Books

1. Security Analysis [ABRIDGED]

   

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2. Self-Wealth : Creating Prosperity, Serenity, and Balance in your Life

   

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3. The Truth About Trusts, A Trustee's Survival Guide

   

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4. Fund Your Future: Winning Strategies for Managing Your Mutual Funds and 401(K)

   

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5. Retire Without Worry: Simple, Straightforward Answers to Serious Financial Questions

   

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6. The Survivor Assistance Handbook: A Guide for Financial Transition

   

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7. Free Yourself from Student Loan Debt : Get Out from Under Once and for All

   

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8. The Guerrilla Guide to Mastering Student Loan Debt: Everything You Should Know About Negotiating the Right Loan for You, Paying It Off, Protecting Your Financial Future

   

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9. Personal Finance (The Mcgraw-Hill/Irwin Series in Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate)

   

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10. The Artful Dodger's Guide to Planning Your Estate

    

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11. The Stewardship of Private Wealth: Managing Personal & Family Financial Assets

    

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12. Moneymaking Moms: How Work at Home Can Work for You

    

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13. Good Credit Is Sexy

    

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14. The Widow's Resource: How to Solve the Financial and Legal Problems That Occur Within the First Six to Nine Months of Your Husband's Death

    

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15. What Will I Do With My Money?: How Your Personality Affects Your Financial Behavior

    

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16. The Little Money Bible [UNABRIDGED]

    

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17. Dumping Debt (Financial Peace)

    

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18. The Science of Getting Rich Action Pack: The Essential Guide to Using the Science of Getting Rich

    

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19. Absolutely Amazing Ways to Save Money on Everything

    

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20. Asset Protection Planning: How to Protect Yourself from Lawsuits

    

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21. Rich Dad's Advisors®: The ABC's of Getting Out of Debt : Turn Bad Debt into Good Debt and Bad Credit into Good Credit (Rich Dad's Advisors) [ABRIDGED]

    

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22. Shop, Save, Share

    

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23. Fair Share Divorce for Women

    

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24. It Takes Money, Honey : A Get-Smart Guide to Total Financial Freedom

    

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25. Couples and Money: A Couples' Guide Updated for the New Millennium

    

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Average customer rating: Great Book Now I know what's out there! Fan or not! Thank goodness there's someone out there who can help Awsome Audio Book

Jim Cramer's Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster Audio ProductGroup: Book Binding: Audio CD General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books Introduction | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books Stocks | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books General | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books General | Business | Books on CD | Formats | Books Investing | Business | Books on CD | Formats | Books Management | Business | Books on CD | Formats | Books Personal Finance | Business | Books on CD | Formats | Books Similar Items: Jim Cramer's Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich Confessions of a Street Addict Rule #1: The Simple Strategy for Successful Investing in Only 15 Minutes a Week! You Got Screwed! Why Wall Street Tanked and How You Can Prosper The Only Three Questions That Count: Investing by Knowing What Others Don't ASIN: 0743561236

Book Description

Delivered in his distinctive turbo-charged style, Jim Cramer's Real Money is every investor's guide to what you really must know to make big money in the stock market. The best-known source of investment advice in America today, Jim Cramer explains how to invest wisely in chaotic times, and he does so in a way that is as much fun as investing is -- or should be, when it's done right.

Speaking with the passion and energy heard in his nationally syndicated radio show, Real Money with Jim Cramer, Cramer reveals both his Ten Commandments of Trading (Commandment #5: Tips are for waiters) and his Twenty-Five Rules of Investing (Rule #4: Look for broken stocks, not broken companies). He tells you how to:

• compare stock prices in a way that you can understand
• spot market tops and bottoms
• know when to sell
• rotate among cyclical stocks to catch the big moves
• and much more.

Drawing on information that Cramer himself has used to make millions on Wall Street, Jim Cramer's Real Money is filled with insider advice that really works.

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Customer Reviews:

Great Book.......2007-06-01

Now I know what's out there!.......2007-05-26

Fan or not!.......2007-05-24

Thank goodness there's someone out there who can help.......2007-05-14

Awsome Audio Book.......2007-05-13

Average customer rating: Book Motrley Fool Investment Guide The Best Investment Book For Beginners- seems too good to be true, but it is RIGHT! Rip Off Can any one decypher "foolish babble"?

