You know what happened during the financial crisis … now it istime to understand why the financial system came so close tofalling over the edge of the abyss and why it could happen again.Wall Street has been saved, but it hasn’t been reformed. What isthe problem? Suzanne McGee provides a penetrating look at the forces thattransformed Wall Street from its traditional role as acapital-generating and economy-boosting engine into a behemothoperating with only its own short-term interests in mind and withreckless disregard for the broader financial system and those whorelied on that system for their well being and prosperity. Primary among these influences was “Goldman Sachs envy”: theself-delusion on the part of Richard Fuld of Lehman Brothers,Stanley O’Neil of Merrill Lynch, and other power brokers (egged onby their shareholders) that taking more risk would enable theircompanies to make even more money than Goldman Sachs. Thathubris—and that narrow-minded focus on maximizing their
Before I became “Phil Town, teacher of investing principles tomore than 500,000 people a year,” I was a lot like you: someone whoviewed individual stock investing as way too hard to dosuccessfully. As a guy who barely made a living as a river guide, Iconsidered the whole process pretty impenetrable, and I wasconvinced that to do it right you had to make it a full-time job.Me, I was more interested in having full-time fun. So I was tempted to do what you’re probably doing right now:letting some mutual fund manager worry about growing your nest egg.Let me tell you why that decision could one day make you absolutelymiserable.
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,
Private equity firms are snapping up brand-name companies andassembling portfolios that make them immense global conglomerates.They're often able to maximize investor value far more successfullythan traditional public companies. How do PE firms become suchpowerhouses? Learn how, in Lessons from Private Equity Any CompanyCan Use. Bain chairman Orit Gadiesh and partner Hugh MacArthur usethe concise, actionable format of a memo to lay out the fivedisciplines that PE firms use to attain their edge This is yourplaybook for building the results-driven culture that will put yourfirm on par with PE. From our new Memo to the CEO series--solutions-focused advice from today's leading practitioners
From America's liveliest writer on mathematics, a witty andinsightful book on the stock market and the irrepressibility of ourdreams of wealth. In A Mathematician Plays the Stock Marketbest-selling author John Allen Paulos demonstrates what the toolsof mathematics can tell us about the vagaries of the stock market.Employing his trademark stories, vignettes, paradoxes, and puzzles(and even a film treatment), Paulos addresses every thinkingreader's curiosity about the market: Is it efficient? Is itrational? Is there anything to technical analysis, fundamentalanalysis, and other supposedly time-tested methods of pickingstocks? How can one quantify risk? What are the most common scams?What light do fractals, network theory, and common psychologicalfoibles shed on investor behavior? Are there any approaches toinvesting that truly outperform the major indexes? Can a deeperknowledge of mathematics help beat the odds? All of these questionsare explored with the engaging erudition that made Paulos's AMathematic
Making sound investments is tough enough without having toworry about unscrupulous financial advisers and outright frauds.But recently strengthened laws aren't enough to stop the"professionals" intent on profiting from - or just plain stealing -your money. As an Enforcement Branch Chief at the Securities andExchange Commission, Pat Huddleston witnessed countless people losetheir life savings to reckless stockbrokers and fraudulent schemes.Now an SEC-recommended Receiver and CEO of a securities andinvestment fraud investigation agency, Huddleston has intimateknowledge of how scam artists and bad brokers operate. In TheVigilant Investor, he explains WHY we fall for investment scams,HOW con artists play on our emotions, and WHAT we can do to protectourselves from predators. With its unique look into the science offinancial decision making, the book blows up the popular myths andsimplistic "do's and don'ts" of investing while sharing techniquesanyone can use to perform due diligence even better than the"experts.
Updated for paperback publication, Aftershock is a brilliantreading of the causes of our current economic crisis, with a planfor dealing with its challenging aftermath. When the nation’s economy foundered in 2008, blame was directedalmost universally at Wall Street bankers. But Robert B. Reich, oneof our most experienced and trusted voices on public policy,suggests another reason for the meltdown. Our real problem, heargues, lies in the increasing concentration of wealth in the handsof the richest Americans, while stagnant wages and rising costshave forced the middle class to go deep into debt. Reich’sthoughtful and detailed account of where we are headed over thenext decades—and how we can fix our economic system—is a practical,humane, and much-needed blueprint for restoring America’s economyand rebuilding our society.
From Rin Tin Tin to Casablanca to HarryPotter , the Warner Bros. story is the history of Hollywood.Eighty-five years of screen icons, legendary films, andhistory-making achievements are detailed in this comprehensive,photo-filled treasure trove, fully authorized by the studio. No production company has had more legendary films, stars, orinfluence on the course of Hollywood than Warner Bros. Among thesuperstars who worked for the studio are Bette Davis, HumphreyBogart, Lauren Bacall, Joan Crawford, Marlon Brando, James Dean,and John Wayne. Filmmakers like Martin Scorsese and Stanley Kubrickmade history for the studio, and it has been home to blockbusterfranchises like Superman , Batman , LethalWeapon , and Harry Potter . Produced in conjunction with Warner Bros., this volume is theultimate guide to the greatest movie studio in history. You MustRemember This: The Warner Bros. Story is also the companion toa five part documentary in the PBS American Masters series byauthor Richard Schickel that will
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
Through every type of market, William J. O'Neil's nationalbestseller, How to Make Money inStocks, has shown over 2 millioninvestors the secrets to successful investing. O'Neil'spowerful CANSLIM~ Investing Systemma proven seven-step process for minimizingriskand maximizing gains--has influenced generations ofinvestors.Based on a major study of all the greatest stock marketwinners from 1880 to 2009, thisexpanded edition gives you: