No comments about Shaping Your Career (Pocket Mentor) (Pocket Mentor).

5 comments about Make It Glow: How to Build a Company Reputation for Human Goodness, Flawless Execution, and Being Best-in-class.

1. Fianlly there is a book that inspires me as much as 7 Habits. Thank you Dr. DeCotiis.



2. I wonder if Tom talks about managing from right to left in the book. Because for years the talk was about managing from left to right (the experience of the employees drives towards a better profit to sum it up simply). It was a great idea on the surface and many bought in. But then some years ago Tom spoke how he was talking with a rich friend and he queried him about what it takes to have a successful solvent business. The guy told Tom it was 10 million in gross revenues. From that day on it was no longer about left to right philosophy. It was all about the bottom line and growth for growth's sake so Tom could feel more adequate among his rich buddies.
   
   It's very sad when one stops walking the talk... yet they still talk.



3. "Make it Glow" is a C-level must read...or really anyone who wants to make a difference in the world! It is often said: "What takes place behind closed doors, where very few can observed, is a test of one's real character." For the last four years I have been a member of Tom's Leadership Team and I have personally seen Tom in action, "behind close doors." Often I have thought to myself, I wish Tom could put his amazing insights, which he consistently lives day-in-and-day-out, in print for others to embrace. "Make it Glows" is a "How to build an extraordinary enterprise" text book full of practical guidelines for leaders who have the passion to lead by example and the courage to always do the right thing. This is who Tom DeCotiis is and the story he shares in "Make it Glow."



4. Charisma is that intangible quality that just seems to make some people more likable than others. "Make It Glow: How to Build a Company Reputation for Human Goodness, Flawless Execution, and Being Best in Class" argues that charisma is something that businesses can have as well. Positive public image can be invaluable to any business; the public perception that a business is run by good people who care about others rather than just a stereotypical money grubbing evil corporation can make all the difference. "Make It Glow: How to Build a Company Reputation for Human Goodness, Flawless Execution, and Being Best in Class" is highly recommended to anyone in charge of a business and for community library business collections.



5. Make it Glow made me glow. This is a great read, entertaining, grounded in theory, data, and full of real results. The author's approach is engaging, thoughtful and comprehensive.
   
   You can't help but be won over by this approach. The frameworks build on several academic disciplines yet the author recognizes the practicality of operating in a fast paced and competitive market place. It was helpful to see the author's examples of his own company and journey.
   
   As an HR professional in a global Fortune 50 company, I found this book very helpful and will leverage this framework to assist my clients and leaders in their desire to have a sustainable and competitive culture and employment brand.

No comments about Consumer Insights 2.0 How Smart Companies Apply Customer Knowledge to the Bottom Line.

2 comments about Green Development: Integrating Ecology and Real Estate.

1. This book throughly presents sustainable real estate development. It answers the basic questions of how, what, when, why and who with text and photos illustrating numerous case studies.

   It is written for a wide and concerned audience, composed of real estate professionals, financiers and designers. This book is not technical. It is a conceptual book and guides the reader toward sustainable solutions.

   This subject is very large and this book is necessarily a summary, which includes recent projects.

   This book does not "preach to the choir". It addresses difficult obstacles to the sustainable development paradigm and provides workable solutions.




2. An excellent overview of the evolving movement towards green development. The book is somewhat dated and lacks in-depth coverage in some areas. Regardless effectively gets you into the space.

5 comments about The Roaring 2000s Investor: Strategies for the Life You Want.

1. Harry Dent is a bull. Hands down, gotta-own-stocks, Katie-bar-the-door bull.

   If you need a shot of confidence in your battered portfolio this book will give it to you.

   Dent has the economic research, the demographic data, market insights, and statistical modelling to build a very persuasive case for equities over the next 6 1/2 years, until 2009.

   Be careful of the sectors you are in and keep an eye on your allocation, he warns. The markets will shift dramtically down the road. I read his book today and will be changing my asset allocation tomorrow.

   Harry S. Dent makes a strong case to be bullish.

   I would have liked to read a more current introduction from him in light of market and economic developments over the past two years, but his basic story has remained, largely, unchanged. 4 Stars.




