Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms (Barron's Financial Guides) (Vinyl Bound)

by John Downes (Author), Jordan Elliot Goodman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
A small but surprisingly comprehensive dictionary defining over 5,000 terms. The sturdy binding will hold up to a great deal of travel. A very practical and inexpensive gift for any business person or anyone interested in finance and investment. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms by John Downes and Jordan Elliot Goodman named by McGraw-Hill Bookstore's Bestselling professional Book, July-October 1999 -- Professional Publishing Report

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Product Details

• Vinyl Bound: 730 pages
• Publisher: Barron's Educational Series; 5th edition (September 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764107909
• ISBN-13: 978-0764107900
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #483,660 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not a panacea but extremely useful, June 8, 2003

By	R. Shaff "Velocipede" (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I find myself somewhat amazed at the financial analysts and brokers who find this book unsatisfactory. The poignant analogy coming to mind is offering the book "Accounting for Dummies" to a CPA. Of course it is unsatisfying. A book like this is not aimed at seasoned professionals in the field; rather, it's intended audience is grounded in those with little or no exposure to the securities/financial fields.

I have been involved in securities litigation consulting for almost a decade now. As my consulting practice has grown, I have hired many individuals, most of whom are not well-versed in securities/financial jargon. In significantly all cases, these new employees feel ill-at-ease initially when reviewing case files and documentation due to the learning ramp and educational abyss. I have found if I offer them a copy of the DICTIONARY OF FINANCE AND INVESTMENT TERMS (DFIT) on their first day, the learning curve is flattened and becomes much shorter in duration. As a matter of fact, several of my employees have taken the initiative to take their DFIT home to look for particular words/phrases common to their daily routines. By derivation, this makes the employee feel much less out of place and instills some level of motivation relative to their work (this has been a definite intangible benefit to my practice).

I keep one in my office and although I don't crack it very often, there are times when I'm not as familiar with a word/phrase and then, I rely on DFIT. This is similar to the situation of reading a book, seeing a word you can pronounce and know but aren't quite certain of its EXACT meaning. Let's face it, with over 5,000 entries in DFIT, most professionals, even those entrenched in the field, will find themselves fuzzy on certain words and phrases.

While DFIT is not a panacea, it certainly fills the void. I would recommend this book for anyone new to the finance/investment fields and most professionals who deal on the fringes of these industries. ... I don't really see how one can go wrong here (particularly given that many reference offerings go for hundreds of dollars).

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Perfect, But Very Useful, June 21, 2000

By	C. Burgess "chico_bkny" (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

When I first got into the financial field many years ago, I kept a copy of this book (an earlier edition) close at hand at all times. As I read The Wall Street Journal and Business Week, this book proved indispensible to help me understand concepts and jargon. Today, it is dog-eared, wrinkled and dirty, but I still turn to it occasionally. Yes, some of the definitions are outdated or incomplete. Yes, some terms are missing. But this is the best dictionary of financial terms I've ever seen, and I recommend it to anyone who needs an easy-to-use reference guide.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars COVERED GENERAL BUSINESS; NOT JUST FINANCE AND INVESTMENT, November 9, 2005

By	VALENTINE ODUENYI (Switzerland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms (Barron's Financial Guides) (Vinyl Bound)

Despite being called "Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms", this dictionary not only covered finance and investing, by cut across every aspect of general business. Its extensive coverage of management, accounting, marketing, advertising, and real estate makes it really unnecessary for anyone who already owns it to be bothering about acquiring any other business dictionary. Also, its encroaching expansion into computer and internet terms is both commendable and valuable.
All of its terms have been revised and simplified, using everyday language. And, a rare combination of quality and low price ensures that the demand for this dictionary will continue to dominate those of its rivals. Its 736 pages, which hold more than 5000 definitions remained astonishingly compact, authoritative, refined, and very concise. It is indeed a true hard-to-beat choice!