No comments about Investing in Fixed Income Securities: Understanding the Bond Market (Wiley Finance).

5 comments about Career of Gold: Defeat Age Bias by Re-Careering for the Second Half of Your Life.

1. A wonderful resource guide for anyone looking to create a sense of job security. Although titled for the 'second half of your life' this book is suitable for the younger generation as well. BIG thumbs up!



2. My first reaction while reading this book was one of surprise. I'd been expecting just feel-good inspirational stuff, but was pleased to find it dealing with the nuts and bolts of our changing world and the struggle it can sometimes be to survive in the new reality.
   
   I'm a fan of various financial advice columns and shows; one of the topics that never fail to appear is how much longer people live today --- and the associated costs of doing so. CAREER OF GOLD addresses this issue head-on, as well as the taboo topic of age bias encountered when trying to finance a longer life, later in life.
   
   It offers advice on how to deal with this mountain of a problem: climb it while you can. People will be surprised to discover that it's possible for the average person to function --- and thrive --- in the new world of global opportunities. I was fascinated to see how you can develop a new business, and tap into the tremendous growth potential of emerging markets like China, India, and Brazil. It's shown that the online world of the internet can be harnessed to create your second career.



3. The idea of using your experience and knowledge to start a new career doing something you really like sounds too good to be true - which is probably what stops most of us from ever trying. Yet this book proves that we should try. Career of Gold provides down to earth advice on how to identify core skills which are very much in demand in today's changing world. The book then provides the tools and information to turn these valuable skills into real opportunities. It isn't easy but it's easier than you think. The book provides numerous examples of people who have tried and shows how using these techniques gave them the power to reorganize their careers successfully.
   
   People are living longer and the quality of life is continuously improving in that extended life. The Career of Gold is not a get rich quick scheme.
   However, most people will find it provides the information necessary to use their knowledge to find a career which suits their lifestyle and which they can enjoy and at the same time bring in extra income. The book deals head on with issues like age bias, gaining recognition for the knowledge you possess and using the internet as a gateway to the global marketplace.
   
   Career of Gold is a valuable resource for everyone over the age of fifty looking to restart or supplement their career. It also provides many useful links to resources which most people probably don't know exist.



4. The author provides the reader with support and encouragement in an easy to read and practical guide. His excitement and positive attitude jump out from the first page and carry you through to the step by step fulfillment of self-directed employment. Bracken provides examples, inspiration and concrete advice in defining your assets, determining a market, developing your "product", utilizing computer technology and more. This book is a great resource for baby boomers who want to follow the dream of making money doing what they love.



5. Easy to read. Chock full of practical information and resources as well as real-life examples that are as entertaining as they are inspiring. Would make an excellent gift for a new retiree, someone contemplating a career change, celebrating a 50th birthday, a college graduate...

5 comments about Deena Katz on Practice Management: For Financial Advisers, Planners, and Wealth Managers.

1. Beginning Financial Planner creating a business plan and vision. Great blue print.



2. We Financial advisors are always looking for an edge. To often we're severely dissapointed. This book has merit and unfortunately a lot of fluff. Most in the industry know all the software available and filing systems.

   What was of interest was the parts on client retention and firing clients. This was helpful

   In the sense that it improved my vision of my practice I have to say it was worthwhile. However a well written article could have done the same.

   Your call..




3. Deena Katz, a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) who has given financial advice in magazines and on TV, describes how to set up a practice as a financial planner and adviser. She discusses how to grow your business and manage your clients' lives as well as their dollars. She draws on her experience, interviews and networking with other practitioners to provide a detailed hands-on guide. She considers such issues as recruiting, hiring and firing staff, working with partners, using hardware and software and setting up effective systems. She provides tips on public relations, hiring, firing and refusing clients, and keeping good clients. Her book concludes with a targeted resource section on useful books, journals, magazines, newsletters, software programs and Web sites. We [...] highly recommend this comprehensive introductory guide. Although it is directly targeted toward individuals in the financial planning arena, many of its ideas apply to starting any type of small professional or service business.