The Motley Fool Investment Guide: How The Fool Beats Wall Streets Wise Men And How You Can Too Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster Audio ProductGroup: Book Binding: Audio CD General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books General | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books Introduction | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books General | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books General | Business | Books on CD | Formats | Books Investing | Business | Books on CD | Formats | Books Management | Business | Books on CD | Formats | Books Personal Finance | Business | Books on CD | Formats | Books General | Books on CD | Formats | Books Similar Items: The Motley Fools Rule Breakers Rule Makers : The Foolish Guide To Picking Stocks The Motley Fool Investment Workbook (Motley Fool Books) The Motley Fool You Have More Than You Think : The Foolish Guide To Personal Finance The Motley Fool's Money After 40: Building Wealth for a Better Life The Motley Fool Personal Finance Workbook : A Foolproof Guide to Organizing Your Cash and Building Wealth ASIN: 0743506561

Amazon.com

Amazon.com Audiobooks Review

Book Description

Should you let a Fool tell you where to invest your money? If he's a Motley Fool, the answer is a resounding yes! Meet David and Tom Gardner, the two brothers who launched The Motley Fool, the most successful investment information service ever to grace cyberspace. The Gardners goal was and is simple: to beat the market and show other investors how to do it, including those who didn't know a dividend from a divining rod.

The Motley Fool Investment Guide contains everything the Fools have learned from their time online about what investors really need to know to find the best investment possibilities. They show you just how powerful the information revolution can make you, the individual investor. Plus, they supply all the investment tools you need to beat the market, the hottest sources of the news you need to make your investment decisions, and a healthy skepticism about conventional wisdom.

With its online portfolio increasing in value by more than 58% in its first year, The Motley Fool has already proved that there's a whole new game on Wall Street. Here, in your hands is all you'll ever need to discover exactly how the small investor can work wonders, have fun, and win big profits.

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Customer Reviews:

Book.......2007-05-13

Motrley Fool Investment Guide.......2006-06-25

The Best Investment Book For Beginners- seems too good to be true, but it is RIGHT!.......2006-02-19

Rip Off.......2006-01-15

Can any one decypher "foolish babble"?.......2005-12-22

Average customer rating: A solid conservative investment for your reading portfolio. Informative and well organized. A must read for serious investors!

The Book of Investing Wisdom: Classic Writings by Great Stock-Pickers and Legends of Wall Street (Wiley Audio) Manufacturer: Wiley Audio ProductGroup: Book Binding: Audio Cassette General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books General | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books General | Books on Cassette | Formats | Books Similar Items: Forbes Greatest Investing Stories Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings You Can Be a Stock Market Genius: Uncover the Secret Hiding Places of Stock Market Profits John Neff on Investing Quality of Earnings ASIN: 1560150459

Amazon.com

Thus, when Charles Dow writes in an essay titled "Booms and Busts" that "There is a pronounced difference between bull markets that are made by manipulation and those that are made by the public," you perk up. Sure, he was writing all this in the Wall Street Journal in 1899, but he could just as easily be talking about day traders and 401(k) savers in 1999.

Essays by more current investment gurus appear, too. Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch, and Abby Joseph Cohen pitch in, as does George Soros in a must-read section called "Crash and Learn". Not all investing involves the stock market, so even Donald Trump makes an appearance, with an essay called "Trump Cards: The Elements of the Deal."

You won't find hot stock tips here, but you will find the greatest investors of the past century or so discussing the principles that governed or govern their decision-making. And since those decisions created some of the greatest fortunes of all time, it's a vital read. --Lou Schuler

Book Description

Customer Reviews:

A solid conservative investment for your reading portfolio........1999-03-30

This collection of essays proves to be interesting, entertaining, and filled with informative thoughts. This is not a 'how to get-rich-quick in the stock market book'; it is more of a solid, conservative investment for your reading portfolio. Reviewed by Gerry Stern, founder, Stern & Associates, author of Stern's Sourcefinder The Master Directory to HR and Business Management Information & Resources, Stern's CyberSpace SourceFinder, and the Compensation and Benefits SourceFinder.

