Customer Reviews

Online Investing, Second Edition

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This post is out of chronological order with my additional post as my intitial post was dropped somewhere at Amazon.

This book was a wonderful surprise. Aware that Jon Markman is a quant I approached it with some trepidation. Being more right brain oriented, I feared endless charts, formulas, and complex mathmatical theories. However, I quickly discovered that this book is very readable, gets right to the subject at hand and would definately make me more money!

Jon gives clear insight into what makes a stock move and describes, in plain english, how to find winning stocks. As a bonus, Jon's Supermodels community at MSN.com (FREE) provides an invaluable environment to help you put these ideas into action.

It's certainly working for me...my Year Trader portfolio, started on Oct 29th using the techniques found in this book, is up an amazing 30.4% in just over a month!

Happy Investing!

Shawn Gookin

As a long time passive investor in 401 k's, 457's and IRA mutual funds, I felt a more active approach will be benifical as my my investment timeline shortens. Like many others I watched the 8 year bull market from the sidelines and wondered who was able to profit from runup in the narrow band of stocks that was propelling the Dow, S & P, and Nasdaq. Markman's book decsribes in clear, concise detail the most basic and the most detailed interworkings of " mechancial " investing. It's easy to buy a stock, the tough part is the correct time to sell. I followed the steps for months " on paper " with impressive results. After only one month in the real world of momentum investing, do I feel compelled to write this review. One month return - Nov 99 + 27%

If you are considering purchasing a book to get you started in online investing, Markham's book is worth a look, but his advice should be taken with a great deal of skepticism. I have used Markham's recommendations to invest in stocks from the middle of 2000 through the middle of 2001 (when I liquidated my portfolio). Unfortunately, I cannot in good faith recommend this system for a novice investor (like myself), as I lost 65% of my beginning investment using this system exactly as specified.

There are several major problems with Markham's investment strategies for the novice investor, but most notably, there is a lack of discussion of risk and return, and an overemphasis on the use of these mechanical systems without what I consider to be proper testing. Markham only uses data that goes back 14 years (to 1986) to test this system. Why? Given the poor performance of these models over the last year, it's probably because these systems perform badly prior to 1986. I am not accusing Markham of being dishonest, but the narrow window of time over which Markham monitored the performance of these systems is suspect.

Using the Supermodel system requires the purchase of a significant stock spread, usually 10-15, to minimize risk. Most beginning investors do not have enough capital to invest in this number of stocks, and will select two or three, which substantially increases market risk. Beginning investors with less than $20,000 to invest are far better served by investing in broad index or even sector mutual funds.

I should mention two additional red flags: (1) Markham used to publish the results of Supermodel picks, but once the models started doing badly, MSN removed these results from the visible public view. They may be on the website somewhere, but I am hard pressed to say where. (2) Many of Markham's own stock picks have largely turned out to be atrocious money losers.

Caveat emptor!

I have been following Jon Markman's excellent work on the MSN MoneyCentral Investor web site for several months now. I am greatly impressed with his SuperModels investment strategies, which I have recently started to use. I bought Mr. Markman's new book "Online Investing" the day it came out and it is even better than I expected. The SuperModels are a set of specific technical and fundamental parameters to run on the stock screening tools on MSN Investor. Run the screen, buy the stocks, hold them a specific time period, then repeat the process. Mr. Markman's work in this area is superb and based on solid research, and the results have proven it. The first part of the book will tell you everything you need to know to implement the SuperModels in very little time. Mr. Markman then proceeds to provide the best guide I've seen to investment information and resources on the web. He even includes a clear, concise refresher on the most useful methods of fundamental and technical analysis. Mr. Markman has done a terrific job in organizing and helping readers benefit from the vast array of online information. Finally, Mr. Markman offers several investing plans which take as little as an hour a year to as much as an hour a day. Just follow the steps and you will be confident and in control of your investments. It has done that for me. I consider "Online Investing" the most valuable and useful investment book I own. It has my highest recommendation.

