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Backstage Wall Street: An Insider’s Guide to Knowing Who to Trust, Who to Run From, and How to Maximize Your Investments Hardcover – March 27, 2012
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Chances are you haven’t been making the best investing decisions.
Why?
BECAUSE THAT’S HOW WALL STREET WANTS IT
“[T]he always irreverent author of the Reformed Broker blog has written an excellent narrative that shares all of your broker’s dirty little secrets. Much like Michael Lewis’ Liar’s Poker captured the essence of 1980s institutional Wall Street, Brown’s Backstage Wall Street recreates the boiler room retail brokerage culture of the 1990s and early 2000s in vivid color.”
―FORBES
“With a smirk, a lashing wit, and an appropriate irreverence, Joshua Brown gives voice to what all investment professionals are―or should be―secretly thinking.”
―MICHAEL SANTOLI, Barron’s columnist
“The pages of this book are filled with colorful exposés of misconduct in the way Wall Street presents and sells itself (and its financial products offerings!). . . . Run don’t walk to read Brown’s chronicles of deception [perpetrated by] those wonderful folks on Wall Street, who nearly bankrupted the world’s fi nancial system a few short years ago.”
―DOUGLAS A. KASS, Seabreeze Partners Management, Inc.
“Everything you’ve ever read about Wall Street is a total lie. Everyone is lying to you every day. Until you read this book.”
―JAMES ALTUCHER, Formula Capital and author of I Was Blind but Now I See
“Joshua wants Wall Street to be awesome. You can feel it every day on his amazing blog and in this great book. He is happy to shout when Wall Street drives him crazy. I guarantee you will enjoy this book that describes the action behind the business of Wall Street and his own experiences along the way.”
―HOWARD LINDZON, Lindzon Capital and founder of StockTwits
"Joshua Brown may be the funniest writer on finance today, but Backstage Wall Street could make you cry more than laugh. The buffoons, manipulators, and incompetents Brown parades before us are the stewards of our retirement accounts....What's important is that investors understand the choices before them. Backstage Wall Street goes a long way to taking us backstage, while making us laugh in the process."
―BARRON'S
About the Book:
Wall Street is very good at one thing: convincing you to act against your own interests. And there’s no one out there better equipped with the knowledge and moxie to explain how it all works than Josh Brown. A man The New York Times referred to as “the Merchant of Snark” and Barron’s called “pot-stirring and provocative,” Brown worked for 10 years in the industry, a time during which he learned some hard truths about how clients are routinely treated―and how their money is sent on a one-way trip to Wall Street’s coffers.
Backstage Wall Street reveals the inner workings of the world’s biggest money machine and explains how a relatively small confederation of brilliant, sometimes ill-intentioned people fuel it, operate it, and repair it when necessary―none of which is for the good of the average investor.
Offering a look that only a long-term insider could provide (and that only a “reformed” insider would want to provide), Brown describes:
THE PEOPLE―Why retail brokers always profit―even if you don’t
THE PRODUCTS―How funds, ETFs, and other products are invented as failsafe profit generators―for the inventors alone
THE PITCH―The marketing schemes designed for one thing and one thing only: to separate you from your money
It’s that bad . . . but there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. Brown gives you the knowledge you need to make the right decisions at the right time.
Backstage Wall Street is about seeing reality for what it is and adjusting your actions accordingly. It’s about learning who and what to steer clear of at all times. And it’s about setting the stage for a bright financial future―your own way.
- Print length256 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherMcGraw Hill
- Publication dateMarch 27, 2012
- Dimensions6.4 x 1 x 9.3 inches
- ISBN-10007178232X
- ISBN-13978-0071782326
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Editorial Reviews
Review
Josh's anecdotes - like his description of the audience's reaction to Piper Jaffrey analyst Nicole Miller Regan's questions at a Jamba Juice's analyst day - are priceless.
