Book Description
The Completely Revised and Expanded Edition of the New York Times Bestseller That Focuses on Personal Finance for Every Budget -- and Every Stage of Life
Taking control of your personal finances is the first -- and most important
-- step toward successful investing and a secure future. The Motley Fool You Have More Than You Think, now fully updated and expanded, provides guidance for anyone trying to balance lifestyle aspirations and financial realities. The latest edition of this Motley Fool bestseller covers topics such as:
- Getting out of debt...and into the stock market
- Turning your bank account into a moneymaker
- Using Fool.com and the Internet to learn about all things financial -- from buying a home to getting the best deal on a car
- Saving enough to send your children to the colleges of their dreams
Download Description
The Fool focuses on the fundamentals of personal finance, offering information and advice for every budget and every stage of life. Includes updated information on using the Internet, managing investments while using them as a source income, giving to charity, and creating a portfolio for a child.
Customer Reviews:
A Great Way to Start!.......2007-03-06
I bought this book a good five years ago and ate it up. I have read it several times only to be reinforced in my investment approach - a well-diversified assortment of passive index funds, along with a few well chosen blue chips that pay regular dividends. Monthly automatic investments are now a way of life and though humble in its beginnings, my portfolio today is more than respectable in comparison with most of my "buy it new and yesterday" peers. The Gardner brothers style is informative, quirky, quite clever and humourous. If you don't have time to be a slave to mammon, you'll find as I have that INDEXING is the way to go- slow and steady, living within your means, depending on what you can invest per month-in 20-30 years you will be very wealthy.
Read it, love, it, recommend it!.......2006-10-27
Wow. This book was really, really, really useful. I'm one of those people who, until recently, never gave a second thought to savings or investment because I was always living paycheck to paycheck. Now that we have a little gbreathing room, my husband and I have been reading up on financial things of interest.
I HIGHLY recommend this book for your first one if you're absolutely clueless about personal finance. It takes a bunch of terms that many people find terrifying (stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc.) and not only explains them and many others in amusing detail, but also makes the process of investing a lot more accessible to the average person. It's realistic, though--for one thing, the authors explain why everything from lottery tickets to penny stocks are a bad idea. It also bursts other bad habits, such as not buying Stock A because Stock B is cheaper per share--but not returning as much interest to the owner.
Additionally, there's a lot of really good advice for newbies to investment.
Cha-CHING!.......2005-09-30
This book was a great read - I think tha's probably one of the benefits of reading a book on finances written by two English majors.
Pros:
- Helps you understand where to start in your personal world of finance. I especially enjoy the fact that there is an especially abhorrent attitude towards debt (i.e. - pay what you owe before you every try to put that money anywhere else).
- These guys don't promise any fast cash, but employ a methodology that tends to scream, "slow and steady wins the race!"
- The advice is sound, and there isn't any threatening terminology to find yourself lost in.
- Like I said before, it's a great read. You aren't necessarily reading a manual written by guys who want to lay out the bare facts. You will be reading an entertaining and thoughtful tome on how to have fun with the way you think for your financial future.
- The authors don't seem to assume any drastic steps here - just being smarter with what you have.
Cons:
- While the book helps you start in your personal world of finance, it still leaves a lot for you to figure out on your own. In the end, I was still wandering around the Internet trying to find more information. The book shows you a good direction in which to move, but it doesn't necessarily show you the door in.
- The book isn't written for everyone. The authors admit this throughout their writing also.
- Shameless self-advertisement - but it's funny at the least.
My general perspective:
(Third time, at least) This is a GREAT book. Even if you don't think that you can trust yourself to make a deposit in a savings account, give this book a chance. It opened my eyes to see that there are a lot of people out there making a lot of money and doing very little to merit their worth. These guys aren't business or marketing majors, but their experience speaks through the written word. They won't lose you in a milieu of doublespeak, but sort of hold your hand in understand how you can be your own money manager - and I like that.
This is a work that is for the ordinary man - the sort of fellow that doesn't feel like working his way through a financial dictionary just to understand a book on personal finance. I found this book in my local library - and that's $11.20 you can take straight to the bank!
A must for any college student or independent adult. .......2005-08-27
I have to say that this is the perfect book for any independent adult and/or college student. The main reason I say that is because schools do not offer education on financial freedom. If you are a teen or think you can't read this, go read Motley Fool Teens before reading this one.
This book is separated into two halves. One half will tell you how to have good spending habits, pay debts, find good bank, etc. This half is good enough alone. They give you advice and tell you the reasons behind instead of "Trust us". This is a plus since most of the info is shocking. For instance, it is better to go to a casino than play the lottery since a casino has a payoff of 95% while the lottery is -50%! I personally can say that my life will be easier because of the forewarnings of mistakes and following the path least famous, but most secure.
