Good books for shares and stocks

I have attended the one day ILTB seminar. I have since attended 2 evening seminars.

I have them to be very worthwhile and informative. I also think many of the above posters have been very unfair to RG.

Why don't you go and attend a free workshop?
 
Charttrader & Gearoid - one last comment from my side - of course people should read the investment classics and indeed beginner books on stock market investing. But there is nothing wrong with people going along to check out courses on offer. ILTB distinguishes itself in the market place by teaching investing only - not speculating or trading - as it is our firm belief that the simple returns largely accrue to the investors over time. Good luck to traders who can make the returns on that side of the fence but I think most traders will readily accept that, in aggregate, traders cannot get the full returns on offer.

ILTB's site may be light on detail but going to a Free Workshop should still not be dismissed so lightly. There are only three ways to invest - cash on deposits, property and the stock markets (let's leave commodities to one side) and it is my contention that training is required. Where does one get trained in stock market investing ? Personally I believe there is a natural gap, and I'd have given alot myself for someone to have helped me along. Not everyone has the day to day interest you both appear to have and many will gladly accept and pay for someone to provide measured answers. I can assure you that I have had every kind of person on my seminars - from the raw beginner to the pro who is just plain nosey and who is not expecting to learn much. Each walks away knowing they got value for their money. I may claim alot here and in the workshops but I can back it up opn the 1-day seminar. I simply have no interest in false claims.

I will now rest my case, I would simply ask for more balance in responses when people ask about ILTB. Should either of you decide go to a workshop please do not hesitate to introduce yourself. You will not find me at all patronising, quite the opposite.

If I have time in the future, I will try and make some more contributions to this site - like the Motley Fool Site, this site is a good one and can make a valuable contribution to demystifying personal finance.
 
Rory,
I should clarify. I felt the implication that the majority of people wouldn't learn from books was perhaps a little patronising as a theory. I didn't imply you were. If that came across I apologise. I think it is fair to query what someone would gain from a course such as yours given its cost and brevity. I am sure the course is excellent, just a little expensive for the ordinary punter.
Best of luck,
Gearoid
 
Hi All, I'm currently ploughing through "Evidence-Based Technical Analysis" by David Aronson. It puts the kibosh on the subjective pseudo-scientific TA that is peddled by the likes of TICN (of which I am a club member), introduces a bit of rigour in terms of those TA techniques which have any validity vs. those that are no better than reading tea leaves. I've read through a fair few books on investing by now but there's nothing like getting some skin in the game to concentrate the mind. Anyone trade options ?
 
hi Mike..dont trade options but have read 'technical analysis of the financial markets' by John Murphy...v good book..have you read it? its the bible of technical analysis.

mosy of the technical people seemed to think that last weeks market rally was a dead cat bounce....there hasnt bee another dip yet....which makes me think some of technical analysis is a bit like reading tea leaves...will be interesting to see how the next few weeks play out.

i used the dip to buy solid companies.
 
Such a shame how someones thread can get highjacked, I understand the need for a good debate but not so much so that it is 2/3rds of the thread. Now I understand the benefit of stickies and more so the locked sticky.
 
We are still talking about books Colly. A few of us that are debating here were the original posters who were responsible for posting the original book list in the first place....however, the posts about ILTB were sort of out of place...

anyway, if you are interested in excellent valuable reading read..ben grahams book' the intelligent investor' and and also 'one up on wall street' by Peter Lynch.
 
Other good investing books I have read include Jim Cramer's "Real Money" and "Mad Money" - very readable and good fun; Alexander Elder's "Trading for a Living" - lots of sentiment and trading psychology; Joel Greenblatt's "The Little Book that Beats the Market" - has a value investing "magic formula", pending reading I have Ken Fisher's "The Only 3 Questions That Count".
 
Mikesnn said:
Other good investing books I have read include Jim Cramer's "Real Money" and "Mad Money" - very readable and good fun
Click to expand...