4. After all the rave reviews, I thought this would be a great book on practice management. What I got was a book by Deena Katz on Deena Katz. For example, in discussing contact management systems, she glosses over Act! and Goldmine; barely mentions Text Library System and ProTracker, but spends considerable time talking about paying $50,000 to have a consultant design a system. If you currently have a fee only practice that is grossing in the high 6-figures and want to develop it into a multi-million $ firm, like Deena Katz, then I suggest you read this book.



5. This book is an excellent guide to the importance of customer service in the financial planning world. Individuals willing to offer financial advice and service are everywhere - however successful financial planning firms are run by those that have paid attention to the details. A great book to give to new employees to help explain the importance of efficiency and how it correlates to a positive client experience.

1 comments about Marketing Myopia (Harvard Business Review Classics) (Harvard Business Review Classics).

1. Theodore Levitt was lecturer in Business Administration at the Harvard Business School when this Harvard Business Review Classic was originally published. He now is Professor of Business Administration Emeritus at Harvard Business School.

   This article was groundbreaking when it was published originally in 1960. It questions in a new and challenging way by urging organizations to define their industries broadly to take advantage of growth opportunities. "In truth, there is no such thing as a growth industry, I believe. There are only companies organized and operated to create and capitalize on growth opportunities." He discusses the four conditions which are responsible for a self-deceiving cycle of bountiful expansion and undetected decay: (1) increasing population; (2) production pressures; (3) mass production; and (4) dangers of research & development. Each is discussed in detail. During this process, he describes the difference between sales and marketing: "Selling focuses on the needs of the seller, marketing on the needs of the buyer." Levitt use railroads, oil and corner grocery industries to explain his points. The main point he tries to get across is that "the organization must learn to think of itself not a producing goods or services, but as buying customers, as doing the things that will make people want to do business with it." This e-document is complemented with a retrospective commentary by the author, written in 1975.

   Fantastic article by Harvard Business School professor Theodore Levitt. It was an eye-opener for many companies in the 1960s and still is the starting point for marketing-courses at business schools. The author claims that most of the ideas within the article are based on works by others, in particular Peter F. Drucker, but of the simple and understandable language and examples the message comes across even better. Yes, perhaps some of the examples are out of date, but the message still rings true. Highly recommended to all MBA-students and people interested in management/marketing. The author uses simple business US-English.

4 comments about New Product Blueprinting The Handbook for B2B Organic Growth.

1. If your company sells products to other companies, this is a must-read.
   
   Adams turns much of the traditional voice-of-the-customer conventional wisdom on its head. He makes a compelling case that your business customers are much different than end-consumers; they're highly trained, are not as easily manipulated by Madison Avenue, are fewer in number and so on. And if so, then using 30-year-old consumer-goods VOC techniques is sub-optimizing.
   
   He lays a groundwork of new-to-the-world principles for business-to-business product development. The book isn't long--just over 200 pages--and I would like to have heard just a bit more of how he developed his theory (although the book is well footnoted). On the other hand, it has great "idea-density" and seems to be designed for reading by the busy executive. Many readers will like the fact that about half of the book is devoted to practical hands-on tips that a marketing person could begin applying right away.



2. I own a company that makes custom cutting tools for the woodworking and solid surface industries. As such, I am no stranger to innovation. But Dan Adams takes the concept to a whole new level in New Product Blueprinting. He does a brilliant job of explaining how to get inside the customer's mind and uncover what he or she really wants and needs. Adams lays out a step-by-step interview process that not only sets you up for great product design, it endears you to the prospect or customer. This author recognizes something very important: it's all about trust. Even if you're the best company for the job, if you don't come across as caring and respectful, all the expertise in the world won't matter. If your livelihood depends on new product development--and in this economy, I think that pretty much covers everyone in the manufacturing world--do yourself a favor and read this book.
   
   Anthony DeHart
   DeHart Tooling Components, Inc.