The other half is about how to invest the stock market. It is amazingly easy and it makes sense by adding charts of growth over time using average return. One of the points the book tries to keep in your head is the stock market only looks scary since not too many know much about it. Remember when you thought you would never learn addition in second grade? In this half the book goes in detail of how to open an account, deciding your stocks, why you shouldn't panic during slumps, etc.
Unlike the teen version, this book is amusing with jokes on every page without overkill. The jokes do well to keep you entertain instead of dreading the fact you need to learn how to compound growth. The jokes even do well to get points across. A book of choice if you don't like books that sound like Ben Stein at pep rally.
We all have gotten advice on money from other people and it is nice of the authors to actually mention advice people give and why or why not it is good. I mean, some people say they lived on ramen noodles and finger toothbrushes in college while the book offers strategies that allow you to live within your means. Remember that ramen is fattening!
I can't say how priceless this info is for being practical and wonderfully hopeful of what is achievable with a small amount of thought. Nowadays people do not know what to do with their money and I see most knowing how to get rid of it. Anyway, this book is a must own for any adult and students alike struggling with the sheer thought of money.
I give this book my strongest recommendation to possible to own, not rent.
(...)
fun to read, describes a clear vision.......2005-08-18
The title of this book reflects the optimism that it breathes from beginning to end. It makes you want to go for it, without encouraging hasty decisions, and encourages to read more. For true fools (I mean morons) like myself, the book adequately warns you to first get out of debt before trying to invest. The part that tells you how to get out of debt is brief but the advice is sane, and optimistic. Once ready to invest, we are adviced to use a buy-and-hold strategy, and the arguments for it seem to make sense. Most importantly, after reading this, the reader has a clear general framework that help him/her to make confident investment decisions.
Picky points:
-A bit wordy on occasion.
-Not enough advice on what to do when your stocks just keep declining
Amazon.com
For the past eight years, the U.S. stock market has been on a bull run the likes of which few have ever seen, making and breaking records almost every quarter. And for the last four of those years, David and Tom Gardner's self-described market-crushing stock portfolios have made the market's own incredible performance pale by comparison. In their third book, The Motley Fool's Rule Breakers, Rule Makers, the brothers reveal the methodology behind their stock-picking success, which is impressive. The Rule Breaker Portfolio (formerly known as the Fool Portfolio on their Web site) has risen some 650 percent since its inception in 1994, thanks to stocks such as America Online, McAfee, and Wal-Mart, while the Rule Maker Portfolio (formerly known as the Cash King Portfolio) has risen 440 percent on the backs of investments in Microsoft, Cisco Systems, and Intel. Fans of the Motley Fool, who with luck have prospered from the Gardners' timely advice, will no doubt love Rule Breakers, Rule Makers. The book is written in their usual humorous and self-congratulatory style--not only educational, but often aimed at making the pros on Wall Street wince, as they should. However, if you're new to the Motley Fool or to stock picking in general, you may do well by first considering one of their earlier books, You Have More Than You Think and The Motley Fool Investment Guide.
Amazon.com Audiobook Review
"Business is as simple as changing the rules at the beginning, and then making the rules at the end," say David and Tom Gardner, creators of the Motley Fool investment web site. Invest in the stock of one company that goes all the way from rule breaker to rule maker, and you get rich. But how do you tell the difference between a company that will follow this model--a Microsoft or a Wal-Mart--and a company that only appears to be a superstar, like Boston Chicken? The Gardners explain what takes a company from interesting maverick to the "default setting" of its industry--the name synonymous with its entire type of product, such as Coke, Kleenex, and Band-Aid. They throw in a little culture, too: readings from Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part One and Henry V illustrate the classical route from edgy rule breaker to regal rule maker. (Running time: 3 hours, 2 cassettes) --Lou Schuler
Book Description
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
From the bestselling authors of The Motley Fool Investment Guide and its successful, savvy prequel, The Motley Fool's You Have More Than You Think, here's an engaging, humorous, and practical stock-picking guide, packed with Foolish insights, that caps off this invaluable personal finance trilogy from David and Tom Gardner.
The Motley Fool's Rule Breakers, Rule Makers presents the sophisticated, yet easy-to-understand stock-picking methods that have kept the Motley Fool portfolio beating the Standard & Poor's averages by more than 30 percent. The key is investing in small start-up companies that have historically offered the greatest investment returns (the "rule breakers") as well as huge companies that maintain legal monopolies in their fields (the "rule makers"). The Gardner brothers explain
* How to identify the best investments in today's public markets: the rule breakers and the rule makers
* The definition of a "tweener" -- a maturing rule breaker -- and how to detect the Tweener Death Rattle
* When to buy and when to sell, and how to manage your portfolio on a regular basis
In their first two books, the Fools got you started in investing and freed you from the fees and worries that Wall Street's Wise Men have been imposing on investors for decades. Now, by sharing their methods for picking rule breakers and rule makers, they guide you through a stock market that has seen company valuations soar to unprecedented heights and that promises to continue providing roller-coaster thrills. The Motley Fools are the ultimate companions to bring along for a safe, fun, and profitable ride.
