Customer Reviews

The Intelligent Investor CD

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

 

 

I am an eager reader of books on Warren Buffett's investing methods. I really want to like "The Intelligent Investor", but I don't. Unfortunately, Benjamin Graham did not write his books to be timeless. Instead, he wrote them specifically for the investing environments as they existed at the times of publication. This audiobook is of the 1972 edition of "The Intelligent Investor", and it reflects the investing environment of the early 1970's.

The story of Mr. Market and the principle of "a margin of safety" are important concepts contained in this book, but they can be found in other writings by and about Warren Buffett.

There is an updated edition of "The Intelligent Investor" by Jason Zweig. It was published in 2003. Hopefully that is better than the older, outdated editions. It is not (yet) available in audio format.

If you are looking for a good audiobook on Warren Buffett's investing methods, I highly recommend "How to Pick Stocks Like Warren Buffett" by Timothy Vick. The best book on Buffett's investing methods that I have read is "The New Buffettology" by Mary Buffett, but it is not available as an audiobook.

Have the book and the CD. They work well together. The CD is great just after reading the book to hammer some of the big picture concepts. The CD is wonderful rush hour material to get you out of that rush hour driving sooner! It is worth the $$ to have both.

With this audiobook being a reading of an old text, the comparisons were mostly from the 1930's to the 1960s. The content would only be sufficient for someone very new to investing who could gain some general information. The speaker was over-dramatic and the overuse of conjunctive adverbs such as "thus", "therefore", "furthermore", etc. were annoying and detracted from the core material.

The following is a portion quoted from the audio towards the end which shows the level of information I'm referring to: "...basically, price fluctuations have only one significant meaning for the true investor. They provide him with an opportunity to buy wisely when prices fall sharply and to sell wisely when they advance a great deal. At other times, he will do better, if he forgets about the stock market, and pays attention to his dividend returns and to the operating results of his companies. The investor with a portfolio with sound stocks, should expect their prices to fluctuate, and should neither be concerned about sizable declines nor become excited by sizable advances. He should always remember that market quotations are there for his convenience either to be taken advantage of or to be ignored. He should never buy a stock because it has gone up or sell it because it has gone down."

Based on the title and description of the product, I was disappointed. I had expected more detailed core investment information and less rambling about outdated comparisons. This product states it's 'abridged', but I found it could have been shortened a good deal more.

Very informative and insightful in using the right fundamentals for selecting stocks. I will buy the book as well!

There are a number of books that every investor needs to read. This is one of the classics.

Julie Jason
Author
* The AARP Retirement Survival Guide
* Managing Retirement Wealth

This book is the beginning or Genesis for Warren Buffet's origins on how he learned to invest. It is good, however, like many of the other reviews, it is outdated with its information and is hard to follow. Many of the concepts in this book are captured in other books about Warren Buffet, such as Rule #1 by Phil Town, I highly recommend that book. This book is good for expired investors how track the history of the stock market.

Great historical review, a good staple for any investor that is already in the game and understands the basics.

As a few have mentioned this audio book goes great with having also read the book. It is a good way to reinforce some of the concepts while you are stuck in traffic with nothing better to do. For those who say this audio book is outdated, then I think they just don't "get it". An observation by Buffett that I've heard him say numerous times, either the principles will click instantly with someone or they just will never get it. The principles are very sound and although it's from the early 1970s edition, some of the observations made in that edition show just how timeless the concepts truly are. For example it is mentioned numerous time at current DJIA levels in 1972 they had no enthusiasm for stocks at current levels. 1973-1974 bear market saw the market drop roughly 45%! This audio book is about basic concepts and not a magic bullet with a precise formula for success. It is a matter for one to understand those concepts and how to apply them. For those looking for something more than that fundamental concepts to invest successfully, look elsewhere (perhaps Jim Cramer has some advise for the week. LOL).

As I have followed the principles I have not completely, but missed the majority of the declines in the early 2000s, 2008-2009 bear market. This has allowed me to handsomely beat the S&P500 over the past 14 years.

This book is specifically for invertors not speculators. Haveing this on CD and a book format, its easier to grab the ideas that were written couple of decades and still its worth.