market-economics

This book has good insights into the Wall Street of the 1960's. This was the period of time most similar to the present (not identical) regarding the boom in tech stocks and new issues. Brooks has some interesting insights into the players in that period of time and what went wrong.

"The Go-Go Years" is a largely a collection of New Yorker magazine articles (and some pieces written especially for the book) by John Brooks, who in it covers a crucial period in the history of Wall Street, the 1960s, which includes the rise of conglomerates, mutual funds, and hedge funds, i.e. players at the heart of our economic situation today. Reading this book is instructive for that alone.

But the book is far more than a prescient account of today's market forces. It's a vivid rogues gallery of people who rode the tides of fortune, had their days at the crest of their profession, and then fell back. Some, like stockpicker extraordinaire Gerald Tsai, the first Asian to rise to NYSE prominence, were undone by fortune and circumstance. Other less savory characters had only themselves to blame.

There's an early look at Ross Perot, described vividly at the book's outset as losing a half-billion in a single day (April 22, 1970) and more or less shrugging it off. Perot's priorities were solid and he knew what he was about. Not so Eddie Gilbert, "The Last Gatsby" as Brooks calls him, who parlays small victories into outrageous defeats, dragging along a coterie of privileged friends into more and more nefarious investment schemes. Brooks sees Gilbert's get-rich-quick attitude as too emblematic of Wall Street in the 1960s, and his narrative never tires of pointing these out.

Brooks' elegant prose has a way of leaping out at you without disrupting the narrative flow. About the trend for all investment strategy to come unglued: "The dumb money could take bitter comfort in the company it had among the smartest of the smart money - or former money." On Tsai: "...so swift and nimble in getting into and out of specific stocks that his relations with them, far from resembling a marriage or even a companionate marriage, were more often like that of a roué with a chorus line." On the numerous bailouts undertaken by the Street as the '60s went sour: "Save the broker in order to serve the customer: it was Wall Street's version of the trickle-down theory."

Brooks's writing feels timeless. His is a lapidary style of almost accidental eloquence, blending facts in a seamless way as he tells his tale. It's like Roger Angell's baseball writings for the same magazine - I kept thinking about Angell's great essays in "The Summer Game," which focuses on roughly the same period as "The Go-Go Years," albeit on a different sport.

While Brooks's disapproval with Wall Street in the 1960s is obvious, and his genteel liberal disdain for a status quo that allows the market to manage itself shows up now and again, he never loses his focus on the people, and allows them to breathe in his narrative. He doesn't quote from them much, but he obviously spoke to many of the principals at length and weaves their insights into the story. As much as the then-nascent trend toward conglomeratization bothers him, he allows himself to show some sympathy for one of its more outrageous practitioners, Saul Steinberg, who in one of the best chapters finds himself thwarted by the bluebloods while attempting to acquire Chemical Bank. "I always knew there was an Establishment - I just used to think I was a part of it," Steinberg says.

It's not a connect-the-dots style history of Wall Street in the 1960s. It's too episodic for that. But if you are studying the facts and figures of the Go-Go Years and want a deeper look, or simply enjoy the human drama all-too-often overlooked in American business journalism, "The Go-Go Years" is a book that has only appreciated in value over time.

Wiley Investment Classics typically fall into two categories, fascinating troves of banking wisdom that are well-written and insightful, and painful diatribes that while full of good intention are best put on the shelf for display. "The Go-Go Years" is definitely the former - this is an incredibly well written book about what has really become one of the forgotten times in American financial history. While the booom of the 1920's and resulting crash, as well as the excess of the 1980's are frequent subjects of many financial authors, Brooks has picked a relatively infrequently discussed portion of our financial history, the booming 1960's and the resulting crash of the early 1970's.

There are many outstanding sections of the book; the introduction to Ross Perot in the first chapter, the history of Gerald Tsai and Fidelity, the rise and fall of the conglomerates, the description of the back-office and its staff, and finally the description of Wall Street that begins Chapter 5, which is without question the best description of the area ever written. These few pages (104 - 111) are simply an outstanding piece of prose.

There are just too many good things about this book to fit into a 1,000 word review. Too many of the lessons from only 40 years ago are maddeningly similar to the lessons many dot-com and IPO investors are learning now, and the structure and actions of many Wall Street establishments are all too easily explained with this simple peace of previously "missing" history. If you are up to date on the current view of the 1929 collapse, and the bull market of the 1980's, then this is the book that goes a long way towards filling out the major events that shaped the markets in the interim.

