Jim Cramer's Stay Mad for Life: Get Rich, Stay Rich (Make Your Kids Even Richer) (Hardcover)

by Cliff Mason (Author), James J. Cramer (Author)
Key Phrases: mad money, lightning round, street addict, United States, Becoming Poor, Stop Yourself (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Jim Cramer, bestselling author and host of CNBC's Mad Money, has written the ultimate guide to lifetime investing for readers of any age.

Whether you're a recent college grad trying to figure out how to start investing, a young parent struggling to decide where and how to put away money, or someone well into middle age and worried about whether you've saved enough for retirement, Jim Cramer's Stay Mad for Life has the answers. Cramer covers all the essentials: how to save, where to invest, which pitfalls to avoid. He offers valuable advice on everything from mortgages to college tuition. He explains what professional money managers do right that amateur investors do wrong. Because there is always a bull market somewhere, Cramer tells readers where to find the bull markets of the future, and for those willing to do the homework, he chooses twenty stocks that could be long-term moneymakers. For those who don't have the time or the temperament to invest in stocks, he identifies the mutual funds that are proven winners. He's investigated these funds by using his own twenty-five years' experience managing money for himself and dozens of America's wealthiest families. Throughout, in addition to his own enormously successful experience, Cramer draws on rigorous research to back up his advice.

Jim Cramer is America's #1 financial guru. Every day he advises investors on how to get ahead of the markets and stay ahead on his daily television show, Mad Money; in his online columns and commentary at TheStreet.com; in his popular "Bottom Line" column in New York magazine, and on television programs from early morning to late night. His books have all been national bestsellers and have helped educate hundreds of thousands of investors about the perils and promises of the financial markets. USA Today called him "the media's most electrifying market pundit"; and his legions of fans agree. Jim Cramer's Stay Mad for Life is the definitive money book, a practical, concrete, insightful book of invaluable financial advice that is a joy to read.

About the Author
James J. Cramer is host of CNBC's Mad Money; cofounder of TheStreet.com, where he is also an online columnist; and "Bottom Line" columnist for New York magazine.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 269 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1st Simon & Schuster Hardcover Ed edition (December 4, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416558853
• ISBN-13: 978-1416558859
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,167 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

181 of 185 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars New Topics for Cramer, December 6, 2007

By	James Turner (Menlo Park, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In Stay Mad for Life, Jim Cramer addresses a whole range of financial issues that he hasn't dealt with on his Mad Money TV show and in his prior books. He takes a step back from his primary focus of teaching his viewers and readers how to select individual stocks and presents his approach to broader issues of personal financial management that one deals with from cradle to grave. In this sense the book deals with quite basic topics such as avoiding or getting out of credit card debt (about nine pages), creating and following a budget (about twelve pages) and obtaining health and disability insurance. These topics may seem elementary, even boring compared to the topics of Jim's earlier books, but are issues that people of limited financial experience need to learn about.

On the topic of retirement planning he talks about the advantages and disadvantages of 401(k) plans and of traditional and Roth IRAs. He likes 401(k) plans for their employer-dollar-matching feature but dislikes their limited choice of offered funds and their associated expenses. He advocates funding your 401(k) only up to the point where you've reached the maximum employer match. Beyond that he strongly advocates putting additional retirement dollars into an IRA where the range of choices of investments is so much broader.

In the category of family finance he advocates getting your children interested in investing as young as possible and lists six stocks that you might want to buy just one share of for your child that might pique their interest. That same chapter covers college and home financing.

In his prior books Jim has created lists of rules for investing and he does so again in this book. These twenty rules came from distilling his experience with the investments he makes for his charitable trust that he often mentions on Mad Money. For example one of these new rules that I've found myself prone to violating is "Don't quit when you get back to even". If you've taken on a position in a stock and if the price then drops significantly, it's easy to feel so grateful if/when it comes back up to your break even point, you bail out with a small profit. Jim contends that if the fundamentals of the stock are still good, hang in there with it for additional upside.

In the next to last chapter, Jim really hangs himself out on a limb by selecting five sectors that he thinks will be strong for the next five years and climbs even further out on that limb by naming twenty stocks that he thinks will do well over that time frame. I'm a subscriber to his Action Alerts e-newsletter where Jim announces the buys and sells that he plans to make for his charitable trust. At the time of this review, 16 of the 20 stocks are presently held by the trust and the other four are stocks that Jim has mentioned many times on Mad Money.

