The Wall Street Journal Guide to Investing in the Apocalypse: Make Money by Seeing Opportunity Where Others See Peril [Paperback]

James Altucher (Author), Douglas R. Sease (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 1, 2011

In The Wall Street Journal Guide to Investing in the Apocalypse, authors James Altucher and Douglas R. Sease provide investors with provocative and essential guidance that will enable them to take advantage of the lucrative investment opportunities that inevitably will arise when disaster strikes. The only book of its kind currently on the market, this indispensible handbook will help savvy investors make money by seeing opportunity where others see only peril.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Disasters happen every day.
Are your investments prepared?

The investor who knows how to anticipate historically significant or earth-shattering events—who is prepared to act when others are frozen with fear—will always have a substantial advantage. By closely analyzing potential global threats and the opportunities they present, The Wall Street Journal Guide to Investing in the Apocalypse offers investors the key to finding a silver lining in almost any cataclysm. Even if the catastrophic does not occur, the strategies here can pay huge dividends even under more mundane circumstances.

The Wall Street Journal Guide to Investing in the Apocalypse provides readers with valuable information for investment success: the ability to see opportunity where others see peril. Whether a global disaster is natural or man-made, environmental or financial, every fearsome scenario contains the seeds of profit for the investor who stays calm and thinks rather than panics and runs.

About the Author

Entrepreneur, investor, writer, and media personality James Altucher is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and other media outlets, and he appears regularly on CNBC, Fox Business, and CNN Radio. He is the author of four books, including Trade Like a Hedge Fund and The Forever Portfolio.

Douglas R. Sease was a reporter and editor for The Wall Street Journal for twenty-six years. He is the author of five books on investing and tax policy and has edited or ghostwritten more than a dozen books on management, finance, government, and foreign business.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: HarperBusiness; Original edition (February 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062001329
• ISBN-13: 978-0062001320
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #757,002 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James Altucher is a writer, successful entrepreneur, chess master, and investor.

He has founded over 20 companies and sold some of them for large exits. He has also run venture capital funds, hedge funds, angel funds, and currently sits on the boards of many companies.

He has written and been profiled in most major national media publications like the Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, CNBC, Forbes, and Business Week.

His blog, which began by detailing Altucher's precipitousfall from wealth and success to absolute rock bottom and then back to wealth, has attracted more than 10 million readers since its launch in 2010, and in 2011 inspired a comic book.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth Reading September 1, 2011

By A. Lakeman

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I thought the book was interesting. It is a pretty easy read, really intended for more beginner investors so if you want to stay away complicated graphs & formulas then this would be a book you would want to read. I've always been fascinated by apocalyptic events and I help people with their finances so maybe that is why I thought this was an interesting book. If you enjoy investing then give it a read.

82 of 112 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars A real disappointment February 10, 2011

By Gene Retske

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I saw this book advertised in the Wall Street Journal and downloaded a sample. I was very impressed with what I saw in the introduction. The author promised to show how to develop effective strategies on investing in the face of calamities and disasters. He promised that he would not just recommend individual stocks, because that would cause the book to become dated quickly.

So, based on this promise, I paid my money and got the entire book. Apparently, who ever wrote the intro never really read the book. Worse yet, if the author of the book also wrote the intro, he forgot what he promised. At any rate, after promising not to just recommend individual stocks, he does just that. Worse yet, he continually recommends a small group of his favorites. There is a lot of verbiage on creating baskets of stock but no details on how to do that.

What put me over the top was his adamant defense of global warming. Whether you believe it or not is irrelevant. To create an investment strategy that discounts the possibility that global warming will not pan out is risky. To recommend an investment strategy that does not allow for the possibility that the tide will turn is irresponsible.

This book was a great disappointment to me, and I suggest you not waste your money buying it, or your time reading it. The author does not deliver serious investment strategy as he promised.

9 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Investing advice not for the timid March 26, 2011

By Bruce Parrish

Format:Paperback

I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and made copious notes throughout. This is a book I'll refer to during the inevitable catastrophes. I've been dealing with a difficult investing environment for a couple years, and appreciate a book that explains how to make money when everyone else is selling. James tells the brave investor to Fade-the-Fear. Generally disasters usually aren't that bad, and people from the ordinary investor to the money managers follow the herd and overreact. Generally selling. James lists several inevitable circumstances that will cause wide spread panic, and even specific companies that will profit from these events. I found the book well reasoned, well written, and contains valuable advice, so I gave it 5 stars.