No comments about Dividend Stocks For Dummies.

5 comments about Exchange-Traded Funds For Dummies.

1. I'm a dummy - not doubt about it, but this has a bunch of good information. Can I follow it and make me a bunch .... well, we'll see.



2. I am thoroughly enjoying reading your ETFs for Dummies book, and have delved into Index Investing for Dummies to a lesser extent. You have made investing in ETFs easy for me to understand -and anything but boring- and I feel much more secure about making some upcoming investment choices because of that. Thank you! I also really enjoy the way you write and your sense of humor.



3. If you are pondering whether to press the "select" button on this book, "just do it." Russell Wild has written a very approachable, compelling, fun and smart book for those of us who want to know more about ETF's, create our own portfolios and not be "dumb" about ETF's and our money.



4. Great book. This author is down to earth, and easy to understand. I recommend this book for anyone wanting to get a good understanding of ETF's.



5. "Exchange Traded Funds for Dummies" is the best book I've ever read on the subject. Russell Wild writes about this complicated topic simply, clearly and with a "bucket" load of humor (my lame attempt here at financial wit!).
   
   His book makes learning the ins and outs of ETF's enjoyable and fun. Mr. Wild has a wonderful talent in being able to engage the reader in such a way as to make finances seem, well, interesting! I'm so much more knowledgeable on the subject now and have gained a sense of confidence and understanding that I didn't have before.
   
   Norma Larson
   Covina, California
   (AKA A Dummy No More)

5 comments about Venture Capital Due Diligence: A Guide to Making Smart Investment Choices and Increasing Your Portfolio Returns.

1. Thia book just give you general idea on venture capital. It isn't worth for your money. The author also not giving additional support on loopholes area. Not so friendly. So, better try another book - david gladstone is much better.



2. 
   I enjoyed this book very much. Books on strategic planning, business planning, and due diligence interest me a lot. When I spotted this book at a B&N in Manhattan a month ago I swiped it up off the shelf in a heart beat. It didn't take me long to read it. But I was very disappointed that a new chapter inserted in front of Chapter 1 was not included.
   
   It would have been a great book if that new chapter had included an outline of the topics and the questions presented and discussed. Without such an outline, the reader has to wade through the entire book to understand what it is really about. Not good! To make the book more valuable to me I have taken the time to make such an outline for my personal use. It came to 8 pages in MS Word outline mode.
   
   This book is a great resource. But I think it is overpriced. It retails for $60 at a bricks-and-mortar store, and $38 at Amazon. But maybe it is worth it? It certainly should be interesting to a wide variety of audiences.
   
   Are you an entrepreneur with a start up company that you think might quality for venture capital funding? If so, you will want to study chapters 1 (screening) and 2 (management). The issues covered in these two chapters are the ones a venture capitalist will initially consider when considering whether your company is one they want to invest money in. Will your company pass the test?
   
   Are you an entrepreneur planning a start up company and in the midst of putting together a written business plan? If so, then you will want to study chapters 2 (management), 3 (business opportunity), 5 (legal), and 6 (financial). These four chapters should help you tremendously troubleshoot your business plan as you create draft after draft. It's your job to create a great company; venture capitalists like to find them.
   
   Are you a CEO or a CFO who runs a large company that grows sales through mergers and acquisitions? If so, you will enjoy the entire book. As will your subordinates who run your M&A department. Also, anyone who runs a venture capital enterprise will probably enjoy this book. But if they know what they are doing, then they probably won't learn anything new. 4 stars!



3. This is a great book on venture capital due diligence.



4. I was tremendously disappointed in this book. The cost of $35-50 is definitely a complete rip-off for what you get from the author. All you need to do is refer to pages 227-246. Those are the pages that represent the bibliography. I actually was so pissed off after reading this book that I counted them. In total the author referenced the words and work of 488 author people. There are only 223 pages of text and 6 chapters in the book. I am certain you can do the math but I'll do it for you.
   There are on average more than 2 references per page and over 80 per chapter. It's as though the author has never had an original thought of his own. If I wanted to hire somebody to go out and look up the work of other people I would have done that. I was expecting the author to use his own first-hand knowledge and experience in order to help educate and inform others such as myself about the process. Instead, what I got was something a high school student would do while trying to complete a report for homework. My only question is who is less ethical: the author or the publishing company that let this slide through the screening process. For all of those that gave this book 5 stars I can only guess that you don't enjoy actually reading.



