5 comments about The Complete Guide to Investing in Rental Properties.

1. I have read all of the real estate investing books by Steve Berges, in addition to many others by other authors. I have found that Mr. Berges is by far the best author on real estate investment, period. If you haven't read "The Complete Guide to Buying and Selling Apartment Buildings," then you are doing it wrong.
   
   Mr. Berges' basic approach is to teach you what to look for, and how to analyze property before you buy it. With this approach you will know how much money you will make in the end, before you have even made the down payment. Berges explains this approach very thoroughly and effectively, with an informal, anecdotal style that makes you feel like you are discussing real estate methods with your rich uncle.
   
   "The Complete Guide to Investing in Rental Properties" is Berges' newest book. Having read all of his previous books, I found this one to be a little redundant. The first half of the book is a review of infomation found in more detail in his other books, and even includes excerpts from his other work. But that allows the book to stand on its own. The rest of the book is all new, and pure gold. Mr. Berges discusses his techniques for managing property and tenants, increasing property value and reducing expenses.
   
   If you were only allowed to read one book on real estate investing, "The Complete Guide to Investing in Rental Properties" would be it. However, then you would be missing out on all of Steve Berges' other books. On the other hand, were you to have read the others, in my opinion you would not only have all the information needed to begin a successful real estate venture, you would also have a significant advantage over all those investors out there who have not read his work.
   
   Given that this has been such a raving review, I feel I should head off assumptions that I work for Steve Berges, or the publisher, or even know him. I do not. I have only read many books on real estate investing, and I have come to recognize Mr. Berges' books to be the champions of them all. You just have to read one to know what I am talking about.



2. This book was not as easy for a me to understand as other books I have read. He goes really into detail on showing how to make sure your cash flow and the property is one you want to buy, but he doesn't do much to show or tell you how to buy homes as I had hoped.



3. I can only imagine that this book was written for the sole purpose of making money off of poor schmucks, like myself, who bought it thinking it might have some useful information. It doesn't, save your money and look elsewhere on the given subject. Example information conveyed in the book includes, in essence, such helpful hints as don't buy rental homes next to slums or trash-dumps.



4. I'm surprised at the lackluster reviews of this book. I found it outstanding and learned a great deal about how to acquire the best properties and make them as profitable s possible.



5. This book is a good idea, and presents relatively useful information in a straightforward fashion. BUT: the book as a whole suffers from some elements that make this a mediocre choice. A strong candidate in a long tradition of making business and finance texts unreadable, ruining the subject for millions.
   
   1. Poor prose: the writing is mediocre and after a while gets tedious and annoying. As an example, on pg. 91, a paragraph leads off saying (paraphrased and condensed) 'there are three important additional factors, x, y and z. X must be considered so that (blah blah blah). It is equally important to understand Y. Finally, it is important to be aware of Z.' In other words, these things are important, and you know this, because you have been told they are important through the technique of repetition of the word important. This is just plain poor writing.
   
   There are also pompous quotes at the end of each chapter, which have little relation to the text and no effect save to annoy the reader. They seem to repeat the theme of liberty; now, liberty is a Good Thing, but the connection to a real estate text is somewhat tenuous - and more to the point, it's obnoxious. (Example: at the end of Chapter 3, "Eight Ways to Locate Rental Houses for the Smart Investor", John Quincy Adams is quoted as saying "Posterity - you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it." Wha'?)
   
   2. Narrowness and facts/opinions: pg. 27, "The type of location best suited for rental houses is typically in a neighorhood that is between 10 and 35 years old." Ummm, would this hold true in, say, Boston? New York? New Orleans? Paris? (Okay, it's a book for a U.S. audience, but still). In general, the "suggested approaches" seem targeted at those considering investing in rental properties in mid-sized cities with massive urban sprawl. In particular, there is a strong and clear bias to investing in single-family dwellings, a bias that is both potentially dangerous and certainly open to debate. (Granted, the author does point out that this is a generalization, but this qualification is not very convincing.)
   
   3. Errors: while the errors I have found are not serious, they worry me when I read a business/finance text. For example, on pg. 75, Berges explains the debt servicing ratio and states that "a value of 1.0 percent means that there is exactly enough cash to make the loan payment." Actually, 1.0 percent means that there is 1/100th of the cash needed to make the loan payment - a typo, to be sure, but that's why texts are edited prior to publication. The box on the same page breaking down the formula is also simply wrong.
   
