Customer Reviews

Invest Like a Shark: How a Deaf Guy with No Job and Limited Capital Made a Fortune Investing in the Stock Market

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I read this book hoping for some insight to some of the specific trading strategies RevShark uses, as I have read his website and newsletter periodically throughout the past few years and find myself usually enjoying and agreeing with his market insights. I was a little disappointed in that regard. If you are an investor just starting out, then the book will help you understand that much of what you see on CNBC and read in magazines like "Money" and "Kiplinger" will not help you become a successful investor. Buy and hold is dead, and this book explains why. But for an experienced trader, there is very little here. There were no specific trading strategies, just a summary of some basic ideas from technical analysis and chart reading. There was also a chapter on investor psychology, but again, nothing that has not been discussed in many other books. I was expecting more.

If you are a new investor, may I suggest that you instead get "How to Make Money in Stocks" by William O'Neil. The ideas in the two books are very similar, but explained much better in O'Neil's book.

This book disappointed me.
The story of man-with-hardships-does-well is nice. The title hints at the reader getting advice on how to also do well - and does not deliver.

The title would have been more descriptive if the "invest like a shark" and "How" parts were removed, and it was just titled "A Deaf Guy with No Job and Limited Capital Made a Fortune Investing in the Stock Market"
(and now wants additional income from selling the story)

You get generally good-sounding advice ("invest when the odds are in your favor") but no way how to know *when* the odds are in your favor, or advice to "use charting to know when the large-movers (Banks, funds, etc.) are buying in and then join them" - but no real advice what chart signals will tell you this, or will tell you if they are still buying, or you are too late.

There is a lot of text about how Sharks are successful, and advice to be like them - fast, aggressive, etc. etc. - but no real advice what this means in practice.

At the end of the day, you get almost no advice you can use and apply,

The only two pieces of advice I found useful here are also commonly given (for free) in every other books and web-site:
- Cut you losses and do not wait for the stock to rebound
- Use a defined set of rules to decide when to buy/sell, and not gut-feel so emotions will trip you up less.

I would not recommend it to anyone looking for how to trade, Novice or Experienced, maybe only to people interested in the biography of successful traders.

Theerfore, I have to say it is not worth the price, and you are better off looking for it in a library - or spending your time and money on something more useful.

This is a four star book for new traders, it lays out the basic principles that has made me thousands of dollars in the market. I would highly recommend this book to anyone just starting out trading stocks. However experienced traders will likely be disappointed that the author does not go into more detail or give a more advanced technique for trading profits. I would look at books by Nicolas Darvas, William O'Neal, Alexander Elder, or Jesse Livermore if you have advanced past the basics. Here is a summary of what this book has to offer in lessons:

#1 Protect your capital above all else.
#2 Manage your money. Cut your losses short if you are wrong. Do not allow losses to get away from you.
#3 Use charts to see the action of buyers to get a read on supply and demand for a stock.
#4 Hold multiple stocks and diversify the price you pay for them and the time in which you sell them. Move in and out of shares gradually, do not buy all your position at one time.
#5 Take larger positions when the odds are in your favor that you are right.
#6 When in doubt, sell. You can always buy your stock back if you change your mind.
#7 You must respect the market. It is illogical and sometimes you are just lucky or unlucky.
#8 Invest like a small investor, quick ins and outs for a profit. Do not invest like a fund manager with slow long term positions in slow moving stocks.
#9 Be patient, persistent, and methodical.
#10 Never stop learning more about the markets and how they operate.
#11 Just knowing the basic fundamentals of a stock's annual earnings growth compared to the P/E is all you need most of the time. What really matters is the supply and demand of the stock.

Beginners grab this book. Advanced traders keep looking, nothing new here.

James "Rev Shark" Deporre has been well known for many years for teaching an investing style that goes against the grain of traditional Wall Street wisdom. Shark investing means moving quickly and aggressively, and fleeing at the first sign of danger. Now, in this book, Mr. Deporre provides an excellent introduction to his methodology and preaches against the buy and hold mentality that is ingrained in so many. I am not a subscriber to the Rev Shark's website, but I do include his column among my regular reading on Realmoney. I found this book to be very insightful, and found many things that rang true with me and caused me to stop and consider how I've been handling my own investing.

