Customer Reviews

Michael Sivy's Rules of Investing: How to Pick Stocks Like a Pro

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Beginning investors looking for a little general direction will enjoy this book by Money Magazine's Wall Street editor. Sivy recommends active asset allocation as your stock strategy. In other words, hold stocks, bonds and other vehicles in general percentage ranges, and adjust according to your view of the economic outlook. Staying within your ranges will prevent disasters when markets turn. His book also covers growth,income, and value investing, and devotes chapters 10-13 to more advanced investing. It's an excellent primer for investors who want to get started in stocks, and also for those who have been primarily in mutual funds but now want to incorporate common stock strategies into their investing. Copyright 1998 by Michael Pellecchia,

Before investing, one must understand how the markets work and why stocks in particular offer the best vehicle for decent return on your money. Michael Sivy does a good job explaining common Wall Street jargon, making the market understanable. As well, he offers some stocks as good selections for a diverse portfolio as well as his rationale for these choices.

By no means should one attempt to follow his advice verbatim but instead one should try to see if one can begin to analyse the stock market and use the knowledge gained after reading this book.

Very well written, concise, and informative.

I have been playing with stocks for one year, and have an interest in economics. Sivy's book provided me with a comprehensive overview of investing strategies. The author has a witty and readable writing style. The basics of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, foreign stocks, etc. are all covered. Also covered were the basic investing strategies, including value, growth, business cycle, inflation cycle, income. I suspect that a person with no background in stocks or economics would find this book challenging. This edition is from 1996, and contains some information that has been overtaken by events. Aside from this, I would have awarded this book 5 stars.

I admit that I found this book incredibly dull next to the three Motley Fool books I had read previously. I guess I just like some humor and irreverence -- this book is a bit too "straight," although I suppose most investment specialists can't be comedians. The information is useful and well laid out, although I found the Motley Fool books more useful with more layman explanations of concepts like the P/E ratio. Sivy doesn't describe enough what these terms signify -- he pretty much tells you what things are.

Anyway, he does provide some good solid information, it's just that other books out there do what he does and do it better. This book reads (surprise, surprise) like a long article in Money Magazine who Sivy writes for.

This book is NOT for a beginning investor because a lot of the investment terms and lingo used are for people already familiar with the stock market and how it works.

I am a beginning investor and college student who knows very little about making investments. So I am kind of clueless when he talks about mutual funds and price earning ratios. I think when I purchased the book I neglected to carefully understand the title and thought it was a 'rule book' for really *really* beginning investors who have no clue in the world of finance and money.

Ignore the 3 star ratings. I just couldnt rate it at all. because I had no clue what i was reading.

A readable, well rounded book. He shows the thinking which goes into each stock selection technique and gives examples.