Go read this book.

Favorite Excerpts:

"Goaded by stock underwriters eager for commissions or a piece of the action owners of family businesses from coast to coast - laundry chains, soap-dish manfacturers, anything - would sell stock in their enterprises on the strength of little but bad news and big promises." - Brooks (page 28)

"Some accused him of being a habitual liar; they forgave him because he seemed geniunely to believe his lies, especially those about himself and his past." - Brooks (page 63)

"In the nineteen twenties, Wall Street's last great era before the present one, it was a kind of super university as well as a marketplace." - Brooks (page 105)

"'We were all sheep,' one of them would admit, sheepishly, years later." - Brooks (page 120)

"A smooth operator with a streak of the gambler; a company more interested in attracting investors than in making real profits; the resort to tricky accounting; the eager complicity of long-established, supposedly conservative investing institutions; the desperation plunge in a gambling casino at the last minute; the need for massive central-banking action to localize the disaster; and finally, reform measures instituted too late - we will see all of these elements reproduced with uncanny faithfulness in United States financial scandals and mishaps later in the nineteen sixties." (page 125 - 126)

"Economics have never been my strongpoint" - Salinger (page 273)

The terms "Upheavals" and "Market Shock" should not be used to describe the subject matter in this book since it consists entirely of slow, gradual changes in demographics. These changes are only discussed in the most general of terms. There is not one chart or graph in this book. The lack of a timeline makes it impossible to do any serious financial planning. Most of these changes will not have a major effect on the U.S. economy until after most of us are dead and buried.

Unfortunately, the financial advice in this book is very limited, consisting mainly of common sense items, such as, "Learn to broil a trout." The useful information in each chapter can be summed up in one sentence: Chapter 1: Americans are aging. They will need health care and retirement homes. Chapter 2: Science is cool, but make sure that a lot of people will pay for it before investing. Chapter 3: Mutual fund fees are too high. (Also contains the crazy theory that all funds will collapse when people figure out they are not FDIC insured.) Chapter 4: One day, white people will be the minority in America. Chapter 5: The Japanese are getting older, too. Chapter 6: Europe needs Euro-denominated junk bonds. Chapter 7:China has a tough row to hoe. Chapter 8: The crime rate will rise. Chapter 9: There's that global warming thing.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical trivia. On the one hand, I read every page in this book. On the other hand, I don't expect to ever make a dime off of anything that I learned.

We all see the changes that are taking place around us (such as the graying of America). This book takes those changes and puts them into perspective with actionable information. I kept slapping my forehead and saying, "I know this, why didn't I see where it leads?" Buchholz makes sense out of our everyday observations and puts them into economic context.

A rare book on the economy that is actually interesting and fun to read. Buchholz has taken a very clever approach to making his point (with mini-novellas) that are both insightful and well researched. And humourous. Raises some serious concerns about the not too distant future that we should all be looking at as we contemplate our next investment.

I'm an interest rate professional with more than 10 years of successful pricing and trading experience, and I enjoyed and appreciated Riccardo Rebonato's clear presentation of the pricing of these derivatives. I keep this on my desk as one of my key references.

Another great read is "Credit Derivatives" (2nd Edition) by Tavakoli. The products and their uses are clearly explained, and ties in relative value to the interest rate market. I concede that the models for this product may be trickier because of documentation risk and data issues, but Tavakoli brings clarity to this topic so any interest rate professional can grasp the products and why investors - even hedge funds - are so keen to use them.

It's hard to believe a reviewer with such a myopic view of Derivatives pricing could go through the whole book, understood it and found time to rate it. Mindblowing waste of time !
Few hundreds years ago, he would have recommended burning the Madmen claiming the earth was round.

Anyway, while Derivatives Pricing achieves little for the welfare of mankind, the recent need for assets based on ever complex market scenarios calls for a more refined pricing methodology. There no supply and demand here, only customers who want hedge/trade/tradge assets /liabilities and traders who need to make sure their firms don't go burst when market move.

The author answers that demand by formatting and publishing his papers.

My avid reading kept jostling out superb hot ideas from this book. Rebonato carries out a comprehensive survey of the LIBOR market model. He tackles historical background, calibration, and effective implementation. The later chapters also cover extensions to the LIBOR market model to take account of smile and skew. In particular, there is extensive discussion of the cutting-edge Joshi-Rebonato stochastic-vol, displaced-diffusion LIBOR market model.

