5 comments about How to Succeed as a Small Business Owner ... and Still Have a Life.

1. Bottom line: It requires lots of work to be able to kick back and let your business run itself instead of run you.
   
   But the author gives great guidance on what, when, and how to accomplish the ability to take time away from your business while it runs without you. Some paragraphs in this book could easily be expanded into chapters or even whole books. But a busy small business owner has no time for a whole book.
   
   I ended the book feeling "I've got a lot of work to do" - but you probably will too after reading How to Succeed as a Small Business Owner... and Still Have a Life.



2. Great book--Easy read, full of practical advice, and great examples. This book is much needed for any small business owner, but especially those who find themselves "spread too thin." Isn't that all of us?



3. I am a small business owner of 7 years standing. I liked this book a lot. While I was aware of many of the issues that the author raised, it is still worth a read. The ideas are presented in a concise, well planned and easy to read style.I found that every issue/idea was easy to reconcile against my own business. The author has been there and done it. The book is well structured and takes one through all of the areas that any small business owner needs to address if they are to have a life outside of the business!



4. We started a business 4 years ago (landscape consultancy practice in the Middle East), with one staff. The business has been a financial success (now with 24 staff) but we gave up many important things to achieve it. We read so many books on how to run a business. Bill's book was the one which helped us to chart the path to a balanced lifestyle. Appendix A is a checklist made from the chapter summaries. We use this periodically to score ourselves on how well we are maintaining a healthy balance. It's a worthwhile quick exercie.
   
   The book starts with "week in the life of" a frazzled buiness owner, and ends with a "week in the life of" a succesful small business owner. Just read these two and you will feel like reading the rest of the book.
   
   I recommend this book to everyone who is starting or running a small business. It is a great guide.



5. This is a must read for any small business owner. Written from the perspective of someone who has actually done it, this book is a clear, straightforward approach on how to have a better business and a better life. From the opening story of Bob's Printing Company, a typical small business owner drowning in a sea of things to do, we are given practical, real-world advice on personal priorities, delegation, marketing, hiring, planning, profit sharing, and more. The assessment at the end is an invaluable tool to help you know where you stand as a small business owner. Get it, read it, do it!

2 comments about Starting Out in Futures Trading.

1. For the price this is a great book to learn and help understand the specifics that make up all the basics in trading commodity-futures. After reading this book, I felt as if I had taken a formal college course on the subject of Futures and understood it much better from various angles now. There's no "hype" in the book, no agendas, no further products or services to buy being pitched to you, just plain vanilla (ok, french vanilla) basics being laid out for you in textbook fashion for you to digest in your own terms. I like that - it's refreshing in a way. It is probably like this because it was really written 20+ years ago (don't worry, it's been revised many times to be modernized - 5th edition, 1993). The book was originally written and printed in "Commodities" magazine as a popular mini-course series (before the magazine changed it's name to the modern "Futures" magazine we know it as today). Even though I knew much of the content from personal experience (the most costly way) or from other readings, my CTA, etc, I did not always understand the "why" behind the rules I was following & how the markets work the way they do from both a technical and fundmental perspective (dynamics). Of the some 28 chapters, I really took interest in almost every one. I can't say that about most of the other trading books I've read. Put it this way... if I could keep only 5 trading books, this would be one of them. You'll likely dump more than that on the commissions for 1 trade - or, worse yet, even more than that on 1 bad trade. ** Beginners, I recommend the following: If your goal is to have deeper pockets from trading - then you must first go deeper in your understanding of futures markets & trading them (i.e. Read the book).



2. Please note: This review refers to the 1991 edition.
   
   It is a good book, but this edition is plagued with typos, and mistakes in at least one chart. Don't make the same mistake I did; buy the last edition (I bought mine on the store with very little time ...) I haven't had the chance to check out the latest version (Starting Out in Futures Trading), my guess is that it's corrected and updated.
   
   About his writing, I like the fact that he mixes personal experience with academic and corporate studies about the market. I think the book becomes very useful that way.

1 comments about Forensic and Investigative Accounting (Third Edition).