   I should note that the entire section in the Chapter "Financial Analysis of Rental Properties" makes use of an almost unreadable print-out of an Excel worksheet (that I have not found available on the web, although I admit I could eventually read no more). Since some of the text following this is based on the worksheet, it makes it harder to get through this section and the subject just does not come alive.
   
   4. Nothing new: there are other texts that explain finance and real estate much better, and put them in context, with clearer examples and less painful writing.
   
   Keep looking.

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4 comments about The Wall Street Journal Guide to Understanding Personal Finance, Fourth Edition.

1. (this review is based on an earlier edition)
   Most of us have some gaps in our understanding of personal finances. This approachable guide lays it out briefly and understandably. Since my attention span is short for this topic, this is the kind of guide I needed.
   For instance, the two-page section on DEALING WITH A LENDER, shows a loan application form with 6 boxed explanations for parts of the form.
   You won't learn everything you need to know in two-page bites, but it gets you briefed on everything from mutual funds, making a will, getting insurance, understanding credit card statements, 401(k) plans, your W-2 form, etc.
   Once you grasp the basics, you can find a book specifically on wills or whatever you are dealing with at the moment.
   Gaining control over your finances can start with this book!



2. I bought this book and then returned it. I found it way too brief and simplistic, not offering details and explanations to concepts I was already familiar with. Frankly, for the price you could get much more instruction on personal finance with other books (i especially like Clark Howard's).



3. This book was great I had to read if for an Economics class and it helped me to understand more about financing and how to raise money for school. It is great to have an understanding with this so i can be ahead, and collect as much money as I can for retirement. This book goes into many categories in financing such as banking, investing, financial planning, credit, and mortgages. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more about how to have a good financial life.



4. I just moved into the United States and wanted to know how do personal savings, the bank, financial planning, housing, taxes, retirement etc...
   
   This book gives a very consolidated overview will all the nitty-gritty about how personal finance should & is handled in United States. Recommended to anyone new to the US or just off schools entering the REAL WORLD. Also gets you acquainted with the local financial terms.

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5 comments about Value Investing Made Easy: Benjamin Graham's Classic Investment Strategy Explained for Everyone.

1. I like the idea, but...

   Having recently undertaken the wonderful journey of studying Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett through reading most of their writings, I felt obligated to comment on this book. Many important concepts are nicely explained, and the format is pleasing, however, a disturbingly significant number of facts presented are gross misinterpretations.

   The author does a nice job of explaining commonly used Wall Street terminology and concepts, for the novice. However, she fails in the infinitely more important task of consistently explaining the core concepts of investing (and not just stock speculating -- as so many of us all too often do).

   Two (among the many) misleading points involve investment diversification and Buffett's used cigar-butt approach. She implies both Graham and Buffett whole-heartedly embrace diversification. Unless I have been reading the wrong Graham and Buffett, they certainly do not do so, unconditionally. The author further misrepresents Buffett when she actually leaves it that he finds the "cigar butt" approach, a wise way to buy businesses. He indeed called that method, "foolish" [Mr. Buffett: if that is no longer the case, please excuse my error.]

   If you are searching for enlightenment, the way I was, you will be 1000 times better served to read "The Essays of Warren Buffett", arranged by Cunningham and, of course, Graham's "The Intelligent Investor".




2. Intended as a more digestible and accessible version of the teachings of the brilliant Benjamin Graham and his associate David Dodd, Ms Lowe expertly cuts a delicate path between writing, on one hand an overly simplistic overview and on the other an unneccessarily rigorous text book.

   Although this Book is more theory than practice and certainly more Art than Science it nevertheless affords the Novice to Intermediate Investor an excellent interpretation of the thinking behind/and the implementation of Value Investment in the Stockmarket,a technique that rewarded it's true Practioners handsomely over the years throughout widely differing market conditions.All of Benjamin Graham's Stock Market Investment tenets,such as The Margin Of Safety, Intrinsic Value,the avoidance of speculation,the preservation of Capital,the need to think and act independently of the crowd,to build an extra margin of safety into estimates by using conservative figures etc,etc are clearly and vibrantly related to the Reader.

   Janet Lowe adds value through the use of real life Companies as examples and each chapters comes with several very useful "sturdy pillars" or quotations from Ben Graham to elucidate the central thrust of the particular passage concerned.
   
