Stock Market Wizards : Interviews with America's Top Stock Traders
Author: Jack D. Schwager
List Price: $15.95
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ISBN: 0066620597
Publisher: HarperBusiness (15 April, 2003)
Sales Rank: 6,567
Average Customer Rating: 3.33 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 5 out of 5
Lots of Useful Advice
First a couple of caveats - I have not read Mr. Schwager's other Market Wizards books and I am a professional money manager. That said, I found Mr. Schwager's latest book both entertaining and full of interesting and useful advice and information (I wound up with several pages of notes after reading it). True there is no "magic formula" that is going to turn you into a great trader/investor... but what do you expect for [this amount of money]. The truth is you probably wouldn't get that even if you laid out 20 grand. As several of the traders point out in their interviews, systems lose their effectiveness over time.But any investor/trader would be well served to pay close attention to the rules that Stuart Walton keeps taped to his computer as well as a host of other useful gems tucked throughout the selections. One of my personal favorites is that "there is no such thing as a bad book. Even one sentance has the power to change your life." As a professional, I enjoyed the fact that the traders Mr. Schwager interviewed for this book were not household names. As much as I may admire them, I don't need to read another account of Michael Price, Jimmy Rogers, James Cramer or the other CNBC/lecture circuit regulars.
The truth of the matter that being a CONSISTENTLY successful trader is very hard work. While this book will not provide you all the answers, it will give you much to think about and much that can help you in both your investing and your life in general - and that is worth [it] (and then some).
Rating: 2 out of 5
Alas, it really isn't as good as I and II
I think the first two Market Wizards books are classics, I really like Schwager as a writer, and I really really really wanted this book to be as good. I resisted coming to the same conclusion as the other 2-or-3 star reviewers as long as I could, but you know what? Sadly, they're right. The first Market Wizards book is completely indispensable. The second, it's true, was not as good overall - but half of it was. This book isn't in the same league. The best I can call it is light entertainment, for those of us who find books about the markets entertaining. To Schwager's credit, his writing is consistently clear and readable. (To appreciate this better, take a look at the slapdash Market Wizards knockoff, "The Best: Conversations with Top Traders", which contains a few insights scattered amidst a great deal of repetition and incoherence.) But not only do most of the traders interviewed here not have nearly the track records of the original Market Wizards; they don't seem to have the same substance or depth either. There are no minds here of the calibre of an Ed Seykota or a Jim Rogers, just to name two. (I mean, of course, judging solely by these interviews). Not only that, but several display a distasteful absence of class. (I'm not talking about social class, I'm talking about that elusive quality of graciousness which makes a successful person seem deserving...) Nonetheless, I did enjoy reading several of the interviews, for example those with Fletcher and Galante.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Worthwhile although not as great as first two
While I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to stock market investors, I didn't think it had the same depth and level of insight as Schwager's first two Market Wizards books, which I consider two of the most valuable volumes in my investment library. There were a few interviews that I liked, though, such as the one with Ahmet Okumus, the Turkish immigrant who buys quality stocks he thinks have been punished too much and will eventually turnaround. Furthermore, he sells puts on them when he thinks they're still overvalued for the options income, and if the stock declines to that level, he's actually delighted to have the stock "put" back to him since he really wanted to own the stock at that price anyway. This means he does exhaustive fundamental research and must be very accurate and confident in and of his valuation of the company for this to work, and his historical returns show he can make this work, too, as it significantly added to his overall performance. I thought that was an interesting strategy and an example of someone with a niche that they're able to exploit. I still found most of the other interviews worthwhile, though, and I would recommend this book to stock market investors since there is a lot of good advice about the pitfalls of investing there, too. Similar Products
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