank, paints portraits of some of the key players in some detail and presents a compelling overall picture of the bank's history.

Where the book falls short is in its financial and overall business details (compare to "The House of Rothschild" by Niall Ferguson). Overall, and interesting and insightful read.

This book is useful if you're already quite familiar with common valuation methods and can fill in the jumps & gaps. However, if any of the areas you're looking at is new to you or if you would like a more logical, well-reasoned approach or simply a discussion of all the various valuation methods in use, buy Damodaran's text instead.

This book was the prescribed & provided reference in the Corporate Finance department I worked in but most of my colleagues and I purchased our own copies of Damodaran's text "Investment Valuation, Wiley, Aswath Damodaran", which is superior in breadth as well as logical description of valuation processes.

I liked this book. In Russia it is one of the most popular books on valuatuion. But when I can get the perfect excel support for Investment Valuation by Aswath Damodaran or good web support for Valuation Methods and Shareholder Value Creation by Pablo Fernandez, I ask the authors, why don't they put supporting material in disk? I think that the price of their sowtware ($94.50) is too high compairing with the book ($56 with discount), because there is no supporting materials - only 1 spreadsheet (from my point of view does not conform to McKinsey, as the leader of consulting business). I hope, for the 4-th edition we will have a good excel support.

I hoped that McKinsey would have something new to say on this subject. There are two corporate finance texts and various finance books that cover the ground better or at least as well, so it is hard to see why this book was written.

In light of recent corporate shenanigans with off-balance sheet products, it is unforgiveable that this book doesn't address how lack of value can be disguised using off-balance sheet products. Total return swaps, an off-balance sheet financing tool, isn't discussed, and credit derivatives, another off-balance sheet tool aren't even discussed. For coverage of these topics and offshore vehicles, read "Credit Derivatives" by Tavakoli.

Heh, a reviewer claimed that the book is out dated, and reffered to the media hyped "technology meltdown" as a reason to give up home in technology and the building of wealth through intellect. We are now 2 years into the 21st century (3 years if you think it started in the year 2000), the markets are readjusting, and technology is abounding. The "internet bubble" or "Dot Com Crash" was a cataclysm of investors and venture capitalists, smart and stupid, who got too greedy, and forgot the fundamentals of business, internet or no internet. The markets will ALWAYS naturally receed and recess after "bubbles", which is what happened. Technology, however, did and has not receeded. Wealth is being built upon the foundations of intellect, and Thurow's book shows how this is to be accomplished by analyzing all other economic revolutions and what occured to make them possible. If Thurow was giving stock predictions and analysis, and "hot picks of the week" (which he absolutely does not), then i would understand the discredit which some reviewers have given him. But this is just not the case. Thurow analyzes the wealth being generated by Global corporations, and small businesses alike through the internet. He gives examples of those who have made it to the top of the wealth pyramid. He points to revolutionary ideas and systems which have fueled economies for decades. He answers questions, he asks questions. For futurists, insight, knowlegde, and analysis of history is key. If you want to be someone who is ahead in the future, and if you want to know what it will take to grow financially in the current century, "Building Wealth" gives insights into how it has been done, and what it may take. As with all good financial books, a disclaimer: This is not going to TELL you how to get RICH. It will teach you about current debates on the direction of capitalism, and what is believed will happen in 21st century buisness. Expand your mind, expand your wealth, even if it be only a wealth of mind.

Overall, it is a fascinating read for anyone interested in economics, or how rich countries become rich. Lots of good facts which reflect on the competitive, and opportunistic capitalist paradigm we currently live in.

1) There has been significant change in the economic landscape, and that change continues to accelerate. Before the industrial revolution, 98% of the world's population had income only from farming. Now less than 2% are farmers.

2) The world is increasing a global market. Coca Cola gets 80% of its revenues from outside the United States.

3) The gap in wealth continues to widen.
- Bill Gates market value is the same as the poorest 110,000,000 Americans.
- In the United States, the average CEO pay is 212x the average worker.
- The top 1% of people in the US own 40% of the total wealth.
- Africa GDP is the same as it was in 1965. Has not changed in 35 years.

4) We are all busier. With the invention of electricity, the average hours of sleep dropped from 9 hours to 7 hours a day.

5) Old companies must destroy themselves (re-invent themselves) in order to stay competitive and grow. Also, individuals must constantly change and grow to remain competitive. If not, they will fall behind.

6) Capitalism is a tough game. The number of businesses failing (88% a year) is almost as many as new business are formed. Wealth is constantly being transferred from one group ~ to another.

7) There are many basic ingredients to create wealth. Some are cultural (like entreprenuership), some are created and enforced by the government (intellectual property, law and order, infrastructure), some are learned by the individual (skills, knowledge)

8) Each country, and region has its strengths and weakness. In order to build wealth for the future, each country must act differently:

- Japan: Clean up the banks, bring in professional management, restore government credibility, and create internal growth. Japan is too big to play the export game anymore.
- US: Break the two-tier society (rich and very poor) by improving education for more skilled workers, and investing more in infrastructure
- Europe: Encourage entrepreneurs and corporate flexibility

9) Wealth is created when there is a disequillibrium (imbalance) in technology, or society. When there is change, there is opportunity ~ because wealth is being transferred.

10) Know your weakness and go where that weakness is not important.

Overall, it is a fascinating read for anyone interested in economics, or how rich countries become rich. Lots of good facts which reflect on the competitive, and opportunistic capitalist paradigm we currently live in.

1) There has been significant change in the economic landscape, and that change continues to accelerate. Before the industrial revolution, 98% of the world's population had income only from farming. Now less than 2% are farmers.

2) The world is increasing a global market. Coca Cola gets 80% of its revenues from outside the United States.

3) The gap in wealth continues to widen.
- Bill Gates market value is the same as the poorest 110,000,000 Americans.
- In the United States, the average CEO pay is 212x the average worker.
- The top 1% of people in the US own 40% of the total wealth.
- Africa GDP is the same as it was in 1965. Has not changed in 35 years.

4) We are all busier. With the invention of electricity, the average hours of sleep dropped from 9 hours to 7 hours a day.

5) Old companies must destroy themselves (re-invent themselves) in order to stay competitive and grow. Also, individuals must constantly change and grow to remain competitive. If not, they will fall behind.

6) Capitalism is a tough game. The number of businesses failing (88% a year) is almost as many as new business are formed. Wealth is constantly being transferred from one group ~ to another.

7) There are many basic ingredients to create wealth. Some are cultural (like entreprenuership), some are created and enforced by the government (intellectual property, law and order, infrastructure), some are learned by the individual (skills, knowledge)

8) Each country, and region has its strengths and weakness. In order to build wealth for the future, each country must act differently:

- Japan: Clean up the banks, bring in professional management, restore government credibility, and create internal growth. Japan is too big to play the export game anymore.
- US: Break the two-tier society (rich and very poor) by improving education for more skilled workers, and investing more in infrastructure
- Europe: Encourage entrepreneurs and corporate flexibility

9) Wealth is created when there is a disequillibrium (imbalance) in technology, or society. When there is change, there is opportunity ~ because wealth is being transferred.

10) Know your weakness and go where that weakness is not important.