I believe this book should be taken as an introduction to DePorre's style of investing--nothing more. It is true that the subject matter is light and that the book does not go into a great deal of depth, but that does not mean it is just another superficial look at trading. The Rev Shark brings a unique approach to investing and his perspective is refreshing. In the midst of a sea of brokers, pundits, advisors, and analysts who constantly preach a buy and hold methodology and seem to think that every small investor has to mirror a mutual fund to be successful, it's nice to hear from someone who believes the little guy can make it on his own without going head to head with the 'Wall Street Whales.'

In short, you won't find in depth lessons on charting here in the book, nor does DePorre provide a spoon fed methodology to picking stocks. What he does offer, however, is some great advice that, if heeded, can help the average investor use the fact that he or she is investing with limited capital to their advantage, rather than allow it to be a handicap. In fact, most of what DePorre says is relatively common sense, but it rings with such a sense of truth that it's worth taking note of. He labels it 'shark investing' not as a cute analogy but rather as a means of defining how the little guy needs to invest if he wants to survive. Be aggressive when the time is right, gorge yourself when profits are available (don't be timid when things are going in your favor), and run at the first sight of danger. It's okay to sell a stock and buy it back a little higher (the Rev refers to that as the price of insurance), and no stock, no matter how much money it has made you in the past, deserves your full devotion, because any stock can turn on you in an instant.

Those looking to be handed a method of picking stocks will likely be disappointed with the Rev Shark's book, as will anyone expecting an exhaustive treatment of investing in less than 200 pages. Those willing to take it for what it is, however--an introduction to a unique approach to trading that, if applied correctly, can help you survive as a small fish in an ocean full of whales--will find this book a great addition to their investing library.

This book is two things - a short story on how the author found his way into stock trading after being hearing impaired. That story is enough to fill up, 3 pages. Its a nice one. But unlike the subtitle the publisher tries to impress upon you, this book has very little to do with "being deaf and having no job". It is all about "Trading Like A Shark" with ideas and strategies suggesting things like:

1) Buy high, sell higher
2) Cut losses short, let winners run
3) When in doubt, sell and move on.
4) Protect your capital.

etc. etc. etc. etc.

To the inexperienced trader, if you never heard any of the above, go and get this book and read it. Be aware that there is no mention of the exact steps the author uses to find his stocks and trade which may be leave you disappointed.

This book taught me to trade what I see, not what I think. It deals with investing psychology and the importance of PRICE MOVEMENT. In my opinion all results stem from our actions which in turn are based on our philosophy. People lie, market price movements do not. This book was very helpful to me as a small investor in achieving my investment goals. The greatest lesson I learned from this book was sell discipline... It's like insurance, sell early and often. There is no reason to try to act like a mutual fund. An individual investor should strive for absolute vrs relative return. You are either making money or not. Wait for opportunity, don't chase investments. Most investors squander their greatest advantage over Wall Street Whales....the ability to move quickly without having to justify your moves to other people like a money manager does. I highly recommend this book for small individual investors who are searching for a philosophical strategy that would have worked in any market environment in my lifetime (including 2008). Bottom line...respond to market(it is what it is)...don't LOOSE MONEY ...and above all! ... let the prognostication business to Nostradamus.

This book adds an interesting twist to the traditional "buy and hold" and "buy low, sell high" investment strategies that have been embraced over the years by "The Whales of Wall Street". The author completely does away with these traditional methods and replaces them with his "Shark Investing" strategy. While I am not fully convinced that this is the ONE AND ONLY way for me to invest, I have found good application of this material in my current investment strategy.

Mr. DePorre makes it clear that although Wall Street is geared toward large companies and not the individual investor, the little guy can have tremendous success by leveraging his own unique advantages. He contends that large brokerage firms and mutual funds spend a great deal of time and money on researching and thoroughly analyzing stocks that will give THEM the advantage - not the individual investor. According to Mr. DePorre, if you follow the practices of traditional Wall Street methods, you are destined for mediocre returns. The individual investor has to instead use the one advantage he has over the big guys - speed. Large Companies are so big and slow-moving that it is impossible for them to act the way a small investor can - hence the term "Whales of Wall Street". A small investor, just like a shark, can get in on a feeding frenzy and quickly get out at the first sign of danger. This is the idea that Mr. DePorre conveys to the reader.

