The Successful Investor: What 80 Million People Need to Know to Invest Profitably and Avoid Big Losses
Author: William J. O'Neil
List Price: $10.95
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ISBN: 007142959X
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Trade (01 September, 2003)
Sales Rank: 782
Average Customer Rating: 4.4 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 5 out of 5
explains the basics very well
This is an excellent book for the beginner or as a refresher for a more experienced market participant. Oneil's method, in my opinion, is a compilation of his study of other great speculators/investors ,(i.e jesse livermore, gerald loeb, nicholas darvas, etc. all of whom wrote books), as well as his own personal experiences. The fact that he is not on the forbes 400 richest list (as one skeptical reviewer wrote) is irrelevant to the validity of his advice. One of the most important points made in this and other O'neil books is the idea that all stocks are speculative and risky, thus the importance of cutting losses short. Furthermore, In response to skeptics who say that all institutions and professional investors know his methods and thus one cannot expect to get stellar returns, this is simply not the whole truth. Yes his methods are widely known, but that does not mean people have the discipline to actually follow the methods. Furthermore, institutions cannot manuever as swiflty as an individual, and institutions (i.e. mutual funds) don't usually go to cash or money markets and stay out of bear markets as oneil suggests, and shorting is an issue oneil does not dwell upon very much. The fact that a method is widely known, does not negate its effectiveness, because widely known and widley executed are not synonomous. The problem is usually the individual and not the method. Its like dieting, there are many succesfull methods, but people are still fat after trying a diet plan because they lack the discipline to follow proven systems,(or while they follow the diet plan they sabotage their results by sneaking in the frequent jelly donut, or late night run to taco bell) then look in the mirror and blame the method instead of realizing they themeselves are most likely the problem. As a good diet and exercise plan will make you healthier, Oneils method will help you make money if you will truly understand the method, and then have the patience and discipline to follow it. One last word. Keep in mind that all reviews of books or methods are only peoples opinions, and in the financial markets "opinions are often wrong, markets never are." So find out for yourself whether you will make money or not with oneil's methods and do not mistake an opinion for a fact.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Packed with Knowledge!
William J. O'Neil, founder of Investor's Business Daily (which he cites constantly in his book), provides an excellent how-to tour of his CAN SLIM investing approach. The method makes eminently good sense if you do what it says, when it says. Most investors risk failure, not because their systems are flawed, but because people are. O'Neil makes it clear: to be an investor, you must put forth enormous dedication, discipline, emotional fortitude and humility, and you need a sound strategy, such as CAN SLIM. The author may make investing look a tad too easy, though the charting he recommends is obviously going to take some time to accomplish and understand. But he pulls no other punches. His advice is knowledgeable and straightforward. He tells you what to do, and how to move ahead wisely and profitably. We think investors should read and study this honest, worthwhile book that summarizes the essentials of one of the latter twentieth century's most popular investing systems.
Rating: 5 out of 5
An updated version of How To Make Money in Stocks
I read O'Niels book How To Make Money in Stocks which was excellent. The Successful Investor covers much of the same information with some new. It is excellent and particularly pertinent to investors who have become "gun shy" after the last three year long bear market.Obviously a lot of new people became investors in the late 90's and were totally unprepared for what happened post March 2000.Fortunately I moved out of aggressive stocks and funds and partially into cash (money market funds) and into other investments that produced a 20%-40% annualized return even during the bear market.IBD is the first thing I read and I read it voraciously. I would not be in the maket without it. In particular, I check the Monday edition with the top 100 stocks based on eps. I AM NOT TOO PARTUCARLY CONCERNED ABOUT P/E RATIOS AS LONG AS THE STOCK IS GROWING AT AT LEAST A 20% LEVEL QUARTER OVER QUARTER.IBD mas finding these stocks so easy.In 2003 I stayed with tech stocs even though many thought they were overbought, had risen too far and too fast. I bought good names like INTC, DELL, IBM, CSCO, YHOO and EBAY. I also bought some no tech names based on eps and information found in IBD.Interesting is that these stocks are still moving up despite continually hitting new 52 week highs.The Successful Investor covers an easy 5 step method that anybody could follow. O'Niel once again has a chapter on CAN SLIM, the whole basis of his system---which does really work.The Successful Investor is a must read for anyone who is currently in the market or wants to be. I also recommend Winning On Wall Street by Martin Zweig and More Wealth Without Risk by Charles Givens. In More Wealth Without Risk, Givens details his "money mvement strategy" (a technique that I used back in 2000 and still use today) which has you in the best investment for the times.Good luck with your investments! Similar Products
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