5. This book gives a good survey on the due diligence process and attempts to teach the reader other important aspects of venture capital by connecting it to the due diligence process. However, the author comes up short in addressing some of the more important subject areas.
   
   Overall it is a pretty good book but you will need to by a few more if you want a really good understanding of the entire process. "The Startup Company Bible for Entrepreneurs" is the best book I've come across on the topic of venture capital and it is almost three times the size of this one and contains a lot more material and topics. This book would definately fill in the gaps in "Venture Capital Due Diligence." You might want to get both since there aren't too many good books on the topic.

5 comments about How to Buy Stocks.

1. This is a good introduction to the world of investing. The author educates readers about investment products such as common stocks, preferred stocks, corporate bonds, government bonds, municipal bonds, mutual funds, options, and futures. He also writes about the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, and other exchanges, and how trading is conducted. Other topics covered are buying on margin, short selling, and following investments.
   
   The subject of investing may seem too complicated for the general public. I thought the author of this book did an excellent job explaining the subject in an easy to follow language and format. I would recommend this book to beginning investors.
   
   - Mariusz Skonieczny, author of Why Are We So Clueless about the Stock Market? Learn how to invest your money, how to pick stocks, and how to make money in the stock market



2. Bought this book 14 years ago. I was 25 and knew NOTHING about money let alone the stock market. This book has EVERYTHING!! From stocks to bond to life insurance it will teach you everything about money how to handle it and profit from it. I lost both my parents and had no one to go to for advice and couldn't afford to pay for it. I learned so much and so many topics are covered to say this book is comprehensive is a huge understatement. BEFORE YOU BUY A GET RICH QUICK BOOK BUY THIS BOOK!! YOU HAVE TO KNOW THE BASICS ABOUT THE MARKETS AND HOW THEY WORK OR YOU WILL LOSE EVERYTHING.



3. Covers the basics very well. I've had it on my shelf for years and have reread several times.



4. Had I realized that this book was 14 years old I would not have purchased it. One of the bullet points on the front cover is "Latest Statistics and Regulations" which of course was the case back in 1994. I am sure some information may still be pertinent, but again there is no way to know what is and what isn't still valid. Personally I would not trust any investment advice that is almost 2 decades old, but then again what do I know, I'm the fool that bought this book in the first place.



5. The problem with so, so many investment texts on the market is that the authors of the texts have a clear conflict of interest: read my book, buy my tapes and come to my seminar, and they'll teach you how to make a million dollars. A sucker is born every minute, and the dark scary world of investment books is proof of it.
   
   This is the best book on investing, and how to measure value generally, that I've ever read. It's very, very old school. If you feel yourself attracted to the NYSE like a big exciting roulette table, but you don't know what a P/E ratio is or what a stock split really means, buy this book before you do anything stupid.

5 comments about The Short Book on Options: A Conservative Strategy for the Buy and Hold Investor.

1. Excellent help in understanding the function of options and how to profit by selling covered calls for moderate gains at low risk. Does not help much with the use of puts. Still, I highly recommend it. It is an inexpensive book.



2. If you are an owner of stocks and buy and hold, you realize that the market changes and your stocks gain and lose value on a whim. This book will show you a way to make extra money and possibly cut your losses by writing covered calls. It's a good basic book to get you started.



3. Good product, good buying experience. Great service and on time delivery. Will buy again from this vendor.



4. I wasn't sure what to expect from this book but it was recommended to me by a friend so I ordered it. When I got it, my first thought was
   "Wow. Short book is right." But don't let its length fool you. It is for people new to options and it's a very condensed volume of information that focuses on covered calls and touches on a few variations of them. It starts out with an overview of options and gives good easy to understand examples. It then moves into buying and selling options and finally focuses on covered call writing. It gives very good examples of various trades and the affects of yields and volatility.
   
   You can use this book to get started on covered call writing with good confidence. I really liked this book a lot because it was very focused on teaching one very effective and conservative options strategy instead of trying to teach several confusing strategies all at once.



5. The book is unquestionably the best book on writing covered calls available. The writer is efficient without bias and without the use of puffery to make a point.

5 comments about The Strategic Bond Investor: Strategies and Tools to Unlock the Power of the Bond Market.