3. Having worked in sales all my life, I've always known that what sets a company apart is its ability to partner with customers to help them solve their problems. Adams puts a different slant on the process. He starts out by explaining that you don't try to sell customers your products, nor do you start out by solving their problems for them. (I suspect most of us have been bitten by a prospect that took the solution you developed for them and gave it to someone else to execute...ouch!) Instead, you use a methodical, proven approach to probe customers about their desired outcomes. As Adams writes, "After these outcomes are understood and quantitatively prioritized, there is plenty of time for the supplier to privately develop solutions and build an intellectual property hedge around them." (I liked that phrase so much I went back and looked it up.) This is a good book for anyone who wants to find good customers, make them happy, and keep them coming back for more.
   Patrick Hendren
   SMC Corporation of America



4. Everybody knows you have put the customer first. It has become one of those business clichés, like "cutting edge technology" or "thinking outside the box" or "the customer is always right." But what does it really mean in terms of product development? How, exactly, do you move beyond lip service (oops, there's another cliché!) and really put the customer first? Read this book and you'll know the answer. New Product Blueprinting takes a pretty complicated subject and boils it down to a series of how-tos that are invaluable to any manufacturer who has to make things his customers will want to buy. I highly recommend it.
   Adam Prestwood
   Pampco, Inc.

5 comments about How I Trade for a Living (Wiley Online Trading for a Living).

1. I found this book complicated and useless as a beginner trader.
   Gary smith is the real deal but the way the book is written it makes it look intensly complicated i very very much doubt any one could pick up this book and say 'right now i can start trading' it is basically a random mix of memoirs and indicators that HE uses for HIS system.As a beginner trader(at the time) very overwhelmed and it actually put me off.
   
   All i gathered from the book is that he has a feel for the market and goes with that along with his long list of indicators, it will not teach u how to trade but will show u how he trades in such a way that u cannot personally practice it.
   
   He advises against shorting just because he has no luck with it.He also advises against charts because he had no luck with them.The fact is every1 has to develop a system based around there own personalitys and alot of people will be able to click with charts and shorting.
   
   The fact is he dosent emphasise at all the most important points of why he managed to turn his portfolio which is = because he went over his trades, leanrt from his mistakes and created a plan!!!!
   
   There is stuff to learn from the book but this is only contained in 1/10 of the text.
   
   I gave it 3 stars because it has some good info in it its just mixed in with random stuff and it isnt easy to see or notice how its good info until after you have realised it ureself after trading and making mistakes through trading because he dosent emphasise it's importance!
   
   Some1 else also made the point that all his money was made during a raging bull whether or not he kept these gains i dont know(after all he is against shorting..)



2. Frankly, I'm a bit surprised over the reviews favoring this book. Yes, it does appear written by someone knowledgeable about the markets; yes, he does reveal *his* methods, but therein lies the problem. What, exactly, are his methods? They are a disjointed mix of different techniques that *he* subjectively uses without really providing a methodical framework for how you can implement those same methods. The book is somewhat like a fellow rambling on and on sitting next to you on a bus, without really showing you HOW to do what he does. Believe me, I picked up the book really *wanting* to believe it could help me and making every effort to make the book *work*. But in the end, I put it back on the bookshelf along with all the other hocum that's out there on trading. Definitely not worth the $40.00 it lists for.



3. I first learned about Gary Smith on the floor of the CBOT, where he was something of a living legend to speculators there. This man is the real deal. Yes, he actually knows how to trade, unlike the myriad of charlatans in the trading book business. One of the most important points to emanate from Smith's book is the fact that the man went through years of suffering as he attempted to reach his goal. Trading is not something you can master in a few months. Many people quit lucrative jobs thinking they are going to be the next Jesse Livermore or Nicholas Darvas. Folks, it's not going to happen unless you are prepared to study, work hard and take a series of blows to your trading account and your ego.
   It takes years to be a successful off the floor trader/speculator. Gary's book makes a number of excellent points, one of them being that you cannot successfully trade the grains, the softs and the meats off the floor. If you want to be a successful off the floor trader, you must find some type of financial derivative to trade.
   
