Stock Market Stratagem: Loss Control and Portfolio Management Enhancement [Hardcover]

Braden Glett (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0538726938 | ISBN-13: 978-0538726931 | Publication Date: September 8, 2002 | Edition: 1

Offering fresh insights for both professionals and sophisticated investors, Stock Market Stratagem focuses on the all-important task of loss control and the necessary adjustments to portfolio management in a volatile environment. It provides serious equity investors with an unambiguous methodology for being in the right stocks, at the right time, in the right proportions - and with the right exit strategy. A seasoned researcher and investor, Glett explains the need for an airtight portfolio methodology as a necessity to control losses and explores some common scenarios and fallacies that lead to the majority of stock market losses. In addition, the book offers in-depth coverage of how to pick high-potential stocks and includes a set of criteria to help investors in this key task.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Braden Glett is the founder of Business Diagnosis & Improvement, a consulting firm specializing in general management and profitability improvement for manufacturing-based businesses. He has close to 20 years of experience in strategic development, financial management, market research, and operations. Highly creative and analytical, he is particularly expert in systematic processes for identifying policy-based and operations-based constraints on profitability and in crafting countermeasures to remove those constraints. Mr. Glett also excels in integrating financial measures and internal processes to reduce such constraints. Among his other strengths are creativity in combining disciplines to solve entrenched business problems. He also recently authored an on-line book for investors – Five Minute Investing.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: South-Western Educational Pub; 1 edition (September 8, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0538726938
• ISBN-13: 978-0538726931
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,617,098 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Glett's book is a winner ..., August 8, 2004

By 

Richard J. Epler (Mt. Vernon, Oregon, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Stock Market Stratagem: Loss Control and Portfolio Management Enhancement (Hardcover)

I agree with other reviewers that this book deserves 6 stars. Over the last 30 years, I've accumulated a lot of investment books but this is the first I've seen that has a chance of withstanding the test of the many varied business cycles over time. I note that this book has been selected as a text for several "practical" college investment courses.

Here are the specific reasons I like this book:

First, this is a book about lifetime investment principles for the DIY individual investor. Glett's idea is to devise easy-to-use techniques to take advantage of high growth stock market opportunities while minimizing possible losses with "risk control" strategies. Central to both concepts is the notion of diversification, where a portfolio of stocks are developed that maximizes the opportunity of finding a few big winners (doubles and triples), while limiting the number of losers to a tolerable few.

Extensive knowledge of economics or financial analysis is NOT required. Rather Glett advocates letting the market make the key buy/sell decisions. To provide insight, the techniques are explained using paper-and-pencil with public data from the web, but suggestions for simplifying the process using professional computer software are introduced as well.

An actively managed portfolio is advocated, where market conditions dictate what and when to buy and to sell. It is a "contrarian" strategy with a twist. It advocates the selection of low profile stocks in emerging market sectors rather than just the big names. It is also a "momentum based" strategy with a twist. Glett's "Reverse Scale" strategy advocates allowing winners to run, while losers are cut immediately. The twist in each case, however, is that its diversification and loss-control strategies are constructed to reinforce each other to minimize risk as defined by the investor. One of the key outputs of this strategy is the discipline to execute a stop-loss order within minutes after buying the stock to guard against subsequent "unreasonable exuberance."

Glett advocates the use of technical (charting) techniques to determine a stock's trend in order to quickly narrow a list of potentials to a select few. Charting is also useful in determining loss-limits. Financial and fundamental data are then used to gage the trend's sustainability.

And finally, techniques are developed for recognizing the onset of a bear market at which point the portfolio goes into limbo where winners continue to run, but losers are not replaced. A technique for knowing when to safely get back into the market is also presented.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read!, June 3, 2004

By 

Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Stock Market Stratagem: Loss Control and Portfolio Management Enhancement (Hardcover)

Author Braden Glett is bold enough to take on not only efficient market theory and index funds, but also the investment approaches advocated by such luminaries as Peter Lynch, Warren Buffett, John Bogle and their ilk. Although Glett does not name these names, he finds plenty to disagree with in almost every popular or conventionally recommended investing strategy. That makes this book provocative and interesting. It's always good to see conventional wisdom shaken. However, the author writes in a very difficult style, and his message hits various grammatical and logical road blocks due to a shaky editing job. With that caveat, we believe that investors and traders may want to check this short book, as long as they take the author's recommendations as opinion - he offers little in the way of solid research to back his contentions, but he raises some potentially useful doubts.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Real Gem, August 2, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Stock Market Stratagem: Loss Control and Portfolio Management Enhancement (Hardcover)

I wish there was a 6 star review - this book deserves it. I came across an on-line article written by Mr. Glett some time ago. I was so thrilled by what he had written I just had to send him a complimentary email. I was delightfully surprised when he answered. That comunication lead me to discovering his book, Stock Market Stratagem. And wow, what a wonderful book it is. As a middle-aged person just finally getting around to begin investing (hey, better late than never), I had bought and read a plethora of financial investing books before I found this one. And it quickly became my favorite, my most trusted source of investment information. It's simply superb. Mr. Glett writes in a most engaging style, it almost feels as though he's talking to you, one on one. His insight and take on what many of us were raised to believe as gospel is a refreshing change from those pot-boiler books flooding the market. I would rate Stock Market Stratagem way up there on the list of books you just have to own as you travel through life. It is packed full of wonderful advise and wisdom - you will not be sorry investing in this book (no pun intended). I highly recommend it.