Stock-market

I bought this book in a bookstore, thinking it looked interesting. The testimonials seemed convincing. I wish I'd read these reviews first. Although the book clearly offers a wealth of information, I found it annoying to read. The author repeatedly interjects long parenthetical expressions in the middle of his sentences. By the time you reach the end of the sentence, it's hard to remember what he was trying to say. At times, it struck me as a stream-of-consciousness approach, or just laziness on the part of his editor. The problem isn't that the material is challenging. I have an MBA and expect to be challenged in books about banking and finance. But I expect far better writing than this. Mr. Mayer likely is a superb reporter and researcher, but in my view, his writing needs a heavier hand from an editor. I only read about 30 pages before tossing the book in the trash can. I hope to remember not to buy any more of his books by accident.

My main problem with this book is that the title really should have been "A Detailed History of The Fed." I think I was looking more for what the title implied, a book with a focus almost exclusively on modern times, and concentrating on the relationship between Fed actions and economic reactions. If this is what you, too, are seeking, don't read this book.

A secondary problem is that the recitation of Fed history that comprises nearly the entire book is almost unbearably dry.

This book's main (only?) good point is its detail. I personally found the amount of detail excessive and boring, but I can't fault the author for completion: the history that this book contains is broad and well-researched.

This book will be enjoyed by those who want to see the Fed as a very human institution with its own quirks and foibles. It helps to add a dimension of knowledge about the Fed that is hard to get anywhere else.

If you are a hard core economist with strong political views or an ardent fan of Friedman or Greenspan you won't like it. It shows the human side of many of the major figures.

I thought it was well done and enjoyed it immensely. I have read most of the major books on the Fed and read their open market operations briefs every day, and spend a lot of time on the various Fed websites.

This book is generally sound, and although there are those who would tend to dismiss Mayer, as he is not an economic scholar, the great strength of this book is that Mayer realizes that the Fed is not a university seeking truth. It is a political and financial institution not above the day to day fray, with its own sort of organizational politics.

I have also read most of the major books about Greenspan, and this one adds a dimension to his persona that connected the dots for me.

I read this book in 1998 and moved out of stocks because of it. Thank You Mr. Sarlos.

I only wish Mr. Sarlos was still with us to give his insight on the current market.

As of January 2003, the market is only back to the level it was at the time Mr. Sarlos wrote this book and ringing the alarm bell !!!

Do we still have this much further to fall ?

Dow 4000 in 2005, Mr. Sarlos ???

In response to a previous reviewer's query - Andy Sarlos died a few years ago.

HA!! read last review,

> The main concern with people like this (and Rifkin, et al) is that they don't recognize that technology represents a new paradigm and that traditional stocks need new metrics

what a CLASSIC sign of top,,written in Jan 2000. This investor is clearly broke now, losing all profits, and then some. Looks like the author gets the last laugh here.

If you are a psychologist you might find this book interesting. Keyword on MIGHT.... it is very bland and the grammar of the English is like a first grader. I was dissapointed by this book. An example of what was discussed was that people want money because when they are babies they suck and ... and become anal retentive. If that kind of information does you good, then this is your book.

I am a psychologist, who works on a dissertation "Socio-psychological study of personal traits, contributory to success in investing". Of all maybe 100 books I read on the subject, this is the GOOD ONE.

Stock market investing books usually come in two flavors.

The first group of authors tell you to look for certain price and volume patterns; that the stock price depends on those patterns because those patterns are a reflection on human behavior.

The second group of authors tell you to look for certain ratios in the financial statements; that the stock price depends on those ratios.

Then there's this book, which tells you that the price could depend on a lot of things, like mergers and acquisitions and the synergy they generate, executive compensation, competitive strategies, stock buybacks, etc. But they don't tell you how to calculate those factors into the stock price. The book is a good book which certainly provokes thought. And it's probably good for finding stocks for the long term investor. But for me, it's a little too impractical. And a little too academic intellectual guru voodoo. When I have money at risk, and I have to make quick decisions (which can affect my net worth), I like to keep things simple and easily measurable which technical and fundamental analysis allows me to do.

You can read this book in a number of ways:

1. TAKE JUST WHAT YOU NEED. Even though I'm a valuation expert, I thought some chapters of this book stood out as just plain useful. Chapters with great standalone value include: (A) Chapter 8 on Real Options, which develops the only framework for applying real options that I've seen that's intuitive; (B) Chapter 10 on M&A analysis which gives a solid treatment of all deals including often-ignored fixed-value stock deals; and (C) Chapter 5 Appendix on Employee Stock Options which explains how ESOs affect valuation (this is ignored by every other book on valuation). Moreover, I found the tutorials and spreadsheets at the expectationsinvesting.com web site made it easy to apply these ideas without hours of tedious spreadsheet work.

Some chapters may be more or less applicable to various readers. For example, investors may find Chapter 11 on incentive compensation to be more applicable to managers. Also, Chapter 4 is most beneficial to those who haven't read the strategy frameworks of Michael Porter, Clayton Christensen of INNOVATOR'S DILEMMA, and Varian/Shapiro of INFORMATION RULES.

2. USE "EI" TO PICK STOCKS. Chapters 5, 6, and 7 lay out the "EI approach" to investing. Namely, the authors suggest that investors use a DCF approach to reverse engineer consensus expectations from a company's current stock price. Then, the authors suggest you compare YOUR expectations to CONSENSUS/MARKET expectations. If you think market expectations are low, buy the stock. If you think market expectations are too high, sell or short the stock.

At first glance, it might seem that this material has already been covered in McKinsey's VALUATION or Damodaran's valuation library. But those books don't deal with two things: (A) the importance of the "forecast period" and its relation to strategy and competition, and (B) the importance of figuring out market expectations. Thus, even though I've read those and other books, I learned a lot in this section.

3. TO LEARN HOW TO THINK ABOUT INVESTING. I'd also recommend this book to someone who had a smattering of financial knowledge, but was confused by the contradictory smorgasbord of investing theories out there. Any MBA -- or any determined individual investor who can read a balance sheet -- would find this to be a great foundation book. You could use other more detailed books to fill in the cracks, but this is the best place to start.

In an investment world filled with tinsel and glitter, Rappaport and Mauboussin have given us substance and common sense. Using the invaluable information imbedded in the price of a stock to establish the market's expectations,the authors present a (fairly) simple methodology for assessing the valididity of those expectations, and to invest accordingly, It is, as Peter Bernstein says in his brilliant foreword (an absolute must- read before you plunge into the text), "a logical path to the heart of value."
I'm pleased to have give the book an earlier endorsement, because I hope that mutual fund managers will learn from "Expectations Investing" that there are far better ways to manage money--ways to focus on "value" whether their style is value or growth--than the costly, high-turnover, momentum-driven strategies that are rife in the industry today.
More than ever after the 35% fall in the stock market since March 2000, investors need wisdom. They'll find it here.

While I have been following the growth of ETFs for a some time in the financial media, I've been confused about how to select them and why they're sound investment alternatives. This book provided sound discussions about the various funds and why this is a good investment strategy. The charts were helpful and overall this is a very well written investment book

I did, and I found that this book gave me a clear and comprehensive knowledge base for this new (at least new to me) investment vehicle.