fainancial

This book review consists of two parts. The first focuses on who could
benefit from studying and using the book. The second part reports on and
elaborates some relevant or interesting aspects of the book.

This book can be highly useful to financial advisers, and to entrepreneurs
who plan to start a new business or who are already running a business of
their own. The book can be used effectively in courses on entrepreneurship
taught in Schools of Business (Management), or sometimes in Law Schools.
Some of the book's chapters as 3, 4, 10, and 18 can be assigned in
introductory courses on management. If the instructor does not require
students to buy the book, then the college or university library should
acquire a few copies of the book so that the relevant chapters could be on
a reading list for introductory management courses.

The book has very good explanations of many topics related to
entrepreneurship.  We describe below, a few of such well treated topics.

Many of my MBA students would like to eventually, or right after
graduation, found their own business. They ask many questions about what
legal form should their entrepreneurial venture take. Lane's book provides
an exhaustive explanation of the benefits and costs of several legal
organizational forms:  proprietorship, partnership, corporation, S
corporation, and incorporation in Delaware or in another state. The book
also reports on a more recent legal form entitled: Limited Liability
Company (LLC).

Lane's book provides a well-written explanation of how to evaluate a new or
existing entrepreneurial venture. He describes the ins and outs of
breakeven analysis, simple forecasting financial models, and relevant
aspects of financial statements which the entrepreneur must be able to
understand for his/her own sake as well as for presentation to his/her
audience of potential investors. The book is a good source for providing
knowledge of other topics which the entrepreneur must understand to be able
to run his/her business efficiently. These include the ebbs and flows of
the processes of cash and receivables. Additionally, it provides a
discussion of other business processes. If the entrepreneur's business is
one of producing or reselling physical manufactured goods, then for such a
situation the book provides a good discussion of the inventory process.
Also provided in a comprehensive discussion are the ups and downs of the
liabilities process which has to be monitored closely by the entrepreneur.
The book performs well in providing the necessary understanding of business
processes. It presents its concepts and ideas in a lucid and clear fashion.

Among other analyses, the book offers in-depth analysis of risk management
for the entrepreneur. It discusses and explains the very important
insurance principle. It delves into the types of insurance that are
relevant for any business enterprise: property insurance, liability
insurance, self-insurance,
and specific insurance for directors and officers of the business entity.

Another important topic received a thorough going treatment: valuing the
business. This topic is especially of interest to entrepreneurs who own
their businesses and whose ventures achieved a measure of success. When
success and growth become permanent features of the business the notion of
selling the business to other entrepreneurs or to a large company may
become an option.  Some older owners would like to sell to attain a
comfortable retirement without the pressures of running a business. Young
owners may wish to sell, cash in, and move on to other experiences. Thus a
guide to valuation and selling is a useful part of the book.

This review focused on a few of the many interesting topics covered in
Lane's book. However, it should be borne in mind that the book covers many
more topics of interest. The book unravels its presentation over 310 pages
and 18 chapters.  It contains a wealth of information relevant to the
founding, running, financing and selling of business enterprises. It is and
will be useful for financial advisors and entrepreneurs...

Whether you are starting a business, buying or selling a business, or are just curious about the most important financial issues in doing so, this book is a comprehensive "must-have" guide. I found Chapter 12 (Buy-Sell Designs) to be particularly well written and informative, and believe that this single chapter is well worth the entire purchase price of the book.

I bought a few business planning books over the last months because I am starting my own hair salon. They all had these big lists of things to do, but never really explained why. I asked my brother-in-law, the accountant, for some help, but he gave me the same sort of stuff, which I still didn't get. This book I can take at my own speed while I am on the train. When I did meet with an attorney last week, I had a list of everything that I thought was important that I got from the book. He was impressed and my dream is closer than ever to coming true. Thanks, Marc!

An excellent book -- the best I've ever read on the subject. As a financial advisor I can't recommend it enough. Most find estate planning confusing. This book is not confusing. It's an easy read. Each simple, short, touching story illustrates a different problem that can arise by not doing good estate planning. It will make you think about your own situation with more clarity than was possible before. This book could be called Chicken Soup For Your Legacy.

This is the first book I have actually seen on estate planning that was actually interesting. The stories and letters are captivating. I found myself drawn into the next one without even knowing it. By the time I had finished the book I felt like I not only learned a fair amount about estate planning, but that I also learned a lot about myself. I found myself thinking about what I really wanted to pass on to my heirs (and not so much thinking about the money). Kudos to these great authors.

