1 comments about My Little Black Book to Success.

1. My Little Black Book to Success: Reach, Teach, and Send
   
   This Black Book To Success is Dedicated And Directed To 99% Of The 26.8 Million U.S. Businesses Nationwide And Offers Proven Solutions That Future Business Owners And Associates Want And Need Right Now With Answers To Be Successful In This Downward Economy!
   
   There Is At Least One Take Away That You Will, No Matter Your Demographics, Receive By Reading This Book To Change Your Life And Career/Business Future.
   
   This Book Is Very User Friendly(you do not need to be in the business world very long or not at all), With Easy To Understand Examples/Analogies And Over 50, Rock Solid Time Tested Solutions in Operations, Sales and Marketing, Human Resources and Accounting.
   
   This Book Is A Must Read If You Own And/Or Work For A Small And Mid-Sized Company Or Would Like To One Day!

5 comments about The Motley Fool You Have More Than You Think : The Foolish Guide To Personal Finance.

1. The title of this book reflects the optimism that it breathes from beginning to end. It makes you want to go for it, without encouraging hasty decisions, and encourages to read more. For true fools (I mean morons) like myself, the book adequately warns you to first get out of debt before trying to invest. The part that tells you how to get out of debt is brief but the advice is sane, and optimistic. Once ready to invest, we are adviced to use a buy-and-hold strategy, and the arguments for it seem to make sense. Most importantly, after reading this, the reader has a clear general framework that help him/her to make confident investment decisions.
   
   Picky points:
   -A bit wordy on occasion.
   -Not enough advice on what to do when your stocks just keep declining



2. I have to say that this is the perfect book for any independent adult and/or college student. The main reason I say that is because schools do not offer education on financial freedom. If you are a teen or think you can't read this, go read Motley Fool Teens before reading this one.
   This book is separated into two halves. One half will tell you how to have good spending habits, pay debts, find good bank, etc. This half is good enough alone. They give you advice and tell you the reasons behind instead of "Trust us". This is a plus since most of the info is shocking. For instance, it is better to go to a casino than play the lottery since a casino has a payoff of 95% while the lottery is -50%! I personally can say that my life will be easier because of the forewarnings of mistakes and following the path least famous, but most secure.
   The other half is about how to invest the stock market. It is amazingly easy and it makes sense by adding charts of growth over time using average return. One of the points the book tries to keep in your head is the stock market only looks scary since not too many know much about it. Remember when you thought you would never learn addition in second grade? In this half the book goes in detail of how to open an account, deciding your stocks, why you shouldn't panic during slumps, etc.
   Unlike the teen version, this book is amusing with jokes on every page without overkill. The jokes do well to keep you entertain instead of dreading the fact you need to learn how to compound growth. The jokes even do well to get points across. A book of choice if you don't like books that sound like Ben Stein at pep rally.
   We all have gotten advice on money from other people and it is nice of the authors to actually mention advice people give and why or why not it is good. I mean, some people say they lived on ramen noodles and finger toothbrushes in college while the book offers strategies that allow you to live within your means. Remember that ramen is fattening!
   I can't say how priceless this info is for being practical and wonderfully hopeful of what is achievable with a small amount of thought. Nowadays people do not know what to do with their money and I see most knowing how to get rid of it. Anyway, this book is a must own for any adult and students alike struggling with the sheer thought of money.
   I give this book my strongest recommendation to possible to own, not rent.
   
   (...)



3. This book was a great read - I think tha's probably one of the benefits of reading a book on finances written by two English majors.
   
   Pros:
   - Helps you understand where to start in your personal world of finance. I especially enjoy the fact that there is an especially abhorrent attitude towards debt (i.e. - pay what you owe before you every try to put that money anywhere else).
   - These guys don't promise any fast cash, but employ a methodology that tends to scream, "slow and steady wins the race!"
   - The advice is sound, and there isn't any threatening terminology to find yourself lost in.
   - Like I said before, it's a great read. You aren't necessarily reading a manual written by guys who want to lay out the bare facts. You will be reading an entertaining and thoughtful tome on how to have fun with the way you think for your financial future.
   - The authors don't seem to assume any drastic steps here - just being smarter with what you have.
   
