Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World
Liaquat Ahamed - 2009
In fact, as Liaquat Ahamed reveals, it was the decisions taken by a small number of central bankers that were the primary cause of the economic meltdown, the effects of which set the stage for World War II and reverberated for decades. In Lords of Finance, we meet the neurotic and enigmatic Montagu Norman of the Bank of England, the xenophobic and suspicious Émile Moreau of the Banque de France, the arrogant yet brilliant Hjalmar Schacht of the Reichsbank, and Benjamin Strong of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, whose façade of energy and drive masked a deeply wounded and overburdened man. After the First World War, these central bankers attempted to reconstruct the world of international finance. Despite their differences, they were united by a common fear—that the greatest threat to capitalism was inflation— and by a common vision that the solution was to turn back the clock and return the world to the gold standard. For a brief period in the mid-1920s they appeared to have succeeded. The world’s currencies were stabilized and capital began flowing freely across the globe. But beneath the veneer of boom-town prosperity, cracks started to appear in the financial system. The gold standard that all had believed would provide an umbrella of stability proved to be a straitjacket, and the world economy began that terrible downward spiral known as the Great Depression. As yet another period of economic turmoil makes headlines today, the Great Depression and the year 1929 remain the benchmark for true financial mayhem. Offering a new understanding of the global nature of financial crises, Lords of Finance is a potent reminder of the enormous impact that the decisions of central bankers can have, of their fallibility, and of the terrible human consequences that can result when they are wrong.
The Acquirer's Multiple: How the Billionaire Contrarians of Deep Value Beat the Market
Tobias E. Carlisle - 2017
The book shows how investors Warren Buffett, Carl Icahn, David Einhorn and Dan Loeb got started and how they do it. Carlisle combines engaging stories with research and data to show how you can do it too. Written by an active value investor, The Acquirer’s Multiple provides an insider's view on deep value investing. The Acquirer’s Multiple covers: How the billionaire contrarians invest How Warren Buffett got started The history of activist hedge funds How to Beat the Little Book That Beats the Market A simple way to value stocks: The Acquirer's Multiple The secret to beating the market How Carl Icahn got started How David Einhorn and Dan Loeb got started The 9 rules of deep value The Acquirer’s Multiple: How the Billionaire Contrarians of Deep Value Beat the Market provides a simple summary of the way deep value investors find stocks that beat the market.
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
Charles Mackay - 1841
This Harriman House edition includes Charles Mackay's account of the three infamous financial manias - John Law's Mississipi Scheme, the South Sea Bubble, and Tulipomania.Between the three of them, these historic episodes confirm that greed and fear have always been the driving forces of financial markets, and, furthermore, that being sensible and clever is no defence against the mesmeric allure of a popular craze with the wind behind it.In writing the history of the great financial manias, Charles Mackay proved himself a master chronicler of social as well as financial history. Blessed with a cast of characters that covered all the vices, gifted a passage of events which was inevitably heading for disaster, and with the benefit of hindsight, he produced a record that is at once a riveting thriller and absorbing historical document. A century and a half later, it is as vibrant and lurid as the day it was written.For modern-day investors, still reeling from the dotcom crash, the moral of the popular manias scarcely needs spelling out. When the next stock market bubble comes along, as it surely will, you are advised to recall the plight of some of the unfortunates on these pages, and avoid getting dragged under the wheels of the careering bandwagon yourself.
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.
The Physics of Wall Street: A Brief History of Predicting the Unpredictable
James Owen Weatherall - 2013
While many of the mathematicians and software engineers on Wall Street failed when their abstractions turned ugly in practice, a special breed of physicists has a much deeper history of revolutionizing finance. Taking us from fin-de-siècle Paris to Rat Pack-era Las Vegas, from wartime government labs to Yippie communes on the Pacific coast, Weatherall shows how physicists successfully brought their science to bear on some of the thorniest problems in economics, from options pricing to bubbles.The crisis was partly a failure of mathematical modeling. But even more, it was a failure of some very sophisticated financial institutions to think like physicists. Models—whether in science or finance—have limitations; they break down under certain conditions. And in 2008, sophisticated models fell into the hands of people who didn’t understand their purpose, and didn’t care. It was a catastrophic misuse of science.The solution, however, is not to give up on models; it's to make them better. Weatherall reveals the people and ideas on the cusp of a new era in finance. We see a geophysicist use a model designed for earthquakes to predict a massive stock market crash. We discover a physicist-run hedge fund that earned 2,478.6% over the course of the 1990s. And we see how an obscure idea from quantum theory might soon be used to create a far more accurate Consumer Price Index.Both persuasive and accessible, The Physics of Wall Street is riveting history that will change how we think about our economic future.
