Digital Gold: Bitcoin and the Inside Story of the Misfits and Millionaires Trying to Reinvent Money


Nathaniel Popper - 2015
    Believers from Beijing to Buenos Aires see the potential for a financial system free from banks and governments. More than just a tech industry fad, Bitcoin has threatened to decentralize some of society’s most basic institutions.An unusual tale of group invention, Digital Gold charts the rise of the Bitcoin technology through the eyes of the movement’s colorful central characters, including an Argentinian millionaire, a Chinese entrepreneur, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, and Bitcoin’s elusive creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. Already, Bitcoin has led to untold riches for some, and prison terms for others.

Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom


Van K. Tharp - 1998
    With substantial new material, this second edition features Tharp's new 17-step trading model. Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom also addresses reward to risk multiples, as well as insightful new interviews with top traders, and features updated examples and charts.

The Trillion Dollar Meltdown: Easy Money, High Rollers, and the Great Credit Crash


Charles R. Morris - 2008
    Arcane credit derivative bets are now well into the tens of trillions. According to Charles R. Morris, the astronomical leverage at investment banks and their hedge fund and private equity clients virtually guarantees massive disruption in global markets. The crash, when it comes, will have no firebreaks. A quarter century of free-market zealotry that extolled asset stripping, abusive lending, and hedge fund secrecy will come crashing down with it.The Trillion Dollar Meltdown explains how we got here, and what is about to happen. After the crash our priorities will be quite different. But things are likely to get worse before they better. Whether you are an active investor, a homeowner, or a contributor to your 401(k) plan, The Trillion Dollar Meltdown will be indispensable to understanding the gross excess that has put the world economy on the brink--and what the new landscape will look like.

Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets


John J. Murphy - 1986
    Murphy has updated his landmark bestseller Technical Analysis of the Futures Markets, to include all of the financial markets.This outstanding reference has already taught thousands of traders the concepts of technical analysis and their application in the futures and stock markets. Covering the latest developments in computer technology, technical tools, and indicators, the second edition features new material on candlestick charting, intermarket relationships, stocks and stock rotation, plus state-of-the-art examples and figures. From how to read charts to understanding indicators and the crucial role technical analysis plays in investing, readers gain a thorough and accessible overview of the field of technical analysis, with a special emphasis on futures markets. Revised and expanded for the demands of today's financial world, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in tracking and analyzing market behavior.

Aftershock: Protect Yourself and Profit in the Next Global Financial Meltdown


David Wiedemer - 2009
    Home prices and stocks will continue to fall, inflation and unemployment will rise, and the current recession will not automatically cycle back to recovery. Unlike most books, Aftershock goes beyond the outdated notion of "market cycles" to help readers clearly recognize and quickly respond to the rapidly evolving economy. Instead of going back to how things were before, we are moving forward through uncharted territory, with new challenges and opportunities few people anticipate. The book shows you how to:Protect assets before and during the second wave of the financial meltdown Make wise investment decisions regarding stocks, bonds, real estate, and more Know which jobs, careers, and businesses will fare the best Profit from the collapsing bubbles Other titles by Wiedemer, Wiedemer, and Spitzer: America's Bubble EconomyAftershock is easy-to-read, entertaining, and practical book guides readers to seek safety and profits in these evolving economic conditions.

Hedgehogging


Barton Biggs - 2005
    Hedgehogging represents just such an opportunity, allowing you to step inside the world of Wall Street with Barton Biggs as he discusses investing in general, hedge funds in particular, and how he has learned to find and profit from the best moneymaking opportunities in an eat-what-you-kill, cutthroat investment world.

