The Irwin Guide to Using The Wall St.reet Journal, 6th Edition

Rating:
Summary: Be your own economist
Review: Financial literacy is one of the basic keys to achieving Financial Independence. Money is seen with the mind, not with the eyes. Those who can read financial numbers and news will eventually control those who cannot. Many people make decisions to buy real estate or stocks, or enter into businesses, based on their emotions and not on any understanding of the financial rationale behind it. That's why 9 out 10 people don't make money.

The Wall Street Journal is the best source of all the financial, economics and investment news, figures and data you need to get started on acquiring financial literacy. Having said that, for one who has not studied economics or obtained a finance degree, it can be quite a task trying to understand all that information. This is where The Irwin Guide to Using The Wall Street Journal helps the interested reader to make full use of The Wall Street Journal to become his/her own economist.

Not many books like this book come this far. This book is now into its 6th edition, having been first published in 1984. This edition has been updated with more current and post-1996 examples and illustrations.

I like how this book takes the various sections found in The Wall Street Journal and explains the significance of the information, figures and data and then relates it to the reader's understanding of finance and economics. This certainly enhances the reader's appreciation of the nuggets of information found in The Wall Street Journal. This book also enlightens the reader as to the various choices of investments out there - from stocks, to commodities and metals, and to money market investments.

All in all, I found this to be good book for those who have no prior education in finance and economics but who are willing to take action to learn more. Even those with a basic knowledge of economics will stand to gain from this book.

For those who may require a more basic book on understanding economics, I would like to recommend Economic Literacy by Jacob De Rooy or The Wall Street Journal's Guide to Understanding Money & Investing. And for those ready to take on more complex readings, I would recommend R Mark Rogers' Handbook of Key Economic Indicators.

Rating:
Summary: Very Useful Material
Review: I invest extensively in the stock market and had been looking for an economics book which is practical and detailed (but not overally technical like a college textbook). This book was exactly what I needed. This book's focus is on the data and what is is saying about economic conditions. The beginning of the book is historical and general then goes into detailed explainations of the economic data reported in the WSJ (as well business TV shows and on the internet). The data is explained clearly and concisely, and its impact shown with graphs overlaid with recession periods. The book includes data leading up through the stock market bubble of the late 90's ending just before the bubble burst.

I would recommend this book to someone who is looking for a practical guide to understanding economic data and what it is saying about the overall economy. The book's emphasis is on the data available to the general public and its implications, not economic theory.

Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended
Review: It had been some years since I read this nuts and bolts book by Michael Lehmann. I was curious to see the changes. Certainly there were the new figures and graphs but more than that, I found what I had found in the first edition. Lehmann brings things back to earth. While speculation runs rampant in the markets, Lehmann shows again that solid research and realistic thinking using his critical work can help any investor. It is simply so impressive to see how he cuts to the core and helps anyone see the forest and the trees. The two editions I have read are clear and easy reading with a wealth of information. He obviously has a talent for making obtuse concepts clear and, more importantly, useful in a time of dangerous markets.

This book is outstanding and well worth the price and the time.

Rating:
Summary: Good but not the best
Review: The book is generally good despite the fact that it can get very repetitive. The book presents the information in an unorganized fashion. It is very inefficient. It does, however, teach how to read the WSJ if you can manage to overcome these shortcomings. At the start it also gives you a general idea of how the economy works and explanations of key terms. You can learn a lot even is you don't have a clue about economics

Rating:
Summary: Good Monetary Primer
Review: This book is a good introduction to the principles of the macro economy.

The author explains the basics of the federal reserve system, monetary policy, the causes and effects of inflation, and various personal investment products such as stocks, mutual funds, commodities, and money market accounts. The basics of each is explained, and the author shows how each is tracked daily in the Wall Street Journal. The purpose is to allow individuals to understand their investments, track their progress, and be able to react to changing market conditions. Its all sounds very axiomatic, but the great thing about this book is that it states basic principles that are often assumed, and thus left unstated.

For example, if the following excerpts are helpful to you, then this would be a great book for you:

Page 15: "The forces of supply and demand condition every business cycle."

Page 25: "Bank lending finances spending, and spending generates inflation. The Fed controls bank lending and can thereby control inflation."

Page 33: "Every commodity has a price; the interest rate is the price of money. As with any commodity, the price fluctuates according the the laws of supply and demand."

Page 165: "Mutual funds are popular with individual investors because they permit diversification in a wide variety of securities with a very small capital outlay."

These are examples of the points covered, and the level at which they are covered. If the above quotes sounded obvious, this book may be below your expertise. But if you finally want to understand the jargon you hear on CNNfn, this book will do the job.

This would be a great book to buy as a graduation gift for a high school senior, or anyone without a background in finance.

Rating:
Summary: Everyone's Access to the Wall Street Journal
Review: Whether you are a mutual fund manager or a private investor, a CEO of a multinational firm or the owner of a small business, a retired millionaire or a young professional just starting out, a new capitalist or an old Marxist, this is the book for you. Whoever you are, this book gives you the tools to intelligently read and use the premier business publication of today--The Wall Street Journal. The writing, the charts, and the statistical analyses are so crystal clear that you can truly use the Wall Street Journal to be your own economist. Complex concepts such as the price earnings (P/E) ratio for the Dow stocks, for example, are fully explained, placed in their historical and contemporary context, and are shown to have important implications for the investor, the business person, and the financial advisor. Statistical reports in the Wall Street Journal are explained as more than isolated pieces of data, but rather as part of the economic matrix of the world economy. The classic business cycle is the economic and literary tool that the author uses to organize his book and to advance the reader's understanding of what is happening in the world economy--and why. In short, the author has done a masterful job in explaining how we can use the Journal to understand the past, the present, and the future of our economic world. Read this book, and your perceptions of that world will never be the same.