1. If you want to trade and invest in bonds and always wanted to know how, read this book. Bonds should be a part of your portfolio. Learn how and when to invest in bonds, which are the best bonds and more.
   
   Must reading for all serious investors.



2. My husband was looking for this book and we found the best deal on Amazon.com using one of their vendors. We saved nearly half the price for a new book!We got excellent service and had a question promptly answered by the vendor via email during the transaction. I also recently ordered through my workplace a and received a wooden train set for my school classroom. It too was an unbelievable value. We will always check with Amazon.com first.



3. Excellent read. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in bond investing/trading.



4. I just started reading the book and it lays the groundwork for understanding the bond markets.



5. Reading this book was so boring it was like... Well it was like reading a book on strategic bond investing. That being said it had a wealth of information. The price I got it for used was well worth the Fed speak chapter, and the detailed explanation of the various monthly economic data (employment, housing starts etc). Also each chapter has a summary that is helpful if you are just scanning the book. For non bond investors it is quite good to have for reference.

1 comments about 101 Things Everyone Should Know About Economics: A Down and Dirty Guide to Everything from Securities and Derivatives to Interest Rates and Hedge Funds - And What They Mean For You.

1. This book has great information that is very clear and easy to read. I recommend this book for anyone who is interested in economics and doesn't know much about it.

5 comments about The Intelligent Investor CD: The Classic Text on Value Investing.

1. As a few have mentioned this audio book goes great with having also read the book. It is a good way to reinforce some of the concepts while you are stuck in traffic with nothing better to do. For those who say this audio book is outdated, then I think they just don't "get it". An observation by Buffett that I've heard him say numerous times, either the principles will click instantly with someone or they just will never get it. The principles are very sound and although it's from the early 1970s edition, some of the observations made in that edition show just how timeless the concepts truly are. For example it is mentioned numerous time at current DJIA levels in 1972 they had no enthusiasm for stocks at current levels. 1973-1974 bear market saw the market drop roughly 45%! This audio book is about basic concepts and not a magic bullet with a precise formula for success. It is a matter for one to understand those concepts and how to apply them. For those looking for something more than that fundamental concepts to invest successfully, look elsewhere (perhaps Jim Cramer has some advise for the week. LOL).
   
   As I have followed the principles I have not completely, but missed the majority of the declines in the early 2000s, 2008-2009 bear market. This has allowed me to handsomely beat the S&P500 over the past 14 years.



2. Very informative and insightful in using the right fundamentals for selecting stocks. I will buy the book as well!



3. This book is the beginning or Genesis for Warren Buffet's origins on how he learned to invest. It is good, however, like many of the other reviews, it is outdated with its information and is hard to follow. Many of the concepts in this book are captured in other books about Warren Buffet, such as Rule #1 by Phil Town, I highly recommend that book. This book is good for expired investors how track the history of the stock market.



4. Great historical review, a good staple for any investor that is already in the game and understands the basics.



5. I am an eager reader of books on Warren Buffett's investing methods. I really want to like "The Intelligent Investor", but I don't. Unfortunately, Benjamin Graham did not write his books to be timeless. Instead, he wrote them specifically for the investing environments as they existed at the times of publication. This audiobook is of the 1972 edition of "The Intelligent Investor", and it reflects the investing environment of the early 1970's.
   
   The story of Mr. Market and the principle of "a margin of safety" are important concepts contained in this book, but they can be found in other writings by and about Warren Buffett.
   
   There is an updated edition of "The Intelligent Investor" by Jason Zweig. It was published in 2003. Hopefully that is better than the older, outdated editions. It is not (yet) available in audio format.
   
   If you are looking for a good audiobook on Warren Buffett's investing methods, I highly recommend "How to Pick Stocks Like Warren Buffett" by Timothy Vick. The best book on Buffett's investing methods that I have read is "The New Buffettology" by Mary Buffett, but it is not available as an audiobook.

2 comments about How to Invest $50-$5,000 10e: The Small Investor's Step-by-Step Plan for Low-Risk Investing in Today's Economy (How to Invest $50 to $5000).

1. Dudes, why do they keep taking off my review on this book? Ok. To the point. BUY this book. DO WHAT IT SAYS. MAKE MONEY. What else can I say!?