Customer Reviews:
Entertaining and informative.......2006-06-27
This book provides a nice method for picking two kinds of promising stocks: rule-breakers, the next cisco, microsoft, or amazon; innovative, up and coming companies with enormous potential for growth: and rule-makers, solid, established companies, leaders in their fields, that promise steady profit and earnings. The authors give a list of the attributes to look for that identify each kind of company. It's valuable advice, but the book is full of that "irrational exuberance" that characterized the late 90s.
Funny Thing, Taking Advice from Fools..........2005-08-06
The Motely Fool has never shied away from congratulating itself, in an entertaining sort of way. The trouble comes in when the reality fails to live up to the authors' claims. Their style of rah-rah anyone-can-make-a-million investing appeals to some novice investors for obvious reasons. But as Malkiel points out in the classic A Random Walk Down Wall Street, there will always be a few people who have a fortunate run for a few years. Today, sadly, after the crash of 2000, the Gardners' conclusions in Rule Breakers Rule Makers seem to be more misleading than helpful, especially for someone just starting out.
If investing were only as easy as the Gardners make out then their own "Rule Breaking" portfolio might have continued to work. They have tried to selectively cite certain of their more recent portfolios to make it appear that they're continuing to "beat the market like a drum", while sweeping under the rug their losing portfolios. But as the reality of their results stands, they ought to be ashamed of themselves for hyping up stocks and making themselves sound like the next Warren Buffett.
There will always be people on Wall Street like the Gardners, inflating expectations and temporarily taking in some newcomers. In contrast, real investors like Buffett and Graham are modest about their results. They stick to a realistic expectation of returns, and realize that today's hot stock is often tomorrow's set of crashed dreams. A beginning investor would be much better served reading Graham's The Intelligent Investor, or another classic of the Street, rather than being drawn into a charming but unrealistic look at the high hopes of what are ultimately mere self-promoters.
Empirical rules to picking stocks ..........2005-05-19
Selecting the right stocks (or rather the right companies) is the foremost important step in Investing. And this books is all about the process of picking the best stocks from the whole universe of Stock market.
As Tom and David believe, anyone with 5th grade math should be able to invest intelligently. And accordingly, they have written in simple and straight forward manner. There are no references to fancy formulas or any reference to 200 day moving averages etc etc.
Most of the rules described are empirical, intuitive and easy to comprehend.
For example ...
-> Seek companies with repeat business model (Starbucks, McDonalds, Gillete etc)
-> Seek companies that are the initial proponents and the market leaders (Coke, Gillete etc)
-> Seek companies with high profit margin products (Starbucks etc)
-> Seek companies which have good brand recognition (McDonalds, Coke etc)
There are ample more rules that are described in detail in the book.
This is definitely a must read for folks that are just getting started on Investing. I would suggest that you first read and understand the complete set of rules. For better understanding, apply those rules to few set of stocks that are interesting to you. Intuitively try to find out which rules really make sense to you. Probably come out of with just 7 rules that you find are absolutely interesting and relevant. Adopt those selected rules in your investing strategy.
Happy Investing! Hopefully you will recover the cost of the book by applying the rules in this book :-)
-Sachin
Entertaining and Stimulating.......2004-04-22
It seems as though the success of the Motley Fool is very much a product of the information age and the internet's foray into the stock market. It's index of funds "^MFF" has taken a nosedive over the last year or so, only coming up slightly within the last couple of months. But let us take a look at what can be learned from the printings of the two Fools: David and Tom Gardner.
For one some of the advice that they dish out can be a product of the time at which the book was written. A small portion of the book extols buying stocks when they are at their IPOs, a practice that brought investors considerable success before the advent of the dot-com debacle. Today such a practice would come under suspect just because of the lack of information most IPOs are able to offer given their nascent entrance into the business world. To be fair, the Gardners did spend a few sentences to preface their recommendations with the obvious heads up that one must do their due diligence before jumping into a stock head first.
The element of humor within the informative book serves to entertain and amuse, satisfying a promise they make from the get go. If you're a fan of Shakespeare or at least can read prose from that day in era (personally I found it difficult) then we may not get some of the quips that were intended for us. Overall it's a good read that echoes the teachings of the Sage of Omaha: buy and hold.
