The Wisdom of Finance: Discovering Humanity in the World of Risk and Return


Mihir Desai - 2017
    . . the noblest and the most infamous in the world, the finest and most vulgar on earth.” The characterization of finance as deceitful, infamous, and vulgar still rings true today – particularly in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. But, what happened to the fairest, noblest, and finest profession that de la Vega saw?  De la Vega hit on an essential truth that has been forgotten: finance can be just as principled, life-affirming, and worthy as it can be fraught with questionable practices.  Today, finance is shrouded in mystery for outsiders, while many insiders are uneasy with the disrepute of their profession.  How can finance become more accessible and also recover its nobility? Harvard Business School professor Mihir Desai, in his “last lecture” to the graduating Harvard MBA class of 2015, took up the cause of restoring humanity to finance. With incisive wit and irony, his lecture drew upon a rich knowledge of literature, film, history, and philosophy to explain the inner workings of finance in a manner that has never been seen before. This book captures Desai’s lucid exploration of the ideas of finance as seen through the unusual prism of the humanities. Through this novel, creative approach, Desai shows that outsiders can access the underlying ideas easily and insiders can reacquaint themselves with the core humanity of their profession. The mix of finance and the humanities creates unusual pairings: Jane Austen and Anthony Trollope are guides to risk management; Jeff Koons becomes an advocate of leverage; and Mel Brooks’s The Producers teaches us about fiduciary responsibility. In Desai’s vision, the principles of finance also provide answers to critical questions in our lives. Among many surprising parallels, bankruptcy teaches us how to react to failure, the lessons of mergers apply to marriages, and the Capital Asset Pricing Model demonstrates the true value of relationships. THE WISDOM OF FINANCE is a wholly unique book, offering a refreshing new perspective on one of the world’s most complex and misunderstood professions.

Rich Dad's Real Estate Advantages: Tax and Legal Secrets of Successful Real Estate Investors


Sharon L. Lechter - 2006
    Three in the series, Real Estate Riches, Loopholes of the Rich, and Real Estate Loopholes, became The Wall Street Journal bestsellers.- Garrett Sutton is an attorney with over 20 years of experience in assisting individuals and businesses to determine their appropriate corporate structure, limit their liability, protect their assets, and advance their personal and financial goals.- Each Rich Dad's Advisors ABC's book features a foreword by Robert T. Kiyosaki, bestselling author of Rich Dad Poor Dad.

Trading in the Zone: Master the Market with Confidence, Discipline, and a Winning Attitude


Mark Douglas - 2000
    Douglas uncovers the underlying reasons for lack of consistency and helps traders overcome the ingrained mental habits that cost them money.  He takes on the myths of the market and exposes them one by one teaching traders to look beyond random outcomes, to understand the true realities of risk, and to be comfortable with the "probabilities" of market movement that governs all market speculation.

Die with Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life


Bill Perkins - 2020
    You worked hard, saved your money, and looked forward to financial freedom when you retired.   The only thing you wasted along the way was…your life.  Die with Zero presents a startling new and provocative philosophy as well as practical guide on how to get the most out of your money—and out of your life. It’s intended for those who place lifelong memorable experiences far ahead of simply making and accumulating money for one’s so-called Golden Years.   In short, Bill Perkins wants to rescue you from over-saving and under-living. Regardless of your age, Die with Zero will teach you Perkins’ plan for optimizing your life, stage by stage, so you’re fully engaged and enjoying what you’ve worked and saved for.   You’ll discover how to maximize your lifetime memorable moments with “experience bucketing,” how to convert your earnings into priceless memories by following your “net worth curve,” and find out how to navigate whether to invest in, or delay, a meaningful adventure based on your “spend curve” and “personal interest rate.”   Using his own life experiences as well as the inspiring stories and cautionary tales of others—and drawing on eye-opening insights about time, money, and happiness from psychological science and behavioral finance —Perkins makes a timely, convincing, and contrarian case for living large.

What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars


Jim Paul - 1994
    In this honest, frank analysis, Paul and Brendan Moynihan revisit the events that led to Paul's disastrous decision and examine the psychological factors behind bad financial practices in several economic sectors.This book—winner of a 2014 Axiom Business Book award gold medal—begins with the unbroken string of successes that helped Paul achieve a jet-setting lifestyle and land a key spot with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. It then describes the circumstances leading up to Paul's $1.6 million loss and the essential lessons he learned from it—primarily that, although there are as many ways to make money in the markets as there are people participating in them, all losses come from the same few sources.Investors lose money in the markets either because of errors in their analysis or because of psychological barriers preventing the application of analysis. While all analytical methods have some validity and make allowances for instances in which they do not work, psychological factors can keep an investor in a losing position, causing him to abandon one method for another in order to rationalize the decisions already made. Paul and Moynihan's cautionary tale includes strategies for avoiding loss tied to a simple framework for understanding, accepting, and dodging the dangers of investing, trading, and speculating.

