Site Logo
Fortune’s Formula: The Untold Story of the Scientific Betting System that Beat the Casino and Wall Street – William Poundstone
Non-fiction / 18th May 2023

Introduction Fortune’s Formula is mainly about the Kelly criterion. This book was recommended in Richer, Wiser, Happier. The is my third book from its recommended book list. I would like to see what be can learned from this book to apply in the stock market. Author William Poundstone is an American author and columnist. Contents Fortune’s Formula has a prologue (The Wire Service) and 6 parts. As these 6 parts contain quite a lot of chapters, I am not going to list them here. Part One is Entropy. Part Two is Blackjack. Part Three is Arbitrage. Part Four is St. Petersburg Wager. Part Five is RICO. Part Six is Blowing Up. Part Seven is Signal and Noise. Review Fortune’s Formula is more like a biography, rather than an investment book. It features a lot of people, either directly or indirectly involved in the stock markets, including Claude Shannon, the father of information theory, and Edward O. Thorp. It reveals the backers of Edward O. Thorp in Beat the Dealer which Thorp concealed in his book. The main thing that is discussed in this book is the Kelly formula. According to the author, it is the best strategy for a gambler as…

Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markers and Life – William Green
Non-fiction / 18th October 2022

Introduction Richer, Wiser, Happier discusses the principles, process, insights, habits, and personality traits that enable a tiny minority to beat the market in the long run. The author would like to reverse engineer these investors’ winning ways. This book is recommended by a columnist on Forbes website. I would like to learn the winning ways of these great investors. Author William Green is an author and editor. He has written for many leading publications in the US and Europe. Besides that, he has interviewed a number of most successful investors. Contents Richer, Wiser, Happier is made up of an introduction (Inside the Minds of the Greatest Investors), 8 chapters and an epilogue (Beyond Rich). The 8 chapters are 1) The Man Who Cloned Warren Buffett, 2) The Willingness to Be Lonely, 3) Everything Changes, 4) The Resilient Investor, 5) Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication, 6) Nick & Zak’s Excellent Adventure, 7) High-Performance Habits, and 8) Don’t Be a Fool. Review Richer, Wiser, Happier features a number of investors. The author thinks that by studying these investors, we could learn not only how to become rich, but also to improve our decision making skill. Investing is about calculating the odds, thus…

Guide to Investment Strategy: How To Understand Markets, Risk, Rewards and Behaviour – Peter Stanyer, Stephen Satchell
Non-fiction / 14th February 2022

Introduction Guide to Investment Strategy is an investment book. This book aims to address the concerns of retail investor. I would like to learn about the recommendations of two economists on investing. Author Peter Stanyer is an economist and strategist at a London-based private wealth manager. He was previously chief investment officer of a US-based investment firm, a managing director at Merrill Lynch and investment director of the UK’s Railways Rail Pension Fund. He has also worked as an economist for the Bank of England and the IMF. He won the Adam Smith prize for economics when he was at Cambridge University. Stephen Satchell is Economics Fellow at Trinity College Cambridge, and is a Professor at the University of Sydney. He is The Reader in Financial Econometrics (Emeritus) at Cambridge University, and is an Honorary Member of the Institute of Actuaries. He is an academic advisor to numerous financial institutions. Contents Guide to Investment Strategy has a total of 11 chapters which are divided into 2 parts. It also has an introduction (Back to basics, again) and 2 appendices. Part 1 is The Big Picture. There are 6 chapters here. These chapters are 1) Setting the scene: What is risk…

The Smart Money Method: How To Pick Stocks Like A Hedge Fund Pro – Stephen Clapham
Non-fiction / 19th November 2021