Informative and well organized........1999-03-24

A must read for serious investors!.......1999-03-23

Average customer rating: It's OK Dr. Bob is Right on the Mark! Highly Recommended! If you want to understand the markets, read this book easily digested market information

Where the Money I$: How to Spot Key Trends to Make Investment Profits (Wiley Audio) Bob Froehlich Manufacturer: Wiley Audio ProductGroup: Book Binding: Audio CD General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books Planning & Forecasting | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books | Bankruptcy | Budgeting & Money Management | College & Education Costs | Credit Ratings & Repair | Estate Planning | Financial Planning | Financial Planning Workbooks | General | Insurance | Money & Values | Money Management for Women | Money Management for Young People | Personal Taxes | Real Estate | Retirement Planning General | Business | Books on CD | Formats | Books Personal Finance | Business | Books on CD | Formats | Books General | Books on CD | Formats | Books Similar Items: The Road to Wealth: A Comprehensive Guide to Your Money The Laws of Money, The Lessons of Life: Keep What You Have and Create What You Deserve You've Earned It, Don't Lose It : Mistakes You Can't Afford to Make When You Retire The Courage to be Rich: the Financial and Emotional Pathways To Material and Spiritual Abundance 9 Steps to Financial Freedom: Practical and Spiritual Steps So You Can Stop Worrying; Revised and Updated Version ASIN: 1560152621

Book Description

Customer Reviews:

It's OK.......2002-06-10

Dr. Bob is Right on the Mark!.......2001-12-02

Dr. Bob's advice is in a totally different area. He believes in something called "sectornomics" which means if you look at all the industry sectors and determine which ones will do well in the next five years, then invest in several companies in that sector, your portfolio will do well. Don't worry about which particular stocks too much, just pick the right sector. Pharmaceuticals, let's say. Then, for the majority of the book, Dr. Bob goes on about the various trends in the US and worldwide which will whip the stock market sectors one way or another.

Should you bet on a Japanese resurgence in the next ten years? Don't think so. How about betting on the graying of America? Sure, says Dr. Bob, but remember, Europe and Asia are graying too.

Doesn't sectornomics break the rule of investing that "the only thing that makes the stock market go up or down is a surprise?" Doesn't everyone know about the graying of America? Yes, they know, but no, it doesn't break that rule. Sectornomics means "looking at the same thing everyone else looks at, and seeing something different." Your own perspective can give you the added advantage over the market.

Inspired by Dr. Bob, I began my own personal portfolio based on alternative energy, because I have found out that this sector is about to boom in the next 10 years. A little research (using the Internet of course) and now I have a list of about 30 companies who are extremely well positioned to make a lot of money once alternative energy goes big. The key for me was seeing the big players (United Technologies, Idatech, Xcel, BP, etc.) investing heavily into this sector. BP makes millions of dollars yearly from manufacturing solar cells.

Dr. Bob's knowledge of statistics is absolutely amazing. And his writing style is very approachable.

I heard Dr. Bob speak at an investment seminar in Columbus, Ohio. His speech was good but his book -- excellent. Just buy it. It is the best investment you will make this year.

Highly Recommended!.......2001-11-01

If you want to understand the markets, read this book.......2001-09-14

easily digested market information.......2001-09-14

Average customer rating: Great ideas for building companies, bad for investing Great insight even for the non-investor Oops Very useful to the average guy but little on valuation Suggestions for Finding the Stock to Make You a Millionaire!

The Gorilla Game : An Investor's Guide to Picking Winners in High Technology (AUDIO CASSETTE) Geoffrey A. Moore Manufacturer: HarperAudio ProductGroup: Book Binding: Audio Cassette Personal Finance | Business | Books on Cassette | Formats | Books General | Books on Cassette | Formats | Books General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books General | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books Introduction | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books Stocks | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books General | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books Similar Items: Crossing the Chasm Living on the Fault Line, Revised Edition: Managing for Shareholder Value in Any Economy Dealing with Darwin : How Great Companies Innovate at Every Phase of Their Evolution The Chasm Companion: A Fieldbook to Crossing the Chasm and Inside the Tornado Marketing High Technology ASIN: 0694519286

Amazon.com

Moore's previous two books, Crossing the Chasm and Inside the Tornado, are the bibles for many marketing professionals and product managers. In these books, Moore describes the life cycle common to the successful adoption of technology products and pinpoints moments in the cycle, for example "the chasm," the "bowling alley," and the "tornado," where products can either flourish or fade away. In The Gorilla Game, Moore takes these concepts, with the help of coauthors Paul Johnson and Tom Kippola, applies them to finding gorilla stocks--stocks that dominate their market niche. The book looks at how the market values technology stocks and provides case studies of markets where gorillas have been born. Moore and his coauthors put their ideas to the test in the final chapter and pick a portfolio of stocks that they believe have the potential to become winners in the gorilla game. The result is a highly perceptive investment guide that anyone who's a fan of Moore's earlier work will find exciting and profitable. Highly recommended.