   Cons:
   - While the book helps you start in your personal world of finance, it still leaves a lot for you to figure out on your own. In the end, I was still wandering around the Internet trying to find more information. The book shows you a good direction in which to move, but it doesn't necessarily show you the door in.
   - The book isn't written for everyone. The authors admit this throughout their writing also.
   - Shameless self-advertisement - but it's funny at the least.
   
   My general perspective:
   (Third time, at least) This is a GREAT book. Even if you don't think that you can trust yourself to make a deposit in a savings account, give this book a chance. It opened my eyes to see that there are a lot of people out there making a lot of money and doing very little to merit their worth. These guys aren't business or marketing majors, but their experience speaks through the written word. They won't lose you in a milieu of doublespeak, but sort of hold your hand in understand how you can be your own money manager - and I like that.
   This is a work that is for the ordinary man - the sort of fellow that doesn't feel like working his way through a financial dictionary just to understand a book on personal finance. I found this book in my local library - and that's $11.20 you can take straight to the bank!



4. Wow. This book was really, really, really useful. I'm one of those people who, until recently, never gave a second thought to savings or investment because I was always living paycheck to paycheck. Now that we have a little gbreathing room, my husband and I have been reading up on financial things of interest.
   
   I HIGHLY recommend this book for your first one if you're absolutely clueless about personal finance. It takes a bunch of terms that many people find terrifying (stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc.) and not only explains them and many others in amusing detail, but also makes the process of investing a lot more accessible to the average person. It's realistic, though--for one thing, the authors explain why everything from lottery tickets to penny stocks are a bad idea. It also bursts other bad habits, such as not buying Stock A because Stock B is cheaper per share--but not returning as much interest to the owner.
   
   Additionally, there's a lot of really good advice for newbies to investment.



5. I bought this book a good five years ago and ate it up. I have read it several times only to be reinforced in my investment approach - a well-diversified assortment of passive index funds, along with a few well chosen blue chips that pay regular dividends. Monthly automatic investments are now a way of life and though humble in its beginnings, my portfolio today is more than respectable in comparison with most of my "buy it new and yesterday" peers. The Gardner brothers style is informative, quirky, quite clever and humourous. If you don't have time to be a slave to mammon, you'll find as I have that INDEXING is the way to go- slow and steady, living within your means, depending on what you can invest per month-in 20-30 years you will be very wealthy.

5 comments about Stock Cycles: Why Stocks Won't Beat Money Markets Over the Next Twenty Years.

1. The author goes on and on detailing the past but drew no sound conclusions. Left me wishing he would just make his point. This book was a tedious read.



2. I wish I read this book five years ago before the bubble broke, I'd have alot more money now if I did. Alas, hindsight is 20/20. However, this is the first book that presents a very logical and thorough view of investment cycles that are clearly present in our economy. Yes, this book is somewhat tedious as another reviewer commented, but the true nature of the opportunities and risks of investing in the stock market are not something that reads like a vapid tabloid story. The lessons available to be learned and applied from "Stock Cycles" come only from studying, interpreting, questioning and back testing large amounts of data produced from the trading of stocks every day of every month of every year for decades and decades. Michael Alexander has done just that resulting in a work available for the layman to the investment professional from which to benefit. Michael Alexander also challenges the investment industry in that it has massaged much of that data to the detriment of the individual investor, ie.: the mutual fund industry and its "buy and hold" mantra it has been preaching since roughly the beginning of the last bull market in 1982. The mutual fund industry makes its money by maintaining a large asset base from which to generate fee revenue. Sure, "buy and hold" works pretty well in a secular bull market, but there have been many times in the past 200 years where there was little if any growth in stocks and the stock market for an extended number of years. And that number of years may be too long for many investor's investing goals to be achieved. Alexander shows that there is large amount of economic evidence indicating that we may be in just the beginning of one of those stagnant, yet unsettled cycles. Though Alexander's conclusion and recommendations on what to do now are vague, I think the overall message of the book is to invest with extreme caution but taking an active approach to investing, take profits if you have them and minimize losses should they occur and to beware Wall Street saying: "It's different this time", 'cause it's not. A must read.



