Stop Paying Rent! Are you ready to make the leap into home ownership, but more thana little nervous about taking that big step? Never fear. TheAbsolute Beginner's Guide to Buying a House is here to help youlearn everything you need to know to find your perfect home at aprice you can afford. You'll discover how to: ?Choose the real estate agent right for you ?Find the perfect house: price, location, size, and style ?Determine which type of loan is best for you ?Save money using the right negotiation strategies for yourmarket ?And much more!

Americans are infatuated with the stock market. The number of households that own stock has increased from around 20 percent in the early 1980s to over 40 percent today. The market offers the hope of quick wealth and early retirement, and just about everyone who is in the market is looking for an edge, from sources such as CNBC and Wall Street Week to the Beardstown Ladies and "The Motley Fool." So it should be no surprise the most successful investor of our time--Warren Buffett--has been the subject of dozens of books and magazine articles. The value of Buffett's company, Berkshire Hathaway, has increased from $18 per share in 1965 to over $70,000 per share today. The interest in Buffett has spawned an approach to investing called "Buffettology," which is the subject of a book by the same name written by Buffett's former daughter-in-law, Mary Buffett.

Mutual-fund superstar Peter Lynch and author John Rothchildexplain the basic principles of investing and business in a primerthat will enlighten and entertain anyone who is high-school age orolder. Many investors, including some with substantial portfolios, haveonly the sketchiest idea of how the stock market works. The reason,say Lynch and Rothchild, is that the basics of investing -- thefundamentals of our economic system and what they have to do withthe stock market -- aren't taught in school. At a time whenindividuals have to make important decisions about saving forcollege and 401(k) retirement funds, this failure to provide abasic education in investing can have tragic consequences. For those who know what to look for, investment opportunities areeverywhere. The average high-school student is familiar with Nike,Reebok, McDonald's, the Gap, and the Body Shop. Nearly everyteenager in America drinks Coke or Pepsi, but only a very few ownshares in either company or even understand how to buy them. Everystu

For anyone interested in the world behind the business-pageheadlines, this is the book to read. --Publishers Weekly With the same breadth of vision and narrative élan he brought tohis monumental biographies of the great financiers, Ron Chernowexamines the forces that made dynasties like the Morgans, theWarburgs, and the Rothschilds the financial arbiters of the earlytwentieth century and then rendered them virtually obsolete by thecentury's end. As he traces the shifting balance of power among investors,borrowers, and bankers, Chernow evokes both the grand theater ofcapital and the personal dramas of its most fascinatingprotagonists. Here is Siegmund Warburg, who dropped a client in theheat of a takeover deal because the man wore monogrammed shirtcuffs, as well as the imperious J. P. Morgan, who, when faced witha federal antitrust suit, admonished Theodore Roosevelt to "sendyour man to my man and they can fix it up." And here are the menwho usurped their power, from the go-getters of the 1

Let’s face it: you can't avoid death or taxes. But you can create an estate plan that will make both a whole loteasier for your loved ones and put you in control of howyour assets will get passed to your heirs. Here, Wall Street Journal personal-finance reporter RachelEmma Silverman walks you step-by-step through the process.Chock-full of clear and solid advice on how to get the most out ofthe main estate planning tools - including wills, trusts, lifeinsurance, guardianship papers, and powers-of-attorney documents -the Wall Street Journal Complete Estate-Planning Guidebook will help make your estate-planning process as simple, smooth, andunintimidating as possible. This book will help you: · Clarify your estate-planning goals,such as dividing up property for heirs, reducing taxes or leavingmoney for charity · Understand the key estate-planningdocuments you’ll need, including wills, beneficiary-designationforms, powers-of-attorney and health-care advance directives · Decode the