Almost all books on estate planning explain how to minimize taxes and avoid probate. Colleen Barney and Victoria Collins take a totally different approach focusing on the emotional aspects of leaving money. Using compelling real life stories and letters, the authors focus on what fairness really means, passing values, wisdom, goals, ideals and life's lessons in a meaningful way, preventing fights after your death, who are the "right" people to choose as trustees and more importantly as guardians, sweating the small stuff like passing personal effects and dealing with the always sticky situation of second marriages. With a great deal of emotion, the authors take a very non-technical, understandable and realistic look at the personal side of estate planning with the goal of ensuring that your best intentions are realized after the estate has been settled.

Dr DeRosa's book was entertaining, easy to read and packed with anecdotes and information. As an investment pro, his book gave me a greater insight into the often arcane political manipulations that eventually sow the seeds for economic instability. He pulls no punches when he states that central banks and governments themselves set themselves up to be the eventual "victims" of their own bad policies and instead of doing something different, they blame the speculator.
I like his information "boxes" that help the reader with the technical details of the book. Although I have long been a fan of single currency idea's, DeRosa's book has given me reason to pause. Well referenced and well researched.
The reviews by Dr Hanke and Dr Friedman can't hurt either.

"In Defense of Free Capital Markets is an impressive survey and analysis of the crises of the 1990s. Mr. DeRosa makes a strong case that official intervention has made matters worse, not better, and that in such instances it is far better to leave it to the invisible hand of the market than to the clumsy, visible hand of regulators."

--Milton Friedman Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution Nobel Economics Prize, 1976

Professor DeRosa offers up a generous helping of reality in evaluating the currency crises of the past dozen or so years. From the first world foibles of the Bank of Japan to the third world of currency pegs, the currency calamities of the late twentieth century are thoughtfully presented in a lean read.

While perhaps giving short shrift to the political constraints facing policy makers in times of crisis, Mr. DeRosa nevertheless does well describing the environments and pre-conditions which ultimately fostered our most recent international financial catastrophes.

In this, the age of fiat money, unsustainable currency policies are easy prey for the worlds biggest market. Anyone interested in a brief but informative history of recent currency debacles will truly enjoy this book.

I am using the most recent edition (1999, ISBN027362587X) of this excellent book published by FT Prentice Hall.

This book is a concise and informative guide to the concepts and mechanics (maths) and application of financial instruments.

The author has managed to cover the wide area of financial instruments and business maths in the most concise and informative manner possible.

The added bonus of this book is that it could have been "unintentionally" written as a companion with HP financial calculator-the HP12c and the HP19BII.

As a new owner of the HP12c, I have found this book to be an excellent and indispensible guide and workbook.

Working through the examples in the book with my HP12c has helped me familarise with the RPN mode/logic of performing financial maths at the same time as I apply my understanding of the underlying concepts to the exercise questions and illustrative examples.

I am impressed that the author had even included detailed key strokes of both the HP 12c and 19BII calculators with each illustrated examples and answers to practice questions as well! Although there is afew minor errors but the overall effort is great efforts and attention to details.

This book is really true to its name, I would certainly recommend Mr Steiner's excellent work and effort to anyone who needs a refresher or an introductory course into financial instruments for both work and study.

Judging by the author's excellent effort, it would be difficult for the author himself to improve on his own work unless there are major new developments in the subject matter or if the author wishes to cover more complex and specialist areas.

A five star+ effort in my humble opinion.

One of the best titles you can get about pricing swaps and simple options and many other money market stuff. A lot of excersises with solutions. I dont know how this book isnt a best-seller yet.

As a liberal arts major who was not a math pro but had an interest in learning the tools of finance, this book was a dream come true. It explains every calculation simply and without any technical (and incomprehensible) jargon found in many textbooks. It includes examples, hints, and a glossary of important financial concepts. If you are willing to learn, then this book is for you. A good reference tool for even pros. A bit expensive but NOT sorry to have bought it.

Andrew's book gives you a great amount of information and all the stories that don't show up in other Buffett books or Berkshire Hathaway's annual reports. I loved this book and have several editions (each gets better as more info, pictures and stories are added).

This book, while it collects many unknown facts does not organize these facts into an easy reading format.

