High-Flying Adventures in the Stock Market [Hardcover]

Molly Baker (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 047135936X | ISBN-13: 978-0471359364 | Publication Date: April 26, 2000 | Edition: 1

PRAISE FOR HIGH-FLYING ADVENTURES IN THE STOCK MARKET
"A wonderful read-Baker takes you through a year in the life of a fund manager-it's so well conceived and written that you'll think you were there too. Individual investors who manage their own money should put this book in their 'portfolio.' Informative, educational, great fun."-Larry Waterhouse Jr., Chairman, TD Waterhouse Investor Services, Inc.
"Most Americans know mutual funds only by their performance numbers. In High-Flying Adventures in the Stock Market, Molly Baker takes us inside the fund industry to give us a compelling and intimate look at the human drama of running a fund."-Douglas K. Sease, Editor, Wall Street Journal Books
"Baker uses the eye for detail she acquired as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal to explain the high-pressure world of the money manager in laymen's terms. For those seeking a readable, inside account of the '90s historic stock market boom, this is a book to add to the portfolio."-Dana Milbank, staff writer, The Washington Post
"Baker has provided an unusual perspective into the world of mutual fund management. She is a real reporter who is skilled in her understanding of what she describes and lively in her choice of episodes. The book is fun as well as informative."-Peter L. Bernstein, President, Peter L. Bernstein, Inc. author of Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk
"A fantastic voyage through the mutual fund universe. Every investor should read this book."-Andrew Metrick, Assistant Professor of FinanceThe Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Anyone who's tried day trading can tell you about the frayed nerves and upset stomach that come with following stocks by the hour. But try following their tiny movements day in and day out for a year, with $2 billion hanging on your decisions, and you'll have an idea of what it's like to manage a mutual fund. In mid-1998, reporter Molly Baker tagged along with Jerry Frey, manager of Delaware Investments' top-performing growth funds, and recorded his thoughts, actions, and conversations as he and his team tried to beat out 860 other funds for first place. What emerges is a portrait of a man with intestinal fortitude, a knack for numbers, and an uncanny understanding of market psychology. When a junior manager prepares to sell a rising stock at $30, Frey tells him to lower his target to $29 5/8; there may be a hundred other fund managers thinking, "I'll sell when it hits $30," but there may not be a hundred buyers willing to pay $30. "I've told you not to think in round numbers," Frey cautions.

As the year goes on, Frey's overall ranking rises and falls with the volatile tech sector, and with it his moods. But, ultimately, it's not competing funds that pose the greatest challenge to Frey and his team--it's a record bull market. Index funds were the biggest success story of the 1990s, riding the market's momentum instead of betting on individual stocks. Frey watches helplessly as the value of his handpicked portfolio shrinks, then grows, then shrinks again, while the overall market continues to climb. Personal investors wondering how the pros handle the market--both professionally and emotionally--should find High-Flying Adventures in the Stock Market an illuminating read, one that brings the mystery of big-money investing down to earth. --Demian McLean

From Publishers Weekly

In the last three years, Delaware Investments mutual fund manager Gerald S. Frey has more than quadrupled his shareholders' money, an extraordinary performance in any market. Drawing on behind-the-scenes information on how Frey runs his funds gathered over more than a year, former Wall Street Journal reporter Baker portrays him sitting behind a computer screen (one that usually malfunctions), reading reports and listening to salespeople. He's a modest and soft-spoken guy who occasionally says things such as "buy 25,000 shares." Although trading makes up the book's action, Frey's insights about buying or selling particular stocks, unfortunately, are hidden inside his head. Though Baker tries to make his job seem high pressure, it makes for pretty dull reading. And since Baker never reveals at what price Frey gets his 25,000 shares, or what happens to the stock afterward, she's doesn't generate any excitement about the market's fluctuations. We learn about Frey's bonus provisions in detail, but it's hard to get too worked up over whether he and his team split a $3.3 million or a $2.1 million bonus pool. In addition, the traders on his team are not sketched sharply enough to sustain interest: one always seems half asleep with his feet on the desk and his chair tilted back; the other constantly tosses a foam rubber ball up and down, while giving excruciatingly slow answers to questions. Ultimately revealing little about successful fund managers and their colleagues, this book is decidedly earthbound. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (April 26, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 047135936X
• ISBN-13: 978-0471359364
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,309,357 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice Job Molly, May 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: High-Flying Adventures in the Stock Market (Hardcover)

Well written and entertaining. Shows you what frigging joke the mutual fund industry is. A great companion book to Monkey Business: Swinging Through the Wall Street Jungle (a somewhat more shocking look at Wall Street's seedy underbelly). Hopefully Ms. Baker will have more to write later.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read to understand what the fuss is about, May 1, 2000

By 

Ted Seides - See all my reviews

This review is from: High-Flying Adventures in the Stock Market (Hardcover)

Through creative analogies and playful stories, Baker has a wonderful way of depicting the science and art of what these bizarre animals called 'mutual funds' are all about. She did a wonderful job of keeping me awake at night engaged in the fortunes of the Delaware funds.

Alongside the story about Delware, the book is littered with a virtual dictionary of important, and often overlooked, investment terms and situations. Baker uses creative analogies that make the most complicated situations evident to novices. She clearly knows her stuff well enough to be a professor!

All in all, a really fun read and a book that truly covers it all.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, educational - especially for new investors, May 26, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: High-Flying Adventures in the Stock Market (Hardcover)

As a reader who is just getting interested in investing, I found Ms. Baker's book very useful. Unlike many other books where you need to be familiar with technical terms and financial markets in order to benefit, this book is written for the novice investor. It is not meant to be a textbook. In Ms. Baker's words, she "wishes to give the reading and investing public a flavor for what their dollars in mutual funds do all day." In that she succeeds. I discovered that I really didn't understand some terms which I thought I had, and my understanding of others was greatly enhanced. For those of us not yet ready for (or interested in) deep, technical, financial reading, this book provides a very entertaining introduction to the field and the analogies the author uses are very helpful. It whetted my appetite to learn more.

The good news - with a little bit of luck we might do as well as a mutual fund manager; the bad news - with a little bit of luck we might do as well as a mutual fund manager who we're paying to manage our money for us!