David Bach has a plan to help you live and finish rich—no matterwhere you start So you feel like you’ve started late? You are not alone. What if I told you that right now as you flip through this book,70% of the people in the store with you are living paycheck topaycheck? What if I told you that the man browsing the aisle to your leftowes more than $8,000 in credit card debt? And the woman on yourright has less than $1,000 in savings? See? You’re really not alone. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people who’ve saved too littleand borrowed too much will never catch up financially. Why? Becausethey don’t know how. You can start late and finish rich—but you need aplan. This book contains the plan. It’s inspiring, easy to follow, and isbased on proven financial principles. Building a secure financialfuture for yourself isn’t something you can do overnight. It willtake time and it will take work. But you can do it. I know. I’ve helped millions of people get their financial livest

THE ESSENTIAL GALBRAITH includes key selections from the mostimportant works of John Kenneth Galbraith, one of the mostdistinguished writers of our time - from THE AFFLUENT SOCIETY, thegroundbreaking book in which he conined the tern "conventionalwisdom," to THE GREAT CRASH, an unsurpassed account of the eventsthat triggered America's worst economic crisis. Galbraith's newintroductions place the works in their historical moment and makeclear their enduring relevance for the new century. THE ESSENTIALGALBRAITH will delight old admirers and introduce one of our mostbeloved writers to a new generation of readers. It is also anindispensable resource for scholars and students of economics,history, and politics, offering unparalleled access to the seminalwritings of an extraordinary thinker.

John Kenneth Galbraith has long been at the center of Americaneconomics, in key positions of responsibility during the New Deal,World War II, and since, guiding policy and debate. His trenchantnew book distills this lifetime of experience in the public andprivate sectors; it is a scathing critique of matters as they standtoday. Sounding the alarm about the increasing gap between realityand "conventional wisdom" -- a phrase he coined -- Galbraith tells,along with much else, how we have reached a point where the privatesector has unprecedented control over the public sector. We havegiven ourselves over to self-serving belief and "contrivednonsense" or, more simply, fraud. This has come at the expense ofthe economy, effective government, and the business world.Particularly noted is the central power of the corporation and theshift in authority from shareholders and board members tomanagement. In an intense exercise of fraud, the pretense ofshareholder power is still maintained, even with the immediatepart

When it comes to investing in the stock market, investors have plenty of options: 1. They can do it themselves. Trillions of dollars areinvested this way. (Of course, the only problem here is that most people have no ideahow to analyze and choose individual stocks. Well, not reallythe only problem. Most investors have no idea how toconstruct a stock portfolio, most have no idea when to buy andsell, and most have no idea how much to invest in the firstplace.) 2. They can give it to professionals to invest. Trillions of dollars are invested this way. (Unfortunately most professionals actually underperform the market averages over time. In fact,it may be even harderto pick good professional managers than it is to pick goodindividual stocks.) 3. They can invest in traditional index funds. Trillions of dollars are also invested this way.(The problem isthat investing this way is seriously flawed--and almost a guaranteeof subpar investment returns over time.) 4. They can read The Big Secret for the

THE NATIONAL BESTSELLING BOOK THAT EVERY INVESTOR SHOULD OWN! Peter Lynch is America's number-one money manager. His mantra: Average investors can become experts in their own field and can pick winning stocks as effectively as Wall Street professionals by doing just a little research. Now, in a new introduction written specifically for this edition of One Up on Wall Street, Lynch gives his take on the incredible rise of Internet stocks, as well as a list of twenty winning companies of high-tech '90s. That many of these winners are low-tech supports his thesis that amateur investors can continue to reap exceptional rewards from mundane, easy-to-understand companies they encounter in their daily lives. Investment opportunities abound for the layperson, Lynch says. By simply observing business developments and taking notice of your immediate world -- from the mall to the workplace -- you can discover potentially successful companies before professional analysts do. This jump on the experts is what produces

Offering a straightforward, non-intimidating approach tolearning investing, this book gives beginner investors theknowledge they need to understand documentation and investingconcepts--from key terms to complicated interest-bearingaccounts.