1. When i went to school i found out that i could have gotten the book $20 cheaper.

5 comments about Ordinary People, Extraordinary Wealth: The 8 Secrets of How 5,000 Ordinary Americans Became Successful Investors--and How You Can Too.

1. I didn't enjoy one bit of this book. I disagreed with many of his "8 secrets", but even his examples to support his theories were outlandish and based on very rigid assumptions that aren't necessarily supported by real world conditions.
   
   And his perceived arrogance was anything but flattering. The entire time he was making his insane points, I felt like he was implying anyone who doesn't follow his advice is stupid. Fortunately, I read this book (and borrowed it for free from the library) prior to reading any of his other books, that he shamelessly plugs continuously throughout this entire waste of paper garbage of a book.
   
   Don't waste your time reading it.



2. I wish this book had been available when I first began investing! I could have avoided 90% of the (very costly) mistakes I made.
   
   Yes, the advice is simple. But that's the beauty of it.
   
   Don't switch your investments around too much. Don't pay too much attention to the financial media. These are the 2 tips I found the most helpful. I reacted out of fear and made emotional decisions. Very bad idea.
   
   I especially enjoyed the sections where Ric lets his clients speak for themselves.
   
   So, I highly recomment this book. Another, somewhat similar one I like is is "Eight Steps to Seven Figures" by Charles Carlson.



3. A lot of redunduncy. You don't miss anything if you skip "in their own words" pages.
   There should have been a mention of "retirement planning" on the title of this book. The book is mainly for 401K investments. Not a help for a reader who is after inspirational stories of "ordinary people with extraordinary wealth".



4. I highly recommend this book for those who are trying to figure out what they need in financial planning, when are they going to need it, and how to get there from here. Ric let his clients do the advising, the message is very powerful.



5. Some of the "secrets" in this book are good ideas, but not all. I disagree with the idea of not paying off your mortgage. (And I felt that way before the mortgage crisis) Unfortunately, that was the first secret in the book and it started me off with a bad impression.
   
   The book was based in interviews and research on a group of wealthy people. There are sections in the book that contain pieces of advice from those folks (best thing they ever did, worst mistake they ever made, etc) which provide some good ideas. However, many end up repeating the same things.
   
   Overall, it was an okay book but I have to admit I ended up skimming lots of it towards the end. I don't know that I came across anything really new to me (but then, I do read a lot of personal finance books). I'm also not certain that I agree with all the advice provided. My opinion is that The Millionaire Next Door offers better information. I'm glad I borrowed the book from the library instead of purchasing it.

5 comments about Starting and Running a Profitable Investment Club: The Official Guide from The National Association of Investors Corporation Revised and Updated.

1. Everything you need to know about investment clubs. You don't need to be part of a club to profit from this book. The one down side is that the writing style can be heavy going at times. The authors know their choosen field but the worked examples could have been better layed out. The book is full of tips and tools for the would-be investor. This book is the current standard when it comes to this subject.



2. This is a must read for anyone wanting to start an investment club or who is thinking of joining an existing club. While some portions of the book, at first, may be a bit overwhelming for a new investor, it all comes together easily and clearly. The questions to ask potential members, brokers, and others all help to insure that if your club is not succesful, it will be because of the market's performace and not your structure.



3. The strength of this book is that it's quite easy to read. The book is a great resource for beginning investors who are interested in forming an investment club. It can make for a great present to each member of your family. My brother got me this book as a present, and I finished it in a night; the following morning, we had devised a way to start a family investment club. I find myself contantly referring back to this book, especially the Apendices; the Glossary provided is rich with terms every investor needs to know--if you don't know the lingo, how do you expect to make any money?



4. This books shows you how to get started with an investment club. Such clubs are great educational opportunities, yet I have never seen an investment club help its members learn about options. In today's troubled markets, hedging with options makes good sense. THE SHORT BOOK ON OPTIONS explains how investment clubs can use options to generate the "expected" profits more quickly. Get both of these books and establish your investment club as one that reaps additional profits using options.



5. This book will give new clubs information on reading annual reports, preparing and using N.A.I.C. tools such as the Stock Selection Guide and more. This is the Investment Club Bible.

1 comments about How to Write a Great Business Plan (Harvard Business Review Classics).

