All About Stock Market Strategies : The Easy Way To Get Started

Rating:
Summary: this book is great
Review: the book that i will be reading will help me get started. I will understand the market alot more.but this book will be great. It will get me on my feet.Other that that this book will great for people that wanting to get started with the stock market.I all ready love this book and i havent even read it yet.

thanks for your help.
chris green

Rating:
Summary: This is NOT a five star investing book.
Review: This book is the quintessential definition of a "mixed bag." Some of this book is good, and several accurate points are made by the authors (note neither of them has ever worked for a financial firm, managed any type of fund, or been known for their investing success), while many poor points are either made or glaring omissions let through the editing process.
Quite simply, the authors don't know as much as they think they do about particular styles of investing. In their chapter on value investing, they harp completely on P/E ratios and the like, without one single mention of checking into a company, understanding what it does, understanding why it is undervalued, and WHY it has prospects to recover, which are all crucial aspects of value investing (nor do they mention ROE or several other numbers very important to value investors including- get this- how to figure out intrinsic value. This is the cornerstone of value investing!!). According to their analysis, all you need to do for value investing is analyze a few simple P/E ratios. I hate to break this to the authors, but if this were true, everyone would be a value investor. It takes time, a lot of math, and a lot of due diligence.
The chapter on growth investing, however, is my favorite illustration of how shortsighted this book is. First off, there is once again almost no discussion of examining the fundamental aspects of a company (and no, I am not referring to its economic fundamentals). I'm talking about learning a great deal about a potential investment, everything from what the company does, to its role in its industry, to how economic cycles affect its earnings and FCF, to what KIND of business it is (franchise, consumer cyclical, blend, whatever), management, how it is viewed by its suppliers and clients, etc. Some people may insist this is too long of a list to do for each potential stock- and that's why the average individual investor has a return under 10%. There is no get rich quick scheme in our markets, and this book completely glosses over so many important aspects of investing its unbelievable.
Don't believe me? Well, let's take a look at the stock they recommend at the end of their "growth investing" chapter. They cite this one stock in late 2001 as the best growth stock they could find- it was off the charts according to their screens. The stock, MTON, was recommended by the authors as an example of an exceptional growth stock when it was at $30. I encourage you to go look at a stock chart for this company and see what happened, but let me paraphrase it for you if you don't wish to take the time. The stock is now at $1.71 (and no, there were no splits). It has literally tanked since they recommended it. Now, some would chalk this up to just a stroke of bad luck, but let me explain how this simple recommendation (and its horrific results) show how poor of an investing book this is. The company they recommended- Metro One Telecommunications- is, in short, a company that never had any real place in the wireless industry once the boom was over. The company essentially provides directory assistance and things like movie ticket buying over the phone, and contracts its services to various cell phone providers. Any examination of this company would have shown that not only was its management poor, but it was an unfeasible business idea in a modern wireless market thanks to wireless data and advances in technology that were seen well before 2001. The writers of the book were right on one thing here- this stock met all of their "rigorous" growth stock criteria, without much examination of the underlying company. And look at the return it got...enough said.

Rating:
Summary: An Easy-to-Understand Guide to Investing Strategies
Review: This dual authored 249-page book McGraw-Hill paperback covers different investment styles. It is divided into 10 chapters and includes a 15-page appendix of on-line investing resources, and 100 useful Websites, as well as a 9-page glossary. One unique feature is the inclusion of Psychological Quotient (PQ) Charts that can help readers ascertain their investment style and, thereby increase their odds on selecting the most appropriate investments.

The authors put forth the theory that if an investing strategy does not fit a person's personality that he/she will not stick with it for very long. Therefore, they provide a selection of currently used investing strategies together with the personality traits needed to execute the strategy successfully.

According to the authors, the investing process encompasses stock selection, timing of entry and exit points and portfolio management (asset allocation, number of holdings). However, they point out that the strategies for picking investment vehicles depends upon the investor's style of investing.

The authors point out that if an investor can use a systematic investing approach while maintaining discipline that he can more than double the annual return compared to random investing.

The authors created PQ charts. They rate each investment style on a scale of 1 to 10 for each of ten personality traits. These traits are: discipline; patience; risk tolerance; reward expectation; volatility tolerance; time horizon; time commitment; quantitative skill; charting skill; and investing confidence.