"This is a modern classic." —Paul A. Samuelson, First AmericanNobel Prize Winner in Economics "The best book there is about the stock market and all that goeswith it." — The New York Times Book Review "Anyone whose orientation is toward where the action is, where thehappenings happen, should buy a copy of The Money Game andread it with due diligence." — Book World " 'Adam Smith' is a veteran observer and commentator on the eventsand people of Wall Street.... His thorough knowledge of financialaffairs gives his observations a great degree of authenticity. Butthe joy of reading this book comes from his delightful sense ofhumor. He is a lively and ingeniously witty writer who never stoopsto acerbity. None of the solemn, sacred cows of Wall Street escapesdebunking." — Library Journal

How can you construct a financial investment strategy toprotect yourself … yet still get the growth to ensure a solidfinancial future and comfortable retirement during these turbulenttimes? By building an investing safety net that gives you the gainsneeded for growth – though more modest than those of past years –but protection against the downside. So when turbulencestrikes again – and it will – you won’t re-live the financialnightmares of recent years when portfolios and 401Ks weredevastated.

What is Gotcha Capitalism? Coughing up $4 fees for ATM transactions. Iron-clad cell phonecontracts you can’t get out of with a crowbar. Paying big bucks forinsurance you don’t need on a rental car or forking over $20 a dayfor supposedly “free” wireless internet. Every day we use banks,cell phones, and credit cards. Every day we book hotels and airlinetickets. And every day we get ripped off. How? Here are just a few examples of how big business can getyou: · You didn’t fill up the rental car with gas? Gotcha! Gas costs $7 a gallon here. · Your bank balance fell to $999.99 for one day? Gotcha! That’ll be $12. · You miss one payment on that 18-month same-as-cash loan? Gotcha! That’ll be $512 extra. · You’re one day late on that electric bill? Gotcha! All your credit cards now have a 29.99% interestrate. But not for much longer. In Gotcha Capitalism, MSNBC.com’s “RedTape Chronicles” columnist Bob Sullivan exposes the way

In this follow-up to his bestselling book, Using Technical Analysis, Clifford Pistolese reveals how to effectively apply technical analysis in your day-to-day trading decisions in order to select stocks with the greatest profit potential. Selecting Winning Stocks Using Technical Analysis gives you practical techniques and exercises for quickly evaluating stocks using simple methods of technical analysis. Pistolese shows you how to conduct your own independent research to obtain objective data and identify investment opportunities, allowing you to shed broker fees and avoid conflicts of interest. He provides expert advice on tactical trading errors, controlling your emotions, and steering clear of the “herd mentality,” as well as how to: Locate companies with effective business models Use free technical analysis resources on the Internet. Readjust your portfolio for bull, range-bound, and bear market phases. Diversify your investments to control risk. Recognize th

For Making Sense of Investing Today...the Fully Revised and Expanded Edition of the Bestselling The Motley Fool Investment Guide Today, with the Internet, anyone can be an informed investor. Once you learn to tune out the hype and focus on meaningful factors, you can beat the Street. The Motley Fool Investment Guide, completely revised and updated with clear and witty explanations, deciphers all the new information -- from evaluating individual stocks to creating a diverse investment portfolio. David and Tom Gardner have investing ideas for you -- no matter how much time or money you have. This new edition of The Motley Fool Investment Guide is built for today's investor, sophisticate and novice alike, with updated information on: * Finding high-growth stocks that will beat the market over the long term * Identifying volatile young companies that traditional valuation measures may miss * Using Fool.com and the Internet to locate great sources of useful information

The Devil's Derivatives charts the untold story of modernfinancial innovation--how investment banks invented new financialproducts, how investors across the world were wooed into buyingthem, how regulators were seduced by the political rewards of easycredit, and how speculators made a killing from the near-meltdownof the financial system. Author Nicholas Dunbar demystifies the revolution that brieflygave finance the same intellectual respectability as theoreticalphysics. He explains how bankers created a secret trillion-dollarmachine that delivered cheap mortgages to the masses and richesbeyond dreams to the financial innovators. Fundamental to this saga is how "the people who hated to lose"were persuaded to accept risk by "the people who loved to win." Whydid people come to trust and respect arcane financial tools? Whowere the bankers competing to assemble the basic components intoincreasingly intricate machines? How did this process achieve itsown unstoppable momentum, ending in collapse,