(With apologies to Billy Joel) if you have "never met a backstreet guy..".. run, don't walk to read the Downtown Man's chronicles of deception from those wonderful folks on Wall Street that nearly bankrupted the world's financial system a few short years ago." -- Doug Kass "TheStreet.com"
"I have long wanted to see a book that would teach ordinary investors how to avoid being cheated by those that create/sell financial products. If this book isn't it, the one that surpasses it will be astounding. If Wall Street is a show, this book gives you a peek behind the curtain." -- David Merkel "SeekingAlpha"
From the Back Cover
Sure to be a revelation to even the savviest financial professional, Backstage Wall Street is a brutally honest look at the investment business from a veteran who's seen it all. "Reformed" Wall Street insider Joshua M. Brown offers clear and proven advice on how to navigate all the snares set by the lords of Wall Street.
About the Author
Joshua M. Brown is the vice president of investments at Fusion Analytics Investment Partners. He created TheReformedBroker.com, which was listed by The Wall Street Journal as one of the top 10 must-read financial blogs. Brown lives in New York City.
Product details
- Publisher : McGraw Hill; 1st edition (March 27, 2012)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 256 pages
- ISBN-10 : 007178232X
- ISBN-13 : 978-0071782326
- Item Weight : 1.18 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.4 x 1 x 9.3 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #618,281 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #217 in Commodities Trading (Books)
- #514 in Banks & Banking (Books)
- #671 in Leadership Training
- Customer Reviews:
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About the author

Joshua M. Brown is a the author of 'Backstage Wall Street' from McGraw-Hill (2012) and co-author of the forthcoming book 'Clash of the Financial Pundits' (2014).
Brown is the creator of The Reformed Broker, one of the most widely-followed financial blogs in the world. He has been named the top financial person to follow on Twitter by the Wall Street Journal, Barron's and TIME Magazine. He is also a daily on-air contributor to CNBC.
Most days, Josh can be found advising high net worth clients on their asset management and retirement portfolios at his New York City-based registered investment advisory firm, Ritholtz Wealth Management, where he is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer.
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I always read extensively, and in the past I have provided pointers to the best sources for investors. This year has been hectic on many fronts, and I have been negligent in passing on my conclusions.
In an effort to catch up, I want to focus on a few books that I regard as especially important for the individual investor. This is a time of year when many people are re-examining their methods and decisions. The books that I will highlight will provide a toolkit for your efforts.
If Santa did not leave the right investment books in your (over-sized) stocking, you need to take matters into your own hands!
The second suggestion is --
Backstage Wall Street by Joshua Brown
Overview
A great book is effective for readers at many levels. This is a special challenge in the investment world, but the author has delivered. A key theme is to avoid getting scammed. A corollary is how to get good advice. Here are some important audiences and the takeaway for them:
The average investor will learn all about cold-calling brokers, their incentives, and the pitch. Just reading Part 3 would save most investors thousands.
Wealthy investors will learn all about special situations and private placements. Chapter 21 is the big news for them.
Young people who want to get into the financial business should read this book. They do not know it, so we parents and grandparents should give them a copy. Aspiring young employees want to trade and to analyze stocks. Josh Brown explains the reality of working for most firms.
And even the experts will learn something. I knew something about everything from this book, but I still learned more. The explanation of the inside story at most firms is a look behind the curtain, even for market professionals who took a different career path.
This is book is a real page-turner in some chapters, but less interesting in others. None of the material could be skipped by the author, since what is relevant differs for each reader. My advice is to spend a lot of time on the portions that are most relevant for you. You will find yourself both laughing and crying for Josh and also for the investors.
What I Personally Liked Best
My background is much different from the author's. I already had a body of expertise and knowledge, and that is why I was recruited. My experience was with really smart people who needed to trade effectively. Everyone had personal money at stake. The focus was performance. I had a secondary role in helping our wealthy traders evaluate the hundreds of business pitches they got.
Josh Brown provides a frank and colorful description of the Wall Street perspective, told by a reformed broker. The stories are graphic and compelling.
