WallStreetBets: How Boomers Made the World's Biggest Casino for Millennials


Jaime Rogozinski - 2020
    There was a time when the stock market was a mechanism for growing businesses to raise money, playing a large role in the industrial revolution-boosting America to a global superpower. Today the stock market has morphed into a high-tech system of fluctuating arbitrary numbers which are used by individuals and industries alike to find profit opportunities by placing bets, masqueraded as sophisticated financial maneuvers with fancy labels and acronyms. Nowhere is this more evident than with the tendencies observed today. There is a shocking trend by today's Millennial generation to shamelessly and unapologetically find ways to use the stock market to place very high-risk bets. And unlike formal Wall Street investment institutions, these gamblers, of sorts, don't attempt to disguise the game: they are proud to call Wall Street a casino. Jaime Rogozinski combs through various elements of how reckless investors play Wall Street similar to a casino. He illustrates these often in playful ways, using entertaining and compelling real-world anecdotes. His stories are taken straight from Reddit's r/wallstreetbets community which Jaime founded in 2012, and currently has more than 800,000 followers in addition to 3 million unique visitors a month. WallStreetBets is a forum based gathering where people are notoriously known for taking a brazen and public approach at gambling with the stock market.

Tesla Motors: How Elon Musk and Company Made Electric Cars Cool, and Sparked the Next Tech Revolution


Charles Morris - 2014
    The most trusted sources in the auto industry have called its Model S the most advanced, safest and best-performing car ever built - and it doesn’t use a drop of gasoline. Tesla has changed the way the public perceives electric vehicles, and inspired the major automakers to revive their own dormant efforts to sell EVs. However, even amidst the avalanche of media coverage that followed the triumph of the Model S, few have grasped the true significance of what is happening. Tesla has redefined the automobile, sparked a new wave of innovation comparable to the internet and mobile computing revolutions, and unleashed forces that will transform not just the auto industry, but every aspect of society. The Tesla story is one part of an ongoing tide of change driven by the use of information technology to eliminate “friction” such as geographic distance, middlemen and outdated regulations. Tesla is simply applying the new order to the auto industry, but the automobile is such a pervasive influence in our lives that redefining how it is designed, built, driven and sold will have sweeping effects in unexpected areas. Just as Tesla built the Model S as an electric vehicle “from the ground up,” it has taken an outsider’s approach to the way it markets its cars. Its direct sales model has drawn legal challenges from entrenched auto dealers, who fear that their outdated business model will be destroyed. Its systems approach to the software and electronics in its cars has highlighted how far behind the technological times the major automakers are. It’s easy to see why readers find Tesla irresistible. CEO Elon Musk is a superstar entrepreneur, a “nauseatingly pro-US” immigrant and the leader of two other cutting-edge companies. Tesla dares to challenge the establishment behemoths and, so far at least, has handily beaten them at their own game. In this history of the 21st century’s most exciting startup, Charles Morris begins with a brief history of EVs and a biography of Tesla’s driving force, Elon Musk. He then details the history of the company, told in the words of the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who made it happen. There are many fascinating stories here: Martin Eberhard’s realization that there were many like himself, who loved fast cars but wanted to help the environment and bring about the post-oil age; the freewheeling first days, reminiscent of the early internet era; the incredible ingenuity of the team who built the Roadster; Tesla’s near-death experience and miraculous resurrection; the spiteful split between the company’s larger-than-life leaders; the gloves-off battles with hostile media such as Top Gear and the New York Times; and the media’s ironic about-face when the magnificent Model S won the industry’s highest honors, and naysayers became cheerleaders overnight. And the story is just beginning: Tesla has breathtakingly ambitious plans for the future.This book was updated May 1, 2015 to include the latest on the Gigafactory and the D package.

