Customer Reviews

The Mutual Fund Wealth Builder: A Profit-Building Guide for the Savvy Mutual Fund Investor

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Based on the previous reviewer comment, I wonder if we read the same book. This is NOT a "get rich quick" book - it's polar opposite. Perhaps "get rich slowly" would be more appropriate. I've read both this book, and Maverick Investing which is written by Doug Fabian (Dick's son). If choosing between the two, this much better. (However, Maverick Investing does a better job discussing setting proper stop-losses based on your tolerance for risk. I recommend reading both books). An excellent read on taking control of your investments. It provides step by step instruction as to how to set goals for your investments via mutual funds, select the right funds, track those funds, and when to buy and sell. He uses a very simple technique to get you in an out of the market by tracking your funds against two indexes - a broad market index, and another index reflecting the type of funds you own. You track your funds by using 39 Week Average Readings (more commonly known as the 200 day moving averages - which can be found anywhere on the web). In a nutshell, his technique will not get you into the market at the very bottom, and won't get you out at the very top. But he will get you in and out somewhere in between which is a far more realistic approach for positive long term results. The opposite of get rich quick, it simply shows that by setting realistic goals, and learning to recognize existing trends, how very small investments over a long period will result extrodinary wealth. For those who already have a healthy retirement nest egg, he shows you how to pay yourself during retirement while still growing your principal. This is a great introductory book on investing using a proven approach which only requires a few minutes a week to maintain. The book's has two shortfalls. First, he could have provided more information about available online resources (such as Morningstar.com) which will make it even easier to screen and select the proper mutual funds. Secondly, he could have spent more time emphasizing the need to select a track your funds against their appropriate indexes.

The title of this book should be "How to succeed when almost every other method will surely fail." Dick Fabian is as much psychologist and motivator as he is "savvy investor advisor." And I say "investor" here because that's where Fabian puts the emphasis. He shows that the investor's worst enemy is himself, and that his second and third worst enemies are the media and "investment" advisors. As an astute student of the stock market and human behavior, Fabian has catalogued every way an investor can fail (and there are many), and he has also devised a simple, but diligent, approach to investing that prevents that failure. The result, if one follows his method, is almost certain success. The first part of the book is investor psychology. Many will be tempted to skip it and move on to the simple investing technique. That's one of the ways to fail. This is a profound book that can change lives. Read the whole thing, start to finish, then read it again. Then put what you learn into action. It's all there -- the complete formula for success!

This latest book by Mr. Dick Fabian will explain how to become a better investor using a time tested method. The concepts and ideas of the Fabian philosophy have remained the same and continue to work. Mr. Fabian's common sense approach to controlling your emotions with set rules in place at all times, will make you a successful investor. You will not find a simpler method for investing. This book not only explains how you can become a better investor, but will also show you how the power of compounded earnings can grow your savings into huge amounts of money for your future. It's very easy to understand and will change the way you invest in the future.

If you are a new investor, are not satisfied with the results of the plan you are presently following, or have been badly hurt by following a buy and hold method in the past year, this book will give you the ideas to make changes so you will become a much improved investor. I feel that anyone who is serious about investing needs to review the ideas and past history of the stock market that are explained in this book. You won't find an easier or less emotional method to follow. It has worked for years and will continue to work in the future. This book will educate you, don't pass this up.

I have followed the concepts, ideas, and investing principles of the Fabian newsletter for over 17 years. It has been one of the best decisions that I ever made.

I've been a student of the Fabian investment strategy for many years. This book filled in lots of gaps in my knowledge and helped me understand the importance of some aspects of it I had not appreciated.

The first section of the book is motivational--you may or may not need it. The middle of the book is the meat. The strategy is explained, beginning with the fundamentals and working all the way up to the "advanced course." I learned loads and can't wait to apply it.

The final section is more motivation. His "grandchildren" chapter is puzzling. I had a hard time following his ideas. Perhaps a second reading will clear it up. His writing is clear, though he succumbs to the PC device of using "his or her" every time he needs a pronoun to the point of distraction.

An extremely worthwhile book. I'm thinking of getting another copy for a friend who's always asking about my investment strategy. I'll probably take Dick Fabian's advice, though. Mr. Fabian quit giving away books he thought worthwhile because they were never read. He now believes the intended reader should buy them for himself--and then the book will be read.