Introduction The Smart Money Method is a book about investment strategy. The author presents his investment process from finding the original idea to buying, monitoring and selling. He would like to improve the readers’ investment performance with this book. I would like to know how hedge fund managers choose the stocks to be included in their portfolios and see if I could implement some methods to improve my returns. Author Stephen Clapham is the founder of Behind the Balance Sheet. He spent some 20 years as an equity analyst at different investment banks, covering various sectors, and was consistently rated in the top 10 in his sector. He moved to the buy-side in 2005 and was a partner and head of research at 2 multi-billion dollar hedge funds; he specialised in using a deep dive research approach to identify special situation opportunities. Contents The Smart Money Method has a preface, an introduction, and 14 chapters. The chapters are 1) What Makes A Good Investment?, 2) Finding Ideas, 3) Testing the Hypothesis, 4) Understanding the Industry, 5) Quality, 6) Analysis of Company Quality, 7) Management, 8) Company Financials, 9) Valuation, 10) Communicating the Idea, 11) Maintaining the Portfolio, 12) Macro-Economic Analysis,…

How I Invest My Money: Finance Experts Reveal How They Save, Spend, and Invest – Joshua Brown, Brian Portnoy
Non-fiction / 3rd October 2021

Introduction How I Invest My Money is a personal finance book rather than an investment book. It is a collection of personal stories of financial experts. The editors hope that the readers could learn from this book and feel more confident in managing own money. I found this book being recommended in an investment blog and would like to see if my guess of their using mostly low-cost investment vehicles is true or not. Authors Joshua Brown is an American author, columnist, blogger (The Reformed Broker), commentator on CNBC, and CEO of New York City-based Ritholtz Wealth Management. He is also a contributing columnist to Yahoo! Finance, Business Insider, and serves on the board of advisors for Brightscope and Upside. Brian Portnoy is the founder of Shaping Wealth, a financial wellness platform. He has served as keynote speaker, seminar leader, and coach to thousands of investors on topics ranging from portfolio strategy to the connection between money and happiness. For more than 20 years, he has worked in the hedge fund and mutual fund industries as portfolio manager and educator.  They are both editors and authors of their own chapter in this book. Contents How I Invest My Money consists of an introduction, 24 chapters, and a conclusion. Each chapter corresponds to a…

100 Baggers: Stocks that Return 100-to-1 and How to Find Them – Christopher Mayer
Non-fiction / 21st July 2021

Introduction 100 Baggers is a book about how to find stocks that will give us 100-to-1 returns. This book wants to teach the readers how such returns happened and what investors need to do to find them. I was attracted by the title and also want to see what are the common themes among the 100 baggers in the book. Author Christopher Mayer is an author, newsletter writer, and investor. He is the portfolio manager and co-founder of Woodlock House Family Capital. Prior to that, he worked with Bonner & Partners and the Bonner family office. He was the editor of Capital & Crisis, published by Agora Financial from 2004-2015. He was a corporate banker from 1994-2004. Content 100 Baggers has 15 chapters and an appendix. The 15 chapters are 1) Introducing 100-Baggers, 2) Anybody Can Do This: True Stories, 3) The Coffee-Can Portfolio, 4) 4 Studies of 100-Baggers, 5) The 100-Baggers of the Last 50 Years, 6)The Key to 100-Baggers, 7) Owner-Operators: Skin in the Game, 8) The Outsiders: The Best CEOs, 9) Secrets of an 18,000-Bagger, 10) Kelly’s Heroes: Bet Big, 11) Stock Buybacks: Accelerate Returns, 12) Keep Competitors Out, 13) Miscellaneous Mentation on 100-Baggers, 14) In Case…

Unknown Market Wizards: The Best Traders You’ve Never Heard of – Jack D. Schwager
Non-fiction / 14th May 2021

Introduction The Unknown Market Wizards gives the readers a glimpse into the mind of some of the world’s best traders – how they think about markets; what they have learned about trading; how they have improved; what mistakes they have learned to avoid; what advice they have for other traders. I am curious about all the market wizards and especially the strategies that they use. Author You can refer here to know more about Jack D. Schwager. Contents Unknown Market Wizards has a preface, 10 chapters which are divided into 2 parts, a conclusion, an epilogue, and 2 appendices. Part I is Future Traders. The 5 chapters here are Peter Brandt: Strong Opinions, Weakly Held, Jason Shapiro: The Contrarian, Richard Bargh: The Importance of Mindset, Amrit Sall: The Unicorn Sniper, and John Netto: Monday Is My Favorite Day. Part II is Stock Traders. The chapters include Jeffrey Neumann: Penny Wise, Dollar Wise, Chris Camillo: Neither, Marsten Parker: Don’t Quit Your Day Job, Michael Kean: Complementary Strategies, and Pavel Krejčí: The Bellhop Who Beat the Pros. The conclusion is called 46 Market Wizard Lessons. The 2 appendices are Understanding the Futures Markets and Performance Metrics. Review There is an introduction and…

