Winning the Investment Marathon: A Simple Path to Financial Success

Rating:
Summary: A Solid Reinforcement of Growth Investing Fundamentals
Review: I settled in on my couch for a closer look at this work by one of Babson's finest. By the time I stood up, I had finished it. It provides a solid reinforcement of NAIC (strategic long-term) investing principles. Brad Perry suggests a strategy of analyzing companies as business enterprises and their valuation in the stock market. Complexity breeds confusion - and often failure - in this seemingly difficult field. Perry presents a common sense outlook, shaped with healthy skepticism, that demonstrates that the factors for investment success are actually quite simple, and that investors should focus on some basic principles.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I was very disappointed with this book. It basic premise is fine, but it would have been better suited for a magazine article - not a book. It is the same tired old stuff, nothing new. Cannot recommend, even to beginners.

Rating:
Summary: Most sensible advice I've seen
Review: This book HITS THE NAIL RIGHT ON THE HEAD. It provides the most sensible investment advice I've ever seen -- a sure way to become an investment winner without taking a lot of risk.

Rating:
Summary: A sensible, wildly successfull investment method
Review: This little book is a jewel. It is for the indivdual investor who should absorb and practice its contents. The best book on the subject I have read. 1 "In rural Maine, the best compliment one can pay a person is 'he's really sensible.'" The same view applies to investing." "I believe the essential factors for success are quite simple. Complexity breeds confusion and often failure in this seemingly volatile, difficult field." 2 "Although stocks do swing widely in price at times, their trend is what counts: in the long run, every stock's price rises just about in direct proportion to the growth of the company's earnings and dividends." 3 "It is very importent to analyze the basics of different businesses and see what their sustainable long term growth has been. Past growth does not portend the future. This involves gathering information and making subjective judgments 4 "However, missing a long term growth forecast occasionally is not fatal. Baseball players do not get a hit every time at bat. It's the average of the investor's decisions that determines success." 5 "The first thing to analyze in any company is its competive position." 6 "Here are are three tests to use to make intelligent stock purchases and sales. Is the company growing more or less than the typical pattern for the company and its industry? Is the company's profit margin above or below its historical norm? Is the current superior or inferior performance reflected in an historically high or low valuation?' 7 " Be a sensible skeptic." 8 " Don't be a sucker." 9 "Spread your bets." The book finishes up with more pithy advice to have you stay the course. All of the above is illustrated by actual data to prove the case.

Rating:
Summary: A sensible, wildly successfull investment method
Review: This little book is a jewel. It is for the indivdual investor who should absorb and practice its contents. The best book on the subject I have read. 1 "In rural Maine, the best compliment one can pay a person is 'he's really sensible.'" The same view applies to investing." "I believe the essential factors for success are quite simple. Complexity breeds confusion and often failure in this seemingly volatile, difficult field." 2 "Although stocks do swing widely in price at times, their trend is what counts: in the long run, every stock's price rises just about in direct proportion to the growth of the company's earnings and dividends." 3 "It is very importent to analyze the basics of different businesses and see what their sustainable long term growth has been. Past growth does not portend the future. This involves gathering information and making subjective judgments 4 "However, missing a long term growth forecast occasionally is not fatal. Baseball players do not get a hit every time at bat. It's the average of the investor's decisions that determines success." 5 "The first thing to analyze in any company is its competive position." 6 "Here are are three tests to use to make intelligent stock purchases and sales. Is the company growing more or less than the typical pattern for the company and its industry? Is the company's profit margin above or below its historical norm? Is the current superior or inferior performance reflected in an historically high or low valuation?' 7 " Be a sensible skeptic." 8 " Don't be a sucker." 9 "Spread your bets." The book finishes up with more pithy advice to have you stay the course. All of the above is illustrated by actual data to prove the case.