In early 2001, after watching the poor job my bank, and then later Merrill Lynch was doing with my Rollover IRA, I went to a book store looking specifically for an author that had a formula for getting in and out of mutual funds during up and down markets. It took only five minutes of browsing this book to realize it was exactly what I was looking for. In May 2001 I finally completed transfer of all funds into a money market account at Charles Schwab. But alas, Dick Fabian's formula (the 39 week moving averages)told me not to buy any mutual funds. My account remained stationary during the next 7 months, through the bear market, through 9/11 until the next buy signal hit in December. I have been in and out of the markets twice since then. In May of this year I picked up my calculator to see what my return has been over the past 4 years. 20% annual return! This despite one of the longest bear markets this country has ever seen. Thank you Dick Fabian for this amazing book. Even though the book is 4 years old now, the principles still apply. Fabian recommends using a discount broker like Charles Schwab, but they are no longer the best "deal" out there. Reviewer Wiley states that Fabians 39 week average readings are not to be found except for his sons expensive web site. Wiley must have skipped page 123 that shows you how to substitute Fabians 39 week average reading of his own Domestic Fund Composite with the Dow and S&P 500.

I am not sure where Tom G is coming from but his test is wrong. I don't think he truly understands the Fabian System because those who followed it were out of the market 7 days before the maket crash of 2000 so I don't see where he gets Portfolio Disaster.

This book has changed my outlook on life and money. The system described in this book has over 40 years of data to back it's radical approach to investing and when applied to your finances will drastically improve your investment potential. The great thing about this book is that it is easy to understand no matter what your level of investment knowledge is. If you are seriously thinking about beginning investment, please do yourself a favor and read this book. Managing your investments only take a few minutes a week and it is simple, all you need is dicipline.

Dick Fabian really cared about teaching people what he had learned from investing. Sadly, his son is money hungry and didn't keep up the free info that is referenced in the book on the website. I learned a lot about investing and some basic strategies to avoid major losses in the stock market. His theory isn't going to make you rich overnight, but hopefully it will raise your rate of return a couple of points over your lifetime, which could mean big bucks for some people. If you look closely, he says shoot for 20%, but he even points out that his picks over time only got him 14%. I will say one thing, if you would have used his plan, you would have been out of the market during the whole stock market crash in 2000-2002 and back in the thing in 2003. That alone makes this worth a read.

Buy this book. Read it, all of it. Then implement the trend- following plan which the author recommends. Dick Fabian's plan is simple and profitable. You will make more money with about half the risk.

This is a good book that is well written and in essence quite simple compared to other timing systems. A lot of the criticisms in these prior reviews are wrong-headed. For example, several complain about the 39-week average system he outlines. Well, if you checked you'd find this was created before 200-day moving averages were available on the web. Dick himself changed over to using 200-day averages on his web site when that became available. He also used regular indexes like S&P 500 and Nasdaq later on for simplicity, instead of averaging mutual funds which is hard. So it really becomes a simple system with these changes, and even more so using the ETFs which are now available (mutual funds complain about you shifting in and out of them). You can even check averages daily if you want, but the problem there is you may get too many buy/sell signals. However, if you wait until all three indexes cross over (DOW, S&P, and NASDAQ) you'll probably be OK.

Others say it won't get you out of bear markets, but that's not true. The only big problem occurs in sideways markets, where the indexes keeps bumping over and under the 200-day trend lines. Beyond this there are only 3 other caveats:
1. Buying in when the index is over the trend line but the trend line is still down, as it was recently. You need to be extra-vigilant in that situation, since you are essentially making money on the trend line, not on the daily fluctuations of the index.
2. Making sure you are using index trends that are equivalent to your investments. If you're investing in China you better be watching the Shanghai index and not the DOW (same applies to investing in oil, gold, etc).
3. If you're using ETFs, make sure they have high volume and narrow trading spreads. Otherwise, the moment you want to buy and sell will correspond to high spreads which will always be against you, since you are going with the trend, and these will eat up your profits. Go with big boring ETF index funds.

The basic idea here is that usually bear markets just grind away, dropping lower and lower to an unknown point, maybe several lower and lower points. This system keeps you out of that. It won't get you in right at the bottom either, but only when some confidence is restored. So they're not a lot of bragging points generated here, just a great overall risk-to-return ratio. It is this ratio that counts--not beating buy-and-hold during any period, which is higher risk.

I bought this book on a whim a number of years ago. I had read several other general investment stategy books, but they never made an impact on me. This book completely changed my perception of the market and my retirement planning. I have now read it many, many times. I follow Mr. Fabian's wealth building plan to the letter. I calculate my own 39WAR of the Dow Composite and S&P500 with a simple spreadsheet macro. While in the market, I have easily made over 20% per year, and all of my friends are left scratching their heads. One of the best things about this book, is that Mr. Fabian is not trying to sell you anything, but he is truely revealing his lifelong work in wealth building to the reader (and his grandkids).