I can't say I've ever shelled out for his books but I have serious doubts about Cramer's abilities and some of his claims. The 14 year 24% annual compounded return he claims as a hedge fund manager has never been independently audited and he sold out at the market peak in 2000.

While this might appear good timing he remained bullish and the basket of "super six" tech shares he recommended during the ensuing bear market went on to lose 90% of their value before he advised selling them pretty much at the bottom. Lately he has claimed to have been skeptical of the tech bubble even though he was clearly a cheerleader at the time.

His books could still be useful but he fires out a dozen or so buy and sell recommendations on each show. Blogs following his picks (some of which he has issued "cease and desist" orders to) indicate he rarely beats the market.

The only thing you are likely to do with such a trading strategy is enrich your broker.
 
I thought I would add some input here...

I have done the TICN course about 1.5 years ago now and I firmly believe and still do that any education in this area is a good thing!

So how did I get on after the course - well for the 1st 6 months I did very well - made about 25% ROI.

The next 6 months (from July '06 to the end of the year) no so well. Now I seem to be making back my initial 25% again.

The important thing I learned were the following...

After all the investment courses, reading books you have to dive in and learn as the market devlops...One thing for sure what the market has done in the past 2 years does not mean that the market(or any one stock) is going to do that again. This is what technical charting on its own tries to do....You have to do your homework - fundamental analysis (risk to reward, future projections...)

You only make money when you sell. Dont fool yourself into thinking that you are up 25% but have not sold your positions. The market can change on a dime....

If you do your fundamental analysis then the rewards can be quite good. For example at the start of this year a lot of analysts were predicting that OIL was going to below $50 a barrel yet if you did your homework the fundamentals have not changed and it is why OIL is now at $62 and I believe will at least go to $70 by the summer....OIL stocks and alternative energy look good right now but it is important to understand why. Similarly for other industries...

One needs to understand what the FED is doing and how it affects the markets also things like CPI(Consumer Price Index), housing data(if people are having difficulty holding onto there houses they are not going to have money for buying consumer items!) as well as other indices etc . etc...

Using the Stochastic signals and bolinger bands is a good technical tool to use after doing your fundamental analysis to know when to buy then to sell and then to buy again (i.e the magic of compound interest).

Dont underestimate the power of compound interest. Alot of people who look at the stock market look for a single stock that they want to go from 0-1000% in one year! The odds of this happening are quite remote. Better method I believe is to move your money around (buy and sell stock) using compound interest.

One other thing is that TICN frowns on buying on margin but if you do your fundamental analysis and understand what you are doing then it can make sense to buy on margin to make good money- I have done this many times and it can be very rewarding.

TICN purport to sell covered calls - I got burnt on this many times. If the stock is going to go negative better to sell the stock than playing with covered calls.....I would not advise to the novice to market OPTIONs wether Calls or puts!

Hopefully this advice might be useful to someone!
 
thanks to every one who posted. all this information is going to help me alot.
 
If you are in any doubt whatsoever on Jim Cramer and his stock-picking advice, I strongly suggest you read the following article he wrote in 2000 just before the bubble burst. Then I suggest you get quotes on the stocks he recommends in his article. If you still think he is a reliable advisor, then you probably should not be investing in stocks !!

[broken link removed]
 
Markjbloggs said:
If you are in any doubt whatsoever on Jim Cramer and his stock-picking advice, I strongly suggest you read the following article he wrote in 2000 just before the bubble burst. Then I suggest you get quotes on the stocks he recommends in his article. If you still think he is a reliable advisor, then you probably should not be investing in stocks !!

[broken link removed]
Click to expand...

;-) This is a great quote from the piece

Most of these companies don't even have earnings per share, so we won't have to be constrained by that methodology for quarters to come.
Click to expand...

In case anyone wonders what he is really doing with his Mad Money show, he explains it himself here ...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZTt7IQB9rc0
 
Jim Cramer - some chancer - everybody sell - and he buys at a low . No wonder why why they are all freaked out about market sentiment!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top