   Gary writes in rich detail about the various indicators that help him make successful trades. He also has an excellent appendix that lists his favorite books on trading. This is one of the best books I have ever read on the subject of trading. It is a classic in the same league as Reminiscences of a Stock Operator and How I Made a Million Dollars in the Stock Market. Buy it, you won't be disappointed.



4. This was one of the first books I bought on trading while I was doing it part time. I was struck by all of the parallels between what he had experienced and what I was experiencing in my trading.
   
   I enjoyed his breezy no nonsense style of writing and the fact that he delivers what he promises, how HE trades for a living. I emphasize HE because if you are a trader It is doubtful that you will trade like him...mutual funds with no technical analysis.
   
   Having said that I did benefit from some of his techniques and discovered a few sentiment indicators that I had not used previously.
   
   I would recommend this book as a complement to a good T.A book like Tom O'Briens Timing The Trade. Together you should have most of your bases covered.



5. What I really liked most about this book is that it was written by someone who actually trades for a living instead of a vendor who makes his living off selling courses, classes, and books. Gary Smith took a $2,000 account which he struggled with for 19 years to a $700,000 account after reading hundreds of trading books. How did he do this? By finally quitting trying to go for the big when and focused on gaining money each month. He really made the big money at first by trading S&P futures then when he got in the 6 figure range he switched to mutual funds only because he can not deal with the volitilitu of individual stocks. This book is like a modern day version of Nicolas Darvas's "How I made $2,000,000" it is the true story of how an individual broke the trading code. Here are my key learnings:
   
   1. Trade momentum get in when the market moves up and stay in while it continues to go up, run for your life at the first sign of it dropping.
   
   2. Live and breath the market with the help of CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, magazines, books, and some good news letters,
   
   3. Trade what works for you, whether it be stocks, options, futures, etc.
   
   4. Avoid vendorland in the investment world and focus on educating yourself.
   
   5. The stock market has made 40% of its historical gain from November and December. The best days to trade are Monday, Tuesday, and Friday.
   
   6. Position trading is better than day trading.(Staying in over night or the week end).
   
   7. Agonize over your losses and learn from them.
   
   8. Watch for divergences in the S&P, NasdaQ, and Dow, and buy when one runs up past the others.
   
   9. THE MARKET TELLS IT'S OWN STORY BEST.Watch buying momentum.
   
   He has an excellent reading list at the back of the book that will enrich you. I also recommend reading Alexander Elders "Trading for a living" and Van Tharps "Trade your way to Financial Freedom" for a complete picture on how to really trade for a living.

No comments about Principles of Microeconomics.

4 comments about Creating Urgency in a Non-Urgent Housing Market.

1. Jason Forrest provides powerful insight into the relationship between the salesperson and buyer. He walks the reader through stages of the buying process and explains how we can create an essential emotional impact.
   
   I love that Jason gets right to the point with fresh ideas and entertaining stories. It is so easy to implement his ideas and see results immediately! The book is short and to the point and I often refer back to it.
   
   "Creating Urgency" is for anyone that desires to increase their sales and sell more confidently. After implementing Jason's ideas, I have personally seen and continue to see great results in my sales, confidence, relationships, team building, and leadership. This is not a book you will read and forget about-it is absolutely timeless. "Creating Urgency," initially written for the housing market, is absolutely applicable to any genre of sales.



2. I've also heard Jason speak... i highly recommend checking out the book. It offers specific details and suggestions rather than vague ideals. Good stuff.



3. This book is a must read for anyone in sales. I have recommended it to all of the brokers in my office. Creating Urgency is a joy to read but, more importantly, provides powerful tools for any salesman.



4. A timely and relevant message that's enjoyable to read and easy to apply. Most importantly, Jason reminds us that we are individually responsible for creating our own competitive advantage, which becomes even more urgent in down markets.

No comments about eMarketing eXcellence, Third Edition: Planning and optimising your digital marketing (Emarketing Essentials).

1 comments about Tools & Techniques of Income Tax Planning (Tools & Techniques).

1. Book was received wrapped with care and in excellent condition. Seller takes pride in making sure buyer receives item as described. Would definately buy from this seller again, and recommend to friends and colleagues.