Wise Investing Made Simple: Larry Swedroe's Tales to Enrich Your Future (Focused Investor) [Hardcover]

Larry Swedroe (Author)

Book Description

Series: Focused Investor | Publication Date: September 1, 2007

Larry Swedroe offers engaging stories to readers as a way of explaining sound investing concepts.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"We remember a good story long after the facts are forgotten. Larry Swedroe tells stories that will change your beliefs-and make yourself a better investor." --Weston J. Wellington, Vice President, Dimensional Fund Advisors

"Larry Swedroe's book, Wise Investing Made Simple: Larry Swedroe's Tales to Enrich Your Future, is the best one he has yet written. In a series of stories tha tare clear and simple yet profound in their meaning, Mr. Swedroe explains how modern financial markets really work and how any investor who comes to understand this will be able to make more informed and better investment decisions. I highly recommend this book for all levels of investors-as well as their advistors." --W. Scott Simon, author of The Prudent Investor Act: A Guide to Understanding

"Like stories around the campfire, Swedroe weaves familiar concepts into lessons explaining the mystery of how and why free markets work. Swedroe will clear the smoke and mirrors that conceal the failure of active management." --Mark T. Hebner, author of Index Funds: The 12-Step Program for Active Investors

About the Author

Larry Swedroe is a principal in the firm, Buckingham Asset Management. He graduated from New York University with an MBA in finance, and is the author of The Only Guide to a Winning Investment Strategy You'll Ever Need, What Wall Street Doesn't Want you to Know and four other books.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: Charter Financial Pub Network; First Edition edition (September 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0976657422
• ISBN-13: 978-0976657422
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #708,431 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stop driving yourself crazy. Invest sensibly for the long term., September 15, 2007

By 

Roger Streit (Roseland, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wise Investing Made Simple: Larry Swedroe's Tales to Enrich Your Future (Focused Investor) (Hardcover)

Larry Swedroe's Wise Investing Made Simple uses short chapters and pithy stories to help readers rethink their basic premises and deeply held beliefs on how to be successful investors. The author asserts that most investors, without realizing it, do not know how markets work. Many investors are misled by conventional wisdom, economic forecasts, Wall Street recommendations, and CNBC gurus.

They mistakenly believe that smart people, working diligently, can discover which stocks are undervalued and should be bought, and which stocks are overvalued and should be avoided. They also believe that smart people can get in and out of the stock market at the right time. These mistaken beliefs lead to the search for a strategy that will "beat the market," a search that is doomed to fail.

Swedroe sets out to change the reader's understanding of how markets really work and to provide the reader "with sufficient knowledge to begin to make more informed and more prudent investment decisions." Along the way he debunks many investment fables, including: "Great companies make great investments," "Buy what you know," "Stocks are not risky in the long run," and "Past performance is a predictor of future performance."
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Wise Investing uses inventive stories in a clear, understandable and concise manner to illustrate why economic forecasts are not useful, why trying to time the market or find undervalued stocks is a loser's strategy, and why finding the next investment superstar is nearly impossible. He illustrates why overconfidence can be dangerous and how investors confuse information with exploitable knowledge.

Swedroe uses analogies from such sports as baseball, basketball, golf, and football. He also uses game theory, horse racing, and insurance examples. Without straining, he refers to astronomy, astrology, alchemy, and mythology to keep the reader interested. Finally he peppers his stories with specific historical examples, which are very convincing. Each story makes a point, and the cumulative effect is impressive.

Some of the very practical suggestions include how to interview and evaluate a stockbroker and how to evaluate an investment strategy, both before and after it is implemented.

If you already know something about investing, this will still be a useful book, because of the cumulative logic of the chapters, the engaging writing style and the memorable stories. Wise Investing will be useful to financial advisors in explaining to clients how to avoid the common pitfalls.

Wise Investing is primarily a "why-to" rather than a "how-to", in that to implement the strategy correctly you may want to read his earlier book - The Only Guide to a Winning Investment Strategy You'll Ever Need - or you may need an advisor. His last chapter covers why some people should consider using an advisor and how to find one you can trust. (Full disclosure - I am a fee-only financial advisor.)

Wise Investing is a valuable addition to anyone's library of investment books. It will be useful for all levels of investors.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Great Investing Guide, November 2, 2007

By 

Sherman L. Doll "Wealth Advisor" (Walnut Creek, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wise Investing Made Simple: Larry Swedroe's Tales to Enrich Your Future (Focused Investor) (Hardcover)

I've read all of Larry Swedroe's books on investing. As a wealth manager my objective is help clients make smart decisions with their money. "Wise Investing Made Simple" has two great benefits. Larry explains otherwise complex investing principles in simple, understandable terms using stories and situations familiar to most people. This has helped me hone my own skills to simply explain the complex to my clients and prospects. Also, it's been a great book to give to clients and prospects to deepen their own understanding of correct investing principles. There's so much investment garbage in the world. This book is a great antidote. I just bought an entire case of these books.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stories are more powerful than data, November 24, 2007

By 

Allan S. Roth "dare_to_be_dull" (Colorado Springs, CO United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Wise Investing Made Simple: Larry Swedroe's Tales to Enrich Your Future (Focused Investor) (Hardcover)

Larry Swedroe, a prolific author on investing, has written another great book. In Wise Investing Made Simple, he examines the very core of our beliefs that much of Wall Street and the media reinforce. Swedroe also explores the cost to the investor for assuming that these beliefs are true.

If you're looking for another book regurgitating data on the underperformance of complex active investing, you won't find it here. In place of mind-numbing, forgettable data, Swedroe imparts his message through real life stories. These stories give us something relatable and memorable to take away from the book, and inspire us to make changes - financial changes, in this case. Each story has a valuable "moral of the tale."

Stories are also more fun to read than a bunch of data tables, and Swedroe is entertaining as he delivers his valuable advice. The moral of his tale is to build wealth for yourself rather than Wall Street.