More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite


Sebastian Mallaby - 2010
    Wealthy, powerful, and potentially dangerous, hedge fund moguls have become the It Boys of twenty-first ­century capitalism. Ken Griffin of Citadel started out trading convertible bonds from his dorm room at Harvard. Julian Robertson staffed his hedge fund with college athletes half his age, then he flew them to various retreats in the Rockies and raced them up the mountains. Paul Tudor Jones posed for a magazine photograph next to a killer shark and happily declared that a 1929-style crash would be "total rock-and-roll" for him. Michael Steinhardt was capable of reducing underlings to sobs. "All I want to do is kill myself," one said. "Can I watch?" Steinhardt responded. Finance professors have long argued that beating the market is impossible, and yet drawing on insights from physics, economics, and psychology, these titans have cracked the market's mysteries and gone on to earn fortunes. Their innovation has transformed the world, spawning new markets in exotic financial instruments and rewriting the rules of capitalism. More than just a history, More Money Than God is a window on tomorrow's financial system. Hedge funds have been left for dead after past financial panics: After the stock market rout of the early 1970s, after the bond market bloodbath of 1994, after the collapse of Long Term Capital Management in 1998, and yet again after the dot-com crash in 2000. Each time, hedge funds have proved to be survivors, and it would be wrong to bet against them now. Banks such as CitiGroup, brokers such as Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, home lenders such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, insurers such as AIG, and money market funds run by giants such as Fidelity-all have failed or been bailed out. But the hedge fund industry has survived the test of 2008 far better than its rivals. The future of finance lies in the history of hedge funds.

Discussion Materials: Tales of a Rookie Wall Street Investment Banker


Bill Keenan - 2020
    His spacious office looked out onto New York Harbor. “Bust,” said the vice president, a younger, douchier version of Widow’s Peak. He slashed his red ballpoint pen across the sheet and flipped to the next page. “Walk me through the debt paydown and your interest rate assumptions,” continued the VP. “Pretty dovish view. Maybe the Fed knows what they’re doing after all,” said Widow’s Peak. He shot a glance at the VP. They shared a chuckle—at what, I couldn’t tell you. This question about interest rates I knew: Dovish, I thought. Doves fly south for the winter, so dovish is downwards…low interest rates— “We’re running short on time,” said Widow’s Peak. He flipped to the cover page of my presentation. “One final point—all pitch decks should have the same title.” “Since this presentation was geared towards an LBO analysis I was thinking—” “No thinking. All decks—same title—Discussion Materials.” Noted.Discussion Materials gives the reader an honest look at Wall Street from someone in the trenches. After graduating from Columbia Business School, Bill Keenan joined Deutsche Bank’s investment banking division as an associate where despotic superiors (and the blinking red light of his BlackBerry) instilled low-level terror on an hourly basis. You’ll join him in his cubicle on the 44th floor of 60 Wall Street as he scrambles to ensure floating bar charts are the correct shade of orange and all numbers are left-aligned, but whatever you do, don’t ask him what any of it means. Leaning heavily on his fellow junior bankers and the countless outsourcing resources the bank employs, he slowly develops proficiency at the job, eventually gaining traction and respect, one deal at a time, over a two-year span, ultimately cementing his legacy in the group by attaining the unattainable: placing a dinner order on Seamless one Sunday night at work from Hwa Yuan Szechuan amounting to $25.00 (tax and tip included), the bank’s maximum allowance for meals—the perfect order.

Wealth, Poverty and Politics: An International Perspective


Thomas Sowell - 2015
    Pundits and politically motivated economists trumpet ambiguous statistics and sensational theories while ignoring the true determinant of income inequality: the production of wealth. We cannot properly understand inequality if we focus exclusively on the distribution of wealth and ignore wealth production factors such as geography, demography, and culture.Sowell contends that liberals have a particular interest in misreading the data and chastises them for using income inequality as an argument for the welfare state. Refuting Thomas Piketty, Paul Krugman, and others on the left, Sowell draws on accurate empirical data to show that the inequality is not nearly as extreme or sensational as we have been led to believe.Transcending partisanship through a careful examination of data, Wealth, Poverty, and Politics reveals the truth about the most explosive political issue of our time.

Go Figure: Things you didn't know you didn't know: The Economist Explains


Tom Standage - 2016
    Bringing together the very best from the clever people at The Economist, Go Figure explains the mind-boggling, the peculiar and the profound, things you might always have quietly wondered about and yet more you didn't know you didn't know.Figure out why so many Koreans are called Kim, how bitcoin mining works, why eating insects makes sense and how to get ahead under a dictator - a treat for the knowing, the uninitiated and the downright curious.