Tap Dancing to Work: Warren Buffett on Practically Everything, 1966-2012


Carol J. Loomis - 2011
    As Buf­fett’s fortune and reputation grew over time, Loomis used her unique insight into Buffett’s thinking to chronicle his work for Fortune, writ­ing and proposing scores of stories that tracked his many accomplishments—and also his occa­sional mistakes. Now Loomis has collected and updated the best Buffett articles Fortune published between 1966 and 2012, including thirteen cover stories and a dozen pieces authored by Buffett himself. Loomis has provided commentary about each major arti­cle that supplies context and her own informed point of view. Readers will gain fresh insights into Buffett’s investment strategies and his thinking on management, philanthropy, public policy, and even parenting. Some of the highlights include:The 1966 A. W. Jones story in which Fortune first mentioned Buffett. The first piece Buffett wrote for the magazine, 1977’s “How Inf lation Swindles the Equity Investor.” Andrew Tobias’s 1983 article “Letters from Chairman Buffett,” the first review of his Berk­shire Hathaway shareholder letters. Buffett’s stunningly prescient 2003 piece about derivatives, “Avoiding a Mega-Catastrophe.” His unconventional thoughts on inheritance and philanthropy, including his intention to leave his kids “enough money so they would feel they could do anything, but not so much that they could do nothing.” Bill Gates’s 1996 article describing his early impressions of Buffett as they struck up their close friendship. Scores of Buffett books have been written, but none can claim this work’s combination of trust between two friends, the writer’s deep under­standing of Buffett’s world, and a very long-term perspective.

Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World


Tom Wright - 2018
    The dust had yet to settle on the global financial crisis in 2009 when an unlikely Wharton grad was setting in motion a fraud of unprecedented gall and magnitude--one that would come to symbolize the next great threat to the global financial system. Billion Dollar Whale will become a classic, harrowing parable about the financial world in the twenty-first century.

The Everything Bubble: The Endgame For Central Bank Policy


Graham Summers - 2018
     Because these bonds serve as the foundation of our current financial system, when they are in a bubble, it means that all risk assets (truly EVERYTHING), are in a bubble, hence our title, The Everything Bubble. In this sense, the Everything Bubble represents the proverbial end game for central bank policy: the final speculative frenzy induced by Federal Reserve overreach. The Everything Bubble book is the result of over a decade of research and analysis of the financial markets and economy by noted investment analyst, Graham Summers, MBA. As such, this book is intended for anyone who wants to understand how the US financial system truly operates as well as those interested in the Federal Reserve’s future policy responses when the Everything Bubble bursts. To that end, The Everything Bubble is divided into two sections: How We Got Here and What’s to Come. Combined, these sections represent a blueprint for all things finance and money-related in the United States. This knowledge is now yours.

The New Trading for a Living: Psychology, Trading Tactics, Risk Management, and Record-Keeping


Alexander Elder - 2014
    This revised and expanded edition brings time-tested concepts in gear with today's fast-moving markets, adding new studies and techniques for the modern trader.This classic guide teaches a calm and disciplined approach to the markets. It emphasizes risk management along with self-management and provides clear rules for both. "The New Trading for a Living" incudes templates for rating stock picks, creating trade plans, and rating your own readiness to trade. It provides the knowledge, perspective, and tools for developing your own effective trading system.All charts in this book have been updated and are in full color, with clear comments on rules and techniques. The clarity of this book's language, its practical illustrations and generous sharing of the essential skills have made it a model for the industry--often imitated but never duplicated. Both new and experienced traders will appreciate its insights and the calm, systematic approach to modern markets."The New Trading for a Living" expands upon the original to become an even more valuable resourceOvercome barriers to success and develop stronger disciplineIdentify asymmetrical market zones, where rewards are higher and risks lowerMaster money management as you set entries, targets and stopsUse a record-keeping system that will make you into your own teacherSuccessful trading is based on knowledge, focus, and discipline. "The New Trading for a Living" will lift your trading to a higher level by sharing classic wisdom along with modern market tools.

Confidence Game: How Hedge Fund Manager Bill Ackman Called Wall Street's Bluff


Christine S. Richard - 2010
    history. Confidence Game: How a Hedge Fund Manager Called Wall Street's Bluff is the story of Bill Ackman's six-year campaign to warn that the $2.5 trillion bond insurance business was a catastrophe waiting to happen. Branded a fraud by the "Wall Street Journal" and "New York Times," and investigated by Eliot Spitzer and the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ackman later made his investors more than $1 billion when bond insurers kicked off the collapse of the credit markets.* Unravels the story of the credit crisis through an engaging and human drama* Draws on unprecedented access to one of Wall Street's best-known investors* Shows how excessive leverage, dangerous financial models, and a blind reliance on triple-A credit ratings sent Wall Street careening toward disasterConfidence Game is a real world "Emperor's New Clothes," a tale of widespread delusion, and one dissenting voice in the era leading up to the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression.

Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises


Timothy F. Geithner - 2014
    Geithner helped the United States navigate the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, from boom to bust to rescue to recovery. In a candid, riveting, and historically illuminating memoir, he takes readers behind the scenes of the crisis, explaining the hard choices and politically unpalatable decisions he made to repair a broken financial system and prevent the collapse of the Main Street economy. This is the inside story of how a small group of policy makers—in a thick fog of uncertainty, with unimaginably high stakes—helped avoid a second depression but lost the American people doing it. Stress Test is also a valuable guide to how governments can better manage financial crises, because this one won’t be the last.Stress Test reveals a side of Secretary Geithner the public has never seen, starting with his childhood as an American abroad. He recounts his early days as a young Treasury official helping to fight the international financial crises of the 1990s, then describes what he saw, what he did, and what he missed at the New York Fed before the Wall Street boom went bust. He takes readers inside the room as the crisis began, intensified, and burned out of control, discussing the most controversial episodes of his tenures at the New York Fed and the Treasury, including the rescue of Bear Stearns; the harrowing weekend when Lehman Brothers failed; the searing crucible of the AIG rescue as well as the furor over the firm’s lavish bonuses; the battles inside the Obama administration over his widely criticized but ultimately successful plan to end the crisis; and the bracing fight for the most sweeping financial reforms in more than seventy years. Secretary Geithner also describes the aftershocks of the crisis, including the administration’s efforts to address high unemployment, a series of brutal political battles over deficits and debt, and the drama over Europe’s repeated flirtations with the economic abyss. Secretary Geithner is not a politician, but he has things to say about politics—the silliness, the nastiness, the toll it took on his family. But in the end, Stress Test is a hopeful story about public service. In this revealing memoir, Tim Geithner explains how America withstood the ultimate stress test of its political and financial systems.

Tax-Free Wealth: How to Build Massive Wealth by Permanently Lowering Your Taxes


Tom Wheelwright - 2012
    It's about how to use your country's tax laws to your benefit. In this book, Tom Wheelwright will tell you how the tax laws work. And how they are designed to reduce your taxes, not to increase your taxes. Once you understand this basic principle, you no longer need to be afraid of the tax laws. They are there to help you and your business--not to hinder you.Once you understand the basic principles of tax reduction, you can begin, immediately, reducing your taxes. Eventually, you may even be able to legally eliminate your income taxes and drastically reduce your other taxes. Once you do that, you can live a life of Tax-Free Wealth.

Inside Money: Brown Brothers Harriman and the American Way of Power


Zachary Karabell - 2021
    Throughout the nineteenth century, when America was convulsed by a devastating financial panic essentially every twenty years, Brown Brothers quietly went from strength to strength, propping up the U.S. financial system at crucial moments and catalyzing successive booms, from the cotton trade and the steamship to the railroad, while largely managing to avoid the unwelcome attention that plagued some of its competitors. By the turn of the twentieth century, Brown Brothers was unquestionably at the heart of what was meant by an American Establishment. As America's reach extended beyond its shores, Brown Brothers worked hand in glove with the State Department, notably in Nicaragua in the early twentieth century, where the firm essentially took over the country's economy. To the Brown family, the virtue of their dealings was a given; their form of muscular Protestantism, forged on the playing fields of Groton and Yale, was the acme of civilization, and it was their duty to import that civilization to the world. When, during the Great Depression, Brown Brothers ensured their strength by merging with Averell Harriman's investment bank to form Brown Brothers Harriman, the die was cast for the role the firm would play on the global stage during World War II and thereafter, as its partners served at the highest levels of government to shape the international system that defines the world to this day.In Inside Money, acclaimed historian, commentator, and former financial executive Zachary Karabell offers the first full and frank look inside this institution against the backdrop of American history. Blessed with complete access to the company's archives, as well as a thrilling understanding of the larger forces at play, Karabell has created an X-ray of American power--financial, political, cultural--as it has evolved from the early 1800s to the present. Today, unlike many of its competitors, Brown Brothers Harriman remains a private partnership and a beacon of sustainable capitalism, having forgone the heady speculative upsides of the past thirty years but also having avoided any role in the devastating downsides. The firm is no longer in the command capsule of the American economy, but, arguably, that is to its credit. If its partners cleaved to any one adage over the generations, it is that a relentless pursuit of more can destroy more than it creates.

Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market


Walter Bagehot - 1873
    By the nineteenth century British economist and author of The English Constitution. A valuable financial work.