3. If you are investing long term money without reading this book, then you are doing yourself a big disfavor. This book explains so much about economic cycles and how they coincide with stock cycles. I cannot say enough about this book and why I think everyone should read it.



4. Alexander describes his P/R valuation concept to serve as a marker in substitution to P/E, that has (nowadays) jumped to astronomical values, difficulting the overvaluation/undervaluation analysis.
   
   He also describes in this book the concept of Kondratieff Cycles, although he has a posterior book dedicated only to this subject.
   
   The problems with the book:
   
   1) Equations should be typed using an equation editor, that is, the equations are bad typesetted.
   
   2) As a scientist (He holds a Ph.D. degree) he should present the material in a clearer way to facilitate the reprodution of his results. He should include, for example how he choose the parameters of his valuation model (Chapter 4). In the appendix he gives the parameters but it is lacking details supporting his choices and also some parameters. (for example, what the length of the moving average to smooth the economic expansion parameter n ?).
   
   3) Sometimes he uses English when equations are more appropriated (ex: p.96 "inflation rates over successive fifteen year periods were calculated and examined for the 1730-1800 period" How exactly he did the averages? Centered? Trailing? Weighted?)
   
   So that my conclusion is: Very Interesting Research that could be presented in a clearer way.



5. This book changed my life! This is a must read for everyone whether you invest in the stock market or not. This book displays the kind of economic and literary genius that comes along once in a lifetime. His points are well thought out and clearly articulated. SCWSWBMMOTNTY is a must have. I hope to one day meet the author and discuss this book over a beer.

No comments about Investing in Apartment Buildings: Create a Reliable Stream of Income and Build Long-Term Wealth.

5 comments about How Legendary Traders Made Millions.

1. If you want to buy the book, go ahead, just be careful of superbookdeals, they take your money but don't deliver and don't answer emails. Caveat Emptor.



2. This book is an excellent history book that will also teach you how to trade stocks. The book covers the stock markets actions decade by decade for the entire twentieth century up to 2006. At the same time he explains what the great stock traders who lived at that time did in the market. He covers all the bear and bull markets and what caused them. I agree with him on the traders he covers, Livermore, Baruch, Loeb, William O' Neal, Nicholas Darvas, Jack Dreyfus, and Jim Roppel. (I would include Warren Buffett and Peter Lynch since the mutual fund manager Dreyfus was included). Every trader included became a millionaire off the market. You better to study? The author recaps at the kind all the similar characteristics that made these men so successful. Here are some of the similarities they all had:
   1. Only trade in a bull market. Know the market trend.
   2. Make your own decisions do not be influenced by others.
   3. Learn from market history.
   4. By stocks that have strong fundamentals that are leaders in their industry.
   5. Buy more of a stock on the way up not down.
   6. Buy stocks at 52 week highs breaking out of correct basing patterns.
   7. Cut losses short let winners run.
   I would also study William O'Neal's books and read Investors Business Daily if you want to be a successful trader or investor. It is all you will need. I really became successful trading stocks when I started following the principles in the books written by these authors.



3. I read the Battle for Investment Survival, by Gerald Loeb, back in the mid-seventies. It is THE all-time classic on successful investing in stocks.
   
   This book springboards off of that type of investing philosphy and adds to it with the advice of other great traders.
   
   The last few chapters get a bit focused on O'Niel and Roppel, but I think it was because the author had more access to info about them. It stars getting a bit self-serving toward the CAN SLIM method and Investors Business Daily.
   
   All in all, it is well worth the price. I have already seen more success as a result of reading it.



