Bond-market

Here is an investment volume screaming for a reason to exist. Since there are now at least a couple of near up-to-the-moment resources on convertible securities information, anyone who picks up a book like this is likely to be looking for some insights or practical advice on how to buy and handle these increasingly complex instruments. If that's what the reader is looking for, s/he won't find it here. So what does one find?

Over the past 2 years I've rummaged through several Noddings books, his work from the 1970s to this present volume, and they're all cliffhangers. That is, Noddings promises to guide you somewhere, and indeed he guides you to the top of a cliff --where he leaves you hanging. Interestingly, the best observations he currently offers concern warrant hedging, which is getting increasingly difficult to do successfully. Thus what's the point of the observations, here? Most of the rest of the book is a bit like looking at an owner's manual for something you don't own, with lots of diagrams and no supporting text/instructions.

Although this is an investment volume screaming for a reason to exist, there is a screaming need for good how-to literature on convertibles and convertible hedging. Noddings should have filled this need decades ago (when he started writing prolifically about this stuff), and might have kept a worthy and useful corner niche to readers hungry to understand this market. Instead, Noddings has a much larger and expanding corner of the second-hand book bin, which is exactly where this volume will go once you've spent about 20 minutes with it.

A large proportion of this book is devoted to tables of data that by the time you get round to reading will be well out of date. ...Furthermore, as a relative newcomer to convertibles, I frankly I can't see who would find this book useful. For beginners, it skimps over the details leaving you with the feeling you haven't learned very much and the pages and pages of numbers leave you feeling angry that you've wasted your money. As for the experts, anyone who's actually in the business would know all this stuff already, and would know enough to fill in the gaps (and there are a lot of gaps). Which begs the question: why and for whom was this book written ?!

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This book is for the reader who is new to investing. If you are interested in investing in the stock market, but are worried about the outcome, then this books provides some good advice. The investment approach recommended is truly for very conservative types - but the truth is, that the author's recommendations have worked well in the past and are worth consideration by all investors. Reviewed by the author of THE SHORT BOOK ON OPTIONS.

As a veteran financial broadcaster, Fred Siegel loses nothing when shifting to the print media. He is just as clear in these pages as he is on his talk show on WWL. He believes that profits drive value, and the investor must look for them, not some hot Dot Com or 2020 high tech product that is unproven and unnecessary. As much as there is good advice on what an investor should do, the really valuable advice is on what not to do, and who not to do it with. This book is a real eye-opener for the average investor.

There are those who are very comfortable investing in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and a host of other vehicles that can earn lots of money . . . or not. Then there are those who are chicken-afraid of making the wrong decision, losing their shirts, and suffering the ridicule of everyone who knows them. This book is written for chickens.

Fred Siegel is president of an investment management firm in New Orleans, widely respected for knowing the investment field very well. In addition to running his advisory firm, Siegel also runs The Siegel Group International, providing financial news analysis to broadcast media in the United States and other countries. He has been on the air continually since 1984, broadcasting from WWL-TV and WWL radio in New Orleans. His advice is heard far and wide-and can now be read in a fun sort of book.

Fun? Investing? Chickens? Scary. The book is written in a light vein so it's easy to move through. The type is large, so that readers don't have to squint to get his message. There are several unusual features in the book-like red and black ink on the pages. Illustrations of chickens abound. There are lots of call-outs and sidebars, including testimonial quotes from his clients. The book is almost too self-serving in that regard, but one might expect a talk-show personality to be a bit self-promoting.

The book is organized into twelve chapters, dealing with the stock market, jargon, and then the focus on chicken stocks. Siegel makes his point that buying particular types of stocks is wiser than buying others, and explains. He doesn't like mutual funds, but talks about them, trusts, bonds, and annuities. Even on-line investing is covered for the reader.

As you might suspect, this book is going to give you a "once over lightly." It's not really deep, nor does it need to be. It meets its design of giving chicken investors enough knowledge to feel comfortable looking more deeply into the opportunities. As with any investment advisor, it's smart to take the advice carefully and understand that biases are present and influential. Whether you agree with everything Siegel says or not, you will have a broader understanding of the world of investing after reading this book.

You can't really use it. Huge amount of typos, omissions and errors. Just try to compute rate of return using formula from the book ROR = [(Selling price-1)/Buying price]*100. Buying for 90 and selling for 100 gives you a zero return rate, nice, isn't it. Worst book I've ever had.

As a computer systems administrator, I usually support several applications without getting too involved in their inner workings nor with the business that they run. This book, however, allowed me to understand the bond markets and to be able to interact with computer users with definite knowledge and sure understanding of the business. The book is a cross between a text book and a do-it-yourself with examples. I couldn't have done it with out it. Next I'm ordering An introduction to Derivatives.