Choose FI: Your Blueprint to Financial Independence
Chris Mamula - 2019
And then, there are three suburban dads just trying to make the world a little bit better. Meet Brad Barrett and Jonathan Mendonsa of the award-winning Choose FI podcast and Chris Mamula of the popular blog “Can I Retire Yet?”. They have walked the talk and now want to share their knowledge with you. Together, these three regular guys will show you how they did something extraordinary. They are all financially independent and doing meaningful work that fulfills them. All three left their corporate 9 to 5 jobs and are reaping the benefits of extra time with their families. Mirroring the format of the popular Choose FI podcast, this book pulls from the collective knowledge of those who have decided to build a lifestyle around their passions instead of allowing their finances to dictate their future. These stories demonstrate universal principles, giving you the opportunity to pick the elements that are the most applicable to your financial situation and “choose your own adventure.”FI or Financial Independence is the new debt-free and getting back to 0 is just the beginning of a wonderful journey. Whether you have mountains of debt now or are recently debt free and wondering what to do next, Choose FI : Your Blueprint to Financial Independence will give you the information to guide your next move.
Financial Freedom: A Proven Path to All the Money You Will Ever Need
Grant Sabatier - 2019
Time is not. Become financially independent as fast as possible.In 2010, 24-year old Grant Sabatier woke up to find he had $2.26 in his bank account. Five years later, he had a net worth of over $1.25 million, and CNBC began calling him "the Millennial Millionaire." By age 30, he had reached financial independence. Along the way he uncovered that most of the accepted wisdom about money, work, and retirement is either incorrect, incomplete, or so old-school it's obsolete.Financial Freedom is a step-by-step path to make more money in less time, so you have more time for the things you love. It challenges the accepted narrative of spending decades working a traditional 9 to 5 job, pinching pennies, and finally earning the right to retirement at age 65, and instead offers readers an alternative: forget everything you've ever learned about money so that you can actually live the life you want.Sabatier offers surprising, counter-intuitive advice on topics such as how to:* Create profitable side hustles that you can turn into passive income streams or full-time businesses* Save money without giving up what makes you happy* Negotiate more out of your employer than you thought possible* Travel the world for less* Live for free--or better yet, make money on your living situation* Create a simple, money-making portfolio that only needs minor adjustments* Think creatively--there are so many ways to make money, but we don't see them.But most importantly, Sabatier highlights that, while one's ability to make money is limitless, one's time is not. There's also a limit to how much you can save, but not to how much money you can make. No one should spend precious years working at a job they dislike or worrying about how to make ends meet. Perhaps the biggest surprise: You need less money to "retire" at age 30 than you do at age 65.Financial Freedom is not merely a laundry list of advice to follow to get rich quick--it's a practical roadmap to living life on one's own terms, as soon as possible.
The Art of Investing: Lessons from History's Greatest Traders
John M. Longo - 2016
Using these key traits, the world's most outstanding traders have employed a remarkable mix of strategies to build huge fortunes. Their careers are a how-to manual for anyone who wants to succeed at investing, no matter what the size of their stake. The lives of rich and famous investors are gripping tales of opportunities seized and squandered; of billions won and lost, and won again. And these life stories are also an eye-opening education in the workings of financial markets.The Art of Investing: Lessons from History's Greatest Traders profiles over 30 men and women at the pinnacle of the investing field, including Warren Buffett, Ray Dalio, John Bogle, Peter Lynch, George Soros, T. Rowe Price, Jr., Linda Bradford Raschke, David Dreman, Michael Burry, and others involved in such ventures as value stocks, growth stocks, mutual funds, index funds, hedge funds, commodity futures, private equity, sovereign wealth, distressed assets, and more. Each lecture covers one of these approaches, together with traders who have made it pay handsomely - along with insights on how they did it.An award-winning teacher and the portfolio manager for a $2.5-billion investment firm, Professor John Longo of Rutgers Business School tells these intriguing life stories with an insider's grasp of the financial details. Included in these 24 half-hour lectures are tips on the most common mistakes made by investors, scores of pithy sayings that synthesize the hard-won wisdom of veteran traders, and, in the final lecture, an investment checklist that lets you narrow down your own best approach to building personal wealth.
You Need a Budget: The Proven System for Breaking the Paycheck to Paycheck Cycle, Getting Out of Debt, and Living the Life You Want
Jesse Mecham - 2010
A guide based on the tenets of the award-winning financial platform, "You Need a Budget," argues that a well-planned budget does not involve deprivation and counsels readers on how to prioritize financial goals, reduce stress through strategic cash flow allocations and meet the challenges of unplanned expenses.
