Product Description

One of today's most influential financial commentators offers his advice on keeping your money safe in an uncertain world

The Little Book of Safe Money acts as a guide for those trying to make their way through today's down markets. The topics covered include everything from investing behavior-why our minds come with their own set of biases that often prove harmful-to the use of financial advisors. But this timely book goes one step further than the rest by questioning an investor's true appetite for risk.

The Little Book of Safe Money also contradicts many of the myths that whirl around Wall Street with chapters like "Why Ultra-ETFs Are Mega-Dangerous" and "Hedge-Fund Hooey." Writing in the classic Little Book style, author Jason Zweig peels away layer after layer of buzz words, emotion, and myths to reveal what's really going on in today's financial markets.

• Outlines strategies for satisfying our ever-changing investment appetites while focusing on a long-term financial plan
• Author Jason Zweig is a trusted voice in the financial community and his straightforward style resonates with investors
• Offers practical guidance, tools, and tips for surviving and thriving in a down market

If you're serious about succeeding in today's turbulent markets, then The Little Book of Safe Money is what you should be reading.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #269626 in Books
• Published on: 2009-11-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 230 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780470398524
• Condition: New
• Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Amazon.com Review

The Three Commandments of Investing
Amazon-exclusive content from author Jason Zweig

The First Commandment:
Thou shalt take no risk that thou needst not take.

Always ask yourself: Is this risk necessary? Are there safer alternatives that can accomplish the same objective? Have I studied the pros and cons of each before settling on this choice as the single best way to achieve my goal? Unless you ask, do not invest.

The Second Commandment:
Thou shalt take no risk that is not most certain to reward thee for taking it.

Always ask yourself: How do I know this risk will be rewarded? “Most certain to reward thee” does not mean that there is zero chance that you will not be rewarded. It does mean, and must mean, that you are highly likely to be rewarded. What is the historical evidence, based on the real experience of other investors, to suggest that this approach will actually succeed? During the periods in the past when it hasn’t worked – and every investment in history has gone through such dry spells, regardless of what the hypesters might tell you – how big were the losses? Unless you ask, do not invest.

The Third Commandment:
Thou shalt put no money at risk that thou canst not afford to lose.

Always ask yourself: Can I stand to lose 100 percent of this money? Have I analyzed not merely how much I will gain if I am right, but how much I can lose and how I will overcome those losses if I turn out to be wrong? Will my other assets and income be sufficient to sustain me if this investment wipes me out? If I lose every penny I put into this idea, can I recover from the damage? Unless you ask, do not invest.

Review
"A little book with big advice. Jason Zweig . . . doesn’t promise investors the moon, but in language that everyone can understand, he offers solid, common-sense steps to protect and improve their portfolios. . . Such advice is consistent with the bigidea of Zweig’s book: If an investment looks too good to be true, it probably is. And he offers a useful process to help readers remember it."
—SmartMoney.com

"There are very few in the financial media whose material I would consider recommended reading. Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Zweig is one of them, and his new book is one you should consider.  His latest work adds to his reputation for books that not only provide important insights into the winning investment strategy, but are also good reads. This little book is filled with sage counsel from which even sophisticated investors can benefit. . . His book also provides advice on how to avoid many of the behavioral mistakes investors keep repeating. As William Bernstein, who wrote the forward, put it: ‘Jason Zweig knows your financial demons, where they live, why they’re making your poor, and how you can beat them."
—Larry Swedroe, CBS MoneyWatch

This book is a well written, fascinating page turner that I read in one sitting with a big bag of microwave popcorn. Yet, I don’t just recommend a book because it was thoroughly enjoyable. The main reason to read this book is that it can put you on the path toward reaching financial freedom. But it’s up to you and whether you’d rather spend your retirement years pursuing your interests, or spend them asking strangers if they’d like their value meal supersized.
—Allan Roth, Founder of Wealth Logic, and author of How A Second Grader Beats Wall Street

From the Inside Flap
With the value of the dollar sinking, bond yields drying up, giant investment banks collapsing, and stock markets crumbling, how can you ensure that your money will stay safe? By becoming better acquainted with the markets, the "professionals" who populate the field of finance, and, most importantly, yourself.

While this may sound like simple advice, author Jason Zweig—the investing and personal finance columnist for the Wall Street Journal—knows how difficult this endeavor can be. But as a trusted voice in the financial community, he has helped thousands of investors achieve this goal, and now, with The Little Book of Safe Money, he wants to help you do the same.

The Little Book of Safe Money is the perfect guide for those trying to make their way through today's tough markets. Topics covered include everything from investing behavior and why our minds come with their own set of biases that often prove harmful to the use of financial advisors. But this reliable resource goes one step further than the rest by questioning an investor's true appetite for risk. The Little Book of Safe Money also debunks many of the myths that whirl around Wall Street with chapters like "Hedge-Fund Hooey."

Page by page, this timely book:

• Outlines strategies for satisfying our ever-changing investment appetites while focusing on a long-term financial plan

• Discusses both the external and internal forces that can hurt your investment performance—and how you can better deal with them

• Offers practical guidance, tools, and tips for surviving and thriving in a down market

• And much more

In a straightforward and accessible style, Zweig peels away layer after layer of buzz words, emotion, and myths to reveal what's really going on in today's financial markets and how you can thrive under even the most adverse conditions. If you're serious about succeeding in today's turbulent markets, then The Little Book of Safe Money is what you should be reading.

