Investing in a Post-Enron World [Paperback]

Paul Jorion (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 24, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0071409386 | ISBN-13: 978-0071409384 | Edition: 1

Asset-protecting strategies for the millions of investors spooked by the ongoing Enron debacle

The collapse of Enron--one of the most costly bankruptcy cases in history--has led millions of investors to question the safety of their portfolios and retirement plans. Investing in a Post-Enron World gives wary investors the tools they need to determine the safety of any investment and outlines a step-by-step program for ensuring that their portfolios are shielded from sudden disasters.

The first Enron book specifically for investors, Investing in a Post-Enron World pulls no punches in telling investors what to buy and whom to trust, along with red flags to watch for. Its numerous methods for minimizing risk and overexposure include:

• A quick course in investing and finance
• Guidelines for pulling the truth from financial statements
• Rules for "Enron-proofing" a portfolio through diversification
• Simple techniques for valuing a company and its stock
• Ways to manage downside risk
• How to become a "financial sleuth"

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

You want to understand what’s the current debate about dividends? Why they shouldn’t be double-taxed and why the fact that the rich will be the first to benefit from having the tax repealed doesn’t matter because in the end everyone will benefit? Investing in a Post-Enron World is that book for you.

Shareholders can blackball those companies that refuse to play the share system by the rules. They can force them to get back to the roots of a share system. They can force them to pay the proper compensation for capital lent in a share system: dividends. If they don’t, they’ll be snubbed by shareholders That is, until they show they’ve begun to understand the lesson (Microsoft has been very quick to understand it.)

Investing in a Post-Enron World provides abundant advice on how to invest in the stock market – because the system is intrinsically good for the shareholder and good for the economy – while putting the pressure on the capital markets where needed and bypassing the hijacking of capital growth that the top management of some corporations has managed to operate.

In the process, I give sound and practical advice about how to recognize accident-prone companies, how to manage a 401(k) as part of a retirement plan, How not to lose money on stock options, etc.

From the Back Cover

Steps You Can--and Must--Take to Shield Your Portfolio from Enron-Type Corporate Disasters

Enron, WorldCom, and other high-profile corporate implosions have spooked today's investors. Which company will be the next to "restate earnings?" Do you own its stock in your portfolio?

And, most important, how can you protect yourself?

Investing in a Post-Enron World shows you how to keep ticking time bombs out of your portfolio or 401(k). Bypassing high-level mathematics and techniques to focus on straightforward methods for uncovering and avoiding perilous companies and situations, this guide for heads-up investing covers:

• Ways to determine how closely a stock's price reflects its actual value
• Warning signs of a company in danger, no matter how healthy it seems on paper
• Strategies for extracting usable information from often-biased analysts' recommendations

The Enron bankruptcy will always be remembered for the billions of dollars it cost investors. But it has also provided investors with a valuable lesson on the high cost of ignoring the stocks they own, and blindly trusting market professionals to work in investors' best interests. Investing in a Post-Enron World shows you how to rebalance the scales, and take personal responsibility for the stocks in your portfolio--before you hear about them on the evening news.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (January 24, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071409386
• ISBN-13: 978-0071409384
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,863,114 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The success of a gamble, August 6, 2003

By 

PHILIPPE F JEANNE (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Investing in a Post-Enron World (Paperback)

Writing a book about a hot topic like the Enron saga, that will please both a scholar and the man in the street is a gamble.
Jorion is technical yet fully understandable by anyone, his prose is that of a storyteller yet he is precise and factual. This balance between popularization and specialization is rare.
And on top of that, the idea to insert his own reactions and personal comments to the chain of events makes the story lively, when the reader tends to have a fictive dialogue with Jorion when he agrees or disagrees with him.
And the practical "lessons for the investor" are worth reading...and keeping in mind for the future...
A success !

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Investing in a Post-Enron World, May 6, 2003

By 

Orest Monokandilos (San Francisco, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Investing in a Post-Enron World (Paperback)

Investing in a Post-Enron World is a truly unique book that gives you a contemporaneous insight into stock valuation. The author presents off balance sheet financing, dividend pay-out policies, 401K pension plan administration, executive compensation, and much more in a comprehensive analysis that forms a solid basis for stock valuation. I think this book should be a required reading for anyone with a profound interest in finance.

5.0 out of 5 stars Much Better than I Thought it Would Be, July 17, 2004

By 

Arizona Photographer (Grand Canyon) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Investing in a Post-Enron World (Paperback)

This is a great book. It is not a blow-by-blow book about what happened at Enron. He uses good examples to make some excellent points. I've read dozens of investing and stock market books and this is clearly one of the best ones. It is especially good for the individual investor that works at a corporation that has good benefits including 401k, ESOP, etc. Give it a read.