The Investment Answer: Learn to Manage Your Money & Protect Your Financial Future – Daniel C. Goldie, Gordon S. Murray
Non-fiction / 2nd April 2021

Introduction The Investment Answer is a recommended book on a blog. It aims to educate the readers about personal investing so that we can protect ourselves and make smart financial decisions. I would like to know what the answer is. Author Daniel C. Goldie is the president of Dan Goldie Financial Services LLC. He is a member of CFA Institute and a Chartered Financial Analyst. He was a professional tennis player before dabbling in investment field. Gordon S. Murray had worked in institutional trading and sales at Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse First Boston and Lehman Brothers. He worked as a consultant with Dimensional Fund Advisors after retiring from Wall Street. Contents The Investment Answer has a prologue, an introduction, 8 chapters which are divided into 2 parts, and A Personal Note from the Authors. Part 1 is The Decisions which contains 5 chapters. These chapters are The Do-It-Yourself Decision, The Asset Allocation Decision, The Diversification Decision, The Active versus Passive Decision, and The Rebalancing Decision. Part 2 is Conclusions. The 3 chapters here are Compared to What?, What about Alternatives, and Everyone Can Succeed. Review The main premise of The Investment Answer is 5 informed decisions. These decisions are do-it-yourself,…

The Women’s Guide to Successful Investing: Achieving Financial Security and Realizing Your Goals – Nancy Tengler
Non-fiction / 26th January 2021

Introduction The Women’s Guide to Successful Investing intends to educate the women regarding investments and to increase the readers’ financial IQ. The author aims to help the readers to establish a discipline that we will feel comfortable employing during good and difficult markets. I would like to learn the advice that the author gives and uses to become successful investors from this book. Author Nancy Tengler is a columnist, author, financial news commentator, and university professor. She has worked as a Chief Executive and Chief Investment Officer, overseeing the management of tens of billions of dollars globally. She has been named one of Money Magazine’s Best Women Investors and served as a regular guest host on CNBC as well as a frequent guest on PBS, CNN, CBS, NBC and Bloomberg TV. Contents The Women’s Guide to Successful Investing comprises a foreword, a preface, 14 chapters, and an appendix. The chapters are: 1) Wealth Accumulation Is an Attitude: Investing for Your Future Requires a Few Goals and Much Less Capital Than You Think, 2) Why Women Make Excellent Investors: Women Inherently Display the Traits Required for Successful Investing, 3) In Order to Get There We Need to Know Where We Are…

The Alchemy of Finance: Reading the Mind of the Market – George Soros
Non-fiction / 7th January 2021

Introduction The Alchemy of Finance is a book about the theory of reflexivity. This is the author’s own theory about the behaviour of the financial markets. He is using his experiences to develop an approach to the study of historical processes. Since the author is a great trader, I would like to know what he is sharing in this book. Furthermore, this book is recommended in several investment blogs. Author George Soros is an American billionaire investor and philanthropist. He was born in Hungary but fled the country during the Second World War. His first hedge fund was Double Eagle and the next one was Soros Fund Management which was renamed to Quantum Fund. The author is best known as The Man who Broke the Bank of England. He used his fortune to create Open Society Foundations which support freedom of expression, accountable government, and societies that promote justice and equality. The author has donated more than $32 billion of his personal fortune to fund the Open Society Foundations’ work around the world. He is also the founder and primary funder of the Central European University in Budapest, a leading regional center for the study of the social sciences. Contents…