2. In late 1999 the stock market was in a hey day. I would walk into work in the morning and my supervisor would say to me, "Ron, your stock is already up three points!" Then I came across this book by Harry Dent, and I showed it to some co-workers. At the time, this book seemed to be a revelation to us.
   In the early 90s, Harry Dent predicted that in the late 90s, the stock market would hit 10,000, and we would have low inflation and low unemployment. That indeed happended, so it seemed reasonable to listen to his further prognostications. In this book, he predicts that the DOw would hit 40,000 in the year 2007, followed by a sharp bear market that would last for about 10 years.
   What was his basis for predicting this? Well, lets call it the "birthrate theory." Harry Dent took a chart of birthrates, shifted it by about 44 years, and saw that this chart had a strong correlation with the ups and downs of the economy and the stock market. Why shift the birth rate chart 44 years? Because that is the age by and large where people reach their peak in earning and spending. They have reached maximum productivity--they are old enough to have learned what needs learning, and young enough before the natural decline of aging. So basically, when the group of those around 44 years old increases, so goes the theory, the stock market and the economy goes up, and when the group of those around 44 years old decreases, the market and economy is in decline. Thus that "baby boom generation" when they entered their 40s, fueled the market and economic surge of the 80s and 90s. An interesting point to be made concerning Dent's interpretaion of this data is that while people conventioanlly start the "baby boom generation" from 1945, Dent starts it a couple of years earlier, and I do think he is right, the increase in birthrates started earlier than 1945.
   One objection to Dent's theory that has been made--by Dr. Shiller who wrote "Irrational Exuberance"--is that why did not this demographic birthrate theory affect other asset classes, like real estate. A reply to this objection from the basis of the birthrate theory is that it has but in a different way--that since people buy homes generally when they are in thier 20s and 30s, then you should shift the bithrate chart around 30 years for real estate. And this seems to be confirmed by the experience of the 1970s, when real estates values went up when the baby boom generation was in the 20s and 30s.
   A devasting objection to Dent's theory, however, is that is has been for all intents and purposes been falsified. For the market to reach 40,000 in the year 2007 from this point today, the market would have TO HAVE AN ANNUAL RATE OF RETURN OF AT LEAST 25 PERCENT FOR THE NEXT FIVE YEARS. The odds of that happening are astronomical and has no precedent in stock market history.
   Dent had a chart showing the rates of return of the market by decade. He pointed out that while there has been two consecutive decades of above average market returns (for example, the 50s and 60s, and the 80s and 90s) there has never been THREE CONSECUTIVE decades of above average returns--but the exeception would be this time. Dent should have stuck with the decade analysis.
   So it looks like that the period of 2000-2010 will be a decade of below average returns for the stock market, comparable to the 30s and the 70s.
   This book has some value in that it can get one to think in broader historical terms about the markets. Part of the title of this review/essay is "but there is hope." As the decade analysis of the market shows, bear markets do not last forever, though they may last a decade, and then they are followed by bull markets. SO perhaps around the year 2010 a new bull market will begin and it would be a good time to be invested.
   If one is interested in good investment advice, I have been following Bob Brinker lately. He has a radio show about investing heard on stations around the country. In early 2000 he told his listeners to get out of the NASDAQ and the market; Brinker was right in calling the top. He has not yet gone back into the market--thus avoiding terrible declines for his followers. Mr. Brinker, against the academic view, thinks he can "time" the market, and believes that one can make money on rallies in the general bear makret. He has not, at this time, yet given a signal when this "counter-cyclical" rally in the bear market will occur. Stay tuned.



3. I read this book back in 2000 before the crash and agreed with
   some of his reasoning as to the mechanics and ideas which would be implemented in the New Millenium, but disagreed with his
   belief that there would be such great prosperity,as history ALWAYS repeats itself.
   But alas, no one wants a pessimist. Then he came out with the "Roaring 2000's Investor", which again was creative and showed brilliance, but proved to by flawed on many levels. Now he has another book slated to come out

   "The Greatest Bull Market in History: 2003-2008: Investment, Business and Life Strategies - For the Great Boom Ahead and the Great Bust to Follow"

   If his past predictions are any indication, this title itself is already filled with hindsight and error. I can tell you there will be no sustainable bull market on any of the indexes for at least the next decade.

