I would definitely recommend this book, first of all, because of the high expertise and great experience that lie in the background of this work, and of course, because of the innovative and resourceful approach presented in this book, which I am sure many will find useful and beneficial.
It is a book that is easy to read and have interesting and useful information. I would recommend it.
This guy spread more financial wisdom than anything else I’ve ever read in just less than 150 pages! I cannot say anything else but WOW.
Since I work in a bank (RBI), I’ve been buying bunch of books for the financial markets and I read them all. Most of the books are just written with an intention to create a book without consolidated background and/or experience. I was skeptical about this one as well but at the same time very curious.
This guy spread more financial wisdom than anything else I’ve ever read in just less than 150 pages! I cannot say anything else but WOW.
This book has been recommended to me by a friend who has been playing with investments for several years now, with erratic record of wins and losses, and overall frustration with the current status of his investment portfolio. He pointed out to me that finally he found a book that “has it all” and describes it clearly and succinctly.
Personally I have never played with investments as I have always considered it to be an activity requiring special knowledge that only expert people may have. Nevertheless, I decided to give it a try and ordered the book. Having read through it in a couple of hours, I tend to agree with my friend’s recommendation: the book talks directly from the author’s personal experience (with references to people who have influenced the author, but who were unknown to me) and from the very beginning it goes straight to the point, namely – how a complete newbee can build a diversified portfolio and control it effortlessly in such a way that the principal is never lost.
The book starts by making some statements about investment being different from other types of work that may at first seem counter-intuitive (e.g. no hard work needed, high intelligence is not required, good investment is a boring activity), but they all start making sense as you progress the book. The author provides anecdotes on more or less famous people (e.g. Isaac Newton) to illustrate the point in amusing and easy-reading manner.
The book next focuses on a set of dangerous cognitive biases that every good investor should avoid by exercising stark self- discipline. It turns out that self-discipline and control of one’s own emotions are of outmost importance in the investment business. It is also stressed that the investor needs to have a clear exit strategy before actually starting any investment. Several examples of exit strategies are discussed.
The author then proceeds with a step-by-step example on how to build a diversified portfolio. What I appreciated in particular is that the for complete newbee (like myself) the author explains how the actual picking of individual stocks in the portfolio (which is one of the things that requires, if not expertise, then at least access to specialized databases) can be avoided by using several asset classes of stock, all represented through their respective ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds). Some final remarks are given on how to hedge the portfolio.
Overall, this book is hitting its target as the content really matches perfectly the book’s subtitle and delivers its promise of teaching someone how to invest while avoiding loss of money. I also appreciated the style as the book is written in unpretentious manner, with humble respect to all those investment gurus that have inspired the author.
I am impressed by this book. As a beginner investor, I would see that the author gives me the required confidence, motivation, and knowledge to continue with my investing career. Definitely recommended!