Julian Robertson: A Tiger in the Land of Bulls and Bears


Daniel A. Strachman - 2004
    For nearly twenty years his infamous fund--Tiger Management--was the talk of the town, routinely delivering double-digit performance. This biography will explore this legendary fund manager's role in the development and popularity of hedge funds, examine his investment methodology and strategy, and look at the growth of his fund and his 'Tigers'--individuals who have gone on to great success themselves. * Includes candid interviews of Robertson, his colleagues, and his peers * Uncovers the trading strategies and investment style of a legendary fund manager * Offers a rare glimpse inside the personal world of Julian Robertson READERSHIP: Those with any interest in or knowledge of hedge funds, business readers, investment professionals. Daniel A. Strachman is Managing Director of Answers Company, a New York-based money management firm that offers investment management services to individuals and institutions. He has contributed many articles on investment management and strategies to publications including the New York Post and the Financial Times and is also the author of Getting Started in Hedge Funds (Wiley 2000). Also available by Daniel Strachman, Getting Started in Hedge Funds, 0471316962 Paper. EAN - 9780471323631 Carton Quantity - 41

Negotiate to Win: The 21 Rules for Successful Negotiating


Jim Thomas - 2005
    Discover the PowerOf Better NegotiatingNegotiation is one skill everyone needs in order to get more of what they want -- to sell more, to keep costs down, to manage better, to strengthen relationships -- to win! Thomas shows you exactly how the best negotiators reach long-lasting positive solutions that build profits, performance, and relationships.This indispensable guide covers all you'll ever need to know about negotiating, including:The 21 rules of successful negotiating -- and how to defend against them!"Quickies" -- specific tips on how to successfully negotiate with bosses, children, car dealers, contractors, auto mechanics, and many othersWhy Americans are among the worst negotiators on EarthHow to overcome your natural reluctance to bargainWhy win-win negotiating is so vitalHow to thoroughly prepare for your negotiationsHow to deal with counterparts who intimidate or harass youHow to negotiate ethically -- and deal with those who don'tHow to negotiate more successfully across cultural linesThomas's Truisms -- 50 memorable negotiating maxims The psychology of negotiating, historical illustrations, day-to-day applications, and much, much more!

Mastering the Market Cycle: Getting the Odds on Your Side


Howard Marks - 2018
    Confidence about where we are in a cycle comes when you learn the patterns of ups and downs that influence not just economics, markets and companies, but also human psychology and the investing behaviors that result. If you study past cycles, understand their origins and remain alert for the next one, you will become keenly attuned to the investment environment as it changes. You’ll be aware and prepared while others get blindsided by unexpected events or fall victim to emotions like fear and greed. By following Marks’s insights — drawn in part from his iconic memos over the years to Oaktree’s clients — you can master these recurring patterns to have the opportunity to improve your results.

The Book on Making Money


Steve Oliverez - 2017
    In The Book on Making Money, he reveals what he learned while successfully hitting this goal for seven years in a row, growing his annual income to more than $1 million. Walking readers through the steps he took to reach his goal, Oliverez shows how they can apply the same techniques to greatly increase their own income, whether they work for someone else or run their own business. Oliverez spells out his disagreements with the traditional wisdom that tells young adults to go to school, get good grades and find a safe, steady job - advice that has left many Americans with tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans, credit card debt or mortgages on homes they can't afford. He also assaults the idea of saving one’s way to wealth as absurd and counterproductive, using his own experience of trying to save money while poor as an example. Instead of promoting an austere lifestyle of clipping coupons and spending as little as possible, he shows how those habits can actually prevent people from becoming wealthy. Perhaps your goal is to create passive income, launch a startup or make money investing in the stock market. Maybe you're still an employee and you want to learn how to write a better resume, ask for a raise, and budget so you can get out of debt. This straight-forward guide will teach you how money works and give you the tools to achieve financial freedom.

