Money-market

As a college student, I really wanted to take advantage of the current good market, but I didn't have a clue as to where to start. This book starts off by clearly explaining in layman's terms the in and outs of mutual funds. The author defines common terms and practices, and then he lists the 100 best mutual funds, broken down into specific types of funds, i.e. Aggressive Growth Funds, Balanced Funds, etc. Don't worry that the information in this book will soon be outdated, this book can be used as a long lasting reference. The information in the opening chapters can definitely be used in the future, and even though the performance of the top 100 funds changes from year to year, the companies listed are consistently top contenders. As further proof of my belief in this book; a week ago I knew nothing about investing, this week I made my first calls to several mutual funds to request prospectus'!

In the large market of mutual funds, there is a good chance that you can choose the wrong fund. This book will teach you the ways in which to investigate, buy, and trade mutual funds. I found the information contained about each mutual fund, it's purpose, value, etc. to be in depth and easy to understand. The explanations of statistical data are to the point, and the mutual funds listed as the best are convincing. Williamson explains the do's and don'ts of mutual funds and all of the lingo is explained. Get this book before you buy a fund!

The 2003 edition of The 100 Best Mutual Funds uses data through December 31, 2001.
The book is primarily a collection of two page profiles on each fund. The profiles start with a 5 star ranking system to grade Total Return, Risk Reduction, Management, Current Income and Expense Control. Next the author uses 5 category grades to evaluate up-market performance, down-market performance and predictablility of returns. The grades are excellent, very good, good, fair and poor. I have two problems with these grading systems. First, the categories are too broad, second the author does not specify which time period or periods he used to determine the up and down market performance.
Finally, the two page profiles should be replaced with tables. Tables would make it easier to compare the mutuals funds in each category to one another. Tables would also eliminate the "same words but different numbers" monotony of the text.
I would recommend using Standard & Poor's Net Advantage database if it is available at your local library. If not the American Association of Individual Investors www.aaii.com provides a quarterly mutual fund data table, focusing on low load funds, at a reasonable price. The table can be downloaded into an Excel Worksheet so you can use Excel's filter feature to produce a list of funds with specific criteria.

general information about mutual fund, something you can easily find on the internet.

A mutual fund is essentially held by shareholders and managed
for an investment fee. This book discusses some of the top
mutual funds in the market together with the considerable
returns. Top funds are American Century Global Gold,
Vanguard Health, Longleaf Partners, Clipper and Calamos Growth.
These funds all have a double digit yearly rate of return.
Aggressive growth funds tend to have the maximal capital gains.
These funds can turn downward in a faltering economy so it is
critical to invest coincidentally with an upturn. If you catch
the bottom of a recession and invest, it is possible to
have three to four times your money in just a few years.
Many of these funds have good investment newsletters which
are important to read carefully. The key is to diversify risk
by placing your portfolio in a managed risk mix of investments.
i.e. safe returns, intermediate risk and aggressive funds

This is the worst investment book that I ever bought. How the author ever managed to get published is beyond me. Example: "Way #XX: Don't buy on margin, it's too complicated." There may be reasons not to buy on margin, but come on. I honestly got the impression that margin was too complicated for the author to understand. He gave a money example, showing how you will loose on margin even when the stock price rises that was just flat out wrong. I couldn't believe it.

a very factual to the point book. very unlike most books about the markets which are mostly author biographies, war stories, and personal opinions. this one gives a good illustration of how peddlers and sharks of the business work their craft.

This book was written in 1990 and reprinted in 1994! The trading card market has undergone a drastic change since then with the market for baseball cards at an all time low. The authors give stupid advice reflecting the time span missing since it was updated. A few examples: One chapter is titled," SELL YOUR MARK MCGUIRE, RUBEN SIERRA, IVAN RODRIGUEZ,............................CARDS'!!?? The author tells us "McGuire is just not enough of an all-around player to land in Cooperstown"??? Another Chapter tells you to "sell your Nolan Ryan cards". Very bad advice. If you followed this advice in 1990 you would have lost tons of money. Equally bad advice is given on who to buy for the long term investment, they suggest Greg Jefferies, and Larry Walker to name two. They are unremarkable players whose careers are near the end or over. They also suggest to sell the basketnball cards to invest in baseball. This made sense in 1990 when Basketball was not very popular but is now much more popular than Baseball. Now to be fair, they do advise to purchase Jose Caanseco,Barry Bonds, Don Mattingly, etc. The point is, these players are already at the top of their careers and so are the prices for their cards. This book needs to be updated with a new list of potential superstars to invest in. In other respects the book offers some good advice on special issues to collect.

If you want to buy this book for advice on which specific players cards to buy, probably the others reviewers are right, but if you want to know the lasting secrets and advice regarding what makes a card good, this is the book for you. I even liked the advice on players, because I checked the last price guides, and it was good as a lesson. Use this book to get knowledge of the craft, that is the intention of this book.

This book is great im now making tons of extra money by selling and buying cards at the right time i say buy it if you want to make some cash.