Book Description

The Possibilities Are Staggering:

• Had you invested $10,000 in Cisco Systems back in early 1990, your investment would now be worth $3,650,000

• Similarly, a $10,000 investment made in Microsoft in 1986 would be valued at more than $4,721,000 today

• $10,000 invested in Yahoo! in 1996 would today be worth $317,000

How do you get in on those deals--especially if you're not a Silicon Valley insider? How do you buy the high-tech win-ners and avoid the losers? How do you find the Yahoo!s, Microsofts, and Ciscos of tomorrow?

The answers are here, in this newly revised edition of the national bestseller The Gorilla Game. The book reveals the dynamics driving the market for high-tech stocks and out-lines the forces that catapult a select number of compa-nies to "gorilla" status--dominating the markets they serve in the way that Yahoo! dominates internet portals, Microsoft dominates software operating systems, and Cisco dominates hardware for data networks.

Follow the rules of The Gorilla Game and you will learn how to identify and invest in the "gorilla candidates" early on--while they are still fighting for dominance, and while their stocks are still cheap. When the dust clears and one company clearly attains leadership in its market, you'll reap the enormous returns that foresighted investors in high-tech companies deserve.

This new edition of The Gorilla Game has been updated and revised throughout, with new focus and new insights into choosing the internet gorillas--the companies that are destined to dominate internet commerce.

Bestselling author Geoffrey A. Moore is one of the world's leading consultants in high-tech marketing strategy. Here you'll find his groundbreaking ideas about tech-nology markets that made his previous books bestsellers, combined with the work of Paul Johnson, a top Wall Street technology analyst, and Tom Kippola, a high-tech consul-tant and highly successful private investor. Together they have discovered and played the gorilla game and now give readers the real rules for winning in the world of high-tech investing.

Step by step you'll learn how to spot a high-tech market that is about to undergo rapid growth and development, how to identify and spread investments across the potential gorillas within the market, and how to narrow your investments to the single, emerging leader--the gorilla--as the market matures.

High-tech investing can be extremely risky, but investors who learn to play the gorilla game can avoid many of the traps and pitfalls and instead start capitalizing on untold profits. Personal wealth is only a gorilla game away.

Customer Reviews:

Great ideas for building companies, bad for investing.......2004-09-05

Great insight even for the non-investor.......2002-08-20

Sadly funny (in hindsight) closing remarks, however, when mentioning criteria for the gorilla-game theory to work: "...you need equity markets which have... high legal integrity... in the realms of ethics and legal integrity, US markets lead the world in policing their own ranks...". In light of the many recent financial scandals I'm sure the authors will rephrase this in the next edition.

Oops.......2002-03-29

Well, one problem was that too many people read this book.

Don't get me wrong--Geoffrey Moore is definitely a heavyweight business thinker. His earlier books were tremendously helpful in explaining the strange, non-intuitive ways in which high-tech markets work. But here, he and his coauthors attempt to build on his earlier work to offer a "gorilla investment strategy", which has now become a victim of its own popularity. *Any* mechanical investment scheme will eventually fail if it becomes too widely used, and it is easy to find the roots of the investment idiocies of the late nineties in this book. Just look for emerging high-tech market leaders, he says over and over, with little attention paid to just how much this eventual market dominance might be worth. Worse, he asserts that you can't know which company will emerge as the dominant player in a given sector, so invest in them all. Venture capitalists, once they realized how many investors were following this strategy, responded by cranking out unlimited numbers of startups doing exactly the same thing; as long as they were competing in a market that might eventually select a "gorilla", then they could be confident of "flipping" a successful IPO to naive investors. Anyone who used this book as a basis for investing over the past couple of years would have, in effect, been getting suckered into a Ponzi scheme.

Moore creates a vivid symbolic menagerie to explain the dynamics of high-tech marketing, but any high-tech investor needs to know that in addition to the authors' gorillas, chimpanzees and monkeys there are a lot of dogs. Also sharks.