1. Well, I paid $6.00 for this ebook. I am very disappointed. The "book" is a 12 page adobe file that is basically useless. If I had it to do over, I would have saved the $6.

5 comments about Security Analysis: The Classic 1934 Edition.

1. Security Analysis is the most important book ever written about the subject. (...)
   
   Sven Klein, Santa Barbara, CA



2. Yes, this is the best investing book I've ever read, but I never read the 2nd or 3rd editions so maybe they are better? I do know that the 5th edition is absolutely horrible, it wasn't written by Graham and has nothing to do with this book, and you won't learn anything about investing from reading it.
   
   You do need a strong background in accounting to understand this book. There are some archaic accounting terms used in the book that no longer apply today. A law school course in Corporations Law is helful here too.
   
   Nevertheless, every more modern book on "value investing" never really explained it as well as this book written in 1934.
   
   Yes, the book is long, but who said investing should be easy? If you want easy money, go to Vegas. I made hundreds of thousands of dollars in the stock market after I read this book. This book is more valuable than a college education and a lot cheaper.



3. The best book for stock analysis. The thing that impresses me the most is that it takes investors emotions into account--the main reason people don't make money in stocks.



4. My star rating is for the 1934 edition, but this review may appear for other editions of the book.
   
   The 1934 edition came out before the creation of the SEC and deals with a lot of accounting irregularities that are not such a problem today. I suggest you buy a newer edition.
   
   Some people seem to have a preference for the 1940 edition. The 1951 edition was the first one written after the Great Depression, so it dealt with businesses in a more normal economic environment. The 1962 edition was the last written directly by Graham and Dodd, but it is currently unavailable. The 1988 edition is the most recent edition of Security Analysis, but it was updated by other authors years after Graham had died. The 1988 edition is the one currently used as a textbook for Columbia University's Security Analysis course.



5. After reading "Intelligent Investor", I wanted to get into the more technical stuff so I got this book. There is excellent stuff in this book but for an individual investor managing her own money some of the recommended research is not practical. The book is more appropraite for someone who works in the industry such as a mutual fund manager. For example as an individual investor it is just not possible for you to obtain all the necessary information on competitors, industry, suppliers, etc... on every company whose stock you own. The book is very thorough and certainly an excellent reference. In order to follow the authors' recommendation you will have to quit your day job however. Great text book for a business school class.

5 comments about Income Investing Today: Safety & High Income Through Diversification.

1. If you're looking to become active in your own retirement saving, but are frightened by the volatility of the stock market, and put off by the low returns of the bond market, Richard Lehmann offers a sure fire alternative in Income Investing Today. Income Investing Today chronicles in great detail an alternative investment universe that provides the high returns of the stock market with the minimal risk of the bond market. New hybrid securities like preferred stock, convertible bonds and ETFs are his weapon of choice and you need only look at the track record to be convinced. Lehmann outlines a step-by-step plan of how to build wealth on your own without paying outrageous management fees or gambling away your nest egg on Wall Street. Simply put, Lemann shows you how to make big returns without the big risk, on your own. This book is certain to become the investment bible of baby boomers tired of paying pointless management fees and eager to become involved with their own investment portfolio or retirement savings. Lehmann, a Forbes columnist, puts his three decades as an authority on fixed income investment to good use and knocks one out the park. Income Investing Today is an invaluable tool to the independent investor with an eye on retirement savings.



2. The reader will find author Richard Lehmann witty and thorough as he discusses the key to building a steady, growth-orientated income portfolio. He states that in investing, "very little is highly predictable and nothing is certain." In the investment process both fear and greed are facts of life and Richard explains that both must be kept in check. Whether you're a buy and hold investor, total return investor, a desperate investor or a scared investor Richard's book on Income Investing will enlighten you and provide tools for action.
   
   He states, "My basic premise is that the key to building a steady, growth-orientated income portfolio is to diversify over a variety of securities that depend on a different drivers (ie., portfolios that are not vulnerable to any once specific economic factor such as interest rates." The reader will learn of many new investment products in the income investment market with acronyms to catch the investor's attention. Mr. Lehmann suggests many that are interesting to use for income and others to avoid. Years of experience are at the reader's fingertips as Richard leads the reader through both the new and more conventional income products.
   