   Although well written and carefully researched I have some small gripes in that some of the mathematical formula are not that clear but that should not deter potential readers from buying this Book.Furthermore if Buyers are expecting the Book to explain how to calculate a useful range of current intrinsic values for a stock or answer questions such as "at the current price what growth rate is the Stock Market discounting for this Company" using simple fundamental analysis then they will be disappointed(for this purpose I would recommend the excellent "The Vest Pocket Guide To Vale Investing by C.Thomas Howard,ISBN 0-7931-1728-3)

   More humourously, in these more politically correct times, Ben Graham's advice for Women to buy there Stocks as if they were buying their Groceries rather than their Perfume is admonished as being sexist.I wonder if Ben Graham had advised Men to buy there Stocks as if they were buying Gardening Equipment and not aftershave have received the same treatment?I don't think so!

   However ,in conclusion, I feel this Book will serve as an invaluable guide for the ordinary Investor looking for a time tested and proven technique who is willing to exercise both patience and discipline

   Perhaps Value Investing "demystified" rather than "made easy" would have been a better title.Nevertheless I feel that Ben Graham would have approved.




3. The author touts the book as a distillation of the key concepts of Benjamin Graham's classic text, Security Analysis, but fails to elaborate on a key point repeatedly mentioned in Graham's book. Graham noted that at times, some bonds make for better investments than stocks as a class of investments, and at other times, some stocks make for better investments than bonds as a class. This readily follows from Graham's definition of an investment, which he stated most succinctly in his book for the novice investor, The Intelligent Investor:
   
   An investment is any activity which provides safety of capital with a reasonable expectation of income. All other activities are speculative.
   
   Lowe's book concentrates solely on stocks, and ignores the potential of bonds as an investment. As a result, the book distills only some of the wisdom of Security Analysis, which, by the way, can be found in a more accessible form in Graham's book, The Intelligent Investor.
   
   By saying this, I do not mean to imply that Value Investing Made Easy is not a worthwhile read. Rather, it is the book the novice should read if and only if he or she does not want to spend the time reading Graham's Security Analysis, a formidable text nearly a thousand pages long (however, in Graham's defense, most of these pages are devoted to graphs, charts and numerous examples of the application of his techniques).
   
   Lowe's book presents most of the important tenets necessary for picking stocks along the lines of Graham and Dodd (and Warren Buffett). A careful reader will notice, however, that the stock universe for which the tenets are applicable limits him or her to solely the proven performers. Among other things, these stocks typically, but not always, pay dividends, or have a history of doing so.
   
   I found the text to be somewhat of a letdown because most of it was devoted to the justification for value investing, and not on the techniques of value investing per se. The book relied heavily on notable anecdotes- star performers of value investing fame such as (yep, you guessed it) Warren Buffett, Irving Kahn and others, and a bit less on the techniques in action as I would have liked.
   
   However, in its defense, the book contains several pearls of wisdom that the novice investor would do well to know like the back of his or her hand. The book lays down an appropriate definition for intrinsic value, provides a satisfactory explanation of the role and importance of assets and dividends, and most important, the use and limitations of long-term trends in earnings and dividends to make assessments of stock investments.
   
   On a personal note, I feel the most important lesson of the book is contained on Page 20 of the text- How Trustworthy Are the Numbers? Here, Graham warns us that, "Deliberate falsification of the data is rare; most of the misrepresentation flows from the use of accounting artifices, which it is the function of the capable analyst to detect. Concealment is more common than misstatement."
   
   I leave the potential reader with one critical admonishment taken from the text (Page 21) which is perhaps the most relevant of all of Graham's tenets for the novice investor:
   
   "When an enterprise pursues questionable accounting policies, all of its securities must be shunned by the investor, no matter how safe or attractive some of them may appear."



4. This book was a decent introductory work to value investing a la Ben Graham, but it was just that, an introduction. It is quite a bit more readable than Security Analysis or The Intelligent Investor, but it also lacks the depth of these works.
   
   In particular, this book does an excellent job of summarizing Graham's thoughts with respect to ratio analysis, management analysis, and provides a general overview of how to view financial statements. That being said, it does not explain how to "drill down" into financial statements and adjust them for various condictions as Graham sets forth in "Security Analysis."
   
   Another weakness of this book is that it does not delve into anything other than common stock ownership. This might be a particular problem, as Graham, for example, advised that any issue senior to the one being analyzed must be viewed as debt, since it has a prior claim on the company's earnings. Hence, using Graham's analysis, dividends in respect of preferred stock would be deducted from earnings (as a payment on debt), whereas they are generally considered dividends on a par with common by many investors. Similarly, Security Analysis also discusses adjusting financial statements (for purposes of analysis, including ratio analysis) for warrants, etc.
   
