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.

    

    So what makes this one different? Well, you won't be overwhelmed with a bunch of 'tips' … or a strict budget (that you won't follow). You'll get a step-by-step formula: open this account, then do this; call this person, and say this; invest money here, and not there. All with a glass of wine in your hand. This book will show you how to create an entire financial plan that is so simple you can sketch it on the back of a serviette … and you'll be able to manage your money in 10 minutes a week. You'll also get the skinny on: Saving up a six-figure house deposit in 20 months Doubling your income using the 'Trapeze Strategy' Saving $78,173 on your mortgage and wiping out 7 years of payments Finding a financial advisor who won't rip you off Handing your kids (or grandkids) a $140,000 cheque on their 21st birthday Why you don't need $1 million to retire … with the 'Donald Bradman Retirement Strategy' Sound too good to be true? It's not. This book is full of stories from everyday Aussies — single people, young families, empty nesters, retirees — who have applied the simple steps in this book and achieved amazing, life-changing results. And you're next.

    This book relies on data and historical facts. It argues that successful investors avoid short-term traps to concentrate on long-term strategies that allow time, compounding, and the natural ebbs and flows of the markets to work.

    Few people realize that the top private equity firms, such as Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group, and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, have become the nation’s largest employers through the businesses they own. Using leveraged buyouts that load their acquired companies with loans, private equity firms have generated more than $1 trillion in new debt—which will come due just when these businesses are least likely to be able to pay it off. Journalist Josh Kosman explores private equity’s explosive growth and shows how its barons wring profits at the expense of the long-term health of their companies. He argues that excessive debt and mismanagement will likely trigger another economic meltdown within the next five years, wiping out up to two million jobs. He also explores the links between the private equity elite and Washington power players, who have helped them escape government scrutiny. The result is a timely book with an important warning for us all.

    . . Invest Like Warren Buffett. But is it really possible for anyone to learn to invest like Warren Buffett? Don't I need insider information and a network of rich friends? Surprisingly not. Buffett's investment strategy can be imitated by anyone, with any size account. This book will lead you every step of the way, in easy-to-understand language. I have studied Warren Buffett and his investments for over 20 years. Over that time, I have distilled Buffett's most valuable investing insights into an easy-to-follow program. It's time to learn a proven strategy that takes the stress out of investing. In this book, you will learn: How to compound wealth like Buffett Sneaky tricks for decoding financial statements How to tell the difference between a great business and a mediocre business How to figure out how much to pay for a high-quality stock The best times to buy stocks Investing pitfalls to avoid How to profit from bear markets, instead of getting destroyed The beauty of the Buffett approach is its simplicity. Imagine how relaxed you will feel when you learn how to invest with a Zen-like calm, like Buffett himself. Amazon best-selling author and retired hedge fund manager, Matthew Kratter will teach you the secrets that he has used to profitably invest in stocks for the last 20 years, following Buffett's methods. Buffett's strategy is powerful, and yet so simple to use. Even if you are a complete beginner, this book will quickly bring you up to speed. And if you ever get stuck, you can always reach out to me by email (provided inside of the book), and I will help you. Are you ready to start growing your money today? Then scroll to the top of this page and click BUY NOW.

    Anything that benefited production - that benefited me and benefited my wallet - I'd do it.""The sales force at Ameriquest Mortgage took this philosophy to heart. They watched the Hollywood white-collar-crime flick "Boiler Room" as a training tape, studying how to pitch overpriced deals to unsuspecting home owners. They learned how to forge signatures on mortgage paperwork and create fake documents in "cut-and-paste" operations they dubbed "The Lab" or "The Art Department."In this stunning narrative, award-winning reporter Michael W. Hudson reveals the story of the rise and fall of the subprime mortgage business by chronicling the rise and fall of two corporate empires: Ameriquest and Lehman Brothers. As the biggest subprime lender and Wall Street's biggest patron of subprime, Ameriquest and Lehman did more than any other institutions to create the feeding frenzy that emboldened mortgage pros to flood the nation with high-risk, high-profit home loans.It's a tale populated by a remarkable cast of the characters: a shadowy billionaire who created the subprime industry out of the ashes of the 1980s S&L scandal; Wall Street executives with an insatiable desire for product; struggling home owners ensnared in the most ingenious of traps; lawyers and investigators who tried to expose the fraud; politicians and bureaucrats who turned a blind eye; and, most of all, the drug-snorting, high-living salesman who tell all about the money they made, the lies they told, the deals they closed.Provocative and gripping, "The Monster" is a searing expose of the bottom-feeding fraud and top-down greed that fueled the financial collapse."

    Tharp is an internationally recognized expert at helping others become the best traders they can be. In Trading Beyond the Matrix: The Red Pill for Traders and Investors, Tharp leads readers to dramatically improve their trading results and financial life by looking within. He takes the reader by the hand through the steps of self-transformation, from incorporating Tharp Think--ideas drawn from his modeling work with great traders--making changes in yourself so that you can adopt the beliefs and attitudes necessary to win when you stop making mistakes and avoid methods that don't work. You'll change your level of consciousness so that you can avoiding trading out of fear and greed and move toward higher levels such as acceptance or joy.A leading trader offers unique learning strategies for turning yourself into a great trader Goes beyond trading systems to help readers develop more effective trading psychology Trains the reader to overcome self-sabotage that obstructs trading success Presented through real transformations made by other traders Advocating an unconventional approach to evaluating trading systems and beliefs, trading expert Van K. Tharp has produced a powerful manual every trader can use to make the best trades and optimize their success.