   Unexpected and welcome gifts are Richards insights and discussion associated with retirement investment, managing tax in the fixed income portfolio, buying and selling securities and what to ask your broker when buying an income security. His discussion about default and bankruptcy are most informative and provides the investor with background not often seen in investment books. What to pay for a security and when to sell are questions of high concern to investors and Richard provides some insight to this problem.
   
   This book provides an informative look at some of the actions of the Federal Reserve Bank and the various credit rating services. For the non-accountant Mr. Lehmann with his CPA hat on discusses key financial statements that you need to understand.
   
   Income investment includes certain income stocks and mutual funds such as bond, Exchange Traded Funds and closed end funds. Mr. Lehmann addresses these securities in some detail and offers up some very experienced arguments of how they can be used in building an income investment portfolio.
   
   Certificate of Deposits are considered very low risk products, Richard suggests that is you have saved enough to build a monthly payout ladder of CD's and live comfortably that God had surely blessed you and you no longer need to read his book. Of course that would be a big mistake just think of what you will be missing.
   
   The reader will find his book entertaining and informative. It provides income investment strategy, product description, portfolio make up, brokerage discussion, managing risk and uncertainty and a super Glossary.
   
   A worthy text on the desk....for even the equity investor.
   
   Herbert Ridderbusch- Investor



3. In this low interest rate environment investors need to work harder to maintain a high level of income from their investments. Add to this that author Lehmann sees low interest rates for the "forseeable future". This means that an income portfolio needs to diversify across an expanding variety of financial instruments, maturities, and even credit (risk) quality to achieve its goal. The key here is to recognize that some income investments respond to "drivers" (viz. circumstances) other than interest rate moves which in turn insulates them from this traditional risk.
   
   It follows that the diversified income investor will consider some non-traditional or out of favor (relatively cheap) assets such as REITS (driven by real estate cycles), Canadian Energy Income Trusts (the demand for energy), dividend paying common stocks (affected by broad economic cycles), near investment grade junk bonds (discounted by fear but subject to credit upgrades), and beleaguered automotive bonds. Closed end funds also get the nod because they generate high income and can often be bought at a discount to their underlying values. Given that the retail investor is the focus of this book and that new CEFs are rolling-out monthly, I would have liked more discussion of their trading strategies and risks.
   
   Among the investments to avoid are unit investment trusts, collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs), packaged equity hedges marketed under cutesy acronyms as Sequins, Elks, etc. and hedge funds ("rarely has so much money been entrusted to so few people with such limited talent"). Lehmann is decidedly ambivalent about mutual funds due to their internal costs, tax inefficiencies, and focus on short term performance. No surprise his preference is for individual securities which are also less sensitive to interest rate changes as they move their principal to date certain maturities.
   
   The serious do-it-yourself income investor will find some good ideas in these pages, but I question Equipment Trust Certificates as a retail investment. Good luck if you need to sell them. A section on Direct Access Notes is in intriguing, but again, I wonder about their liquidity. Lehmann is a strong proponent of preferred and convertible stocks, but there is a confusing amount of information on their structures. A discussion of the bankruptcy process, advice on when to sell your positions, and useful information that can be gleaned from prospectuses and financial statements might have gone to an Appendix with more direct focus on securities in the main text.



4. This book informs the reader/investor about a solid and reasonable approach to safe income investing. The examples and explanations are good (I will save your time by referring you to the other reviews for more detail). The author disappoints by advertising his investment letter. Nothing wrong with that if either the book or the investment letter were free of charge, but they are not.



5. The book does a great job of explaining income possibilities for those of us who have limited knowledge. Like a previous reviewer stated, I would have also liked more information on Closed End Funds and the structure of the book is a little fragmented but it is definitely readable and is a good introduction to his style. I have been an avid reader of his newsletter for four years and his recommendations are very well thought out. To my knowledge, it is the only publication that does this kind of work and it is the only proper way that I can think of to actualize the book. I am a very fearful investor and this style has worked very well for me. I have managed to set up an income stream of approximately 10% per year, I have made some nice gains at times, specially with the Canadian Trusts, and I have been able to recover from recommendations that have not worked out. The fluctuations in the securities that I have selected do not seem to have been more or less drastic than the market in general with the exception of the Closed End Funds. They do not seem to have done as well but the dividends have kept me in the game. Happy returns!

