Customer Reviews

Bailout: What the Rescue of Bear Stearns and the Credit Crisis Mean for Your Investments

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

From an insider view...as a retail Financial Advisor for one of the firms "bailed out" in 2008....this is a great synopsis of what really happened. Just as in real life, workers for Wall Street firms on the front line do not see a trickle down effect. The guru's in New York make the big bucks and lose the money... we have to work with our clients and try to recover their money and our reputations. We try, very hard to help them save and accumulate retirement money, then our counterparts blow it up. Not only do we hate to see our clients suffer, we suffer as our 401k goes down and a portion of our compensation disappears because it was in company stock. I am, personally, pretty disgusted that the so-called smart people of Wall Street were so stupid to let this go on as long as it did. I am giving this book to my clients for Christmas 2009. I couldn't have written it better myself. There were many people who helped this situation get worse down to the homeowner who financed 100% then took out a home equity loan to buy a big-screen TV. It is pure greed and has come home to roost. It is unfortunate that hard working people must fish in the same pond (stock and bond market) that the Hedge Fund managers fish in. The individual investor their own skin in the game -- their personal savings. The hedge fund and structured product managers simply lose their current jobs. We will recover from this, but we will not be unscathed. The author does a great job of putting all of this into perspective and in a manner that the layman can understand.

I can just applaud, how talented should be a writer, to make a book about such complicated in fact things like CDO's, ARM's NINA loans, and beyond, to make not easy to catch - but also great read, full of humor and else a enjoyable read.
Citations are in exactly where are needed, statistics are exactly as much to not make it look dry, and all the terms are explained so, you no need google nearby to read this book (as it sometimes happens with such a literature).
I suggest this book to everyone who wants to understand, how we get in this swamp where we are now, and what's can ne ext we can expect.

John Waggoner has a very witty sense of humor. He had me LOL(laughing out loud)in public places, with his funny takes and observations. I like the way he breaks down what happened with Bear Stearns and the financial crisis in the begining of the book and then delved into giving advice and solutions for investing what's left of your portfolio. The book gives you a good idea of how the financial markets work and the economics, a well as the politics behind it. Good read!

This is a great read on the whole mortgage industry. Lots of interesting trivia and it makes a complicated issue very understandable. Great analogies that help piece it together. Waggoner is extremely witty.

Just like his columns, Waggoner hooks us with his inviting style and proceeds to describe the investment and money world in ways that are understandable without being trite. This is a MUST READ for anyone trying to make sense out of our new world.

I've not read this book but I read Waggoner's money columns at USA Today--he's the Dave Barry or P. J. O'Rourke of financial advice--an easy and clever read, and funny too. Can't beat that. Why four stars? Because I suspect this book is a bit too easy for me--I like a little more esoteric stuff, like math symbols, in my financial prose.

John Waggoner has a written a book about a deadly serious topic that couldn't be timelier. And he's managed to tackle the topic with wit and insight that is both engaging and useful for any reade rtrying to make sense of what the current credit crisis means to their personal investments. Substitute Lehman Bros. or Merrill Lynch or AIG for Bear Stearns and you've got a ripped from the headlines must read.