Amazon Affiliate: Make Money with the Amazon Affiliate Program


Armaan Kohli - 2014
    He shows you screenshots of how his income keeps growing along with an example of how he ultimately sold his 6 month old Amazon affiliate website for over $15000!He also shares 7 amazing tips on how to increase your conversion rates as an Amazon affiliate to get the maximum bang for your buck. If you’re looking for a practical and easy to follow guide on how to make money as an Amazon affiliate, then this is the right book for you.This book also includes FREE bonus Keyword packages that are worth more than $1000.

13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown


Simon Johnson - 2010
    Anchored by six megabanks—Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley—which together control assets amounting, astonishingly, to more than 60 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, these financial institutions (now more emphatically “too big to fail”) continue to hold the global economy hostage, threatening yet another financial meltdown with their excessive risk-taking and toxic “business as usual” practices. How did this come to be—and what is to be done? These are the central concerns of 13 Bankers, a brilliant, historically informed account of our troubled political economy. In 13 Bankers, Simon Johnson—one of the most prominent and frequently cited economists in America (former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, Professor of Entrepreneurship at MIT, and author of the controversial “The Quiet Coup” in The Atlantic)—and James Kwak give a wide-ranging, meticulous, and bracing account of recent U.S. financial history within the context of previous showdowns between American democracy and Big Finance: from Thomas Jefferson to Andrew Jackson, from Theodore Roosevelt to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. They convincingly show why our future is imperiled by the ideology of finance (finance is good, unregulated finance is better, unfettered finance run amok is best) and by Wall Street’s political control of government policy pertaining to it. As the authors insist, the choice that America faces is stark: whether Washington will accede to the vested interests of an unbridled financial sector that runs up profits in good years and dumps its losses on taxpayers in lean years, or reform through stringent regulation the banking system as first and foremost an engine of economic growth. To restore health and balance to our economy, Johnson and Kwak make a radical yet feasible and focused proposal: reconfigure the megabanks to be “small enough to fail.” Lucid, authoritative, crucial for its timeliness, 13 Bankers is certain to be one of the most discussed and debated books of 2010.

Active Value Investing


Vitaliy N. Katsenelson - 2007
    Bookshelves are groaning under the weight of titles written on investment strategy in bull markets, but there is little guidance on how to invest in range bound markets. In this book, author and respected investment portfolio manager Vitaliy Katsenelson makes a convincing case for range-bound market conditions and offers readers a practical strategy for proactive investing that improves profits. This guide provides investors with the know-how to modify the traditional, fundamentally driven strategies that they have become so accustomed to using in bull markets, so that they can work in range bound markets. It offers new approaches to margin of safety and presents terrific insights into buy and sell disciplines, international investing, Quality, Valuation, and Growth framework, and much more.Vitaliy Katsenelson, CFA (Denver, CO) has been involved with the investment industry since 1994. He is a portfolio manager with Investment Management Associates where he co-manages institutional and personal assets utilizing fundamental analysis. Katsenelson is a member of the CFA Institute, has served on the board of CFA Society of Colorado, and is also on the board of Retirement Investment Institute. Vitaliy is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Colorado at Denver - Graduate School of Business. He is also a regular contributor to the Financial Times, The Motley Fool, and Minyanville.com.

A Little History of Economics


Niall Kishtainy - 2017
    This clear, accessible, and even humorous book is ideal for young readers new to economics and for all readers who seek a better understanding of the full sweep of economic history and ideas. Economic historian Niall Kishtainy organizes short, chronological chapters that center on big ideas and events. He recounts the contributions of key thinkers including Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes, and others, while examining topics ranging from the invention of money and the rise of agrarianism to the Great Depression, entrepreneurship, environmental destruction, inequality, and behavioral economics. The result is a uniquely enjoyable volume that succeeds in illuminating the economic ideas and forces that shape our world.

The Rise and Fall of Nations: Forces of Change in the Post-Crisis World


Ruchir Sharma - 2016
    Narrowing the thousands of factors that can shape a country’s fortunes to ten clear rules, Sharma explains how to spot political, economic, and social changes in real time. He shows how to read political headlines, black markets, the price of onions, and billionaire rankings as signals of booms, busts, and protests. Set in a post-crisis age that has turned the world upside down, replacing fast growth with slow growth and political calm with revolt, Sharma’s pioneering book is an entertaining field guide to understanding change in this era or any era.A Library Journal Best Book of 2016