Customer Reviews

Excellent despite "thou shalt" language gimmick
Excellent. The biblical "thou shalt" and "thou shalt not" language make it almost unreadable but the content is so good I kept reading. I especially like the details backing up every point. All the guidance is carefully argued and backed up. The footnoted stories are fascinating, like the details about the Madoff victims and their SPIC claims. Except for the religious language gimmick, this is a great personal finance book.

edit: I hadn't read the last chapters when I wrote the above. The weird sexist stuff at the end and the insistence we all use financial managers despite the first 3/4s of the book are not helpful. A maddening but recommended book.

An informative book.
As of November 2009, Jason Zweig's book is the latest in the Little Book Big Profits series of books, most of which are very informative and well written. This book is no exception. The first thing to recognize about the Little Book series is that, well, the books are little--perhaps only two-thirds the size of most books. If this book were published in a more normal size and line spacing format, it would probably run less than 150 pages, but that doesn't really detract from the value of the book.

Much of the book covers some common sense concepts, like (1) don't take unnecessary risks, (2) don't take risks without sufficient expected return to compensate for taking the risks involved, and (3) don't risk money that you can't afford to lose. Zweig refers to these concepts as "commandments," and comes back to them throughout the book. He does a better job, in my view, when he addresses somewhat less obvious concepts, such as the (sometimes neglected) value of liquidity and the value of one's "human capital." For example, if you have invested years in your own education to become a geologist, then it might make sense not to concentrate your financial capital investments in energy stocks (because if the energy industry falls on hard times, your investments could suffer and you could lose your job at the same time).

Zweig is at his best, in my opinion, when he addresses the supposedly "low risk and high return" investments that the financial industry regularly puts out. He also deserves credit for explaining (1) how some "guarantees" are not all they are cracked up to be, (2) the difference between yield and total return, (3) how the risks that stocks seem to represent and the risk that they actually represent are often inversely correlated (think about that for a minute), and (4) why leveraged ETFs (exchange traded funds) may behave differently than some investors expect. There are more, but you get the idea.

I liked Zweig's discussions of the risks involved in hard assets and emerging markets, and I thought he did a good job pointing out the various unconscious biases many investors have, such as "anchoring" and "framing" that behavioral finance warns us about. The discussion of "Mr. Market" (an invention of the legendary Benjamin Graham) was very good, and I liked Zweig's collection of red-flag phrases for investors--like "can't lose," "guaranteed" and some less obvious others.

This book is an easy read not only because it's short, but also because Zweig has an easy writing style. I doubt that it will plow a lot of new ground for sophisticated investors, but for the rest of us, it represents a worthwhile investment.

A Little Book with Big Ideas; Smart, Savvy & To-the-Point!
This latest incarnation of the Little Books, Big Profits series is a safe bet for investors looking for a way to shore up their portfolios in the aftermath of last year's financial implosion. Wall Street Journal "Intelligent Investor" columnist, Jason Zweig is a source you can trust on all matters relating to investing and personal finance. In his long career working for top financial news outlets like Forbes, Money magazine, Time and CNN, he has undoubtedly learned a thing or two about how investors can best protect themselves from the fallout of fly-by-night investment schemes peddled by the likes of Bernie Madoff and other unscrupulous, financial practitioners.

Zweig is an expert in the field of behavioral finance, which means he knows all about how an investor's clearest instincts can sometimes work against him or her. Zweig exposes the hollowness, which lies behind many of the glossy catchphrases and gimmicky marketing tactics that the big investment houses use to rope in new clients and saddle them with complicated financial products, many of which run the risk of becoming unmanageable and performing poorly in the long run. He deconstructs the widely believed myth that amateur investors should always to seek guidance from a professional financial advisor prior to getting involved in the market. He offers a number of examples of investors successfully and independently managing their own portfolios as long as they are grounded in responsible expectations about risk and return.

Zweig leaves readers with three, forceful, takeaway lessons about avoiding risk in the form of biblical-sounding commandments: (1.) "Thou shalt take no risk that thou needst not take." An example Zweig gives of needless, if unconscious, risk-taking is overinvesting in the company you work for. According to Zweig, you're already taking a risk by working for the company in the first place (due to the chance of getting laid off or the company going under). You always want to have your investment income to fall back on in the off chance that your other income drys up. (2.) "Thou shalt take no risk that is not most certain to reward thee for taking it." According to Zweig, investing in individual stocks or sectors of the market is taking too much risk. Instead, invest in the total market and forget about betting on one stock or sector to outperform another. In other words, diversify! (3.) "Thou shalt put no money at risk that thou canst not afford to lose." Depending on your circumstances, you may not even want to invest in stocks at all. There are dozens of low-risk, high-yield alternatives to playing the market. For these reasons and more, The Little Book of Safe Money: How to Conquer Killer Markets, Con Artists, and Yourself (Little Books. Big Profits) is a sure bet for every conscientious investor on your holiday shopping list.

Another book written in the same vein as Jason Zweig's "Little Book" is Thomas C. Scott's Fasten Your Financial Seatbelt: What A Fatal Plane Crash Taught Me About Retirement Planning. Scott is a [...] contributor, speaker and consumer advocate with over 25 years in the financial services industry. His book is full of sensible, easy-to-understand principles for managing your assets in an intelligent and responsible manner.