How to Buy Stocks [Paperback]

Louis C. Engel (Author), Henry R. Hecht (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 5, 1994

A new edition of a classic stock market guide offers clear explanations and reasonable and understandable advice on investments, updating information to cover new regulations and new opportunities. 30,000 first printing.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown; 8 Sub edition (September 5, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316353809
• ISBN-13: 978-0316353809
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #168,336 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The ABCs of Stock Market Investing Tools, February 21, 2001

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: How to Buy Stocks (Paperback)

The world is full of books that claim to teach you how to make millions starting with nothing, in only a few minutes a day. Unfortunately, these books skip over the basics that everyone needs to know about buying stocks. Where can you get those basics? How to Buy Stocks is the source you need.

I would suggest that you first read John Bogle's book, Common Sense on Mutual Funds, to determine whether or not you will even want to buy individual stocks. For most people, indexed mutual funds are a much better alternative. If you've read that book, and want to have a small portion of your money in directly purchased stocks, then you are ready for this book.

I have read dozens of books on how the basics of how to invest in stocks, and think that this is the most valuable and objective one around.

I had an amusing experience a few years ago. I attended a "sophisticated" seminar on stock market investing that was very expensive, and found that main speaker drew all of his material from this book. So you can save a lot of money, and simply buy, read, and use this book in the first place.

Another benefit of this book is that is dispels a lot of myths about stock market investing that most people have when they first start to invest. I routinely give this book to family and friends who want to know more about investing. By the way, I consult with large companies who want to improve their stock price, so I have a useful perspective on this issue from my work.

After you finish enjoying this book, I suggest that you pay particular attention to the section on writing covered calls. That is a very good way to increase your returns if you plan to hold your stocks for a long period of time. You will find this approach works best after you have passed the capital gains holding period, or for IRA money (or any other tax-deferred accounts).

Compound your wealth appropriately!

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All what you need to learn the fundamentals of stock market, May 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: How to Buy Stocks (Paperback)

As a beginner in investing, I had a hard time understanding the market terminologies. I did not know how the market works until I found this book. In this book, you will learn the basics of investing; how the stock market works, mutual funds, common stocks, preferred stocks, bonds, options, trading on margin, selling short, how to deal with brokers, and a lot of other topics. One thing that I found confusing is that the author talks a lot about the rules of investing in the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's, to an extent that you got confused and don't know what is the current investing rules. You have to dig between the lines until you get the information you are looking for. I think it is not important for us to know the investing rules back in the 60's. Other than that, the book is excellent and definetly should be in your library, at least as a reference.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The only truly sane book on investing, April 15, 2006

By 

MegaWuss "MegaWuss" (CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: How to Buy Stocks (Paperback)

The problem with so, so many investment texts on the market is that the authors of the texts have a clear conflict of interest: read my book, buy my tapes and come to my seminar, and they'll teach you how to make a million dollars. A sucker is born every minute, and the dark scary world of investment books is proof of it.

This is the best book on investing, and how to measure value generally, that I've ever read. It's very, very old school. If you feel yourself attracted to the NYSE like a big exciting roulette table, but you don't know what a P/E ratio is or what a stock split really means, buy this book before you do anything stupid.