Customer Reviews

The Craft of Investing

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This book is an easy to read primer on investing and other financial matters such as estate planning and retirement planning. There are no specific formulas to follow. Rather, the book is loaded with common sense and practical advice. As far as investing, Train as one would expect discusses growth and value investment styles. But there are gems not found in other books such as his comments on emerging markets, real estate and art. Beginning and experienced investors will get alot out of this book. I'm reading it for my second time - always a sign of a good book.

If you are interested in learning the "craft" of investing, Train's masterwork on the subject has got to be the place to begin. Train offers to the reader the tried and true wisdom of the greatest investors of all time: not the speculative or newfangled theories that manefest themselves on the bookshelves all too often. Train's chapters on growth investing and value investing are timeless, and his brilliant (and funny!) chapter on the psyche of investors through the market's cycle is entirely compelling. I have read hundreds of similar books, yet this is one of the few that I return to year after year, and recommend to friends and clients weekly.

John Train's slim book The Craft of Investing has a title that might mislead some readers into thinking that it is another one of his well-crafted overviews on investing. A good portion of the text, however, deals with topics that are probably most relevant to high networth individuals, family wealth management professionals and private bankers. Other investors will find chapters such as "Family Capital," "The [Trust] Executor's Job," and "How to Use a Safe-Deposit Box" less than relevant.

There are passages that are of interest to a wider audience. The first portion of the book is a brief, but useful survey of different investment styles. Other passages provide an interesting distillation of Train's tips on what makes a good investor, for instance, his advice about reverse engineering the trades of well-regarded institutional investors ("start by piggybacking on the thinking of the best professionals"); keeping a conservative approach to investing (which he says favors " sober, seasoned, careful older people"), and honing of investment skills to a professional level. "Most points are lost on errors, rather than by forcing shots. Since the investor never has to act, he should focus on not making avoidable mistakes." There is not enough meat on the bone here, though, to rank this book as one of Train's better ones. Instead, readers new to his work are better off starting with The Money Masters and The New Money Masters, two books that rank among the best in the investment field.

Overall this is a great investment book. It covers an extremely broad range of topics and for the most part the reader cannot go too far wrong following the author's advice. The sections on the nature of markets and his advice on commodities alone makes the book worthwhile. Bear in mind that the book was published in 1994 but most of the content is timeless. Another book with much of the same advice is The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need by Andrew Tobias. One additional thing- some of the charts and tables and examples date from the 1970's and are evidently from magazine articles that the author wrote. Just so you know what you are buying. The example are good ones and mostly remain relevant today. The only real limitation of the book is Train's simplistic approach to growth stock picking.

It is impossible to praise this book enough. I have been actively investing for greater than 10 years, and I have read more books than I care to count. You will feel much more confident in your investing and making choices. I finally have a good grip on why do stocks go up and down. But you get insight into other matters as well ,and get to feel the wisdom of a true master,in a well written easy style. Just what we need during this deflating bubble we are in now.