I purchased this book and DISCARDED it because I found it too unorganized to read. The author himself states that he wrote this as a shareholder-admirer and I find very little added value in this book. Read the annual reports and some of the other excellent books instead. You will never finish this book.

Andy Kilpatrick has updated his work entitled "of Permanent Value, The Story of Warren Buffett." As a stockbroker and writer, Kilpatrick collates many resources in writing this book. He interviews Buffett's friend and family, he quotes from Berkshire Hathaway annual reports and the famous Chairman letters, and he harvests data from the annual reports of companies which Buffett has owned. Kilpatrick proudly relays stories of the many hours he has pesonally spent with his hero, Warren Buffett. Buffett has told Kilpatrick that he "wishes him well, but not too well" because Buffett intends one day to write his own story. Apparently Buffett approves of Kilpatrick efforts since Buffett has met with the author several times after the 1994 edition of this same title. For a reader interested in learning about Warren Buffett this book is a great starting point and worth the purchase price. For the longtime student of Buffett's writings or to the richly rewarded Berkshire Hathaway shareholders this book offers much value. The story of Warren Buffett's success is amazing when learned for the first time and on rereading that story gets even richer. Andy Kilpatrick has retold that story with full and interesting detail.

This is an excellent book to have a good understanding of all aspects of your personal finances. David Teitelbaum presents all financial planning issues with an easy-reading style that is both clear and educational. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in having a well-rounded knowledge of personal finances. Every chapter of the book presents a number of useful web addresses on related subjects that are excellent for further reading and a more in-depth understanding of certain issues. It is never too late to get this book. Stop procrastinating with your personal finances!

I highly recommend this wonderful book to anyone who wants to learn how to take control of their financial future. The financial truths in this book apply to Generation X and Boomers alike. Mr. Teitelbaum makes the complex seem simple and takes the mystery out of investing. He has written this book for people who are not financial experts, so you can feel confident that his book can and will help you learn how to handle your finances. Mr. Teitelbaum explains the world of personal investing in a smooth, easy-reading style. So, whether you are a beginning investor or somewhat experienced, this book can serve as an invaluable resource. Mr. Teitelbaum champions the get quick slowly approach to investing based in common sense and long-term planning. If you are interested in building wealth but are prone to a get-rich-quick approach, then this book is the tonic you need. Mr. Teitelbaum addresses all of the building blocks to wealth creation including: sensible budeting, ridding yourself of expensive debt, developing a savings plan and developing a solid long-term investment plan. Also, he provides valuable insight into the usual suspects (stocks, bonds, mutual funds, life insurance and annuites) and explains how they fit within a broader investment philosophy. Mr. Teitelbaum gives broad coverage to so many areas of personal finance that his book will also serve as a great reference guide. He also, shows you where to find out more information about a particular financial topic. I consider this book a great achievement, and it will undoubtedly help many people. I highly recommend this book. I give it 5 stars!!!

The author makes a very good point in this book--that most of us are not taught in school this basic life skill of budgeting and investing our money. He makes another good point that the quality of each person's life in retirement will depend to a great extent to how well he/she has planned and invested, because no longer do most of us work for paternal companies that take care of us. Even the federal government's retirement plans are not what they once were. We're expected to make more and more choices for ourselves, and most of us are oblivious about what we'll have in retirement. We also don't want to think about long-term care, but we can see how important it is as we look around and see our parents needing care and are suddenly surprised to see that Medicare/Medicaid doesn't go far. I, for one, never was exposed to any of the basics, and I admit have no head for it. My eyes glaze over at the mention of dollars and cents. But this book is so easy to follow and so logical that I feel like the author is personally holding me by the hand and starting me out with Step One. There are background chapters about, for example, how Social Security got started; how it used to work; how it works now; and what we can and can't expect it to do for us in retirement. There is an excellent index that enables the reader to search for specific topics. There are easy-to-follow headings on things like What Drives Up the Market, Paying for Long-Term Care, and Buying Mutual Funds At Banks. The author even includes website information, which makes the book all the more useful. In short, this is a basic handbook--not just for baby boomers, but for younger people starting out. I've given two copies to recent college graduates entering the workforce because I don't want them to be as oblivious as I was for so many years. I want to thank the author for opening my eyes before it was too late!

