Customer Reviews: Read 39 more reviews...
 Very clear indeed. August 16, 2008
This a very clear and concise book--another one, all of which seem lately to contain the same wisdom: buy low (and buy smart). I'm trying. You can still pay too much, or buy too soon, or catch the wrong end of a falling knife, etc. But it's certainly a far better idea than taking hot tips from e-mails, or from brokers.
 Investing lessons May 11, 2008
I learned from a broad range of investing books, and I got this one primarily because it was a short book. I'm only about half way through it, but I think it is very well written. It has some important information on how to approach researching a company. One of the glaring failures is how rapidly the trading environment can change. The book specifically tells investors to avoid China, and I've been making a lot of money investing in my first Chinese company. Read and learn, but ultimately decide for yourself on what you want to buy.
Excellent overview and introduction to Value Investing March 26, 2008
Great book as an introduction to the principles of value investing as laid out by Benjamin Graham. Very easy to read. With about 140 pages, you can get through this book in a couple of hours.
I'd use this as a warm up book to Intelligent Investor.
Successor of Ben Graham March 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The author states that over a long period of time value companies have outperformed the growth companies. You buy a value company when you pay less its intrinsic value (Buy Stocks On Sale). The key aspect of value investing is an ability to analyze financial statements of the company. The author explains, in the very friendly manner, such indicators of an intrinsic value like Operating Income, Current Assets vs Total Assets (and liabilities), Operating Margin, EBITD Margin, "Margin of Safety" and so on.
The author declares that you can reduce the risk of loss in case of one stock's failure by building a diversified portfolio. However, when it comes to emerging markets, the authors suggest bewaring of them because of the frequent political disasters in particular countries. I do not agree with the author's advice of totally avoiding emerging markets. As an ETF of U.S. stocks like SPDR Trust (SPY) saves from one company's failure, an ETF that includes most of emerging countries, like iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index (EEF) can save from a failure in one of the countries. Alternatively, you can build a portfolio of stocks in different emerging countries (as if you do this for U.S. stocks) by yourself without using an ETF or an index mutual fund.
The author also proclaims that cognitive psychology explains why some investors make huge losses because of fear, panic, or following the crowd when it comes to hot sexy stocks. If you like the topic of how cognitive psychology affects investors, I can recommend "The Only Three Questions That Count: Investing by Knowing What Others Don't" by Kenneth L. Fisher.
The shortest Value Investing book....that works! February 16, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Don't let the small size of this book fool you! For anyone who is looking to build, over time, a valueable (read: multi-million dollar) portfolio of stock investments; this book might be all you would need. This book started a path for me that lead me to works by value-investing notable as Benjamin Graham, David Dodd, Mary Buffett, and more. After reading very famous texts by the above authors and more, I decided to revisit this work. I am floored by what Chris Browne presents here now I have a much more through understanding of the details.
My advice is to BUY BOTH THE BOOK AND AUDIO-CD. Play the audio cd in your car or I-POD a few times to get the general idea. From there, take the text and follow the CD; highlight any ideas that grab you attention as well as any tips/techniques that he gives (particularly at the end of the book). You may not want to delve into the chapters on reading foreign financial statements--a little advanced for the beginner, I assure you!
One you have a good understanding--get started. As I write this (02/2008), there are an abundance of good values in the market. I'm currently investigating a couple of wonder-investments as we speak. I argue this: anyone thinking of buying this book should buy it ASAP! As Chis Browne would say, there are too many stocks on sale....."...and you want to buy stocks when they are on sale".
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