If you are working on the pricing of exotic interest rate derivatives, this book is a must buy.

In this age of consolidation, big companies keep getting bigger. For suppliers, losing any large account can be at least dramatic or at worst devastating. Large Account Management Process (LAMP) from Miller Heiman presents a logical, team friendly method of knowing how your company is positiioned in your large accounts, and what needs to be done to maintain or improve that position. Highly recommended.

LAMP is the best book I have read about Key/Large Account Planning. Most salesreps and hates the planning process and struggle with their plans. This down to earth approach helps a salesrep to organize his work in developing his account plans in a straightforward and pragmatic way. Instead of focusing on history, LAMP is targeting the future and helps you to align your resources through action plans.

The first chapter of this book was like reading an unauthorized biography of all my short comings in managing my largest accounts. Even as a top five performer, I still felt like I was flying by the seat of my pants. This book set out a course for improvement that has changed my professional career forever. If you manage large global accounts this book should be your bible. Mine is still drying out from massive highlighter use!

As a CFP(r) myself, I was very interested and excited about reading this book. My outlook soon changed. This book should be subtitled "WHY you should capture the middle market and increase your profits" rather than "HOW TO capture the middle market and increase your profits". And the WHY should already be obvious. The author makes a compelling argument for targeting middle market Americans for financial planning services, however she falls dramatically short in providing ANY new or insightful marketing ideas on HOW to capture the specific market. In fact the ONE chapter dedicated to actually marketing is redundant of any marketing strategy book one chooses to pick up today, and it covers about 4 pages on how the author designed her own FP logo. In my opinion its another case of a financial advisor needing to stroke their own ego by writing a book - and if you like reading this "canned" praise for the author, you may just enjoy this book after all - it is full of it. The rest of the information, if you are a financial planner, you should already know or be ashamed you don't know it.

Middle to upper middle income America have traditionally been underserved by the financial advisory industry. Yet they typically benefit in the most impactful ways from even basic financial planning strategies. I know from experience as a practicing CFP. Garrett and the planning network she has been building have methods for providing financial planning advice using an hourly billing model. With the hourly model for practicing (clients pay an hourly fee to their planner just like they would to their attorney, CPA or career counsler) the client can buy needed financial planning to at least start them on a path of financial planning realization. They remain in control of the costs of their planning, and it doesn't take long for the results to take hold and justification for the expense is easy. The idea is that paying by the hour and therefore knowing what the costs and scope of the work will clearly be, enough planning can be done without trying to shoehorn someone into some broadly defined, comprehensive level of analysis that simply is not necessary for entry level planning needs. And, because that level of planning is expensive, good folks often can't afford or rationalize that large an expense, especially having no previous experience hiring a planner. So often no planning takes place at all.

This book will sharpen the interest of planners everywhere who are tired of fighting over the much smaller group of wealth management clients, and provide a means for accessing the much larger group of middle-upper middle income clients who will pay a professional fee for an unbiased professional advisor. Why not help clients grow into the wealth management client we all seem to want them to someday be?

The popular media have been all over the Garrett Planning Network in a very positive way. Get the book and see what all the fuss is about.

Sheryl Garrett has done a masterful job of communicating her view that a fee-only, hourly approach to providing financial advice can be both personally satisfying and financially rewarding. Sheryl clearly defines the size and potential of the Middle Market, and defines in detail a practice model to serve that market.

I'm impressed by the level of detail Sheryl provides in the book. She not only outlines her practice model, but she presents a detailed look at how she serves her clients. She includes tips and techniques that she actually uses in her practice when dealing with clients. She also does a good job of highlighting various helpful websites.

If you want a good discussion of the future of financial planning in America, this is a great place to start!

Robert Barro is a treasure. He is one of the very few people writing on macroeconomics who is actually qualified to do so. When you add to that his ability to make complicated concepts accessible to lay readers you realize how valuable he really is.

This is a short book that in four chapters that are fashioned from columns that Barro wrote for the Wall Street Journal. However, the book does NOT read like a bunch of columns stitched together. It reads like a well-formed book.

The four chapters are 1) Economic Growth, 2) Monetary and Financial Policy, 3) Fiscal and Other Macroeconomic Policies, and 4) The Power of Economic Reasoning.

