Blind Faith: Our Misplaced Trust in the Stock Market and Smarter, Safer Ways to Invest

Book Description

- Over 40 percent of households own some form of common stock

Customer Reviews:

weak treatment.......2007-01-18

nothing new in this book, same old rant about risk is bad, Wall street is evil blah blah blah - we get it already. Very little evidence or anaylsis to support authors assertions.

Justification for what I already do.......2007-01-07

I am ordering this book NOW!

For years, I simply followed mutual funds' and index funds' return YTD performances on Morningstar, and used those to choose my investments. After throwing the dice on my own, I soon found out that I'd have to make AT LEAST the cost of betting (commission) back just to break even--even at cheapo Scottrade, you'd have to make that $7/trade back just to stay even in that stock. This means you'd better know something the other guy doesn't, have a red-hot stock, or plan to hang on for a mighty long time.

With from-a-distance YTD performance montoring, I've consistently beat the S&P by at least 3X annually. No stress, no misinformation, no worries about missed information. I usually wait until after the first quarter before laying chips down somewhere for the year, because the first quarter tends to be squirrely with mutual fund window dressing, trends emerging, and traders deciding what's hot and not.

Another clue: hot commodities and corresponding indexes/funds. If oil is hot, don't buy oil directly--buy an index fund and let IT do your hard work! A smart money manager knows he has to make a profit to keep his job, so let HIM do your work FOR you. Vanguard has been very, very good to me as far as indexes and funds go.

Highly informative, but with a predefined solution, from the author's corp.......2006-03-20

Before making any comment on the book, I would like to draw your attention to some points from page 16-17 of it for your reference.

- In June 2001 Dalbar Inc., of Boston, released a study entitled "Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behaviour" which examined real investor returns from Jan 1984 through December 2000. It found that the individual equity mututal fund investor realized an annual return of 5.32% compared to 16.3% for S&P 500 index.
- Charles Trzcinka, a professor of Finance at Indiana University, published a report in June 2002. The average mutual fund (in a sample of 6900 US stock mutual funds) gained 5.7% during the four year period of the study between 1998-2001, while the average investor earned only 1.0 percent.
- Both studies reached the same conclusion. The Dalbar Research indicated that investors underperformed the market by approximately 67%. The Trzcinka Study, covering a different time period, indicated investors underperformed the funds they were invested in by about 82%.
- Charles Ellis (the ex chairman of AIMR, the mother body of CFA) reports, in Winning the Losers Game, over 75% of professionally managed funds underperformed the S&P 500 index for the twenty five year period ending in 1997.

Okay, you might already have a brief idea what the author, a CPA, CFP, CLU, ChFC boss of a financial planning company, wanted to preach. Yes, market/index based insurance products or equivalent through his service. No matter what, I am obliged to say this is quite an interesting and helpful book, in particular for investment novices who regularly underperform the market. However, I suggest those veterans who can beat the market, or "still" strive to do so to give it a pass.

p.s. Below please find some of my favorite passages for your reference.

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat the mistakes of history. George Santayana pg 38

A person's economic status tends to determine the psychological and financial meaning of gambling for that person. Higher income people see gambling as entertainment and a way to socialize with other people. Conversely, the lower the income, the more gambling is seen as a form of investment. pg 40

There are two kinds of investors, be they large or small: those who dont knwo where the market is headed, and those who dont knwo that they dont know. Then again, there is a third type of investor - the investment professional, who indeed knows that he or she doesnt know, but whose livelihood depends upon appearing to know. pg 134

The best way to escape from a problem is to solve it. Alan Saporta pg 139

A Must Read For The Financial Professional.......2005-02-11

As my client patted my hand with tears welling up in her eyes, she said thank you so much for keeping our savings safe. As a Financial Professional it is easy for one to see the incredible power and impact we have on our client's future well being.
Edward Winslow's well documented book Blind Faith, describes the landscape and changes occuring in the contemporary stock market. He guides the Advisor to the philosophy and products perfectly suited to Retirement Savings.
To be read and digested by Advisors and given to Clients and used as the modern day guide to Investing not gambling.
If you sell Indexed Annuities or want to, this is a must read for the Financial Professional.