2. It's kinda funny, I've never owned this book, Nor have I ever read it from cover to cover. But I think I have read ever bit of it over the course of several years (visits to various brick and mortar bookstores.)
   
   It's a very good book. They miss a couple of things.
   
   I know ingdirect offers a weekly deposit into their accounts. No matter what you can afford $.01 to $xxxxxx.xx you can have ing move the money from your checking account straight into one of their savings accounts. I'm sure other companies offer a similar feature, please include a list in the next edition. What could be better than $5 (say) taken out of your checking account each week and deposited into a savings account. Once you've set this up, it's amazing how fast it grows. Soon you'll be increasing it to $10, $20, etc. (what's $5 a latte? one lunch made at home instead of bought at a restaurant? You will not miss it in a month or two.)
   
   I wish they had a section on how to get the $50. (the above paragraph is a starting point)
   
   I wish they included all of the mutual funds that are available for an initial buy-in of $250 or $500, not just a select few.
   
   I wish they would explain Dividend Reinvestment in a different mutual fund. Say $500, invested in two different mutual funds in the same family (one a stock fund, the other a bond fund), $250 each. But the dividend from the bond fund diverted to buy the stock fund each month. While your monthly (hopefully) investment is sent to the bond fund each time. So the monthly dividend that buys the stock fund grows each month.
   
   **********
   
   I need to amend this review, I own the 2010 version, just acquired it. Felt bad reviewing it without owning it. This book would be an excellent text book for a High School Finance class. I wish a state would require a semester of Finance for every student. Once the state had run it for 5-6 years than the effects could be evaluated and hopefully they would be positive and more states would adopt such a class. How does the average high school graduate learn about a mutual fund? Hell, any person?

5 comments about Basic Black-Scholes: Option Pricing and Trading.

1. I am a professor of finance at the University of Puerto Rico. Timothy's book was recommended to me by Professor Steve Mann at the University of South Carolina, where I obtained my Ph.D. in finance, as "simply the best book out there on option pricing." What I found when I assigned the book in my MBA class on Futures and Options is that the students all remarked at how incredibly understandable and thorough the book is even though it is clearly useful at the doctoral level as well. This is certainly what I would expect from an MIT Ph.D. where its nearly impossible to get accepted into the doctoral finance program and even harder to get out!
   
   If you really want to understand option pricing get this book...there simply isn't anything else like it out there on the market!



2. Tremendously valuable book for its selection and excellent treatment of many rarely addressed aspects of financial derivatives and the care with which intuition for these aspects is developed.
   
   Financial mathematics exists at the intersection of many different fields, yielding many possible perspectives from which to teach and learn about this discipline. Many of these perspectives bog down in the rigor of their respective fields. Such approaches render it difficult to absorb and apply core concepts without spending a great deal of time in first learning topics such as advanced probability theory and stochastic calculus.
   
   Dr. Crack's approach seems to be to develop the intuition as a framework for understanding further advanced study, should it be warranted by the reader. At the same time, he includes many aspects of the underlying science to help bridge the gap between the academic world and the world of trading.
   
   For example, his derivation of the solution to the Black-Scholes equation and subsequent analysis of the components of the solution leaves the reader fully prepared to quickly and intelligently grasp the impact of changes in assumptions. This is in contrast to many treatments that seem to stop at the solution, leaving the reader feeling as though the Black-Scholes solution is simply a black-box with no intuitive connection to the real world.



3. I like the text because it gives many aspects of the Black-Scholes model that I have not found elsewhere. One may feel that Black-Scholes is an "old" model, but it is the genesis of option pricing and understanding its intuition is the key to understanding more complex models. In addition, the text is very readable, but I think even more satisfying if the reader already has some options background.



4. Crack's two books, Basic Black-Scholes and Heard On The Street,
   are masterpieces of condensed ,focused instruction for those who need to know. There is also an atmosphere of scintillating competence projected on the reader. Some of the anecdotes in Heard On The Street are hilarious; add to this the requirement that you must keep your wits about you at all times when reading
   these primers and overall you get a feeling of a happy learning experience. Remarkable.



5. I was generally familiar with options pricing and read this book after the Hull's book on derivatives. I felt that this text definitely provided a lot of good intuition and different perspectives that I have not see anywhere else.
   
   This text helped me systemize my knowledge of options and develop a more intuitive feel for their behavior. Definitely, a good addition to the classics on option pricing.