Customer Reviews

Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms (Barron's Financial Guides)

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I find myself somewhat amazed at the financial analysts and brokers who find this book unsatisfactory. The poignant analogy coming to mind is offering the book "Accounting for Dummies" to a CPA. Of course it is unsatisfying. A book like this is not aimed at seasoned professionals in the field; rather, it's intended audience is grounded in those with little or no exposure to the securities/financial fields.

I have been involved in securities litigation consulting for almost a decade now. As my consulting practice has grown, I have hired many individuals, most of whom are not well-versed in securities/financial jargon. In significantly all cases, these new employees feel ill-at-ease initially when reviewing case files and documentation due to the learning ramp and educational abyss. I have found if I offer them a copy of the DICTIONARY OF FINANCE AND INVESTMENT TERMS (DFIT) on their first day, the learning curve is flattened and becomes much shorter in duration. As a matter of fact, several of my employees have taken the initiative to take their DFIT home to look for particular words/phrases common to their daily routines. By derivation, this makes the employee feel much less out of place and instills some level of motivation relative to their work (this has been a definite intangible benefit to my practice).

I keep one in my office and although I don't crack it very often, there are times when I'm not as familiar with a word/phrase and then, I rely on DFIT. This is similar to the situation of reading a book, seeing a word you can pronounce and know but aren't quite certain of its EXACT meaning. Let's face it, with over 5,000 entries in DFIT, most professionals, even those entrenched in the field, will find themselves fuzzy on certain words and phrases.

While DFIT is not a panacea, it certainly fills the void. I would recommend this book for anyone new to the finance/investment fields and most professionals who deal on the fringes of these industries. ... I don't really see how one can go wrong here (particularly given that many reference offerings go for hundreds of dollars).

When I first got into the financial field many years ago, I kept a copy of this book (an earlier edition) close at hand at all times. As I read The Wall Street Journal and Business Week, this book proved indispensible to help me understand concepts and jargon. Today, it is dog-eared, wrinkled and dirty, but I still turn to it occasionally. Yes, some of the definitions are outdated or incomplete. Yes, some terms are missing. But this is the best dictionary of financial terms I've ever seen, and I recommend it to anyone who needs an easy-to-use reference guide.

Despite being called "Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms", this dictionary not only covered finance and investing, by cut across every aspect of general business. Its extensive coverage of management, accounting, marketing, advertising, and real estate makes it really unnecessary for anyone who already owns it to be bothering about acquiring any other business dictionary. Also, its encroaching expansion into computer and internet terms is both commendable and valuable.
All of its terms have been revised and simplified, using everyday language. And, a rare combination of quality and low price ensures that the demand for this dictionary will continue to dominate those of its rivals. Its 736 pages, which hold more than 5000 definitions remained astonishingly compact, authoritative, refined, and very concise. It is indeed a true hard-to-beat choice!

Expect this little work to be exactly what it is titled, "Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms". It does not contain a story, or financial advice, or commonly used terms. It is a financial dictionary. Its binding is "professional softcover" and has very thin pages- required due to 600+ pages. I notice some reviewers' felt it was not worth the money. Where else can you find a professional dictionary of specialized terms for under $12 ? I found the book so useful, I purchased Barron's Investment Guide, which includes the dictionary. I recommend both of these books (...)

If your looking for an enthralling read, the Finance Dictionary is not that. If you're looking for an inexpensive, professional little reference book, full of pertinent terms and explanations, this one will definitely earn its keep.

This dictionary is an excellent reference for both professionals and students. This dictionary contains many examples that help explain the terminologies. This is the most comprehensive finance dictionary I have seen.

What I do for a living full-time is train broker trainees for passing the Series 7. I give conference calls on difficult material and answer questions via the phone all day. This book is an excellent supplement for Series 7 material. I recommend this book to all of my trainees and I use it on a daily basis. I have one for work, and one for home!

The book isn't bad. But it is missing some key investment terms, like PRICE/BOOK, PRICE/SALES. As i'm analyzing funds, and looking at different ratios, i keep picking up this book, and not finding the terms i'm looking for. But for $10.00, it does have a lot of terms,the binding is excellent, the pages are sturdy, and the book is small (5x7).

As an IT professional working in the financial industry, I needed a book that would help me talk to the users and understand what they are saying. This book has helped me a lot in doing just that. Whether I needed a definition of what SWAPS are or wanted to know the difference between a CDO and a CMO, this book helped me all the way.

You will also find this book useful if you are an IT professional going in for a job interview with a financial firm and want to familiarize yourself with the general terms of the industry. I am still amazed at how such a small book can pack so much information.

I should have listened to the other reviews on this page--this is just a mediocre dictionary for what you pay (also, the book is of very low quality). I was unhappy with this one, so I bought the less expensive and more resourceful Wall Street dictionary.

As the elected treasurer for a Califonia county we have had this wonderful little book since its 2nd edition.

Of all the reference and resource books we have at our disposal, this book ranks the highest.

The book is updated quite often and is worth its weight in gold!