5 comments about The New Talkpower: The Mind Body Way to Speak Without Fear (Capital Ideas for Business & Personal Development) (Capital Ideas for Business & Personal Development).

1. I've tried it all. Self-help books, Hypnosis, Yoga, breathing exercises, voice lessons, public speaking workshops, Toastmasters... nothing ever worked, and I never understood why.

   Finally, I took Natalie Rogers' weekend workshop on Public Speaking, and at last I understood. Public Speaking isn't like other phobias out there, like a Fear of Flying or a Fear of Heights. Conquering Public Speaking requires you to do more than just overcome fear; it requires you to:

   1) Learn how to WRITE an effective speech

   2) Learn how to BREATHE and SPEAK well

   3) Learn how to PERFORM under stress

   When you have a Fear of Heights, you can curl up in a little ball and wait for the fear to pass. Therapists call this "extinction therapy"... if your patients expose themselves to the situation which triggers the fear, the phobia eventually goes extinct. This actually works for basic phobias... but it DOESN'T work for phobias that require you to actually do more than just curl up in a ball.

   Natalie does a sensational job of 1) and 2) above, by giving you speech templates that really help you write a quick and effective speech... and then teaching you how to breathe and use your voice. That in itself would be worth the price of the book... but Natalie actually has developed a breakthrough approach to performing under pressure that is so powerful it is worth calling out.

   Basically, the idea is this - it is IMPOSSIBLE to be nervous if you are concentrating on something. You know that feeling you get when you are really focused on something? You lose track of time, you lose yourself in your work... and in that moment, it is actually physiologically impossible to be self-conscious or nervous. Well, Natalie takes advantage of this physiological fact and taps it to help you neutralize speaking nervousness. And she's found a way to trigger concentration that doesn't require mental energy... and so you can actually achieve focus during a difficult speech, and take advantage of this physical phenomena to eradicate nervousness.

   I know, I know - it all sounds too good to be true. I'll admit - I haven't recovered 100% from my public speaking fears. I can speak to groups or to someone important... but put me in front of a group of important people, and I'll get nervous. But here's where Natalie's techniques really come in handy. Before I speak, I prepare a speech using her templates. I practice my breathing and make sure that I've got my speaking voice working in the privacy of my home. Then, I use her concentration technique to mitigate the nervousness of speaking. The first few minutes are still tough, but the nervousness passes... and I am calm, confident, and comfortable.

   It's such a strange feeling to be able to say that I'm calm, confident, and comfortable in front of a crowd. It's been a couple of years since my first panic attack in front of a group of colleagues, and being bad at speaking has almost become part of my identity. But, it's really true... you really CAN overcome these fears to become not only a non-phobic speaker, but a really good public speaker!

   If you can afford to go to Natalie's weekend seminars, then by all means that's probably the easiest way to learn all this. But I've been to the workshop and I've read this book, and the fact is that all of the information in the workshop is right here in this sixteen dollar book. The book really is beautifully designed, and the binding actually holds up well - which is a good thing, because you'll find yourself returning to the book again and again.

   I can't recommend this book highly enough. Good luck conquering your public speaking fears!




2. That learning a technique can overcome such a powerful fear, but it did! Very well written, and the techniques are fully explained in both the "how to" sense, and the underlying basis for them. Highly recommended.



3. I teach a public speaking class and I'm a longtime member of Toastmasters International. This is the best public speaking book I have ever seen. I am planning to make it the required reading for my public speaking class. The author, Natalie Rogers in an actress and psychologist and has helped people overcome her speaking fears for many years.
   One thing Toastmasters does not teach is the psychology behind public speaking and the fear of it. I found some articles to cover this. This book does an even better job. There are templates for speeches in the book. You can read it through once, then refer to it when you need it. It is also easy enouch to follow to keep ones interest. Dr. Rogers is a very gentle teacher and I recommend this without question.