    His latest book is the first by anyone to target financial advice specifically at young adults graduating from university or college and moving into the workforce, into the housing market and into family life. Financial beginners, in other words. Carrick offers what can only be described as a wealth of information, on the full life cycle of financial challenges and opportunities young people face, including saving for a post-secondary education and paying off student debts, establishing a credit rating, basic banking and budgeting, car and home buying, marriage and raising children of their own, and insurance. The book is mindful throughout that parents have a big role to play in all this. It addresses young readers throughout but regularly asks them to see things from their parents' perspective. In that way, Rob Carrick is able to offer advice to both generations. He even recognizes that in these difficult times, moving back in with the folks is sometimes a short-term necessity. So there is a section devoted to such important questions as: Should your parents be charging you rent? For that and many thousands of dollars' worth of other reasons, this is a book that every parent needs to buy for each of their kids, plus one for themselves.

    It does not matter how much you earn, what matters is how much you can save and invest wisely. The secret to financial freedom is learning the basic concepts of planning well and adopting the right attitude. But how does one achieve this?Everyone around us is trapped in a mindless rat race. If you’ve resolved to take control of your finances and construct a personal finance plan, From the Rat Race to Financial Freedom is a good starting point. About The AuthorManoj Arora, an engineer by profession, is a gold medalist from Aligarh Muslim University. Having worked for Fortune 500 organizations across the globe, including IBM, he has also worked for leading Indian companies such as L&T and TCS.

    The book explains in easy manner the various investing avenues that you have, the advantages and disadvantages of each. It gives the overall picture of the Indian market.Here are some of the topics that are covered in the book:• Finding and choosing a broker - Online vs traditional broker• How to invest, how much to invest and investment goals• The difference between mutual funds, index funds, and ETFs• How to make your first tradeQuick and easy to read, this will help you start trading and gives you that basic knowlegde that is required before you select a stock to trade

    We’ve comea long way since then. With this book, Drs. Romero and Balch liftthe veil from many of these once-opaque concepts in high-techfinance. We can all benefit from learning how the cooperationbetween wetware and software creates fitter models. This bookdoes a fantastic job describing how the latest advances in financialmodeling and data science help today’s portfolio managerssolve these greater riddles. —Michael Himmel, ManagingPartner, Essex Asset ManagementI applaud Phil Romero’s willingness to write about the hedgefund world, an industry that is very private, often flamboyant,and easily misunderstood. As with every sector of the investmentlandscape, the hedge fund industry varies dramaticallyfrom quantitative “black box” technology, to fundamental researchand old-fashioned stock picking. This book helps investorsdistinguish between these diverse opposites and understandtheir place in the new evolving world of finance. —Mick Elfers,Founder and Chief Investment Strategist, Irvington Capital

    More than four million homes were lost to foreclosures. Is it a coincidence that the United States witnessed a dramatic rise in household debt in the years before the recession—that the total amount of debt for American households doubled between 2000 and 2007 to $14 trillion? Definitely not. Armed with clear and powerful evidence, Atif Mian and Amir Sufi reveal in House of Debt how the Great Recession and Great Depression, as well as the current economic malaise in Europe, were caused by a large run-up in household debt followed by a significantly large drop in household spending. Though the banking crisis captured the public’s attention, Mian and Sufi argue strongly with actual data that current policy is too heavily biased toward protecting banks and creditors. Increasing the flow of credit, they show, is disastrously counterproductive when the fundamental problem is too much debt. As their research shows, excessive household debt leads to foreclosures, causing individuals to spend less and save more. Less spending means less demand for goods, followed by declines in production and huge job losses. How do we end such a cycle? With a direct attack on debt, say Mian and Sufi.  More aggressive debt forgiveness after the crash helps, but as they illustrate, we can be rid of painful bubble-and-bust episodes only if the financial system moves away from its reliance on inflexible debt contracts. As an example, they propose new mortgage contracts that are built on the principle of risk-sharing, a concept that would have prevented the housing bubble from emerging in the first place. Thoroughly grounded in compelling economic evidence, House of Debt offers convincing answers to some of the most important questions facing the modern economy today: Why do severe recessions happen? Could we have prevented the Great Recession and its consequences? And what actions are needed to prevent such crises going forward?

    It includes 18 proven investment strategies and insightful case studies of six very different investors who all build portfolios which will deliver $2,000 a week in retirement income! And you'll only need to spend 10 hours per property a year managing your portfolio when you have everything in place. Ben and Bryce are both property investors themselves and the hosts of Australia's No.1 Property Investment Podcast - The Property Couch. 'As regular contributors to Australia's most read and sold personal finance magazine these boys know property. Smart strategies designed to safely build wealth through real estate.' - Effie Zahos, Editor, Money magazine '...a sensible and achievable approach to successful property investing. It teaches investors how to buy the very best properties to achieve their financial goals without taking unnecessary risks. It's a must-read for anyone serious about enjoying the long-term benefits of property investment.' - Nicola McDougall, Editor, Australian Property Investor magazine '...full of practical tips and written in a way that even a total newbie would understand. If you want to get no-nonsense, independent advice on how to invest in property, then this book is essential reading.' - Nila Sweeney, Managing Editor, Your Investment Property magazine

    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: Getting out of debt...and into the stock marketTurning your bank account into a moneymakerUsing Fool.com and the Internet to learn about all things financial -- from buying a home to getting the best deal on a carSaving enough to send your children to the colleges of their dreams