Very useful to the average guy but little on valuation.......2001-10-14

If there is any weakness it is that very little is provided in terms of how do you value these companies. Most past "gorillas" came public with very modest valuations but in today's markets many companies are coming out at higher valuations, providing less upside in the long-term. The reason is that many investors are more astute than in the past and are seeking to find these "gorillas." Therefore, the problem that lies before the investor is how to find the gorilla before the pros do. Too many pros and individuals tried to find them in the past 2 years and only got burned (they were all greedy going after the hopes of generating such returns and the possibility that one would be the "800 lb gorilla.")

If you want to learn about technology life cycles, product differentiation and what to look for in the next decade's giants I recommend this book but recognize that it provides little in terms of valuation exercises.

Suggestions for Finding the Stock to Make You a Millionaire!.......2001-02-17

A popular pastime for the past 50 years (and possibly before that) has been to look at the stocks that would have made you the most money in the last 10 or 20 years and then to devise an investment approach to find the next ones going forward that will do as well or better. I have lost count of how many books I have read that have taken this approach.

I found the Gorilla Game to be refreshingly above the pack in this area. The authors do an excellent job of describing some of the ways that technologies get adopted, when the stocks do well (and when they don't), and when to buy and sell stocks in technology companies. They also devise a fairly detailed, somewhat risk-controlled investment process, and detail how it would have done in a number of case histories. From the backward-looking perspective, the book is solid.

The weakness of such backward looking methods shows up in their new material in the revised edition (1999) on the Internet. Although some aspects of their model apply to the Internet, many do not. They are left needing to vaguely explain how so much money was made so quickly in Internet stocks (before they began to plummet to nothing in March 2000). Their explanation is actually pretty solid, but they never quite come out and say that their methodology will not get you all of the fast-growing stocks in technology. I doubt if any methodology could do that for you.

They needed not be defensive. No methodology is perfect. The main weakness of this one is that is designed around semiconductors, software, and computers. The technology patterns can look a lot different in future technologies. For example, what will happen with companies like Gemstar that lead in new television technologies that could disrupt the Internet for direct marketing? The reason this point is important is that the barriers to switching are higher in the technologies studied here than in many other areas. If you get into a low cost of switching sector (like business to consumer marketing on the Internet), you could invest in an industry leader and still lose your shirt. Although the book acknowledges these issues, it probably doesn't create a substantial enough warning.

The book is aimed at the medium knowledge investor (about the markets and technology). I hope they bring out a more advanced version. They decided not to go into specialized semiconductors like analog devices where enormous profits may lie in the future, because of concerns about not going over the heads of readers. A lot of the best run technology companies with enormous growth potential in markets with high bariers to competitors were not discussed in this book. I am sure most readers would be willing to spend some time learning about these other markets in order to make enormous gains.

Despite my quibbles, this is a fine book that will help all but those who are already quite knowledgeable about technology companies and technology investing. Good luck in capturing those irresistible gains in the future! Perhaps you will be the first person you know to identify the next irresistible growth enterprise that creates over a thousand to one gain! I hope you do.

May you be that one person in one hundred who outperforms the market over a lifetime.

Otherwise, I suggest you play the odds and buy indexed mutual funds. John Bogle's book, Common Sense about Mutual Funds, will be very helpful to you in this regard.

Average customer rating: Good Advice - Irritating Tone an nurturing approach to gaining control of your finances "Great book on investing-too many snide remarks" Great Entertainment! But Average Investment Advice Novice to "Fool"

Motley Fool: You Have More Than You Think : The Foolish Guide to Personal Finance Tom Gardner Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster Audio ProductGroup: Book Binding: Audio CD General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books General | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books Introduction | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books General | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books General | Business | Books on CD | Formats | Books Investing | Business | Books on CD | Formats | Books Management | Business | Books on CD | Formats | Books Personal Finance | Business | Books on CD | Formats | Books General | Books on CD | Formats | Books Similar Items: The Motley Fool Investment Guide : How The Fool Beats Wall Streets Wise Men And How You Can Too The Motley Fools Rule Breakers Rule Makers : The Foolish Guide To Picking Stocks The Motley Fool's Money After 40: Building Wealth for a Better Life The Motley Fool You Have More Than You Think : The Foolish Guide To Personal Finance The Motley Fool Personal Finance Workbook : A Foolproof Guide to Organizing Your Cash and Building Wealth ASIN: 0743504305

Amazon.com

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:

Saving enough to send your children to the colleges of their dreams

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.