A Wonderful Collection of Well-Written, Poor Advice.......2004-04-13
One thing that the Gardner brothers do especially well is writing for the general public. I read my first Motley Fool book when I was ten and very little of it went over my head. Granted, I was a precocious little bugger, but David and Tom still do an excellent job of taking the abstractions of the investing world and bringing them down to earth. It doesn't take much skill to write an esoteric investment book full of jargon to make it seem intellectual. However, explaining the same issues in laymen's terms takes finesse, and I respect that.
Enough about the writing though. What matters most in an investment book is what it has to say, and unfortunately, that is where Rule Breakers, Rule Makers is most lacking. Reading this book in the midst of a recession, I couldn't help but laughing on several occasions because over and over again Rule Breakers, Rule Makers dates itself. Written at the height of the tech bubble, this book is full of overly optimistic advice that borders on lunatic at points. No one can be held accountable for what was said during the tech bubble, surely, because we were all talking crazy. However, the advice that could have been perfectly applicable at the time is far from useful or relevant now.
That's not to say that there aren't any nuggets of truth in Rule Breakers, Rule Makers, because there certainly are quite a few. However, much of the advice, particularly that involving Rule Breakers, is quite sketchy. The fact that they give high-risk investment advice in a book geared toward the average investor speaks poorly of it.
In summary, Rule Breakers, Rule Makers is a very readable book. It offers some sensible advice to its readers. However, most of its advice was only useful during the tech bubble. These days, this book has the dangerous power to encourage impressionable investors to engage in high-risk trading creating a world of problems for themselves. All in all, this book does have advice to offer, but you have to wade through a great deal of crud to get to it.
Amazon.com
Motley Fools David and Tom Gardner initially made their mark by offering humorous but savvy investment advice online. They leapt out of the virtual world with their first book, The Motley Fool Investment Guide, which spent several months on the New York Times bestseller list. The Foolish ones are back in print with You Have More Than You Think: The Motley Fool Guide to Investing What You Have. It goes beyond the standard specifics on stocks and mutual funds to tackle overall financial issues in the typical Motley manner. The Gardners show readers how to tidy up their finances (trimming credit-card debt, spending more wisely on big-ticket items) before delving into the nuts-and-bolts of traditional investing. --Howard Rothman
Book Description
Are you like most people -- with little in savings or unable to get a firm grip on your finances, much less master how to invest for a sound future? Then it's time to get on board with the Fools -- The Motley Fools, authors of the best-selling The Motley Fool Investment Guide and creators of the world's most popular online financial site: www.fool.com. First, David and Tom Gardner showed savvy investors how easy it is to outperform the market. Now, they've written a prequel for the rest of us who are still contemplating basic personal finance. You Have More Than You Think teaches you:
$ How to conquer your debt and find funds for investment
$ What to do with your IRA and 401(k)
$ Where to locate the best investments ("Try looking in the fridge, for starters.")
$ Why there's only one kind of mutual fund worth thinking about
Most of all, the Gardners show you how to invest any sum of money and reap the greatest profit. You don't have to spend a lot of hard-earned dollars, just a few hours a month thinking about your finances, and following their fun and practical advice for successful saving -- and investing.
Customer Reviews:
Good Advice - Irritating Tone.......2001-08-16
I tried to listen to this audio book and couldn't. While the advice in it is good - I've subscribed to the e-mail newsletter in the past - the arrogant tone of the reader is too much for me. Gladly David Gardner reminds you that the recommendations that he is giving you are simple and any Fool should be able to do them and become rich. But after being reminded of this time after time in the introduction you wonder what they REALLY mean by calling themselves Fools. You are talked down to and some start to wonder why would you submit yourself to such irritating drone.
My advice: Don't be a Fool, buy the book, skip the arrogance, and go straight to the financial advice.
an nurturing approach to gaining control of your finances.......2001-05-26
I've read the other Fool books -- this one is much more basic and covers much more than just stock picking methods. If you believe that your financial advisor is a real expert, or you have credit card debt, or you don't know how to get the best price on a car, this is a must read. I knew all the basic stuff until I got to stocks which I'm far from an expert in. What I like about the Fool books (besides the humor and light tone which is always appreciated) is that they explain in plain English the meaning behind the numbers. Want to know what a dividend percentage yield really MEANS? You get the idea. Their basic Dow 4 strategy seems a bit oversimplified, but the point is that we should all realize that WE have all the information we need to make well-informed decisions for ourselves and do not need to rely on others. That idea alone (and a common theme running through the books) is worth the price of admission.