4. The book is laid out in decades. Each chapter covers 10 years starting from 1897 to the time to writing. Boik summarizes each decade in about 20 pages or so (about economy and how the legenardy traders did). Each chapter uses the same template and same wording which made it difficult to read and at times I thought I was reading the previous chapter. Boik also promotes his first book way too many times throughout. We get it!!! You have another book. So why 3 stars instead of 1? There are few good words of wisdom about trading.
   I would recommend skipping this book (unless you want a summary) and read some of the classics:
   
   The Battle for Investment Survival - Gerald Loeb
   How to Make Money in Stocks - William o'Neil
   How I Made Two Million Dollars in the Stock Market - Nicolas Darvas
   Baruch: My Own story - Benard Baruch
   
   The above traders are the featured traders in Boik's book so it would be better to get it straight from the source.



5. I rated the author's previous book "Lessons from the Greatest Stock Traders of All Time" a four star and titled my review as "A shortcut to must reads about the best stock traders ever". To my disappointment, this latter one is so similar to that. The addition of three more legends (but with relatively less coverage) just didnt help. I felt strongly of being cheated. Even worse, the first one is much better. I would suggest potential buyers to get that instead of this.

5 comments about Buy Low, Rent Smart, Sell High.

1. This book was a decent read. I probably would have gotten more benefit from it if I lived in a part of the country where there was less competition for REOs. It is not feasible in the part of the country where I live to expect for there to be an abundance of REO properties at bargain rates. There is so much competition in the part of the country that I live in that the information in this book is just of general use. I still
   recommend that you buy it. But its usefulness will be determined by how much competition is in your area for REOs.



2. I do not read many books from cover to cover. This one I read. I found it very useful and informative. I had two properties that I purchased at FMV. I have since purchased two other properties since reading this book. They were HUD foreclosed properties that I purchased at 75% below FMV minus repairs. I used my own money, fixed them up,refinanced them and got an 80% loan. I pulled back all my money plus I now have $19,000 of equity in one and $16,000 of equity in the other one. I did walked away with $5k and $3k respectively after expenses. I did a lease purchase but not their way. I did the non-qualifying with the big money up front. Their way did not work for me. I tried it though. This book really got my brain to churning. It is not a get rich quick book but if you are serious and looking to build wealth I think this is a good book to read. I call it my real estate bible. I am currently trying to find one that is better or just as good but have not found it so far.



3. absolutly fantastic...
   gives you new ideas and way to do real estate in a way that really appeal to those who not just want their success but seeking other's too.



4. Book was very simple to read, finished it in 2 days, probably could of done it in one except for a big accounting test got in the way. The book gives you another strategy on real estate, and it is very inspiring to get you off your butt and go do it.



5. This product promises more than it delivers, like their book, the claims make big promises, but there are lots of disclaimers, and no real meat, just ideas which are supposed to be real good, but who knows. It seems to be another link towards buying more of their stuff.

5 comments about Managing Thought: How Do Your Thoughts Rule Your World?.

1. I was the Recording Engineer for the Audio Book version of this, and I can tell you from my experience with Mary in the studio that she lives by this stuff. She is passionate because she sees great progress in her own life as a result of her commitment to self-awareness.
   
   This book is primarily geared toward executives, but even as a young adult I found its content applicable to anyone who truly wants to better themselves from the inside out.



2. Many of you know Mary, as she has spoken to a number of groups. I have a special affection for Mary, as her approach and process helped me through a difficult time (as did Mary, on a friendship level).
   
   I recently eased past my 70th birthday, and my uninvited traveling companion was prostate cancer. For many men, having a doctor tell you that you have cancer is our introduction to mortality. There are a lot of thoughts that can quickly expand to fill the space created by the word "cancer."
   
   Interesting how fate intercedes. As I was prepping for a difficult treatment, I met Mary. I heard her presentation, and we talked. And an Old Guy learned a new trick. Instead of just thinking, I thought about how I wanted to think about a fight that really mattered. And yes, I was one of those old-timers who thought this "mind-stuff" was a bit hokey. No longer! And I'm still here, writing this... :o)
   
   So...I have had Mary's new book, "Managing Thought," for a few weeks, have done my "first read" (my step 1, followed by a more serious pawing when a book is interesting -- it is!). And I had a few reactions both for friends and the community of business executives I serve:
   
   * First, the book captures -- and adds to -- Mary's message, which is: how we feel is preceded by a thought (or thoughts), and we can develop the ability to control what and how we think.
   