   In all, though, this book is a much easier read than any of Graham's works, and it certainly provides a good introduction to his theories of investing. I would recommend that anyone who likes what is said in this book read Warren Buffett's annual reports and any of Graham's books as well.



5. Concise and through treatment for the uninitiated investor interested in investing in the long view.

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5 comments about The Warren Buffett CEO: Secrets From the Berkshire Hathaway Managers.

1. Robert Miles knows Warren Buffett, and it's clear that he also knows a thing or two about the people who run the companies in Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. Armed with information gleaned from eight months of intensive interviews, Miles uncovers what makes a Berkshire manager tick, and covers the workings of Berkshire, itself, as well. Writing through the voices of the CEOs he portrays, Miles skillfully weaves the colorful histories of 18 firms into a revealing set of success stories. Many tales are similar - the CEOs love their companies; they worked hard to build solid businesses and no one regrets selling his firm to Berkshire. They all sound genuinely happier than you might possibly believe, and each chapter has business models you shouldn't miss. We invite any executive to enter these pages for an insider's view (still, it doesn't hurt to remember, they all knew Warren was gonna read it).



2. Thank goodness Berkshire Hathaway is populated by so much management talent. Even Robert Miles' mediocre writing and pedestrian insights can't obscure the real value of this book, which is to document, in a detailed and therefore fairly convincing way, Warren Buffett's exceptional ability to choose and motivate people.

   Buffett's techniques for dealing with people are well-known (he talks about them constantly) and this book has almost nothing really new to reveal, but Berkshire junkies will enjoy the anecdotes and facts that bring Buffett's concepts to life in a more concrete way. Even though many of the stories are recycled, hearing a few of the managers speak in their own words and tell their own versions is revealing. That Buffett himself made a kind remark about this book is unremarkable. What else could he possibly say about a book that features some of his key people? Bottom line: this is definitely a book for those already familiar with, and enthusiastic about, Buffett.

   Miles' publisher, Wylie, has created a virtual industry out of quickie trade books about Buffett. Wylie's new twist in this book is the Berkshire managers, who provide whatever shine it emits. But somewhere along the way, a mighty big assist must have been delivered on the editorial end to tone the writing style down into something publishable. How so? Miles himself comes across as one of the most self-aggrandizing, uber-promotional, un-Buffett-like people imaginable. That someone could write about Warren Buffett, with seemingly so little concept of what the man is about, is amazing. It wouldn't be the first time Buffett's name has been exploited by someone who barely knows him, but Miles takes exploitation to a whole new extreme. The Robert Miles web page, which reminds one of a three-card monte dealer or perhaps, one of the more gelatinous used car salesman types, speaks for itself. The headline, "You May Never Meet Warren Buffett, But Hear Robert P. Miles Speak and You'll Feel Like You Have" says it all. If you want to read a book about the value of humility by an author who has the nerve to compare himself to Warren Buffett, well, this is that book.




3. Robert Miles knows Warren Buffett, and it's clear that he also knows a thing or two about the people who run the companies in Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. Armed with information gleaned from eight months of intensive interviews, Miles uncovers what makes a Berkshire manager tick, and covers the workings of Berkshire, itself, as well. Writing through the voices of the CEOs he portrays, Miles skillfully weaves the colorful histories of 18 firms into a revealing set of success stories. Many tales are similar - the CEOs love their companies; they worked hard to build solid businesses and no one regrets selling his firm to Berkshire. They all sound genuinely happier than you might possibly believe, and each chapter has business models you shouldn't miss. We invite any executive to enter these pages for an insider's view (still, it doesn't hurt to remember, they all knew Warren was gonna read it).



4. The book has a lot of interesting stories about managers at Berkshire Hathaway. It's not much about Warren Buffett. And it has nothing to do with investment.



5. Warren Buffett is the god of investors. Thus, there's a plethora of books about him and his investing methods. Reading anything Buffett says is good. My concern with these books is they become dated very fast. For example, right now, in mid 2007, Warren is buying up railroad stocks, specifically Burlington Northern. Yet we don't glean that from this book, because it went to print before Warren got into RR's.
   
   I've read most of the Buffett books and this one is above average. Recommended.
   Also, for those desiring to become rich, check out Tom Stanley's "The Millionaire Mind."The Millionaire Mind