"Great book on investing-too many snide remarks".......2001-03-07
These two Foolish brothers are a Godsend. They are doing a great service for anyone interested in investing, or building a strong financial future in general. It seems that nowdays there are so many 'shisters' out there, so willing to take the last crumb of food from our lips, that it's frightening. From what I've seen on the Fools website, Dave and Tom are both Foolishly excited about us (jr. Fools) becoming financially educated. This book is waaay to full of puns and cynicism. If you can get through the funny business, however, you will find a gem of a book. Sometimes their humor is actually laughable. Advanced investors may find this treatise on investing somewhat simplified, but that's the way it should be. Why confuse a bunch of simple Fools! Good book with a happy ending!
Great Entertainment! But Average Investment Advice.......2000-05-11
Investment books are rarely entertaining. The Gardners and Andy Tobias are the exceptions. If you can't bear to read about investing and know nothing, you should give this book a try. You may find it to your taste.
The weakness of the book is a bias towards encouraging you to be out of debt and into common stocks, based on formulas and your professional knowledge. If the financial markets were at an average or below average price level, that would be all right. But the financial markets are at an all-time high, so future returns should be below par.
There is a historical ratio between household wealth in stocks and housing that favors buying housing right now rather than stocks. Few will be able to buy a home without a mortgage.
The most frequent path to major wealth in this country has been to found one's own business. Few can do this without incurring reasonable debt to finance receivables and other needed investments. The Gardners don't really address this investment opportunity.
The formula the Gardners propose for buying high yield stocks in the Dow has had to be revised every few years to be a good way to invest. This formula probably won't work well in the future either, because too many people follow the formula. Markets are bested by only a small percentage of all investors over time, and this rule is no exception going forward.
The advice about avoiding credit card debt, saving wherever you can, and so forth is quite good. You'd find it in any decent investment book.
If you decide you want to go into the stock market, I suggest you also read John Bogle's book, Common Sense About Mutual Funds, to round out the perspective that the Gardners provide here before buying stocks. Be sure to consider first how much you want to do with housing and starting your own business. Good luck with your investing.
Novice to "Fool".......2000-04-11
This book was extremely easy to read. It was concise, yet entertaining. I held a highlighter pen in my hand the entire time I was reading and ended up highlighting the entire book! All the information was useful and pertinent. An excellent book for novice investors and those who are getting over a "full-service brokerage" hangover.
Product Description
This book demystifies the arcane science of picking stocks, through the lives of a group of young students. Do-It-Yourself! What do you do when the light bulb burns out? What do you do when you decide to paint your room? You do it yourself! You have learned the art of fixing things involved in your life. However, when it comes to investing, why do you run to someone else to fix it? It is that you do not fully understand the concepts of investing. Choosing the right company in which to invest becomes quite a challenge. How useful it would be if you had the nitty-gritty details of investment, particularly in stocks taught through the form of narrative non-fiction? How useful would it be if the book explains each and every formula that helps in choosing the right companies in which to invest? What a great gift it would be to have the keys to unearth stocks that return at least 20% or more on an average in the long run! The Idea: Anything simplified is demystified! The goal of the book is to present investing in stocks in the form of fiction. Non-fiction reading takes a lot of time, effort and education, whereas fiction reading is considered to be entertainment. The readers will consume the vital medicine of financial concepts wrapped in a capsule of fiction. Understanding finance is like eating dry toast. If the toast has the right spread, it becomes delectable. The book explains that stocks are a form of investment that can reap rewards, as long as the right companies are chosen at a bargain. Even a fifth grader who understands basic arithmetic can master the techniques discussed in the book. The book helps readers of all ages to conquer the fear of investing in stocks. Each criterion involved in picking the right company is explained chapter by chapter. The complex financial concepts involved in evaluating companies are broken down to simple fragments, so that any reader can understand them with ease.
Customer Reviews:
Touch of Honesty.......2006-04-20
Recently completed first reading of this book; going thru the book once again.
The objective of the book is simple: Explain financial concepts in an easy manner that will help us choose financially sound companies to invest our money.
Lots of people have lost considerable amount of money in the stock market. They relied on sales figures, brand names, coffee-break conversations, an educated (so they thought!) guesswork or market emotions to pick stocks.
Unfortunately, and I am pretty positive, their understanding of the financial concepts or rather the lack of it contributed to their loss. Majority of the investors are ignorant of guiding principles regarding stock market investments.
This book will help people understand all key financial metrics needed to uncover financially healthy companies to seek long-term gains.
I appreciate the effort authors have put to articulate the core message - financial concepts, neatly embedded in a romantic story using fictional characters Sam, Jessica and others.
Although I have mixed feelings about the romance mix it does not take away the credit for the core content - financial indicators needed to measure the health of a company. It has been presented in a simple and straightforward manner, laced with romance, with all jargons explained very clearly using simple examples.
