Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior


Ori Brafman - 2008
    Sway introduces us to the Harvard Business School professor who got his students to pay $204 for a $20 bill, the head of airline safety whose disregard for his years of training led to the transformation of an entire industry, and the football coach who turned conventional strategy on its head to lead his team to victory. We also learn the curse of the NBA draft, discover why interviews are a terrible way to gauge future job performance, and go inside a session with the Supreme Court to see how the world’s most powerful justices avoid the dangers of group dynamics.Every once in a while, a book comes along that not only challenges our views of the world but changes the way we think. In Sway, Ori and Rom Brafman not only uncover rational explanations for a wide variety of irrational behaviors but also point readers toward ways to avoid succumbing to their pull.

Start It Up: Why Running Your Own Business is Easier Than You Think


Luke Johnson - 2011
    Running your own business is nowhere near as tough as you might think. So what are you waiting for? Luke Johnson is Britain's busiest tycoon, with a personal fortune estimated at £120 million. From Pizza Express and Channel 4 to his incisive Financial Times column, Johnson has spent two decades on the business frontline. In Start It Up, Johnson sets out to inspire - and guide - every budding entrepreneur. He tackles the issues that really matter: finding the right idea, sourcing funds, and getting the best from the people you meet on the way - chiefly yourself. 'A must-read for inspiring entrepreneurs, probably the best book available on the subject' John McLaren, Management Today 'Part rant, part outpouring of useful knowledge gleaned from 20 very successful years in business. There is a great deal here that is good' Richard Reed, co-founder of Innocent Drinks, Financial Times 'For the budding entrepreneur, this clear, thoughtful and passionate how-to guide will be an excellent first investment' Economist Luke Johnson is one of Britain's most successful entrepreneurs with an estimated personal fortune of £120 million. He is Chairman of Risk Capital Partners and The Royal Society of Arts, and a former Chairman of Channel 4 Television. He writes columns for the Financial Times and Management Today. In the 1990s he was Chairman of PizzaExpress, which he grew from 12 restaurants to over 250; he also founded the Strada pizzeria chain and owns Giraffe and Patisserie Valerie. He lives in London and is married with three children.

Confessions of a Wall Street Analyst: A True Story of Inside Information and Corruption in the Stock Market


Daniel Reingold - 2006
    Reingold was part of the "Street" and believed in it.But in this action-packed, highly personal memoir written with accomplished Fast Company senior writer Jennifer Reingold the author describes how his enthusiasm gave way to disgust as he learned how deeply corrupted Wall Street and much of corporate America had become during the roaring stock market bubble of the 1990s.Confessions of a Wall Street Analyst provides a front-row seat at one of the most dramatic -- and ultimately tragic -- periods in financial history. Reingold recounts his introduction to the world of Wall Street leaks and secret deal-making; his experiences with corporate fraud; and Wall Street's alarming penchant for lavish spending and multimillion-dollar pay packages.Reingold spars with arch rival Grubman; fends off intense pressures from Wall Street bankers and corporate CEOs; and is wooed by Morgan Stanley's CEO, John Mack, and CSFB's über-banker Frank Quattrone.Reingold describes instances in which confidential deals are whispered days before their official announcement. He recalls the moment he learns that Bernie Ebbers's WorldCom was massively cooking its books. And he is shocked to have been an unwitting catalyst for a series of sexually explicit e-mails that would rock Wall Street; bring Jack Grubman to his knees; and contribute to the stepping aside of Grubman's boss, Citigroup CEO Sandy Weill.Some of Reingold's stories are outrageous, others hilarious, and many are simply absurd. But, together, they provide a sobering exposé of Wall Street: a jungle of greed and ego, a place brimming with conflicts and inside information, and a business absurdly out of touch with the Main Street it claims to serve.He shows how government investigators, headlines notwithstanding, never got to the heart of the ethical and legal transgressions of the era. And how they completely overlooked Wall Street's pervasive use of inside information, leaving investors -- even sophisticated professionals -- cheated. The book ends with a series of important policy recommendations to clean up the investing business.In the tradition of Liar's Poker and Den of Thieves, Confessions of a Wall Street Analyst is a no-holds-barred insider's account that will open the eyes of every investor.

Financial Shenanigans: How to Detect Accounting Gimmicks & Fraud in Financial Reports


Howard Schilit - 1993
    This work contains chapters, data, and research that reveal contemporary shenanigans that have been known to fool even veteran researchers.