There is a lot to think about in these 175 pages. It doesn't take long to ready, but you won't want to dash through this. This is the kind of writing that you want to think about and linger over, not because it is difficult, but because it seriously challenges many of our present society's basic operating assumptions. I can't follow Barro all the way down the path he has taken, but I sure like most of it.

Reading this book is also a good way to introduce yourself to macroeconomic thinking and how it differs from microeconomics. It isn't a formal introduction, but the concepts are presented in such a clear manner that they can be grasped with just a little consideration of what the author is presenting.

Of course, there is a lot of serious study to do for the student who wants to understand macroeconomics in a serious way. But this book can help the everyday person develop some good intuitions about fundamental macroeconomic principles.

I found this book very readable. Barro is candid in his views and doesn't have extreme or alarming suggestions for improving our shared economic welfare. He has some original opinions based on his own research but can easily tip his hat to the contributions of others in his field. I would reccommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about economics.

Most people distrust economists, and given what passes for an economist in the public eye, it's not surprising. The newspapers are full of hacks and mediocre economists like Paul Krugman passing off political opinion as economic wisdom. For that matter, most of what is presented as economic knowledge is political opinion. Most competant economists, whatever thier philisophical stance, pretty much agree among themselves as to the basic dynamics of the economy; it's the policy choices that divide them. Yet few economic writers in the public eye make this clear. They're more likely to present one side of a political argument and call it economic truth. Or they present a simple appear to ignorance that devalues their own profession: "As is obvious to the simplest reader..." To the public, economists are people who can't agree among themselves, can't predict where the market is going and certainly don't seem to be able to give the government any good advice. What use are they?

And then along comes someone like Barro. Here's a modern economist who is conversant with the latest theoretical models and yet who still has a good intuitive understanding of the basics of supply and demand. Barro doesn't have to throw up a smokescreen of buzzwords to intimidate the reader. He can walk you through an argument in a way that makes makes complex questions clear. In this volume he considers a number of contemporary issues, analyzes the underlying economic issues, and unlike most of his contempraries, presents a wealth of historical data to illustrate his points. And if that weren't enough, he analyzes both sides of an issue honestly.

Barro covers most of the contemporary economic issues that fill newspaper columns these days. Growth, monetary and fiscal policy, balance of trade, the role of the fed, the effects of regulation... it's all here. This isn't light reading, but it's nothing that a reasonably intelligent person can't follow. Plus, it's well written and downright entertaining. You can't ask for more.

If you dont understand what the words Futures/options are and you want to know it, this is the place to start. hull(from McGil i think!) has excellently presented information on these subjects for the student as well as for the practitioner. As a student of MBA(finance) this was the prescribed text and I can safely say this compares with the best. sepcifically this book deals with the entire gamut of Futures/Options/Swaps with mathematical models where required. From CBOT to this day!!

Hull wrote a classic book for the introduction to futures and options markets. It's for the serious reader who doesn't want to all the deviations and basics of option pricings. If, after reading this book, you're still interested in derivatives you cann proceed with Hull's "Options, Futures, and Other Derivative Securities", Kolb's "Futures, Options, and Swaps", or for the very ambitious student Wilmott's "Derivatives or Quantitative Finance".

The material is similar to his other book, Options Futures and Other Derivatives, but much more easy to read. With Brealy & Myers, this forms a good complementary text.

Molloy's "Dress for Success" book was based on hard scientific research on how people respond to clothing. He presented how he did each experiment and what the results were. The book was truly eye-opening, and as I adjusted my dress to his recommedations, I encountered the expected results. I was very impressed. My only complaint would be that I wanted to pick Molloy's brain even more.

Then I found this book. I don't know why it took me so long. Molloy sets it straight. Just how people react to you differently depending on what you wear, they also react to you on how you talk (and not just on WHAT you say, but more HOW you say it), how you hold your shoulders, your mouth, and other behavioral mechanisms. Molloy runs through all of this, explaining the experiments he did and the results. This isn't some guy's THEORY on how to be successful, it's SCIENTIFICALLY VERIFIED TRUTH.

This book is a gold mine. In one chapter, Molloy explains how he used his research to help an employee eliminate a series of body language oddities which were making people dislike him. Furthermore, he had passed these body language habits onto his kids who were unpopular in school. They all learned what they were doing and corrected it, with enormous success. That is one of the most powerful stories of self-improvement I have ever read.