There is a difference in the "Chicago" tradition, but any of us would be proud to tell that story as effectively as Josh has.
And most of all, there is the conclusion. Josh Brown offers important advice on how to find investment advice. It is important that your manager's incentives are completely aligned with your own.
What Most Readers Should Learn
As I noted, this is a book with different lessons for different people. With that in mind the key takeway is: Don't get scammed!
Let me count the ways ---
Do not get sucked in by cold calls.
Do not get drawn into high-commission private placements or special deals.
Do not follow a dead-end career path.
Successful investing begins with avoiding the traps. I have a few ideas of my own for additional traps to consider. If I get them into book form, I hope that my presentation is as compelling as this author's.
About the Author
"Downtown" Josh Brown has gone from zero to sixty faster than anyone.
I do not know of any blog that exploded onto the scene faster than The Reformed Broker. Josh combines the key elements of chemistry:
Relevance
Timeliness
Expertise
Open-mindedness
and not least, a colorful, irreverent style.
It is why both investment professionals and traders read his blog every day.
Josh's blogging success and investment skill have been recognized with major media gigs and columns, his position at Fusion IQ, and his daily CNBC appearances.
In our office we give Josh our highest accolade: We "unmute" the TV and back up the TIVO to hear what he has to say:)
You can order the book here, via the author's site.
This is Book #2 in my series for the new year. I have five planned, but a full agenda.
Endnote
A reader asked me if I was compensated for these reviews.
Let's be clear. I paid for this book because I wanted to read what Josh had to say. I am writing the review because I think many people could save money by spending some time with a few chapters. Many others will be entertained and enlightened as I was.
Here are some of the insights I picked up from reading it:
1. Selling one's expertise is much easier than actually developing an expertise, especially as it pertains to investing.
2. A good broker can close on anyone and he means anyone. Well almost. I was secretly hoping to adopt some of the successful selling techniques in my portfolio of bar pick up lines, but then Brown slapped me with the following: "It is nearly impossible to impulse-sell securities to women, as they tend to invest more for financial security than for bragging rights, big fish tales, or naked greed like wealthy men do." If only stocks were shoes.
3. By driving the costs out of trading, the online brokerages had inadvertently driven the investment banks back to the profit drawing board--as history has shown time and again, Wall Street getting creative is almost never a good thing.
4. Social media is just one more disruptive force that allows talented individuals to build their own brands and to gnaw away at the once-mighty oaks that have ruled the industry for so long.
5. Wall Street Sell-side research is a giant joke. In bull markets, you don't need them because everything goes up. In bear markets, their warning is usually way after the fact.
6. The game used to be played like this: "Do your initial public offering through our banking department, and our brokerage analysts will guarantee you a `strong buy' rating for your first six months of trading."
7. There is still an understanding that you don't downgrade the big clients of the firm. When analysts do downgrade stocks, in my experience, it tends to come only after a slew of weak earnings reports and in the context of a stock price that has already been falling for months. In fact, ask most experienced traders about which type of sell-side call gets them most excited and they'll almost unanimously answer that they love when a broker goes negative. The value investors will wholeheartedly agree.
8. The most effective method of selling anything in this world is through storytelling. And it is not just product that needs to be sold. Strategies have received their own stories as well. "Buy and hold" is one of the greatest stories ever told, this despite the fact that in the past century we've seen 25 cyclical bear markets and two bone-crushing secular bear markets.
9. There are a lot of "murderholes" on Wall Street: SPACs, Chinese ADRS, one-drug biotechs, private placements among others. I love the quote from Mike Tyson in the book: ""Everyone has a plan, 'til they get punched in the mouth."
We're lucky that there are guys like Josh out there that don't get caught up in the BS of the system and keep perpetuating the myth. It's tough to get rich quick. If you read and believe Josh, and have a healthy dose of Wall Street skepticism, you will have a lot more money at the end of the line.
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