Personal-finance

A very straight-forward and easy-to-read book on the long-term financial benefits of investing in 401k's. This book would be very beneficial to share with employees in a situation where you want to improve participation in a 401k plan. The authors' thorough knowledge of financial planning definitely shows through in this book

it amazes me how people can write books who really don't have a grasp on all of the information they write about! He at one point is advising people on which investments to put in their ira but gives a lot of misinformation. First of all, fixed annuities have no front end sales charge at all which differs from the "cheaper" investments he refers to that can cost as much as 5% of your entire assets to invest in. As for hidden fees , I think mutual fund companies have that down pat between the annual management fees and transaction commisiions! Secondly, he is speaking only in terms of what those funds were making at that time and not what someone can expect on average. How do you like Janus worldwide now, my friend!

This is a wonderful book the that clearly explains the different available retirement plans. While the descriptions seemed detailed, I would like to see a later volume that explains any changes in the new Roth legislation. A great book for those struggling with options.

This is an excellent book. A must have for anyone interested in investing in an IRA. It clearly explains the different types of IRA's and how to invest in them. The book is well written and not condescending to the reader. It takes you step by step through the traditional IRA and Roth IRA so you can determine which one is best for you. An investment anaylsis of the two IRA's is shown so you can see the tradeoffs for different situations that may affect you. The book gives practical investment stategy and selection tips. The many tables and charts help clarify the topics. They also serve as a good investment resource. I highly recommend this book.

Covers a little bit of everything, but nothing extremely well. As the other reviews say, this is not book for beginners and more for an intermediate level student.

I'm giving this book a middling rating, but I don't feel like I'm really in a position at this point to judge its actual value.

What I can say -- and what anybody just getting started should know before acquiring this book -- is that the book is more assuredly *not* written for beginners. The fundamental style of the book presumes a pre-existing familiarity with a set of terminology and concepts, and can be quite terse in its explanation of concepts and examples. It strikes me as probably well-suited to those who have engaged fairly extensively in the study of technical analysis already, and who are looking for alternative analysis viewpoints.

To her credit, the author does provide considerably more insight than just technical analysis -- for example, summarizing the fundamentals connecting different markets. So I would think this book would be quite interesting to one who has a solid foundation in technical analysis, but lacks a bigger picture of the market. On the other hand, as at least one other reviewer commented, the book does jump around a lot in discussing these relationships, making it a somewwhat awkward path to that comprehensive picture.

However, the most significant point, for anybody who is a beginner, is that the book's subtitle "The Easy Way to Get Started" and it's cover description "Everything you need to know about technical analysis..." are misleading, inasmuch as it makes it seem as if it is targeted to, and suitable for, beginners. It is not.

The author of this book, Constance Brown, did a superb job in the organization and presentation of this book. Further, she is the kind of author that makes the reader feel to go out there and find out more in his/her own about esoteric and etheral methematical concepts. I myself have traded for a number of years as was always very skeptical of Tech Analysis. After reading this book, though I'm still skeptical, I am a little more open to use TA in my trades.
I think Constance, the author, has grown up since she wrote "Technical Analysis for the Trading Professional." This time around she is less "naggy," without ever being dry and stoic.
Many people who do not like her is because they disregard her for being too "womanish" in her literay voice. Of course, the aforemntioned point of view is very chauvinistic, and should ne be the basis for judging her works.
The only problem I found was that the last three or four chapters were botched. I'm myself an engineer by training and a mathematician by hobby and I can tell she was getting into math that was way over her head and over the head of many of her readers.
The book is a definite must if you're interested in Tech Analysis. It will introduce you, teach you with intricate detail, let you teach yourself, and finally see the conclusions of your work.
I really like the very last chapter "the 27 million dollar lunch" I think this chapter alone will teach more about TA/Investing that any primer out there.
As I said in the subject, this is a very good, solid book.

This is a great book with lots of helpful information about stocks and which stocks to invest in. I highly recomend this book to anyone who wants to invest in stocks.

the book that i will be reading will help me get started. I will understand the market alot more.but this book will be great. It will get me on my feet.Other that that this book will great for people that wanting to get started with the stock market.I all ready love this book and i havent even read it yet.

thanks for your help.
chris green

This dual authored 249-page book McGraw-Hill paperback covers different investment styles. It is divided into 10 chapters and includes a 15-page appendix of on-line investing resources, and 100 useful Websites, as well as a 9-page glossary. One unique feature is the inclusion of Psychological Quotient (PQ) Charts that can help readers ascertain their investment style and, thereby increase their odds on selecting the most appropriate investments.

The authors put forth the theory that if an investing strategy does not fit a person's personality that he/she will not stick with it for very long. Therefore, they provide a selection of currently used investing strategies together with the personality traits needed to execute the strategy successfully.

According to the authors, the investing process encompasses stock selection, timing of entry and exit points and portfolio management (asset allocation, number of holdings). However, they point out that the strategies for picking investment vehicles depends upon the investor's style of investing.

The authors point out that if an investor can use a systematic investing approach while maintaining discipline that he can more than double the annual return compared to random investing.

The authors created PQ charts. They rate each investment style on a scale of 1 to 10 for each of ten personality traits. These traits are: discipline; patience; risk tolerance; reward expectation; volatility tolerance; time horizon; time commitment; quantitative skill; charting skill; and investing confidence.

Nine specific investment styles are reviewed. The four major styles are growth (high risk/high reward); value (hunting for bargains); momentum (where the action is); and technical investing (using charts). There is one chapter on each style and together they cover 100 pages and are the heart of the book.

Each chapter follows the same format by providing the PQ chart personality rankings, anatomy of the types of stocks that fit that category, chart patterns of these stocks, how to screen for stocks, checklist of questions on evaluating stocks, exit and entry strategies, portfolio strategy, a case study, stock chart evaluation checklist, on-line resources, and helpful hints.

Five minor investing styles are portrayed in a separate chapter. They include: fundamental investing (balance sheet review), income investing (dividend payers), hybrid investing (combining styles), active trading (day traders, swing traders, position traders), and style surfing (style now in vogue).

Also provided are market capitalization strategies. Those covered include: large-, mid-, small-, and micro-cap strategies. A few advanced strategies are briefly discussed. They include short-selling, market-neutral investing, index trading, option hedging, and global investing.

Each style is explained and a PQ chart is included. A table showing the names of specific index funds and ETFs is also included for each investing style or market cap. This table provides readers with the specific funds to consider based upon their investment profile.

Overall, this book provides readers with a crisply written introduction to understanding the different investing styles, determining their style, help in locating funds that track these styles. This book contains sufficient resources to help investors strengthen their knowledge about investing and the markets. I highly recommend this book to new investors, as well as those who don't have a clue as to what they should be focusing on.

All About Self-Directed IRA Investing provides even the most novice wage earner with effective, practical, "user friendly" step-by-step instructions on how to go about setting up an IRA account, make contributions, select investments, and choose distribution methods. All the pros and cons of combining IRA's with individual investor situations are surveyed and illustrated with real-life examples on how to get top IRA account performance. Very highly recommended for anyone undertaking their own financial planning, All About Self-Directed IRA Investing shows how to roll a retirement plan into an IRA; choose between a Roth and a traditional IRA, and convert a traditional IRA to a Roth -- and when to do it.