Average customer rating: Entertaining and informative Funny Thing, Taking Advice from Fools... Empirical rules to picking stocks ... Entertaining and Stimulating A Wonderful Collection of Well-Written, Poor Advice

The MOTLEY FOOL'S RULE MAKERS, RULE BREAKERS, THE: The Foolish Guide to Picking Stocks Tom Gardner , and David Gardner Manufacturer: Sound Ideas ProductGroup: Book Binding: Audio Cassette Personal Finance | Business | Books on Cassette | Formats | Books Careers & Business Life | Business | Books on Cassette | Formats | Books General | Books on Cassette | Formats | Books General | Job Hunting & Careers | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books General | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books Introduction | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books General | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books Similar Items: The Motley Fool Investment Guide : How The Fool Beats Wall Streets Wise Men And How You Can Too The Motley Fool You Have More Than You Think : The Foolish Guide To Personal Finance The Motley Fool Investment Workbook (Motley Fool Books) The Motley Fool's Money After 40: Building Wealth for a Better Life The Motley Fool Personal Finance Workbook : A Foolproof Guide to Organizing Your Cash and Building Wealth Accessories: Sony WMFX479 Walkman ASIN: 0671582631

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

Online and off, David and Tom Gardner have demonstrated that Fools and their money are not soon parted. They have taught millions how to get started investing Foolishly, coming at you through their Web site (www.fool.com), their syndicated newspaper column, and their national radio show.

The Motley Fool's Rule Breakers, Rule Makers contains two wholly original investment approaches. David's approach, investing in Rule Breakers, focuses on upstart businesses that take their industries by storm, breaking all the conventions of their industries and changing the rules of the game. Recent Rule-Breaking examples are companies such as America Online or Starbucks. David lays out the attributes that all Rule Breakers share as he helps investors prepare to harpoon the next big fish.

Tom's section lays out the principles shared by all Rule Makers, stocks that offer the opportunity to reap royal returns over long periods of time. Historically, Rule Makers such as Coca-Cola, General Electric, Microsoft, Intel, and the Gap have whomped on the stock market averages for years and years. Tom puts his mouth where his money is, guiding you toward finding and understanding Rule Makers.

Thus, this latest Motley Fool audiobook is a stockpicking guide that teaches you how to locate the best investments available in today's public markets: the Rule Breakers and the Rule Makers. You can make a lot of money investing in either, but those who buy Rule Breakers and hold them all the way through Rule Maker status will make the most money of all. This audiobook is practical, rewarding, very funny, and, above all, revolutionary.

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.

Average customer rating: Good high-level information, but lacks depth and details Good Solid Information Internet Stocks Have Crashed: Long Live the Internet!

Networth : Successful Investing in the Companies* That Will Prevail through Internet Booms and Busts *(They're Not Always the Ones You Expect) Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster Audio ProductGroup: Book Binding: Audio Cassette Personal Finance | Business | Books on Cassette | Formats | Books General | Books on Cassette | Formats | Books General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books General | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books Introduction | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books General | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books Network Security | Networks, Protocols & APIs | Networking | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books Investing | Personal Finance | Software | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books General | Finance | Accounting & Finance | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books Investing | Personal Finance | Software Books | Custom Stores | Stores | Software Similar Items: Jim Cramer's Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World ASIN: 0743518268 Release Date: 2001-05-01

Amazon.com

While most investors avoid Internet stocks like the plague, Wall Street Journal and CNBC correspondent Stephen Frank thinks the sector is worth a second look. In NetWorth, Frank sorts through the wreckage of the dot-com crash and offers a framework by which savvy investors can assess who the winners will be in the next few years. Frank's basic premise: the Internet is here to stay, and that every company will in some way soon be an Internet company. He begins the book with an insightful chapter on the merger of AOL and Time Warner, calling the new company "the paradigm of the new economy." Frank then examines all the categories of Internet stocks and the companies within, including consumer (Amazon.com, Yahoo!, E-Trade), business to business (Ariba, I2, DoubleClick), and infrastructure companies (Akamai, Oracle, VeriSign). In all, NetWorth is a useful overview of this downtrodden sector that should interest anyone with a long investing horizon and a contrarian point of view. --Harry C. Edwards

Book Description

For the millions who are looking for buying opportunities in the lucrative Internet market but are worried about the risks -- or wonder if the best times have now passed them by -- NetWorth provides indispensable advice supported by the world's most trusted business publication, The Wall Street Journal.

There's no doubt that the Internet has shaped and will continue to shape the stock market -- and the broader economy -- in the new millennium.