By day he made thousands of dollars a minute. By night hespent it as fast as he could, on drugs, sex, and internationalglobe-trotting. From the binge that sank a 170-foot motor yacht,crashed a Gulfstream jet, and ran up a $700,000 hotel tab, to thewife and kids who waited for him at home, and the fast-talking,hard-partying young stockbrokers who called him king and did hisbidding, here, in his own inimitable words, is the story of theill-fated genius they called… In the 1990s Jordan Belfort, former kingpin of the notoriousinvestment firm Stratton Oakmont, became one of the most infamousnames in American finance: a brilliant, conniving stock-chopper wholed his merry mob on a wild ride out of the canyons of Wall Streetand into a massive office on Long Island. Now, in this astoundingand hilarious tell-all autobiography, Belfort narrates a story ofgreed, power, and excess no one could invent. Reputedly the prototype for the film Boiler Room, StrattonOakmont turned microcap investing into a wi

Not according to Jean Chatzky, one of the most popular personal-finance experts in the country, who has advised millions through her regular Today Show appearances and her columns in Money magazine. Now she shares the good news about a groundbreaking study she did with the Roper Organization; the Happiness Assessment. Her research shows that amount of money you make has surprisingly little to do with how financially happy you are. But the happiest people in America at all incorme levels tend to use the money strategies that Chatzky calls the "Ten Commandments of Financial Happiness." For instance, they pay their bills as they come in rather than all at one and minimize credit and debt. The bottom line: you have to pay attention to your money-and Chatzky shows you how to make the most of what you've got. But you certainly don't have to be rich achieve financial happiness. 作者简介：Jean Chatsky is the financial editor for NBC's Today show, has a monthly colomn in Money magazine, and is a featu

Unravel the Mysteries of the Financial Markets—the Language,the Players, and the Strategies for Success Understanding money and investing has never been more importantthan it is today, as many of us are called upon to manage our ownretirement planning, college savings funds, and health-care costs.Up-to-date and expertly written, The Wall Street Journal CompleteMoney and Investing Guidebook provides investors with a simple—butnot simplistic—grounding in the world of finance. It breaks downthe basics of how money and investing work, explaining: ? What must-have information you need to invest in stocks, bonds,and mutual funds ? How to see through the inscrutable theories and arcane jargonof financial insiders and advisers ? What market players, investing strategies, and money andinvesting history you should know ? Why individual investors should pay attention to theeconomy Written in a clear, engaging style by Dave Kansas, one ofAmerica’s top business journalist

Moneyball is a quest for the secret of success in baseball.Following the low-budget Oakland Athletics, their larger-than-lifegeneral manger, Billy Beane, and the strange brotherhood of amateurbaseball enthusiasts, Michael Lewis has written not only "thesingle most influential baseball book ever" (Rob Neyer, Slate) butalso what "may be the best book ever written on business" (WeeklyStandard). I wrote this book because I fell in love with a story.The story concerned a small group of undervalued professionalbaseball players and executives, many of whom had been rejected asunfit for the big leagues, who had turned themselves into one ofthe most successful franchises in Major League Baseball. But theidea for the book came well before I had good reason to writeit-before I had a story to fall in love with. It began, really,with an innocent question: how did one of the poorest teams inbaseball, the Oakland Athletics, win so many games? With thesewords Michael Lewis launches us into the funniest, smartest, andm

One of America's most respected and renowned financialplanners provides 1001 tips to help everyone--from CEOs tohomemakers--save money. Learn which corners to cut in various areasof everyday life. Take the revealing self-test and assess whereyour money is being spent. Then allow the expert to guide you tothe most effective and creative ways to save it.