If you're like me and have always wondered why you weren't getting the results you worked hard for and felt you deserved, this book is an absolute MUST read.

I have an extensive library of personal development books. Molly's 'Live for Success' ranks as one of my 5 top success books. I've been studying this book for a few years now..I only wish I had read and applied this when I started my career.

This book is required reading. It's brutally honest. 'Live for Success' doesn't contain positive affirmations or spritual guidance..this is a book about facts: namely that your socio-economic status (or more importantly how it is percieved by your mannerisms and vocabulary) results in a higher percentage chance of success.

But Molly doesn't stop there. He goes on to explain how the physical and social characteristics of the upper middle class such as body language, face masks, clothes, and success patterns can be mimicked by beer-drinking, dirty t-shirt wearing, couch potatos in order to achieve real results. These results are professional and social successes..READ: higher income and success. He has researched examples of these techniques.

Indeed, as a former beer-drinking, dirty t-shirt wearing, couch potato, I've applied them and they work effectively. I've doubled my income over 6 digits, am at the top of my game, and enjoy a bright vibrant future. And, you can do it too. Read this book, study this book, and apply it. You will be amazed.

I only wish Molloy came out with more material along this line such as more socio-economic mannerisms going into grooming, looks, body types, etc.. Perhaps more material on lifestyles, what to do in certain situations, etc.. Molloy's research is eye-opening.

This is a book that must be studied, not just read. I think this book is more effective than 'Think and Grow Rich'. This is the real world. Not just thinking about feeling good, but tools and techniques to shred the competition right away.

I first read this book over ten years ago when I was in college. I liked the well researched style Molloy uses. His comments and advice can be very blunt, but he makes the point. Much of this excellent advice can not be found in other books.
For example he opens with a chapter on how people spot lower socioeconomic level traits in others. I see these things all the time (i.e. slouched posture, mouth resting open.) More importantly he tells you how to change your own style in case this is not something your parents taught you. The chapter on table manners is enough to buy the book.

I have been in the professional world for ten years now and still recall and use something from this book at least once a month.

Not without flaws, but a damn good trading book. The author presents 3 methods, which are probably fairly well known, but to have it clarified and presented with examples certainly would help a trader add another tool to their box. I did notice plenty of varied entries and often vague exits, which may have been a result of curve fitting to the examples. However, it is of a minor concern.

First off, I'd like to say that for someone who loves technical indicators like the MACD and Parabolic Sar, I really enjoyed this book. Having read many books where technical indicators are simply described on their individual merits, it was wonderful to find a book where the author actually presented some systems in a concrete and clear manner.

I'm sure you'll find this book very clearly written, with the 3 systems clearly illustrated with examples on the entry method along with a few exit methods.

Before explaining his systems, the author presented some quite introductory materials on the technical indicators used - this is good and systematic, and certainly helps the beginner, but if you are an advanced trader with clear ideas of your own trading system, you may not find this book so useful.

TOM MADE A VERY HIGH QUAOLITY SMALL AND HONEST BOOK.

HOPE HE MAKES ONE FOR PLAYING FOR KEEPS IN OPTIONS.

Kiev's thesis rests upon the premise of setting profit goals and then trying to hit them. The idea is that you will be compelled to refine everthing about your trading and put away all excuses in order to reach this goal -- a sort of goal as catalyst for improvement theory. While this seems like good advice I am afraid that for longer term traders it runs headlong into the "only take what the market gives you" truism. If I set a goal of $10,000 per month, what do I do when the market goes nowhere for four weeks? You guessed it, I would try to force things. Not good. So unless you are willing to accept the thesis of setting specific profit goals you won't gain that much from this book. A much better treatment of general trading psychology can be found in Mark Douglas' "Trading in the Zone".

This was definitely Kiev's best book yet. What made the difference between it and Trading to Win was that it was actually helpful and laid out a course of action. Trading to win was chockful of examples but you were unsure of how you fit into it.
The book is full of little tests to determine what type of trader you are. Unfortunately he is not big on advice you sorta figure that out yourself after reading so many pages of what's your best course of action.
The downside to the book though is the Master Trader section which sorta drones on.
Still his best.

....another 5* piece created by Dr. Kiev. The Psychology of Risk is an excellent tool to improve and build on one's trading technique. whether a novice or an expert, psychology of risk is a must read for all levels...