4. Why did I buy this book? I was hooked at once when I began to read the introduction, where the author, Natalie Rogers, a former actress, acting teacher and behavioral psychotherapist, reports the feelings she had when she attended a class about "Oral Communication" and witnessed the students' ordeal during presentations:

   "Was I the only one aware of the discomfort and loss of concentration? Apparently, the instructor was not concerned. Apart from her command to relax, she ignored the students' profound distress and continued urging them to make eye contact and speak more slowly. `Don't be so nervous,' she'd add, presumably trying to be helpful. `We support you.'

   I was bewildered . This wasn't at all like the systematic training I had received in acting school, where we were given intensive coaching for concentration, relaxation, attention, and awareness. Here, except for the suggestion to relax, the sole focus was on the preparation of the speech, with no serious attention paid to the painful loss of confidence that many students were experiencing."

   Natalie's book gives you the training. It teaches detailed, concrete, step-by-step methods to address the fear of public speaking. I have consulted various books about the fear of public speaking during the past couple of years, but this book provides the most powerful and straightforward step-by-step training approach of them all. Just to give only a few concrete examples of how this book is full of extremely valuable information page for page: It provides a detailed step-by-step instruction of correct belly breathing - all the other books which mentioned breathing techniques left me with the impression I had to take "deep" breathes in order to have the desired effects. Another example: The author writes "The idea of managing or confronting your fear is meaningless ... People with anxiety about speaking in public cannot overcome their problem with cavalier advice. The only reasonable solution is a method that will eliminate the fear and its devastating effects.", and later in the book explains why videotape is not the appropriate tool for beginning and fearful speakers - now I understand why training seminars with video, offered by my company, only left me embarrassed and frustrated, and with an even greater feeling of helplessness! And a last example: I always had wondered why visualization exercises had not the desired effects for me, and attributed it to my lack of commitment - now I know better!

   This book is much more than only a book on public speaking. It teaches a comprehensive, systematic mind-body training approach on how to prepare yourself for performance situations. In the author's words: "Performance is any situation where you feel that you are being judged or evaluated by others. This ability to detach your thoughts from focusing on the audience and their approval, is a skill that you can develop if you commit yourself to the TalkPower program as described in this book." Buy this book - it provides you with the practical methods you need to help yourself.




5. I found Natalie Rogers' text, THE NEW TALK POWER, very useful for a Public Speaking college course. Rogers gives a step-by-step guide made up of "templates" for standard 5-7 minute speeches. She integrates the preparation phases with acting exercises (proper breathing, visualization, etc.)and provides the reader with many examples of speeches. The book is a valuable tool for speech classes. My only quibble is that she might have provided a little more background in interpersonal communication including providing examples and definitions of terms associated with effective verbal and non-verbal communication (i.e., emblems, rhetorical questions, decoding, etc.)

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

1. By far the best introduction to bonds is Annette Thau's The Bond Book. But Thau makes no attempt to explain why the price of a given bond fluctuates over time. Crescenzi, one of the most frequently cited of the legion of professional Fed watchers, tries to make up this deficiency, describing the impact of Fed moves, market perceptions of the state of the economy, the supply of new issues, etc. on bond prices.
   But Crescenzi has a much more ambitious agenda. He explains how the yield curve can be used to forecast developments in the economy. Other chapters summarize how to predict trends within the bond market, from analyzing the put/call ratio to interpreting the economic data that a dozen or more agencies spew out every week. He makes the case that knowing the bond market will be useful to anyone with a credit card in his or her wallet.
   Crescenzi also wants the book to serve as a general introduction to bonds. There are chapters on "bond basics," types of bonds, risks facing the investor, and then inexplicably late in the book, chapters on credit ratings and using the internet. The latter is particularly weak chapter (Thau's isn't much better.) For whatever reasons, Crescenzi doesn't explain clearly how to use the internet to research individual bonds and check recent trades, and doesn't give the URLs of the sites that let you do this and purchase bonds.
   If it sounds like the book is a bit of a hodge-podge, that's because it is. The book's organization leaves a lot to be desired, apart from the scope being too broad. Not only is the sequence of chapters mysterious, but there's a fair amount of repetition. While the writing itself is pretty lively, or at least conversational, I'm not sure Crescenzi has figured out his intended audience. Even though this is an introduction, some readers are bound to feel he's assuming too little and being condescending at times.
   The best chapters are probably 7,8, and 9 on the yield curve, real yields, and rate forecasting. Crescenzi apparently wasn't trained as an economist or historian, and when he tries to describe the effect of interest rates on politics, he goes awry. A big fan of Clinton, he imagines Hoover believed in and practiced "laissez faire" and that budget deficits inevitably result in high interest rates. A chart of deficits as a percent of GDP vs. the yield on the 10 year note would reveal the wrongheadness of this claim. In general, there are far too few charts and graphs thoughout the book. Many more important points ought to be represented graphically--like changes in yield spreads in Ch. 12.
   Still another gripe--munis get slighted throughout the book.
   Despite these negatives, The Strategic Bond Investor fills an important niche and is definitely worth reading. Crescenzi is an ethusiastic teacher and he makes a fairly complex subject accessible. Though there are certainly books introducing readers to the economic indicators and explaining the Federal Reserve System, I don't know of another book that tries to make the bond market as a whole intelligible to outsiders. Hope he gets a chance to revise this in a second edition.