If you are interested in starting your own business and/or becoming wealthy this is a must read. Great story format presenting lots of information that most books like this leave out. This is just not a pump you up story, but includes lots of useful tactics and information for success. If your are an entrepreneur this book needs to be on your bookshelf...

Excellent material presented in an entertaining manner. A quick and profitable read.

How can you achieve personal wealth? It's about changing your mindset and this book can guide you in theory and practical thoughts needed to do this.

Many references are drawn from very good sources. These cross references link other author's stories together into one contiguous frame of thought.

Finally, the book has a wonderful motivational story to help drive it's point home. Very well written and will remain in my library forever.

Where was this book when I was a kid? If I had read this book and known the truths conveyed here, I would be like Warren Buffet,today. Seriously, this book is full of helpful wisdom that everyone, young and old should know and use.

I think this book should be mandatory reading before a child graduates from HS. It could be a text book for an economics class. It's too bad so few people know about it. Get this book for your HS graduate and you won't have to support them the rest of their life. They will learn good habits and avoid making serious mistakes.

My hat off to the author for his insight and wisdom.

Well I have had a very rude awakening! I am nowhere near ready to retire...how sad for me. However, I have learned so great tools to get back on the path. I should be able to follow these simple principles, but only time will tell how effective they really are. Judging from Guy's experience he seems to know a heck of a lot more then I do about managing finances.

EXCELLENT! It should be mandatory reading for all school kids.

Kaplan and Cooper have put together an outstanding guidebook for managers to follow in order to reap the most significant benefits from activity based costing and other cost management techniques. The great merit of this book is that it does not preach to the reader the latest management fad, but rather goes through a thorough analysis of budgeting processes, highlighting benefits and drawbacks of each. They do not claim ABC is the best approach, and even praise some simpler methods that are more adequate for certain companies. Instead, they point to the circumstances in which ABC can provide outstanding results to companies.

The book structured first with an analysis of the most often used systems of managerial cost accounting. It highlights the shortcomings of these, proceeding then to present certain productivity improvements that could contribute to performance. These are mostly related to the quality movements (TQM, 6 Sigma, etc), which are presented in a very understandable way. These are complements to the existing usual cost management systems. These improvements can be made even without implementing ABC systems.

Then the authors proceed to describe activity based costing and its benefits in terms of choosing customers, suppliers, and product breadth. They present many examples that would be very relevant to any practitioner, in industry or service. There is a specific section focusing on services, which makes the appropriate adaptations to the systems for the peculiarities of it.

Overall, an outstanding work, to help anyone involved in cost management, whether they are interested in activity based costing or more traditional standard costing methods.

I have read this book cover to cover and have re-read chapters. Kaplan ensures that you grasp the fundamental concepts by keeping things simple. He illustrates the concepts with easy to understand examples. I gained very little knowledge from the first 3 ABM books I read, but after reading "Cost and Effect," I felt that I had a good enough grasp of the fundamentals to actually implement a costing system.

After reading several academic papers concerning activity based costing I still wasn't convinced about the usefullness of the methodology. After reading Cost & Effect I revised my opinion on Cost Management. This book gives all the answers to effective Cost Management. It takes you from the ABC Age to the Activity Based Management Age and clearly helps you to understand what costs are alle about. Once you really understand the topics of this book you will be able to face and manage costs in whatever business you are in. Read it!

This is the most comprehensive coverage of interest rate models available anywhere in the global markets. If you already have a model, read this book to examine options for additional improvements. If you are developing a model, buy this book for the best state-of-the-art guidance available.

Jessica James's writing is always clear and accessible, and her Ph.D. in physics lends unparalleled quantitative expertise to the state-of-the art analysis of models and their applications.

As a math grad student who is interested in the term structure modelling, I found that this book is really useful! It just tells you everything about interest rate modelling,not just for the no-arbitrage modelling issue, they even have a chapter about the macroeconomic foundation for interest rate fluctuation! The math used in this book is very concise without too much measure theory twaddle,Everyone who works in this field should have a copy. It's a real must!

This is the most comprehensive coverage of interest rate models available anywhere in the global markets. If you already have a model, read this book to examine options for additional improvements. If you are developing a model, buy this book for the best state-of-the-art guidance available.

Jessica James's writing is always clear and accessible, and her Ph.D. in physics lends unparalleled quantitative expertise to the state-of-the art analysis of models and their applications.