I have read few stock picking reports, news letters and guides(although I don't subscribe to any) that briefly describe technical and fundamental analysis needed to pick stocks. But none even come close to what Siva Nara and Priya Raghavan have laid out in this book. While reading the book, I could sense a touch of honesty in their writings. Its hard to ignore that energy that comes out in between their analysis, figures and acronyms.
This book can be useful in several ways - picking stocks, analyzing a company before accepting a job offer, confronting and countering a stock broker from those full-service brokerage firms etc. Depending upon how creative one is, reading this book may open up a new chapter in personal and professional life.
I'd recommend this book for all those who wish to secure their financial future. Great Job!
Great guide to investing!.......2006-03-20
Dollar Wise Penny Foolish would make a nice textbook for an MBA Finance class. The book presents financial concepts in an easy-to-understand fashion through fiction. The fiction part of the book is understandably a little weak but the financial part of it makes it a worthy read for someone looking for an introduction to the stock market or some guidance on investing.
The book essentially provides tips to long-term investors on what to look for when picking the companies to invest in. It stresses the importance of research in investing and points us to the metrics we need to look for in each company before investing our hard-earned money. It starts off with simple terms like profit and EPS before moving onto margins, yields, etc. Interspersed with this are some interesting facts, nice trivia, historical details and famous quotes that provide some extra knowledge too.
The book follows a nice template for explaining each of the things we should look at before investing. It first provides a simple example with smaller numbers to show us exactly what the term means. It then provides numbers for real companies in the real world to back up its claims of how that particular term determines the suitability of the company for investing. In this way, it comes up with a set of conditions a good company has to meet to be a good target for investing. Ofcourse hindsight is always 20/20 but its still interesting how troubled companies that we're familiar with(Enron, for instance) were actually unsuitable investment targets when one really digs into their past numbers.
The 'fiction' part of the book comes from the way these financial concepts are presented. We get a finance whiz Sam, who explains the concepts to his friends(and eventually, a lot more people). and we follow Sam as he woos Jessica, gets into an accident, attends a job interview, etc. He delivers his talks in a variety of situations like casual conversations, seminars, job interviews, etc. and throws in some quizzes too. The authors add something nice at the end by providing three different scenarios for how the romance between Sam and Jessica ends. One of the scenarios has a really neat marriage proposal that fits the book's subject too.
I just wish I'd read this book before I made all those investments during the stock market boom 7 years ago :-)
Absolutely , the best !!!.......2006-01-16
In a nutshell, the best on how to approach stock market and make your picks. Whatever apprehensions and cynicism I had towards the stock market is gone. I got a feeling that I can invest in the market rationally ( instead of emotionally ). I am one of those who lost in 2001- 2002 stock market. Atleast now, I am better equipped.
AMAZING .......2006-01-12
This book is really one of a kind. I'm half way through the book and have already learned so much, that I wanted to share my comments: This book breaks down the world of stocks into a simple format. The fact that the book is written in a story format makes it easy and interesting to learn all the concepts of stock investing. I have had a few questions and the authors have taken the time to e-mail me a reply. This book is a must have. I definitely give the authors two thumbs up and consider myself fortunate to have purchased this book.
A really good buy.......2005-12-29
I really enjoyed reading this book. It taught me a lot about stocks and how to pick them. The authors have been very helpful and have given me quick responses to my questions. I highly recommend this book.
Product Description
Here s a very surprising statistic: Within the first 18 months on the job, 40 percent of all management newcomers fail by either getting fired, quitting, or receiving a bad review, according to Manchester Inc., a business consulting group. Some first-timers are overwhelmed by their newfound power while some are weighed down by the responsibility. But for most, the overriding concern is to avoid personal failure. This new groundbreaking book will guide the new manager to success and avoid the many common mistakes and pitfalls along the way. You will learn how to face the unique challenges every day in your job and offer detailed and innovative solutions to help you achieve your potential. Learn how to become a true leader who commands respect, commitment, and credibility. Topics include: what it takes to be a manager, how to take charge, how to establish your authority, earn respect and credibility, deal with social issues, how to be a leader, gain the cooperation and commitment of others, manage yourself, interview tips, set realistic goals, coaching skills, creative problem solving, sexual harassment guidelines, how to manage multiple projects and assignments, how to delegate effectively, successful meetings, communication barriers, dealing with interruptions, developing self-confidence, turning around unacceptable performance, dealing with stress, how to write effectively and clearly, how to effectively use e-mail, employees that complain or are disagreeable, and hundreds more. In addition to the comprehensive content in the book, we spent thousands of hours interviewing, e-mailing, and communicating with hundreds of today s most successful managers. This book is a compilation of their secrets and proven successful ideas. If you are interested in learning hundreds of hints, tricks, and secrets on how to be a great first-time manager, then this book is for you. **Bronze Winner in the Business/Career/Sales of the 2007 Independent Publisher Book Awards
Customer Reviews:
Highly recommended.......2007-03-30
The book is chock full of potential pitfalls in a new manager's thought process and how to fix the old noggin' to be a better manager. This is the book for all you first time managers. I'd argue that even management veterans should read this. Ms. Henkel really gets into the head of the manager and shows why and how to avoid erroneous judgments. Excellent guide.