In the book, DePorre states that the stocks are like a lesson in psychology: They are neither logical nor predictable, and they will turn on you in an instant. Stocks are not your friends and do not deserve any of your loyalty. You should therefore be willing to sell ANY stock you feel has "turned on you". For example, the author describes investors who buy a stock and hold it for the long term. The investors feel they have a certain degree of loyalty to that particular stock as it has given decent returns in the past and are therefore willing to ride the ups and downs for the long term. If the stock "turns on you" and loses 50% of its value due to some swing in the market, it will require a gain of 100% to regain its previous value......if it regains it at all. Mr. DePorre warns the reader about the dangers of the traditional "buy and hold" method and instead advocates the use of his shark investing approach to lock in gains and minimize losses.

Given the unpredictability of stocks, the author believes the optimal strategy for investing is to develop a money management system and to use the power of selling stock to your full advantage....protecting your capital at all costs. He states that very few investors ever exploit the power of selling and their capital suffers as a result. DePorre does not believe you must be the consummate stock picker (picking the right stocks at low points and selling them at absolute high points) to be successful. His philosophy is to simply jump on the bandwagon while a given stock is experiencing success and take advantage of the profits. At the first sign of trouble, you get out. At the same time, if you pick a stock and it isn't a winner, you cut your losses and get out quickly. In theory this concept makes sense. If you do not allow yourself to suffer great losses on mistakes and you capitalize on the gains of successful stocks (before they turn on you), you should come out on top and will not be at the mercy of downswings in the market.

Using information contained in this book, I believe the incorporation of Mr. DePorre's techniques will certainly help to broaden my entire portfolio and the way I think about investing in the stock market. I still believe the best strategy is to maintain a solid "base" of tax-advantaged retirement accounts, taxable investments, and plenty of available cash. As I continue to build and maintain my "base", I believe the shark investing approach will be an excellent tool to expand my portfolio further and enable me to achieve great gains. I recommend this book to investors on any level.

Invest Like a Shark: How a Deaf Guy with No Job and Limited Capital Made a Fortune Investing in the Stock Market
I found this book refreshing. Too many books on stocks never really talk about why you should get out and what the signs are. In 1994 I took a $60,000 loss on one stock in one day because I thought I was tough and I was going to hang in there, yeah, I almost hanged myself, almost literally. I guess you call that "Buy and Hold" I would call it worse than a bad hairday or my worst nightmare at the time. The only thing good about that loss and a few others (small ones) is that the following year it saved me $25,000 in taxes, every loss is not totally negative. I wish I had this book back then, if I did I might have cut my losses instead of being a profit center to a short.

James DePorre's personal story of financial and personal tragedy is very compelling and I'm very tempted to recommend the book on that basis alone - but not quite.

"Invest Like A Shark" is probably at its most effective arguing two points: 1) against the traditional buy-and-hold approach to investing as sold by the financial media, propped up by the industry. 2) for the critical and decisive influence of human emotion in the behavior of market participants.

Unfortunately, it's less effective making the case for trend trading by sticking to a rather shallow exposition with a little too much "visit my website for more" thrown in. If you're convinced by the author's arguments I'd recommend digging a bit deeper elsewhere into the details of trend following and technical analysis before deciding on a strategy.

The author of "Invest Like a Shark" writes in a direct, straightforward, and very readable style - and there's something to be said for that, regardless of subject matter or genre.

Finished the entire book, which is saying a lot. It's easy to read with it's candid writing style and being a beginner I did enjoy it.

The book primarily provides advice on why the "buy and hold" approach is not such a good strategy for the individual investor. If you already know that, then you may be able to skip this book as it doesn't provide any actual implementation of any particular strategy. TA (technical analysis) is covered in a simple way. You will definitely need to read more books on western TA and Japanese TA (candlestick) to implement anything rev shark is talking about.

I see this book as a good read for new investors only - no matter what your investing style is. The advice is definitely sound.