The Richest Man in Town: The Twelve Commandments of Wealth


W. Randall Jones - 2009
    But unfortunately, most of us don't have a clue how to reach these all too elusive goals. Quite simply, there's no definitive road map for getting there, no proven plan, and certainly very little access to those who have become "the richest man in town." But now W. Randall Jones, the founder of Worth magazine, is about to change all that. He's traveled to one hundred different towns and cities across the country and interviewed the wealthiest resident in each. No, these are not those folks who inherited their wealth, or happen to be a CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Rather, these are the self-made types who, through hard work and ingenuity, found their own individual paths to financial success. Remarkably, during his research, Jones found that these successful people were not so different from one another. They all shared many of the same traits and followed what the author calls the Twelve Commandments of Wealth: stay hungry (even when you're successful) . . . you really do learn more from failing than you may think . . . absolutely be your own boss, the sooner the better . . . understand that selling is the key to success . . . where you live doesn't matter . . . never retire, and other, more surprising revelations. Practical, unique, and inspiring, this book lets you peek inside the living rooms of dozens of America's most successful people-and shows how you, too, can become The Richest Man in Town.

Be Obsessed or Be Average


Grant Cardone - 2016
    What can it do for you?....

High Returns from Low Risk: A Remarkable Stock Market Paradox


Pim Van Vliet - 2016
    Investors traditionally view low-risk stocks as safe but unprofitable, but this old canard is based on a flawed premise; it fails to see beyond the monthly horizon, and ignores compounding returns. This book updates the thinking and brings reality to modelling to show how low-risk stocks actually outperform high-risk stocks by an order of magnitude. Easy to read and easy to implement, the plan presented here will help you construct a portfolio that delivers higher returns per unit of risk, and explains how to achieve excellent investment results over the long term.Do you still believe that investors are rewarded for bearing risk, and that the higher the risk, the greater the reward? That old axiom is holding you back, and it is time to start seeing the whole picture. This book shows you, through deep historical simulation, how to reap the rewards of smarter investing.Learn how and why low-risk, low-volatility stocks beat the market Discover the formula that outperforms Greenblatt's Construct your own low-risk portfolio Select the right ETF or low-risk fund to manage your money Great returns and lower risk sound like a winning combination -- what happens once everyone is doing it? The beauty of the low-risk strategy is that it continues to work even after the paradox is widely known; long-term investment success is possible for anyone who can shake off the entrenched wisdom and go low-risk. High Returns from Low Risk provides the proof, model and strategy to reign in your exposure while raking in the profit.

Early Exits: Exit Strategies for Entrepreneurs and Angel Investors (But Maybe Not Venture Capitalists)


Basil Peters - 2009
    Very little has been written about exits - the emphasis is usually on starting, financing and growing technology companies.Most of the earlier books on exit strategies were written for business owners who wanted to retire. More recently, there have been a number of books written about exit transactions for venture capitalists. This is not surprising considering that most venture capital (VC) agreements give the VCs all of the control in deciding when and how all shareholders benefit from an exit transaction.This book is about the large number of other exits - the ones that are not driven by the VCs. Exit opportunities have changed dramatically in the past few years. Today, it’s more likely that a company will be sold without ever having an investment from a venture capitalist.Exits are also happening much earlier than before. The largest number of exit transactions today are in the under $30-million valuation range. These exits are often completed when companies are only two or three years from startup.The goal of this book is to help entrepreneurs and angel investors have more successful, more frequent and more profitable exits.

The Dividend Mantra Way: Achieving Financial Independence By Living Below Your Means And Investing In Dividend Growth Stocks


Jason Fieber - 2015
     From the founder of Dividend Mantra, this is a definitive guide on why you should aim to achieve financial independence early in life and how to actually get there. It includes information on my background, the strategies I've used to grow my wealth from below zero to well into the six figures, and practical, nuts-and-bolts advice. I've written over 650 articles, and this book includes some of my most useful, inspirational, and evergreen content I've ever put out there. If you're looking for information on how to execute a a real-life journey to financial independence in real-time, this is the book for you. I describe why you should aim for financial independence and I explore the idea of true sacrifice. I also discuss the 4% safe withdrawal rate, index funds, the power of dividends and dividend growth, living below your means, and how to analyze and value stocks. I've been featured in major media, including USA Today, CNBC, Today, Yahoo, and Mr. Money Mustache. I'm hoping this book inspires you. Living below your means and investing your excess capital into high-quality companies that pay and grow dividends is not only an incredibly easy and fun way to achieve financial independence early in life, but also incredibly robust.