Your Money Ratios: 8 Simple Tools for Financial Security


Charles Farrell - 2009
    Forget complicated, abstract philosophy—people need sound financial advice that's easy to follow and can be implemented immediately. For the first time, a leading financial adviser has developed a remarkable set of guidelines to give individuals the same kind of objective insight into their personal finances that successful businesses have. Your Money Ratios will help readers effectively manage debt, invest prudently, and develop a realistic and effective savings plan to ensure both financial success and security. Readers need only plug their income and age into Farrell's ratios in order to get an instant picture of their savings status and overall financial health, as well as a roadmap for the important choices they must make in the future. Here’s what you will find in this book:IF YOU ARE IN YOUR 20s OR 30s: Your Money Ratios will tell you how to get started and what you need to do over the next 35 years to stay on track. If you are lucky enough to read this book when you are young, you will have a clear vision for where you need to go throughout your working career. By setting yourself on the right path, you won’t have to work so hard later in life to meet your goals.IF YOU ARE IN YOUR 40s: You can benchmark your own financial circumstances against the ratios and see how you are doing with respect to your savings, debt, investments and insurance. You have plenty of time to make adjustments if necessary and plot out your path to retirement.IF YOU ARE IN YOUR 50s: The formula will provide you with a realistic assessment of your ability to retire. It will help you make the important decisions about how to allocate your financial resources over the next 10 to 15 years, and how to put on the final push for retirement.

The 4-Hour Workweek


Timothy Ferriss - 2007
    Depending on when you ask this controversial Princeton University guest lecturer, he might answer: "I race motorcycles in Europe." "I ski in the Andes." "I scuba dive in Panama." "I dance tango in Buenos Aires." He has spent more than five years learning the secrets of the New Rich, a fast-growing subculture who has abandoned the "deferred-life plan" and instead mastered the new currencies-time and mobility-to create luxury lifestyles in the here and now. Whether you are an overworked employee or an entrepreneur trapped in your own business, this book is the compass for a new and revolutionary world.Join Tim Ferriss as he teaches you:- How to outsource your life to overseas virtual assistants for $5 per hour and do whatever you want?- How blue-chip escape artists travel the world without quitting their jobs?- How to eliminate 50% of your work in 48 hours using the principles of a forgotten Italian economist?- How to trade a long-haul career for short work bursts and freuent "mini-retirements"?- What the crucial difference is between absolute and relative income?- How to train your boss to value performance over presence, or kill your job (or company) if it's beyond repair?- What automated cash-flow "muses" are and how to create one in 2 to 4 weeks?- How to cultivate selective ignorance-and create time-with a low-information diet?- What the management secrets of Remote Control CEOs are?- How to get free housing worldwide and airfare at 50-80% off?- How to fill the void and create a meaningful life after removing work and the office

The Wealthy Renter: How to Choose Housing That Will Make You Rich


Alex Avery - 2016
    Real estate agents, mortgage brokers, family, friends, and even the government promote ownership as a safe, attractive, and sure-fire path to personal wealth. This one-size-fits-all advice ignores the reality of Canada’s housing market.Canadians deserve better advice.Faced with expensive house prices in a near-zero interest rate world, it’s time Canadians heard the virtues of renting and seriously considered renting as an alternative to home ownership. Real estate analyst Alex Avery insists renting offers a simple, more affordable way to live, plus in Canada’s frenzied housing market, going month-to-month is dramatically lower risk. He claims the reputation of home ownership as a wealth building strategy is unfounded and shows renters how to replace bricks-and-mortar with better investment opportunities.

Can I Retire?: How Much Money You Need to Retire and How to Manage Your Retirement Savings, Explained in 100 Pages or Less


Mike Piper - 2010
    traditional IRA vs. taxable) to withdraw from each year When it makes sense to use a Roth IRA conversion to save on taxes How to choose an appropriate asset allocation for your retirement portfolio How to minimize taxes by proper use of an asset location strategy How to reliably pick winning mutual funds

The Intelligent REIT Investor: How to Build Wealth with Real Estate Investment Trusts


Stephanie Krewson-Kelly - 2016
    Later this year, the REIT industry will experience a watershed event when Standard & Poors creates a new Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) sector called Real Estate. On September 1st, publicly traded equity REITs will be removed from Financials, where they have been classified since their creation in 1960, and begin trading as their own S&P Sector. This separation from banks and financial institutions already is attracting new investors, but REITs require an industry-specific knowledge that is neither intuitive or readily accessible to newcomers—until now. Using straightforward language and simple example to illustrate important concepts, this book will enable any reader to quickly learn and understand the lexicon and valuation techniques used in REIT investing, providing a wealth of practical resources that streamline the learning process. The discussion explains terminology, metrics, and other key points, while examples illustrate the calculations used to evaluate opportunities. A comprehensive list of publicly-traded REITs provides key reference, giving you access to an important resource most investors and stockbrokers lack. REITs are companies that own or finance commercial rental properties, such as malls and apartment buildings. Despite historically high total returns relative to other investments, such as the Nasdaq or S&P 500 index, most investors are unfamiliar with the REIT industry, and wary of investing without adequate background. This book gets you up to speed on the essentials of REIT investing so you can make more informed—and profitable—decisions. Understand REITs processes, mechanisms, and industry Calculate key metrics to identify suitable companies Access historical performance tables and industry-specific terminology Identify publicly-traded REITs quickly and easily REITs have consistently outperformed many more widely known investments. Over the past 15-year period, for example, REITs returned an average of 11% per year, better than all other asset classes. Since 2009, REITs have enjoyed positive returns; large cap stocks and cash are the only other classes that paralleled that record. Even in 2015, a 'year of fear' related to rising rates, REITs returned 2.4%, beating most all other asset classes. REITs have a long history (over fifty years) of performance, and are about to enter the big leagues. If you feel like you've been missing out, don't keep missing out. Prepare yourself, and your portfolio, to benefit from the demand for REITs that will follow the creation of a Real Estate GICS sector. The Intelligent REIT Investor gives you the information you need to invest wisely and manage your real estate risk effectively. By maintaining a tactical exposure in the brick and mortar asset class, investors should benefit from the information contained in The Intelligent REIT Investor. Join the REIT world and look forward to owning stocks that will help you to sleep well at night.