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 DAO of Capital: Austrian Investing in a Distorted World
Mark Spitznagel - 2013
We arrive at his central investment methodology of Austrian Investing, where victory comes not from waging the immediate decisive battle, but rather from the roundabout approach of seeking the intermediate positional advantage (what he calls shi), of aiming at the indirect means rather than directly at the ends. The monumental challenge is in seeing time differently, in a whole new intertemporal dimension, one that is so contrary to our wiring.Spitznagel is the first to condense the theories of Ludwig von Mises and his Austrian School of economics into a cohesive and--as Spitznagel has shown--highly effective investment methodology. From identifying the monetary distortions and non-randomness of stock market routs (Spitznagel's bread and butter) to scorned highly-productive assets, in Ron Paul's words from the foreword, Spitznagel "brings Austrian economics from the ivory tower to the investment portfolio."The Dao of Capital provides a rare and accessible look through the lens of one of today's great investors to discover a profound harmony with the market process--a harmony that is so essential today.
Trade Like a Stock Market Wizard: How to Achieve Super Performance in Stocks in Any Market
Mark Minervini - 2013
-- JACK SCHWAGER, bestselling author of Stock Market WizardsMark's book has to be on every investor's bookshelf. It is about the most comprehensive work I have ever read on investing in growth stocks. -- DAVID RYAN, three-time U.S. Investing Champion[Minervini is] one of the most highly respected independent traders of our generation. His experience and past history of savvy market calls is legendary. -- CHARLES KIRK, The Kirk ReportOne of Wall Street's most remarkable success stories. -- BEN POWER, Your Trading EdgeTHE INVESTOR'S GUIDE TO SUPERPERFORMANCE! Dramatically increase your stock market returns with the legendary SEPA system!For the first time ever, U.S. Investing Champion Mark Minervini reveals the proven, time-tested trading system he used to achieve triple-digit returns for five consecutive years, averaging 220% per year for a 33,500% compounded total return.In Trade Like a Stock Market Wizard, Minervini unveils his trademarked stock market method SEPA, which provides outsized returns in virtually every market by combining careful risk management, self-analysis, and perseverance. He explains in detail how to select precise entry points and preserve capital--for consistent triple- digit returns.Whether you're just getting started in the stock market or you're a seasoned pro, Minervini will show how you how to achieve SUPERPERFORMANCE! You'll gain valuable knowledge as he shares lessons, trading truths, and specific tactics--all derived from his 30-year career as one of America's most successful stock traders.Trade Like a Stock Market Wizard teaches you:How to find the best stocks before they make big price gainsHow to avoid costly mistakes made by most investorsHow to manage losses and protect profitsHow to avoid high-risk situationsPrecisely when to buy and when to sellHow to buy an IPOWhy traditional valuation doesn't work for fast-growing SuperperformersExamples of Minervini's personal trades with his commentsWith more than 160 chart examples and numerous case studies proving the remarkable effectiveness of Minervini's methodology, Trade Like a Stock Market Wizard puts in your hands one of the most effective and--until now--secretive stock investing systems in the world.MARK MINERVINI has a trademarked stock market method that produces outsized returns in virtually every market. It's called Specific Entry Point Analysis--SEPA--and it has been proven effective for selecting precise entry points, preserving capital and profi ts with even more precise exit points--and consistently producing triple-digit returns.Now, in Trade Like a Stock Market Wizard, Minervini shares--for the fi rst time ever--his coveted methodology with investors like you!
The Zulu Principle
Jim Slater - 1992
His chief strengths are his uncanny ability to identify undervalued companies and his farsighted reading of the market trends. In this volume, Jim Slater makes available to the investor - whether the owner of only a few shares or an experienced investment manager with a large portfolio - the secret of his success. Central to his strategy is The Zulu Principle, the benefits of homing in on a relatively narrow area. Deftly blending anecdote and analysis, Jim Slater gives valuable selective criteria for buying dynamic growth shares, turnarounds, cyclicals, shells and leading shares. He covers many other vitally relevant aspects of investment such as creative accounting, portfolio management, overseas markets and the investor's relationship with their broker. From The Zulu Principle you can learn exactly when to buy shares and, even more important, when to see - in essence, how to make extraordinary profits from ordinary shares.
The Great Crash of 1929
John Kenneth Galbraith - 1954
Galbraith's prose has grace and wit, and he distills a good deal of sardonic fun from the whopping errors of the nation's oracles and the wondrous antics of the financial community." Now, with the stock market riding historic highs, the celebrated economist returns with new insights on the legacy of our past and the consequences of blind optimism and power plays within the financial community.