The "What the hell should I read?!" Thread. Books, Blogs, and News - Page 7

BigStack650 · 01-16-2010, 02:12 PM

Hey guys,

I am an undergrad student who recently got asked to an interview for a Sales & Trading summer internship. What would be a good book for me to prepare me for this interview?

creative · 02-15-2010, 09:02 PM

has anyone read the quants yet? curious for some reviews

Dominic · 02-23-2010, 08:15 PM

I've used the search but can't find what I'm looking for...is there a comprehensive thread on forex here?

YoungEcon · 02-24-2010, 11:22 AM

For those of you wanting to learn some intro accounting, check out this 45 minute tutorial about how to read financial statements: http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/tutorials..._tutorial.html

Also, if you're trying to learn the basic stock valuation methods, I think this book is pretty good: http://www.amazon.com/Equity-Asset-V.../dp/0470052821

bonsaltron · 02-28-2010, 01:01 PM

GREAT book on the U.S. Economy, why it is the way it is and where it's going

Crashproof 2.0 by Peter Schiff

ArturiusX · 03-01-2010, 09:08 PM

Peter Schiff lost over 70% of his clients money in 2008, why exactly should people listen to how he crash proofs himself?

bonsaltron · 03-04-2010, 11:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArturiusX

Peter Schiff lost over 70% of his clients money in 2008, why exactly should people listen to how he crash proofs himself?

it's about the economy and why it went wrong... as for 2008 who didn't lose money??? i've been following his economic logic since late 2008 and am comfortably in the black (roi ~40%)

but its more so a great economic textbook to read if oyu want to understand the economy without complicated lingo and graspable analogies

nuclear500 · 03-05-2010, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bonsaltron

it's about the economy and why it went wrong... as for 2008 who didn't lose money??? i've been following his economic logic since late 2008 and am comfortably in the black (roi ~40%)

Unless you constantly bet negative, it would have been hard to lose money in the last year.

bonsaltron · 03-06-2010, 12:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nuclear500

Unless you constantly bet negative, it would have been hard to lose money in the last year.

point? schiff lost money in 08, sure, just like everyone else.

but he wrote the book before the crash and was pretty accurate about what was gunna happen... plus he's been buying / telling people to buy gold for a decade when it was 3 or 4 hundo an ounce, currently at $1150ish... btw the dow jones is down 80% vs gold the last 10 years

i've got a concentrated degree in macroeconomics and monetary policy... im saying schiff is a smart economist, i recommend the book, schiff makes great analogies to explain economic concepts, and if you want to hate on it read it first imo

YoungEcon · 03-06-2010, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bonsaltron

i've got a concentrated degree in macroeconomics and monetary policy... im saying schiff is a smart economist, i recommend the book, schiff makes great analogies to explain economic concepts, and if you want to hate on it read it first imo

I don't know much about Schiff, but I wouldn't be surprised if most economists think the guys a jackass.

skindog · 03-06-2010, 03:14 PM

Schiff is an asshat who is trying to leverage a smidge of economic knowledge with publicity skills into a guru status. He deserves the same level of respect as Nouriel Roubini, which is very little. He's a notch below John Paulson but in the same league - he made one good call and everyone started bowing before him.

Why listen to him when there are managers out there who have decades of experience actually making money?

mrbaseball · 03-06-2010, 05:07 PM

Quote:

as for 2008 who didn't lose money???

Somebody who was crashproof

bonsaltron · 03-06-2010, 08:59 PM

lol @ people hating schiff before reading his book

he's been telling people to buy gold the last decade... his losses in 08 were not on his commodity advice which is what 'crashproof' is all about... plus he's launched a chinese mutual fund so you can measurably see how well his economic expertise will fair. he's a wise macroeconomist and if you want to dig up hate articles on him that's fine but i still recommend the book as a great 101 economic textbook.

also, 'naked economics' is a great book, also giving analogies about economic concepts and logistics

YoungEcon · 03-07-2010, 10:47 AM

What makes him a macroeconomist? Does he have graduate training in econ? Does he publish in academic journals? Does he work as a chief economist somewhere?

Seems to me, he's just a smart guy, who knows some econ (and possibly just fluent in one area of econ, namely the Austrian school). Other than that he's probably good at his job (as a financier, not an economist).

Why is he suddenly a great macroeconomist because he predicted something about gold? Lots of people make correct predictions from time to time, and it's hard to know when they were right, and when they just got lucky.

ArturiusX · 03-07-2010, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bonsaltron

point? schiff lost money in 08, sure, just like everyone else.

but he wrote the book before the crash and was pretty accurate about what was gunna happen... plus he's been buying / telling people to buy gold for a decade when it was 3 or 4 hundo an ounce, currently at $1150ish... btw the dow jones is down 80% vs gold the last 10 years

i've got a concentrated degree in macroeconomics and monetary policy... im saying schiff is a smart economist, i recommend the book, schiff makes great analogies to explain economic concepts, and if you want to hate on it read it first imo

Schiff certainly was onto something about the general economy, but he thought the US dollar would straight collapse, and commodities would turn into a raging bull market 1970's style. And he placed all his clients money on these two ideas, and lost big.

To gloss over a 70% annual loss with a 'well, everyone lost money that year!' is mindblowing. Simple investors maybe lost 25% with a general buy and hold, this is like the difference between a 25 BI downswing in NL and a 80 BI downswing, with you handwaving with a "well, all poker players go through a big downswing from time to time!". Perspective dude. Schiff is a shill who writes what you want to hear, shouting obvious proclamations (housing is in a bubble and will blow up, no ****?) with no sense of timing. Many others knew the credit bubble was going to blow up, Schiff is not special, he's just telling you want you want to hear, an exciting apocalypse story that makes you feel special for knowing, followed by sexy sales pitch of 'follow my advice and you'll be getting rich while everyone else is getting broke'. These guys win because you don't just want to profit, you also want to profit while the herd is losing money. Appeal to ego. Stop falling for it and look at the facts, his macro economic ideas are generic and he was hardly the only one saying those things, his trading ideas lost a ton of money despite him knowing the crisis was going to happen, and his current advice is in no man's land (he thinks the Euro is a better currency than the US$, I laughed at this 2 years and I laugh even more so now).

Schiff is a hack.