There is another way..........2003-12-09

Finally, a book that speaks to concerns that I've had about investing since I read my first investment book but that no one seems to talk about.

The author covers topics that are taboo in most investment texts, such as how the investment industry is rigged against the individual investor (corporate structure, taxes, investment banks, government regulation, etc.), and what you can do to protect yourself from market risk. Diversification doesn't help when the whole market collapses after a catastrophic event like 9-11 or in a deep recession.

If you want to take advantage of up markets and hold onto your gains in down markets, then read this book.

Book Description

In The Whole World's Watching the authors explain how money can be channeled into the technology that will preserve the lifestyles we currently enjoy and create a new era of economic growth. This is a book that proposes real, concrete solutions. Environmentalists and politicians will not stop climate change from occurring: industry will and it will happen a lot sooner than we think. Global warming is real and not a problem that will disappear on its own. This book explains why it is now time to mobilize the world's financial markets to work for the good of mankind. The money to finance the changes necessary to prevent climatic mutation should come from Wall Street, instead of Washington or Berlin.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent and Intelligent Read.......2001-04-05

I originally purchased this book in London and read it on a flight back to New York. It has been out in England for a couple of months and has been reviewed in the press over there. The book outlines a radical but intelligent solution to the problem of global warming, without shutting down the world's economy or adopting the draconian mandates of the Kyoto Protocol. This is more timely now, given Bush's decision to end US participation in the climate change negotiations. I should also add that the book is actually very well written and quite funny. It would certainly irritate the most righteous environmentalists of the world, and for that alone it is worth buying and reading.

Book Description

The problem of sexual harassment was with us long before the highly publicized 1991 confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. However, Anita Hill's testimony regarding sexual harassment captured the nation and sparked a public debate on what had been treated as a private issue. Because of its subjective nature, sexual harassment has been difficult to quantify and define. As a result of the pervasiveness and complexity of sexual harassment, there is now an enormous body of literature on the topic. This book is a guide to the available material. From the more than 1,000 citations found by the authors, the bibliography has been limited to some 534 books, articles, and dissertations. The works were chosen for their scholarly, original, or creative contribution to sexual harassment literature. Materials generally excluded were newspaper articles, popular press publications, anecdotal reports, and editorial comments or letters. Entries are arranged in topical chapters, and entries for books and articles include descriptive annotations. A chronology traces major developments in sexual harassment legislation in the United States from the 1964 Civil Rights Act to a 1993 U.S. Supreme Court case.

Customer Reviews:

This book is a lifesaver........1999-11-10

This book is an extremely comprehensive bibliography. I am a high school student and I found it to be very accessible.

I have been working on a term paper on Sexual Harassment in the work place, and have found plenty of articles from magazines, but very few books. This book pointed me in the right direction, to find lots of great books on the topic.

I would recommend this book to anyone who would like find authoritative sources on this important issue.

I hope that the authors will come up with a revised edition with later entries so that I can use it when I go to college.

Book Description

During the last twenty years, United States attitudes and legislation regarding sanctions against the white-dominated government of South Africa have gone through considerable flux. This bibliography is designed to provide a guide to the statutes dealing with sanctions, government documents examining the issue, and books, articles, and pamphlets issued on the topic. The bibliography is organized by type of material. Many of the entries are annotated, and access to the material is enhanced by a general subject index keyed to entry number. This work will be of considerable value to students and scholars involved with contemporary international law and with African Studies and American foreign relations.