My dad, Raymond, above, sent me this book for my birthday. It may prove to be one of the most valuable birthday presents I have ever received. I have yet to get fully invested. However, I have found the book very approachable and informative. I tend not to stay interested in reading books. With Markman's book it is quite the opposite. I have read and re-read the book, underlining certain parts, annotating sections, and checking web pages he mentions. If you have been waiting for the "right" time, NOW is the time! (Actually, you and I are a little late.... ;-) )

A very rare combination of easy to use information with as much nuts and bolts as the average investor/reader could want. An outstanding discussion of the basics of investment analysis combined with excellent references to many web-based information sources. All that, and it's easy to read. Highly recommended!

I've known the BASIC concepts of investing for some time, but I've invested in mutual funds only. After reading this book - easy, fun reading packed with sound tips that make a lot of sense - I feel that I now have the knowledge, tools, and confidence to begin investing in stocks without losing my shirt. (I admit that I was a bit skeptical when I discovered that the author is affiliated with MSN MoneyCentral whose tool he recommends. But guess what? This is indeed a great site loaded with powerful tools.) I'm about to try out one of Jon's supermodels, and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book for those who want to make use of what's available on the Internet and also learn more in general about investing in stocks.

Jon Markman's concept seems great, but in real life he (or anyone else) can't seem to get it to work.

Just read the first 2 chapters and you'll realize that this book is all about hindsight and probably would be very dangerous in a downward or sideways market.

He states that in 1998 & 1999 one of his model portfolios returned a 55% annual return from 1986-1999 with a standard deviation of 58%. The risk/reward ratio was too high so he tweaked it and now the results showed a return of 75% with a standard deviation of 72%. But in 2000 this model went down 39%. So he tweaked it again adding a NASDAQ market timing function where the NASDAQ has to be up a certian # to even decide to use the model. He keeps on tweaking a supposedly good model when something fails - which means if you've already used the model,you've probably lost money.

In his first chapter he talkes about the advantages of "model portfolios" that perform better because human emotions are not involved. Markman's mentor seems to be James P. O'Shaughnessy, as he mentions him in chapter 1 (author of "What works on Wall Street", "How to Retire Rich" and "Invest like the Best") - I have all three books. James O'Shaughnessy talkes about model portolios and backtesting scenarios that beat the S&P over 20, 30, 40 years.

Too bad "Online Investing" was written in 2001 because if this "model portfolio" thing really worked, why has Mr. O'Shaughnessy's mutual funds (which are supposed to buy stocks on successful back-tested models) performed so poorly? - Just look at any investment site to see his returns. Recently I read that he just sold his poorly performing funds to another financial firm. I guess the king of model portfolio's can't get his funds to follow his "historical performance".

One of the only nice things about "Online Investing" is that for a new investor, Markman narrows the masses of investment sites out there to a quality few. Use your own investment ideas and research them with the sites he point out. You'll probably make a lot more money

After reading the first few chapters and skimming throught the rest of the book, I realized this is a waste of time. I didn't finish the rest.

I was familiar with Mr. Markman from the MoneyCentral.msn site. Prolonged reading from a monitor and the discomfort associated with it, limited my familiarity with the author, though it was evident to me then that he had an important contribution with his SuperModel portfolios. I purchased this book primarily to learn more about his use of stock screening tools to choose stocks based on researched criteria that select stocks with excellent returns be they momentum, growth, or value.

I did not anticipate the "wealth" of information this book would provide in addition to stock screening. With it I've unearthed gems of information on the internet that I was previously unaware of. ONLINE INVESTING contains information relevant to fundamental and technical analysis, analyst recommendations, bulletin boards, and more. For the beginning investor, and those investors less familiar with what the internet has to offer, this is a must read. This book is comprehensive in its scope and I believe will result in an accelerated learning curve for beginning investors. More experienced investors who may have less experience using the web should appreciate the "user friendly" manner in which he step by step takes you to a site and actually serves as a host to the site and the tools and information contained within. I wish ONLINE INVESTING could have been written sooner as I would have avoided some costly investing mistakes.

I have had extraordinary results using Money Central's investment finder and Jon Markman's FOG screens in searching for momentum stocks. Online Investing is very easy reading for a beginning investor to understand. There is a chapter explaining basic concepts to understand financial statements and technical analysis on stocks. Markman has great insight on how to research stocks on the Internet. In the summary of the book, he discusses how to allocate your time you are willing to spend on a daily, monthly or yearly basis to use the techniques in the book. Great book for persons wanting to start investing and researching online.