   I must admit I would like to speak with this guy. With a few real life experiences under his belt he may really hit the target, but so far the best title for a book would be "The Roaring 2000's: How to prosper by making the best seller list by publishing books that make people believe you have the answers."

   Lession #1: Don't put dates in the titles of your books that try to predict the future"




4. Peter Drucker has been teaching the importance of demographics to business people and investors for decades. In all this time, only Harry S. Dent, Jr. has created a practical look at the implications of demographics for each of us. In creating this book, he has moved well beyond his earlier work, and created information that each person must have. For a popular book, this is written in a way that makes it very accessible and easy to use. I highly recommend that you get this book, read it, and refer to the many wonderful summary graphs daily to remind you what questions to ask yourself about how demographics will affect your life, business, and investments. I look forward to reading future books from Mr. Dent.
   
   As you will notice when you read the book, demographics is not fate . . . so economies do vary from what their potential is. Pay attention to the thought process rather than the conclusions.



5. Population growth affects every trend in the economy: earnings and spending, saving and borrowing, inflation and deflation, innovation and abandonment is driven by the predictable age of new generations of consumers and workers. New generations come in waves every 40 years. The baby boomers massive savings will elevate the stock market to new heights. Bet on predictable savings, saving trends, and the following sector-profits (technology, financial services, health care, and travel and leisure). The most import forecasting tool for our economy is the spending wave, it predicts the booms and bust, it predictions extend five years in advance. The baby boomer spending and productivity demonstrate higher trends into 2008-2009 and assuming 16% growth the DOW will be 40,000 meaning wealth doubles every 4 ½ years.
   
   As, the new generation population peak productivity and consumption causes an economic burst, reduces inflation, and innovation investments produce new technologies. The 80-year cycle starts the new generations birth, college education in the first part of the curve, at 46.5 years of age increases in spending and productive peak, at 58 years of age increases in investment power business revolutions, and at 68 years of age increases in savings investments boast financial institutions offering fixed asset securities.
   
   Each new generation burst on the economy with radically new technologies, one such technology is networks predicted to extend penetration from 1994 - 2025 and the baby boomer generation spending increases started around 2002 and will continue until 2008-2009. The 80 year cycle will shift from a standardized economy to a customized economy with more personalized services and products. Every 500 years there is a population explosion, characterized by 4 fold increases in population and we are in one of these 500 year cycles. The population explosion drives large innovation cycles. The information revolution or innovation is just starting to emerge. The current bull market will continue into 2008, experience deflationary pressure in 2009 and continue to struggle until 2022-2023, a stock crash probable in 2014.
   
   In phase 1 of the 80 year cycle which will last for 19 to 22 years are characterized by high expenses, high investment, high innovation, low earnings, low productivity, and low spending. In Phase II represents a great economic boom characterized by rising earnings, spending, and productivity and lasts 26-27 years. At the midpoint, the group is leveraging debt ratios to buy second homes, and paying off debt levels as they continue to fall, these are the power years.
   
   Economic Cycle, stage 1: characterized by inflation as investment pour into create infrastructure surrounding innovation; a recession will emerge caused from a downward spending wave; a new economy will emerge; huge investments will be make too retool the new infrastructure create many new technologies and companies of the new generation as they enter the workforce. Invest in Real Estate, Small cap stocks, international stocks, T-Bills and CDs, and Gold.
   
   Stage 2: The growth boom starts will the individualistic generation entering the spending wave, inflation falls, technologies drive productivity, the new generation buys new products and technologies, luxury items become mainstream as they become more affordable, large cap companies outperform small cap in a race for market leadership, 30 year US treasures yield become attractive sources of fixed income (13.9% from 1981 to 1998), and bond appreciate in value as inflation drops. Invest in real estate, large cap companies, long-term bonds.
   
   Deflationary shakeout is characterized by falling prices, high unemployment, and lack of innovation. During this time small cap companies will outperform Large Cap companies 6 to 1. Invest in long term government bonds or corporate bonds, small cap stocks, and real estate and commercial buildings.
   