Manage Your People Skills.......2006-12-21
This book could also have been titled: How to Be an Effective Manager. It highlights what it takes to coach and motivate your employees. The author illustrates points by citing dumb mistakes most of us have made at the beginning of our careers.
Want a quick summary of the specific concepts it teaches? Be honest and forthright, teachable yet confident, and positive in ALL situations. When you do face difficult situations, make sure your solutions are carried out in the spirit of edification.
This book is a great reality check for people just entering this level of the workforce. It's also full of good reminders for us old cronies. It teaches that the basics of good management are good people skills.
Excellent Guide.......2006-12-12
This book was very easy to read and had a lot of very good information. I love the way Shri writes in that it sweeps you in and you can understand her points very easily. The 365 points are organized neatly and I recommend every manager get this guide and keep it handy!
Tips for Managers.......2006-09-20
For managers having a hard time with goals, people and strategic plans, the book 365 Foolish Mistakes Smart Managers Make Everyday: How and Why to Avoid Them, is a good book to read. The book focuses on what managers do "wrong" and if you've ever been in a management position, especially mid-level, many of the anecdotes in the book will remind you of how tough it is to be a manager and make decisions for the good of the whole.
The author, Shri Henkel, a former manager and marketing coordinator, lays out the most common mistakes that managers make by numbering the mistakes in headers and then, discussing them in a straight-forward fashion that even the novice manager can understand.
Overall, this book can be used in human resource training sessions and for managers. It is a bonus that Henkel worked herself up from a grass-roots position as a worker into a managerial field so she understands both sides through experience. This book is also good for small business incubator classes for people who have never owned a business and will have a need to hire employees.
If you're new to Managing, this book is for you.......2006-08-22
Everyone needs to learn the "ropes" when she or he gets onto new ground. Just as there is no shame in admitting you don't know something about a new situation or product, there is also no shame in needing to learn more about your job as a manager. All employees have to learn the ins and outs of their jobs, regardless of whether or not they are in a position with authority.
Henkel takes the new manager through each step of the process. From the moment you walk in on your first day, to the day-by-day issues that can and will come up, this book gives you common mistakes and helps you learn to work effectively. If you read through the book and refer to it as a refresher, you will find the confidence you need to do your job well.
Henkel covers topics such as settling in, establishing authority, and gaining respect. Effective leadership, interview techniques, and ways to handle problems are also topics covered. And thorough information on what Henkel considers the "Big Three" topics--Communication, Delegation, Motivation--can be found in part five of the book.
This book doesn't leave you hanging. It tells you ways to make good decisions and how to approach your job effectively. It also tells you what mistakes you might make as you go through your job...and how best to avoid these problems.
Overall, this book is highly recommended for the new manager. Not only will you gain some valuable insight, you will also gain more self-assurance to fulfill your duties.
Average customer rating:
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Foolish Finance
Gideon Wurdz
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Book Description
Foolish Finance is a Science. It is the Science of parting a Fool and his Finances. It also has a Great Mission. This Mission is the evolution of Plutocrats from Other People's Money. -from "What Is Foolish Finance?" "Blessed are the Poor, for they shall be robbed." "Thou shalt not kill-except at a profit." This classic of social satire, first published in 1905, is just as damning today, with the gap between the Haves and the Have Nots are large as it was during the Gilded Age, whose excesses inspired this work. In this devil's dictionary of financial crimes and misdemeanors, you'll find cutting definitions of institutions the less-than-monied classes know and hate¬-insurance companies, public utilities, banks ("a popular device for protecting the Poor Man's Money from Burglers in order that the Rich Man may break through and steal")-as well as incisive looks at "the system" as "promoter and pickpocket" and as "capitalist and counterfeiter." Bitter and biting, this send-up of runaway capitalism is as insightful as it is outrageously funny. Gideon Wurdz is believed to have been the pen name of CHARLES WAYLAND TOWNE (b. 1875). Wurdz also wrote 1904's The Foolish Dictionary.
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Foolish bulls make good steak
Rick Mester
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Foolish finance: A beginner's primer
Gideon Wurdz
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- Drop the Foolish Four
- They've abandoned this style they advocated
- Caveat Emptor!