Nine specific investment styles are reviewed. The four major styles are growth (high risk/high reward); value (hunting for bargains); momentum (where the action is); and technical investing (using charts). There is one chapter on each style and together they cover 100 pages and are the heart of the book.

Each chapter follows the same format by providing the PQ chart personality rankings, anatomy of the types of stocks that fit that category, chart patterns of these stocks, how to screen for stocks, checklist of questions on evaluating stocks, exit and entry strategies, portfolio strategy, a case study, stock chart evaluation checklist, on-line resources, and helpful hints.

Five minor investing styles are portrayed in a separate chapter. They include: fundamental investing (balance sheet review), income investing (dividend payers), hybrid investing (combining styles), active trading (day traders, swing traders, position traders), and style surfing (style now in vogue).

Also provided are market capitalization strategies. Those covered include: large-, mid-, small-, and micro-cap strategies. A few advanced strategies are briefly discussed. They include short-selling, market-neutral investing, index trading, option hedging, and global investing.

Each style is explained and a PQ chart is included. A table showing the names of specific index funds and ETFs is also included for each investing style or market cap. This table provides readers with the specific funds to consider based upon their investment profile.

Overall, this book provides readers with a crisply written introduction to understanding the different investing styles, determining their style, help in locating funds that track these styles. This book contains sufficient resources to help investors strengthen their knowledge about investing and the markets. I highly recommend this book to new investors, as well as those who don't have a clue as to what they should be focusing on.

Rating:
Summary: An Easy-to-Understand Guide to Investing Strategies
Review: This dual authored 249-page book McGraw-Hill paperback covers different investment styles. It is divided into 10 chapters and includes a 15-page appendix of on-line investing resources, and 100 useful Websites, as well as a 9-page glossary. One unique feature is the inclusion of Psychological Quotient (PQ) Charts that can help readers ascertain their investment style and, thereby increase their odds on selecting the most appropriate investments.

The authors put forth the theory that if an investing strategy does not fit a person's personality that he/she will not stick with it for very long. Therefore, they provide a selection of currently used investing strategies together with the personality traits needed to execute the strategy successfully.

According to the authors, the investing process encompasses stock selection, timing of entry and exit points and portfolio management (asset allocation, number of holdings). However, they point out that the strategies for picking investment vehicles depends upon the investor's style of investing.

The authors point out that if an investor can use a systematic investing approach while maintaining discipline that he can more than double the annual return compared to random investing.

The authors created PQ charts. They rate each investment style on a scale of 1 to 10 for each of ten personality traits. These traits are: discipline; patience; risk tolerance; reward expectation; volatility tolerance; time horizon; time commitment; quantitative skill; charting skill; and investing confidence.

Nine specific investment styles are reviewed. The four major styles are growth (high risk/high reward); value (hunting for bargains); momentum (where the action is); and technical investing (using charts). There is one chapter on each style and together they cover 100 pages and are the heart of the book.

Each chapter follows the same format by providing the PQ chart personality rankings, anatomy of the types of stocks that fit that category, chart patterns of these stocks, how to screen for stocks, checklist of questions on evaluating stocks, exit and entry strategies, portfolio strategy, a case study, stock chart evaluation checklist, on-line resources, and helpful hints.

Five minor investing styles are portrayed in a separate chapter. They include: fundamental investing (balance sheet review), income investing (dividend payers), hybrid investing (combining styles), active trading (day traders, swing traders, position traders), and style surfing (style now in vogue).

Also provided are market capitalization strategies. Those covered include: large-, mid-, small-, and micro-cap strategies. A few advanced strategies are briefly discussed. They include short-selling, market-neutral investing, index trading, option hedging, and global investing.

Each style is explained and a PQ chart is included. A table showing the names of specific index funds and ETFs is also included for each investing style or market cap. This table provides readers with the specific funds to consider based upon their investment profile.

Overall, this book provides readers with a crisply written introduction to understanding the different investing styles, determining their style, help in locating funds that track these styles. This book contains sufficient resources to help investors strengthen their knowledge about investing and the markets. I highly recommend this book to new investors, as well as those who don't have a clue as to what they should be focusing on.