2. Although this book contains good information on types of bonds, yield curves and things that affect the bond market and interest rates, I found it disappointing. To me, it was overly wordy and sometimes repetitive. At times, I felt that I was slogging through molasses. My biggest disappointment was that it did not get into the specific bond investing actions that an individual like myself would take using the information presented. There was nothing about things that I was interested in i.e., bond laddering, bond mutual funds, convertible bonds, when to buy or sell short, intermediate and long term bonds, etc.



3. The Strategic Bond Investor is much more thorough and relevant than most bond books. Others who commented discussed the lack of certain strategies, but those reviews miss the point. The book offers strategies and insights that are the most important ones to grasp: those which help investors to forecast what to expect next in the bond market. Sure, laddering, and other traditional strategies are important, but they do not represent the path to big money, understanding trends in the markets is far more important and this book is a major help in that regard. Other books are very weak in talking about the things that move markets. For example, there is an excellent section on the inverted yield curve, and insights into tools for tracking market sentiment and how to use futures to gather market intelligence. Mr. Crescenzi works on Wall Street, so his insights are better than anyone on the outside could deliver.
   
   There is also an appendix in the back of the book that gives great insights into the major monthly economic news that is released each month.
   
   The Strategic Bond Investor is far above other bond books and is easy to understand.



4. This book is worth the money, it belongs on your bookshelf next to Malkiel's Random Walk down Wall Street. Anthony Crescenzi leading fixed income analyst at Miller Tabek and creator of Bondtalk does an excellent job with this work. I myself received my undergraduate degree in Finance and was honored to participate in my university's first two invitations to the Federal Reserves education challenges for undergraduate and high school students.
   
   I found this book an extremely good reference, outline and compandium for the understanding of fixed income investment vehicles and the economic market environment in which they exist. This book would be ideal in combination with say the Princeton Professor Malkiels book Random Walk down wall street which explains equities, their analysis and the markets in which they trade.
   
   I would suggest this book to the lay investor who maybe doesnt even manage the majority of his/her asset just to understand the fundamentals. Ofcourse, the world of finance and in my opinion especially fixed income can be the drabbest, greyest, quantitatively complicated and mind numbing topics. But I must say that Mr. Crescenzi breaths a light humor and a little youth into the subject matter.
   
   And to the person with say a degree in business, finance or economics this book elaborates on topics probably already discussed into further detail. After reading the aprox. 300 pages and the appendix entitled a power tool for investors which describes the leading economic indicators and extrapolations one can take from them. The student can expect to be able to render even better analyses of the domestic economy with better understanding of stimuli that effect the price of fixed income securities.
   
   All over this book is great should you be the least bit interested in fixed income it covers all the bases. I am almost positive that you will fail to find a better book on fixed income/bonds out there the man who wrote this is very highly respected in his field and also worth checking out is the website his pioneered bondtalk. Perfect for the financial scientist!!!



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.