- Dangerous for all investors
- Worth the money
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The Foolish Four: How to Crush Your Mutual Funds in 15 Minutes a Year
Brian Bauer , and
Tom Gardner
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Amazon.com
Had you invested $10,000 in treasury bills over the last 25 years, your money would have grown to $24,801. But had you put that same $10,000 into the Foolish Four variation of the Dow Approach 25 years ago, you would have accumulated $1.4 million. Sound too good to be true? Not according to The Motley Fool. The Foolish Four is a mechanical system that annually selects stocks from the 30 that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The stocks are selected based on their dividend yield and price, and year after year the result--22 percent annual return for the last 25 years--usually beats that of most mutual funds. The Foolish Four builds on an approach that was first advocated in 1991 by Michael O'Higgins in his book Beating the Dow. Since then many--most prominently those at The Motley Fool--have tweaked O'Higgins's original formula. The Foolish Four is a useful compilation of such tweaks and is packed with charts and analyses of three variants of the Dow Approach. Easy to read, easy to do, and good for your bottom line. --Harry C. Edwards
Book Description
This guide simplifies The Foolish Four, a straightforward, reliable investment strategy. The Foolish Four is a variation of the Dow Dividend approach to investing, which selects large companies with undervalued stock that is most likely to rebound.
Customer Reviews:
Drop the Foolish Four.......2001-06-19
The authors on Motley Fool.com do not hold the beliefs in this book. I like the Motley Fool but I know this foolish four stock picks has been droped by the two founders. I recommend the Motley Fool because they admit mistakes. At one time the foolish four stocks were good picks. This last year the foolish four stocks were losers.
They've abandoned this style they advocated.......2000-12-17
A word to any further readers who come along this. The Fools have now abandoned this investment approach, which they so cockily and vociferously expounded for many years. Although the strategy still has its uses, and they are to be commended for their honesty in abandoning it, they no longer advocate it. Like so many reviewers have wrote in criticism of other Fool books, the Gardners tend to be overcome by hyperbole in their writing, and it seems they did not do enough statistical research to warrant the claims they've been making all along with regards to Foolish Four investing.
The Fools are overall really good, and have some great ideas, but this book is now outdated. Take what they say with a grain of salt, adapt it to your own thoughts (and to their credit, this is what they advocate, although it IS easy to overlook this in their soaring prose, laden with outlandish statements), and the Fools definitely serve a purpose.
Caveat Emptor!.......2000-05-23
I'm a frequent reader of the Motley Fool's website, and a former investor in this strategy. Many of the other reviews are right--there's nothing new to Dow Investing. I first saw some of the ideas in this book ten years ago in Beating the Dow, by Michael O'Higgins, whom the Gardners graciously acknowledge. Both O'Higgins and the Motley Fool do a great job of demystifying investing.
What isn't so great is that in recent years, this strategy has fallen far short of its promises. The Motley Fool's site has a message board dedicated to this style of investing (formerly called Dogs of the Dow, Dow High-Yield Investing, etc.) and lately, the arguments there are _raging_. On the one side are the theory's ne'er-doubting supporters; on the other, those who, having blindly invested in the theory and lost, are now adamantly opposed to it. Meanwhile, the Gardner brothers, the authors of this book and originators of the Motley Fool, have sold their Foolish Four portfolio and invested the money elsewhere. I'll let that sink in...the bottom line is that this is a method of finding down and out value stocks, which doesn't suit the kind of growth market we've known for the last half decade. Even with the current bear market, over the last five years many tech stocks, although hurting, have still outperformed the Foolish Four.
Which is not to say that the theory doesn't have merit; the book consists of a simple theory that makes sense. It might be outdated, or it may just be currently out of favor. Whichever it is, I would view the enthusiastic claims of the Gardners with a critical eye. And above all, don't invest blindly in this strategy without knowing the risks. Lastly, if you want to see what the Motley Fool is all about, may I recommend The Motley Fool Investment Workbook.
Dangerous for all investors.......1999-11-29
I didn't actually buy this book but I read borrowed it from a friend who wanted to know what I thought of it.
The book is very dangerous because it attempts to show how past results of a pretty obscure formula gave fantastic returns for the last 30 years. What it fails to mention is that none of the methods shown in the book have produced Dow beating results since they were published.
One reason that the Motley Fool keeps coming up with new variations is that the old ones don't seem to work very well after they have been discovered.
Anyone reading thinking about this book should skip it and take the other main piece of advice from the Motley Fool and invest in an index fund.
Worth the money.......1999-08-03
There's not a ton of new content here that you can't find elsewhere, but this book is a great beginner's guide to investing in the Dow Dividend strategy.
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