But while many investors have made fortunes on Internet-related stocks, racking up returns that would have been unthinkable a few years ago, countless others have lost their shirts amid the NASDAQ's frequent stomach-turning gyrations.

Finally, there's a voice of reason above all the confusion. In a clear, easy-to-read style, Stephen E. Frank -- known to millions of television viewers and newspaper readers as the Internet correspondent for The Wall Street Journal and CNBC -- explains what we need to know about investing in today's dot-com economy. Frank lays out a straightforward framework for understanding how the Internet works, how different business models stack up, and how to think about Internet stocks as part of a broader investment portfolio. He weighs in on the potential risks and rewards of each Internet subsector, and profiles a slew of dot-com companies, from obvious candidates like Amazon.com to transformed titans of the old economy, like United Parcel Service.

Above all, Frank urges investors to adopt a long-term approach -- to avoid despairing when the market is down or getting carried away when tech stocks soar. For anyone interested in developing sound investment strategies for the rewarding but turbulent Internet market, NetWorth is a trusted, indispensable adviser.

Download Description

As hundreds of thousands of investors stand to make unbelievable amounts of money on Internet-related stocks over the next ten years, thousands of others will lose more than they ever thought possible as a result. Frenzied bidding up of stock prices on dot-com companies is only serving to create a backlash among serious investors regarding anything Internet related -- either through fear or lack of understanding. Finally, though, a voice of reason can be heard -- Stephen E. Frank now offers clear explantions and solid investment advice, presenting the mindset that investors don't have to take a speculative flyer on some newly-public dot-com stock to have a stake in the spectacular growth that lies ahead as the Internet changes the way the world works.

Customer Reviews:

Good high-level information, but lacks depth and details.......2001-07-23

This books contains names that we have all become familiar with over the past several years. There were several references to chapter 7 and how to value these companies. It was really lame and not worth the wait.

If you want a general overview of what everyone means when they say "internet company" this would do the trick. This book won't help you at all in becoming more successful in investing. The information in this book was not anything new and could easily be picked up by reading any general publication.

Good Solid Information.......2001-07-13

This book gives a good overview of what internet companies are. It talks about what kinds of internet companies there are and tells of the risks and benefits in them. It teaches the reader all the basic components of an internet company and what everyone should know before investing in this sector

Net Worth gives good sound investment advice that the layman can understand and can also be applied to different business sectors.

Internet Stocks Have Crashed: Long Live the Internet!.......2001-04-27

Wall Street Journal and CNBC Internet correspondent Stephen E. Frank has written a thorough basic book about where the Internet has come, where it is now, and where it might go in the future . . . and what that means for investors. His view focuses on the pros and cons of the different business models that are being employed and how a thoughtful investor can pick stocks and mutual funds to benefit from the Internet as a phenomenon. The book's only serious flaw is that it doesn't quite link to what you have to expect will happen with the Internet for such investments to be a better idea than simply owning index funds.

As to Internet stocks, "the days of easy money are over." On the other hand, "the time to get involved [with Internet stocks] may finally have arrived." The book "will help you know what to look for."

Where many Internet book authors comment that you should invest in the Internet, Mr. Frank has a different point, "every company will be, to one degree or another, an Internet company." He feels that "for you as an investor, it's important to know what that means . . . ."

He makes three fundamental assertions: (1) "The Internet is for real . . . ." (2) "It isn't too late to become an Internet investor." (3) Investing in Internet stocks requires the same disciplines as any other stock investing ("do your homework, know what you're buying, invest for the long haul, and don't buy stocks that will keep you awake at night").

He is also "assuming you know the fundamentals of investing."

Unlike most books that encourage you to beat the averages, this one often mentions and makes the case for buying the broad indexes through mutual funds. He correctly points out that the indexes are adding Internet stocks to them, and that companies in the averages are becoming Internet companies. So investing in the Internet is almost unavoidable for most.

This is the first in a series of books looking at the Internet after the bust. Based on some of the examples, I would guess that this was completed back in 2000 before the awful fall in stock prices during the first three months of 2001.

Mr. Frank uses AOL Time Warner as an example of how there is a convergence occurring between Internet and non-Internet companies. Amazon.com has physical warehouses, and e-Bay owns an auction house. Car companies now buy their parts through an on-line auction.

The book looks at business to consumer, business to business, Internet infrastructure providers, proxies for the Internet (like UPS), incubators, mutual funds, and most importantly . . . valuation.

