Bond-market

The Handbook attempts to be all things to all people, and thus tries to cover many too many topics with uneven results. The Handbook provides good institutional knowledge about fixed income markets and the basics of pricing and portfolio management (including some international portfolio management issues). This is sufficient to learn basic fixed income intuition, which may be enough for people not heavily involved in fixed income markets (i.e. MBA students, consultants, CFA candidates, etc.). The greatest fault (to me) is the book does not address the biggest assumption of basic fixed income pricing theory (i.e. interest rates are assumed to be constant or at least know functions of time). This is obviously unrealistic. The Handbook does not help practitioners interested in advanced pricing theory and requires consultation with more advanced texts.

However, I must admit the Handbook does look impressive sitting on your desk. In a pinch, it also makes for a good, albeit expensive, paperweight or doorstop. :-)

If you want to learn about fixed income securities, then this is your book. It is very comprehensive and contains a wealth of information.

The only downside to this book is that, unless you really, really interested in fixed income, it will put you too sleep. There were several times where I had to re-read paragraphs/pages, because I went into a daydream.

Despite this drawback, it is an excellent resource and I will not give it my copy of it.

Many low-priced stocks have out performed fixed securities. Two books that have proven this out are: (1)Guaranteed Profits With Small Stocks: The Only Stock Investment System That Comes With A $5,000 Guarantee by R. Max Bowser, and (2) Making Dollars With Pennies: How The Small Investor Can Beat The Wizards On Wall Street by R. Max Bowser. Both books are available used and new on Amazon.com.

A cursory review of this title reveals a fair presentation of unremarkable material.

The author is giving away no secrets and is charging a premium for information that is better found away.