   * Second, Mary's approach helps put (thinking) energy where it will get us the greatest positive return. We talk about spending time and energy where it will have the most impact -- why not the same for our own thinking (and then, actions)?
   
   * Finally, many around us are facing tougher times. I've been there, as a CEO. What they think about, how they think about it, and where they put their energy will (likely) be crucial.
   
   Many good books on the business side and on how to deal with stress will be recommended, as we deal with the effects of the economy and a changing landscape. Here is one on the "thinking" side -- where we ALL start! I recommend it.



3. From a personal perspective, this book identified the importance of my thoughts and how they actually ruled my relationships (personal and professional). It empowered me to make positive changes (in simple ways) that made a big difference. This book contains best practicies and is definitely a keeper, a source I can use throughout my life in almost any situation. It made me look within to change (where necessary) the end result of my interactions. Thank you digging deep to uncover the real real truth of how our thoughts and how we manage our thoughts results in the outcomes in our lives.



4. Mary Lore's book Managing Thought, has been instrumental in working through some very difficult situations both professionally and personally recently. Previously I would have approached a situation in a very linear manner, pursuing the results I want and correcting along the way to preserve the relationship, the outcome was routinely poor with damage to the relationship and the results were not what they could have been.
   I recently had a business experience with a customer we had been trying to satisfy unsuccesfully for two years to complete a his project. We traveled to meet him, worked on his issues and intended to separate by leaving him a check for a significant sum of money and a cessation letter from our attorney. We worked hard to resolve as many issues on site as possible, but we still faced a legal termination of the relationship.
   
   Managing Thought provided me with tools I used to resolve nearly all of our outstanding issues and bring about resolution 'without attorneys' for a 10th of our proposed settlement costs. What Mary's book taught me is the concept of creating separation between the negative thoughts coming out of your brain and the reality that those thoughts are different from who you are, what you want to present and what you want to accomplish! This was an epiphany to me. Adding that element of control and not reacting to situations with the thoughts presented by my brain helped me enormously. The discipline of treating negative thoughts as merely input 'and not always constructive' to the situation really opened my eyes. I am genuinely grateful to Mary and her wonderful book!



5. "Managing Thought: How Do Your Thoughts Rule Your World", by Mary J. Lore, is an insightful, practical, "life manual" that gets to the heart of discovering what's truly important to you -- and how to get it. The written exercises in the book, plus the free online tools (managingthought.com), allow you to put the author's concepts into practice. She teaches you how to think and communicate in a positive way, and to avoid limiting thoughts and language. (I have banished the word "but" from my vocabulary!). This is a book that I will revisit again and again.

No comments about Unlimited Business Financing: Learn how to obtain $250,000 or more in business funding without harming your personal credit.

2 comments about Preventing Internal Theft : A Bar Owners Guide.

1. I wish I had found this book years ago. It explains all the differnet concerns regarding theft at a bar. It is easy to go through and pull out the information that most meets the needs of the business. Way to go Plotkin!



2. This book is very informative for most beginners, however, it's redundancy can drag the reader down at times. The length of the book could have been chopped down to 1/3 of it's size. The book has variations of roughly 20 different schemes devised from bartenders, waitresses, food servers, and Management. It will steer the reader/owner to the basics of protecting their business and patrons. Worth reading, could be more encompassing for length and price.

1 comments about The Handbook of Competency Mapping: Understanding, Designing and Implementing Competency Models in Organizations.

1. I'm not sure if the problem is English as a second language, poor translation, or bad proofreading/editing--but I was very disappointed with the contents of this (very expensive, very small) paperback book. There are some potentially useful checklists, but overall, it "felt" like a PhD dissertation awkwardly turned into a book.