Investment-management

The book does a good job at explaining the various ways you can invest your money (stocks, bonds, options, etc.), but too many times refers you to your financial planner for more information. If you're just starting an investment portfolio, this would be a good place to start. If you're looking for guidance on how to tweak the portfolio you already have to achieve a certain level of risk or returns, you should look elsewhere.

This book provides an overview of the basic recent history and dynamics of global trade and investment, focussing on the United States. Its primary value lies in understanding the use and misuse of trade deficit statistics - a phenomenon which has plagued the United States since its trade surpluses vanished at the end of the 1970s - which should also make this book a boon to business executives who periodically read of journalistic lanments of the lack of U.S. corporate competitiveness when looking at figures of U.S. trade deficits.

Quinlan points out that there are at least two channels through which a US firm (or a national firm of another country) can sell good and services abroad: either directly trhoguh exports, or through an overseas affiliate, or both. In fact, he spends considerable effort in assembling statistics to show that U.S. multinational affiliate sales are a very significant share of the sales of corporations to consumers in a given nation, say Germany or Australia.

Quinlan ably draws from datasets provided through surveys undertaken by the U.S. Department of Commerce to correct the misleading impression that U.S. trade deficits create among certain commentators. However, such data are not generally available on a worldwide basis for all countries, and until they are available, we may have to content ourselves with what trade statistics do report and signify.

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.

It's a very intuitive book that don't explore very much on mathematics but gives a very good idea about how are things in portfolio management. I recommend it for undergraduates and for portfolio management first approach students.

This book is a valuable resource for any economist interested in the subject of household portfolios. It provides a comprehensive overview of the state of research on portfolios, including theory, data sources and distributional and institutional aspects. Much of the work presented isn't especially original, but it's all carefully and thoughtfully done and usefully collected in one place. The cross-country comparisons are insightful and new. Overall, this is required reading for those interested in this field.

If you are a little confused on where to put your money, If Not Stocks What? may be the antitdote to your perplexed mind.

The stock market has gone through many changes over the past few years. Many investors are a little fearful of losing a chunkof their money in a here today gone tommorow tech stock or a deceptive company like Enron.

Gene Walden outlines in simple language the strenghts and weaknesses of many alternate investment vehicles such as convertible bonds, collectibles, tresury bills, and real estate partnerships and trusts. Walden discusses in each chapter the proper timing strategies. In addition, he guides each vehicle to a particular audience. Example: you would not buy into a long term treasury bill during a rising bull market unless you possibly are looking to preserve your income for retirement.

Some good reference information is provided. An extensive list of Real Estate Investment Trusts is provided in the first chapter with the appropriate symbols. Also, a few web sites are provided to educate one's self on bonds and treasuries.

This book is a good general reference as it certainly won't overwhelm its audience. A more savvy investor might want to purchase some with a little more detail instead of or in addition to this book.

Viewing your stock as you would the products you sell, and trying to woo shareholders as you would potential customers offers the ultimate offers "win-win" situation, but only if the shareholders so selected continue as passive consumers. Brancato's strategy largely assumes shareholders add no value other than their strictly financial investments. That's like thinking the only value citizens add is paying taxes. Still, this is an important book.

Very practical book, with full-detailed examples, but lacks in theoretical analysis.

The author's expertise in the subject matter becomes apparent when you read his lucid explanations of a subject matter that can be quite dry. He successfully intertwines historical events and human stories with the technical discussions of each section to keep the reader engaged and interested. Despite the breadth of the book it is clear that the author has spent considerable time researching the individual sections and has presented the material in a methodical and organized fashion. Thus it clearly serves as a useful professional guide and should be on every money manager's shelf. I especially enjoyed reading the beginning chapters which focus on the historical background and the arrangement of the global currency markets. The author has many clear examples to illustrate his points and thus the book will also appeal to the novice who wants to learn the fundamentals of the currency markets.

This is actualy an excellent tool for anyone studying finance. It should accompany a "financial accounting" text book, since the whole book is full of problems and exersizes. The author did a great job for the students and it is very easy to read it. I recommend it to any prospective financial manager...