World Environment Law Bibliography: Nonperiodical Literature in Law and the Social Sciences Published Since 1970 in Various Languages With Selected

Average customer rating:

World Environment Law Bibliography: Nonperiodical Literature in Law and the Social Sciences Published Since 1970 in Various Languages With Selected
Virginia Evans Templeton , and Howard J. Taubenfeld
Manufacturer: Fred B Rothman & Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Environmental & Natural Resources Law | Law | Subjects | Books

General | Law | Subjects | Books

A bibliography of books and selected publications on Mexico in disciplines of political science, economics, international law, industry and finance, labour ... privately by Co Chairmen ... and John Sokol

Average customer rating:

A bibliography of books and selected publications on Mexico in disciplines of political science, economics, international law, industry and finance, labour ... privately by Co Chairmen ... and John Sokol
John D Harbron
Manufacturer: Canadian Institute of International Affairs, Mexico Canada Study Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0007KE248

Federal Airport Privatization: A Selected Bibliography (Public Administration Series--Bibliography, P-2901)

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Federal Airport Privatization: A Selected Bibliography (Public Administration Series--Bibliography, P-2901)
Anthony G. White
Manufacturer: Vance Pub Corp
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Selected bibliography on the information sciences and law

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Selected bibliography on the information sciences and law
Layman E Allen
Manufacturer: Yale Law School
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Book Description

Over long periods of time the tectonic evolution of the solid Earth has been recognized as the major control on the development of the global climate system. Tectonic activity acts in one of two different ways to influence regional and global climate: (i) through the opening and closing of oceanic gateways and its effect on the circulation patterns in the global ocean: (ii) through the growth and erosion of orogenic belts, resulting in changes in oceanic chemistry and disruption of atmospheric circulation. The Arabian Sea region has several features that make it the best area globally to examine sold Earth-climatic interactions. Indeed, it can be regarded as the global type area for studies of climate and palaeoceanographic responses to tectonic activity, most notably in the context of the South Asian monsoon and its relationship to the growth of high topography in the adjacent Himalayas and Tibet. The Tectonic and Climatic Evolution of the Arabian Sea Region brings together a collection of recent studies on the area from a wide group of international contributors. The papers range from high resolution, Holocene palaeoceanography studies of the Pakistan margin to regional tectonic reconstructions of the ocean basin and surrounding margins throughout the Cenozoic.

Book Description

Drop a pebble in a pond and the results are predictable: circular waves flow from the point of impact. Hit a point on a crystalline solid, however, and the expanding waves are highly nonspherical; the elasticity of a crystal is anisotropic. This book provides a fresh look at the vibrational properties of crystalline solids, elucidated by new imaging techniques. From the megahertz vibrations of ultrasound to the near-terahertz vibrations associated with heat, the underlying elastic anisotropy of the crystal asserts itself. Phonons are elementary vibrations that affect many properties of solids--thermal, electrical, and magnetic. This text covers the basic theory and experimental observations of phonon propagation in solids. Phonon imaging techniques provide physical insights into such topics as phonon focusing, lattice dynamics, and ultrasound propagation. Scattering of phonons from interfaces, superlattices, defects, and electrons are treated in detail. The book includes many striking and original illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

Phonon Imaging can change your life.......2000-09-05

Jim Wolfe, the guru of the Phonon Imaging Movement, taught me to relax using Acoustic Waves. I used to be a stressed junior faculty member, but now I'm a confident young scientist thanks to critical-cone channelling of my energies. I've introduced all my friends to phonon imaging!

Book Description

God's other son, Colin, who was edited out of the Bible when Jesus got artistic control, is a bit pissed off. Well wouldn't you be, with your brother stealing the lime-light like that? But now God's been murdered, and there's no way Colin's gonna let the meek inherit the Earth. He's in charge now.

Customer Reviews:

Good laughs.......2002-06-13

It was my first encounter with Rankin and I absolutely loved this book. Funny, enjoyable, genial. The "sniffing curry powder" line was hilarious!

He's still the best!.......2002-01-05

I think this book is one of Rankin's best. Filled with the usual running gags throughout and characters which have surprising realistic personalities which are reminiscent of the next door neigbour who you intensely dislike! I especially liked the part about the silent Dynamite, can you guess what it's called? You'll have to read the book to find out! Who else but Robert Rankin could think up a storyline about God and his wife and three kids? It's fantastic and I would recommend it to experienced Rankin readers or to newcomers.

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