U.S. Taxes for Worldly Americans: The Traveling Expat's Guide to Living, Working, and Staying Tax Compliant Abroad


Olivier Wagner - 2017
    is one of only two countries in the world that applies citizenship based taxation in order to tax its own citizens on their worldwide income, irrespective of where they are anywhere in the world. If you’re thinking about becoming a digital nomad or expatriating to another country, do you know how to avoid having to pay tax on your income while abroad? There could be huge penalties or tax evasion charges if you don’t file correctly. Fortunately, these important questions have answers.By combining the right strategies for citizenship, residency, banking, incorporation, and physical presence in other countries, most people who work overseas can legally lower their U.S. tax owing to $0. In U.S. Taxes for Worldly Americans, Certified Public Accountant, U.S. immigrant, expat, and perpetual traveler Olivier Wagner preaches the philosophy of being a worldly American. He uses his expertise to show you how to use 100% legal strategies (beyond traditionally maligned “tax havens”) to keep your income and assets safe from the IRS.Olivier covers a wealth of international tax information, including: -Step-by-step instructions to fill out the Forms and Schedules you will use to file your offshore tax, no matter where you are.-How to qualify for special deductions, credits, and exemptions on international taxation.-Why opening bank accounts and corporations in foreign countries is easier than you think.-How residency or citizenship in another country can legally lower your taxes.-Practical advice for moving, living, and working with tax free income in other parts of the world.-What to consider before renouncing your American citizenship and saying goodbye to the IRS for good.As a non-resident American, there is no single easy answer to lower your taxes. If you don’t understand every possibility, you could end up paying too much. Embrace a worldly lifestyle with confidence as you master the U.S. tax system for Americans living overseas.

Money Girl's Smart Moves to Grow Rich


Laura D. Adams - 2010
    Adams dispenses in her weekly Money Girl podcast and know firsthand that little changes can lead to big rewards. Laura doesn't tell you what you can and can not buy with your own hard-earned money; instead, she gives you guidance, tips, and tricks you need to make the most of it by finding out how to:- Assess your current financial situation and set achievable, realistic goals - Get out of debt faster—and stay out for good - Manage your 401(k) or Roth IRA like a pro - Take advantage of every available tax deduction to owe less and save more - Choose smarter investments so you can watch your money grow - Use the most up-to-date technology to make managing your money much easierWhether you're learning the quickest way to improve your credit score or the seven essential tips for preventing identity theft, you'll be surprised—and relieved—at just how doable it all is. Chock-full of quick and dirty tips that explain what you need to know without bogging you down with what you don't, Money Girl's Smart Moves to Grow Rich will ensure you have the kind of life you want and the future you've always dreamed of.Money Girl's Smart Moves to Grow Rich won the prestigious Excellence in Financial Literary Education (EIFLE) Award for 2011.

Stock Investing for Canadians for Dummies


Andrew Dagys - 2003
    Understand the essentials of stock investing, how to get started, and how to pick winners.

Property Magic: How to Buy Property Using Other People's Time, Money and Experience


Simon Zutshi - 2008
    This revised edition includes a brand new chapter on Property Options, New case studies and extra content such as: The 5 questions to ask Estate Agents to get them to find the best properties for you; How to pay off your mortgage in 8 to 10 years and build a property portfolio at the same time: How to quickly and easily asses if a property will make positive cash flow for you; and How to recycle your deposit every 6 months using “Momentum Investing”. The essence of the book is that no matter where you live, there are motivated sellers in your area who will sell their property to you for well below the true market value. This means that you can build a substantial property portfolio using very little of your own money. Simon will show you how to find these motivated sellers, how to deal with them and structure an ethical win/win deal. The book is designed to open your mind, stimulate your thinking and make you aware of some of the current possibilities available in property investing.

Seven Years to Seven Figures: The Fast-Track Plan to Becoming a Millionaire


Michael Masterson - 2006
    Seven Years to Seven Figures will give you the tools to increase your income, get the highest possible returns on investments, save wisely--and secure your financial future faster than you may have ever dreamed.