Each chapter is filled with mini-profiles of some of the more successful companies in that particular space. Most people will find some examples to be new to them, especially outside of business to consumer.

Pay particular attention to the valuation section. It will help you understand when high multiples may be warranted and when they are not. Using this methodology, you will realize that many Internet stocks are very overpriced even now in light of the slower growth expected.

I found many of the forecasts quoted in here to be ludicrously optimistic. At a time when most people will not even use a credit card on-line, the book talks about very large percentages of basic consumer goods being sold on the Internet by 2004. I don't think so.

I couldn't make a case for buying stocks that are mostly on the Internet from reading this book. So I think the book is irrelevant to almost all investors in the current market.

The discussion of the risk you have to take to match or exceed the market averages was inadequate here. In the early days of most new technologies, over 95 percent of the public companies become ultimately worthless. That process still has a long way to go on the Internet. I suspect the arguments here will make more sense in 2-5 years when the future prospects are clearer.

Mr. Frank's arguments were also light on considering the risks of future technologies. For example, in a time when bandwidth is about to become virtually unlimited, the Cisco router technology becomes not very valuable (as George Gilder and others have pointed out). Many of the hardware and software suppliers described here are riding outmoded or soon-to-be outmoded technologies.

Also, the Internet business models are very primitive and usually ineffective. I suspect that we have not yet seen the first good one. So take much of the work in here on business models with a large grain of salt.

Still, I think Mr. Frank did a much more creditable job on this subject than any other book I have read about Internet stock investing. Until something better comes along, this book will be the gold standard on this subject.

I do believe that very few people should be buying Internet stocks, except as part of owning mutual funds invested in braod stock indexes such as the Standard and Poor's 500.

To put this book in perspective, imagine that you were reading about buying the companies that were participating in the radio boom in the 1920s. How well would you have fared if you had taken this approach then? I haven't figured it out, but you probably would still be losing money. After all, something else better will supercede the Internet someday in the same way that television dominates radio.

Measure your downside risk first, then see whether or not there could be enough potential to repay you for taking that risk.

Average customer rating: Excellent Narrative about Growth & Value Investings History

Fundamental Analysis, Value Investing & Growth Investing (Secrets of the Great Investors) Roger Lowenstein , Janet Lowe , and Del Mar Manufacturer: Knowledge Products ProductGroup: Book Binding: Audio Cassette Personal Finance | Business | Books on Cassette | Formats | Books General | Books on Cassette | Formats | Books General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books General | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books Introduction | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books General | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books ASIN: 1568230567

Book Description

Benjamin Graham developed value investing a style adopted by Warren Buffett one of history's most successful investors; it is based on fundamental analysis which quantitatively compares a company's stock price to various measures of financial strength and promise. Growth investing is a fundamentally different style that seeks to identify tomorrow's great business successes. Learn the ins and outs and the pros and cons of these basic investment styles

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Narrative about Growth & Value Investings History.......1998-09-05

This first tape contained keen insights regarding Ben Graham, the dean of value investing. Unfortunately, the second tape regarding growth investing was a little slow. Overall the tapes were very gold.

Average customer rating:

Investment Philosophers and Financial Economists (Secrets of the Great Investors) Jo Ann Skousen , Mark Skousen , and Joann Skousen Manufacturer: Knowledge Products ProductGroup: Book Binding: Audio Cassette Personal Finance | Business | Books on Cassette | Formats | Books Inspiration & Philosophy | Religion & Spirituality | Books on Cassette | Formats | Books General | Books on Cassette | Formats | Books General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books General | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books Introduction | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books General | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books Similar Items: Bargain Hunters, Contrarians, Cycles and Waves (Secrets of the Great Investors) Crashes, Booms, Panics and Government Regulation (Secrets of the Great Investors) Wall Street and Its Mystery Men (Secrets of the Great Investors) Stock Frauds, Manipulations, and Insider Trading (Secrets of the Great Investors) Gold, Hard Money, and Financial Gurus (Secrets of the Great Investors) ASIN: 1568230559

Book Description

Saving budgeting and investing are keys to creating wealth-but there are many different philosophies about how to approach this essential task. the investment philosophers offer systematic beliefs about investing that often parallel other systems of human conduct (e.g. Taoism the hunter-warrior etc.). the financial economists offer insights about how human behavior is collectively expressed in markets

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