   The maturity boom of (2023-2050) generates an enormous cycle of spending, market saturation, and growth bursts. Invest in Large cap stocks, small cap, residential real estate, and commercial real estate.
   
   Inflation has always followed large surges in births and population. Population growth has been accelerating since World War II, prosperity increasing, and the growth will continue for decades. New workers entering the workforce, as they become more productive cause inflation to go down. In the early stages the market see the entrance of a population mass of rebellious and innovative new young people, whose rising expenses spark increased social and technological innovations requiring massive investment in the new infrastructure. Expect inflation. As this group ages into productivity, consumer spending increases, spending stimulates growth, inflation falls, and quality of life improves. Countries like India, South East Asia, and the Middle East are experiencing the new generation affect. The fed has little or nothing to do with the market trends and its resulting inflation. The fed is left to react too the greater forces of population trends. The wealth affect will continue to expand into Europe, Australia, New Zealand and strong growth in Asia like Japan, China, S Korea, and Latin America will offset domestic decline, stock crashes, and deflation.

No comments about Taxation of Individual Income.

No comments about State Tax Handbook (2008) (State Tax Handbook).

No comments about Economics, a Free Market Reader.

4 comments about How Wall Street Works, 2nd Edition.

1. "How Wall Street Works" by David Logan Scott is so simply written that even a novice can be assured of acquiring a basic and clear understanding of the world of finance. The question and answer format gives brief and concise explanations without the clutter of the usual confusing and unnecessary jargon. I particularly appreciated the analogies to common-day experiences and the "bottom line" style summaries at the beginning and not the end of the chapters. This book can easily be read and digested in a couple of hours or less. A worthwhile expenditure of your time.



2. This is one of the best books I have found for expaining investing to a novice like myself. The author has done a good job of discussing difficult topics in an easily understandable manner. I highly recommend this book.



3. I found this book to be an excellent source of investment information for a novice investor such as myself. Written in common English, the author doesn't try to impress the reader with big words and far out theory. I recommend this to any person who wants to learn the basics of investing.



4. Why five stars: cause it's a nice book for those that know wall street without really understanding how it works (so great title). Still it is soft but the content is rather strong, not too boring, short and the p[resentation is very good. Built aroud lots of questions-answers, that might interest a very large public.
   Advice: Buy it cause it is very cheap for the information it provides compared to other books
   Note: That is a great introductory book

5 comments about How to Get Started in Real Estate Investing.

1. Great book. I got it fast and read it through in four days. It really proved useful in my research and as a guide.
   
   Thank you.
   
   Harry



2. Borrowed this from a friend and bought my own copy now. I liked the easy going intro and it is a beginner's guide / summary of all the investing options for real estate.



3. Irwin describes in excruciating detail how the steps to take to get started and maintain a real estate portfolio. Evidently, he's written 40 books and it makes sense because he's extremely knowledgeable. He goes into the ins and outs of looking for the right property and buying it with the help of "the right agent." He even describes what the "right agent" looks like: middle aged, honest, pleasant... Irwin writes about the tax benefits and the prospects for good tenants. There are some great tips throughout (he describes Fannie Mae and other real estate institutions and terms) but there's nothing too clever- all of the information is basic and straightforward (nothing clever like another book I just read ("How to Take Advantage..."by Morse). It's a great read, but if you're looking for inspiration to buy a house, look elsewhere like Bach's "Start Late Finish Rich" for women- this book doesn't say WHY you should buy a house.



4. Robert Irwin has written a good book on how to get started in real estate. His beginning story with Leslie, David, and Leo really simplify the thought process of investing. It was a great idea to use one's first residence as an investment property. This gives a fresh outlook on real estate investing. Now real estate could be purchased on 2 fronts. He gives good points to the beginner which seasoned investors may already know. Unfortunately he only scratches the surface of real estate without giving real world examples and numbers. All in all the tips and traps illustrations should serve as a good outline to all real estate investors.
   He definitely followed the KISS (Keep it simple ...) acronym and it is a refreshing read.



5. This is a book I find myself returning to time and time again. The insights are multi-dimensional; and every reading is a fresh experience. Contains a lot of insiteful information for the beginner investor mostly; but also for the experienced investor. I recommend this book.