In the final chapter Jim makes what must be a major concession for him since he's such a strong advocate of selecting and holding individual stocks. At several places in the book he recommends that if you really aren't willing or able to devote the time and effort to individual stock selections (remember - his tough homework rule is one hour per stock per week!) your next best choice is a low cost passive index mutual fund such as the Vanguard VFINX. However if you REALLY want to invest in an actively managed mutual fund, Jim has conducted research and come up with a list of 13 recommended funds. In doing this research he looked at historical fund performance for the seven-year period 2000-2006. He gives especially heavy weight to fund performance in the three down-market years 2000-2002. He also emphasizes the importance of the fund manager and considers only funds where one manager ran the fund.

I recommend the book for those wanting a good (strongly opinionated) survey of the major issues of personal finance. For those not so interested in basic personal finance, just skip the first five chapters and read the final four chapters which stand on their own and will be of interest to the regular followers of Jim's books and TV.

57 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cramer nailed the basics and gives timely advice, December 19, 2007

By	Steve Burns "Life long learner" (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Jim Cramer has really produced another great book. This one starts out as a personal finance book explaining how to budget and the importance of saving money in a retirement account each month. He advises to contribute whatever is needed into your 401K plan at work to get the match. (Most companies offer a 80%-100% return on your money off the top with the match). I can tell you from my experience that is the #1 reason I have a hefty net worth at 35 years old. Cramer then advises putting money beyond the match into an IRA for more investment options than the 401K offers.
His advice is to put the money in an S&P index fund if your 401K does not offer excellent funds to invest in. He advises to never put this money in your company's stock, the risk is to great. Cramer explains bonds, bills, and treasuries in this book along with the percentage of your money to hold in them. You will see that he is much more aggressive with his recommendations for the percentage of your money to hold in stocks as you age. I agree with him.
You will also learn Cramer's twenty new rules for investing. These rules are great for investors and traders. My favorite two are:
1. Don't let the market shake you out of a good long-term thesis.
2. Don't quit when you get back to even.
You will learn the ten things pros do but amateurs get wrong.
1. Pros always have cash.
2. Pros don't worry about the quarterly report.
3. Pros try not to invest in things they don't know.
4. Pros recognize that everthing is not analyzable.
5. Pros want to know the downside, not the upside. (This one is excellent).
6. Pros always look, they never avert their eyes from a down turn.
7. Pros accept that not everything works at once.
8. Amateurs worry they are not making enough, pros worry they are making to much. (Which means taking on to much risk).
9. Pros do their homework.
10. Pros understand the upside, but know things can go wrong.
Cramer picks out the five bull market sectors he believes have a long term upside. Aerospace and defense, agriculture, oil and oil service, minerals and mining, and infrastructure. Learn his theories on these markets and why he sees long term earnings increases.
He also names twenty stocks that he believes are excellent long term investments. There are four of these that I also think will do outstanding in the coming years: Google, Pepsi, Boeing, and Caterpillar.
Cramer finishs with the best guide to mutual funds I have ever seen, recommending 13 of the most outstanding funds out there. Judging them not only on there long term results but more importantly how they performed in the down years of 2000, 2001, and 2002. The true value of actively managed funds is the ability of the manager to protect you against the markets downside. If they can not do this it is better to just invest in a S&P index fund and beat 80% of actively managed funds and save the management fees.
I can personally attest to making several thousand dollars following Jim Cramer, he proved his abilities running his hedge fund and we are fortunate he enjoys educating the rest of us on investing instead of hanging out at the country club all day. Buy this book if you want to learn more about investing and trading and make some Mad Money, I did.

79 of 90 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Rush for Christmas Sales?, December 15, 2007

By	P. Mead (CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A lot of self-promotion and repetitive statements.
I've followed Cramer for a year now buying his books and watching Mad Money. He does make financial education more entertaining and I've enjoyed his personality.
I felt this book was not up to his usual standards. The first part of the book went over and over why you should save for retirement. One chapter would have made the point, why the need to pound it in? I got tired of the endless self-promotion in the book as well.
I feel that pages were added of repetitive information in order to finish it for Christmas sales.
There is good information in the book on Retirement accounts, different types of cash savings, mutual funds and stocks. Buy the book for the last four chapters.