Kindle
$14.34
Available instantly
Buy new:
-17% $24.99
FREE delivery August 21 - 26
Ships from: Philadelphia Book Company
Sold by: Philadelphia Book Company
$24.99 with 17 percent savings
List Price: $30.00

The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. Except for books, Amazon will display a List Price if the product was purchased by customers on Amazon or offered by other retailers at or above the List Price in at least the past 90 days. List prices may not necessarily reflect the product's prevailing market price.
Learn more
FREE delivery August 21 - 26. Details
Or fastest delivery August 19 - 21. Details
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$24.99 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$24.99
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Philadelphia Book Company
Ships from
Philadelphia Book Company
Returns
30-day refund/replacement
30-day refund/replacement
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt. You may receive a partial or no refund on used, damaged or materially different returns.
Returns
30-day refund/replacement
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt. You may receive a partial or no refund on used, damaged or materially different returns.
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
$11.14
FREE delivery August 19 - 22. Details
Or fastest delivery Tuesday, August 20. Order within 17 hrs 16 mins. Details
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$24.99 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$24.99
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Ships from and sold by BJ&K'S Books &More.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Keynes's Way to Wealth: Timeless Investment Lessons from The Great Economist Hardcover – November 18, 2013

4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 74 ratings

{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$24.99","priceAmount":24.99,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"24","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"99","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"q%2BdY%2FAQHRrr8mCl0hJWGvtJwxE60XzU%2FSBYPbFeHkmXC37%2BSZEesPVa9GUSepFmVyRC9wHEJW4kmAu06rWz0samFMVALF6xPG%2BbK8htaF5ChIpOv9UcbBEaIgO3ybOBRx3cRQCYgccurF25pllfcqF2%2FI0gRzNAAqi353CZJnNroGJ%2FfBju2vFFCwNFzKWQ%2F","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$11.14","priceAmount":11.14,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"11","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"14","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"q%2BdY%2FAQHRrr8mCl0hJWGvtJwxE60XzU%2FOe3xZwPwUlKdA9OK1yVJ2j1d7L8uPbadsaeS%2Fpze1eJWqEVihtJ%2Fly%2F8UseRAODx4rDuhfv0GLCEhvQ6dzsbF0LPXbghkRxpZ6g2PzmmO8avdlEbEXHhgfpnS%2BA5r1B62eF2OQleosGu9ulqMXvFKb9Js4glgsXe","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

“Mr. Wasik’s distillation of how Keynes made--and then remade--his fortune is instructive. And the principles that Keynes followed have stood the test of time. As Mr. Wasik adds, 'The object of investing is to ensure prosperity, not to become obsessed with making money.'"
The New York Times

John Maynard Keynes indelibly made his mark on global economics...

Few people know, however, that he was also a daring,steel-nerved investor who built a multimilliondollarfortune in the stock market while providing financial counsel to the likes of Winston Churchill and FDR. Now, you can learn from--and imitate--Keynes's success by examining the story of his lifeand investment strategies, masterfully told by awardwinning author John F. Wasik.

As you follow Keynes from his early years with theBloomsbury Group, through two world wars and the Great Depression Keynes's theories and practices come to life by way of the historic and personal events that shaped them. Like today's investors, Keynes faced markets roiled by panic, inflation, deflation, widespread unemployment, and war--and he developed a core set of principles to prosper in every climate. With the individual investor in mind,this straightforward guide makes it easy for investorsat all levels to implement the action-oriented strategiespresented in each of the 10 chapters and start investing like Keynes today by:

  • Buying and holding quality stocks
  • Ignoring short-term news
  • Building diversified portfolios
  • Trading contrary to market momentum
  • Getting the most out of dividend stocks

    Using the eloquent insight of a seasoned investmentwriter, author John F. Wasik digs down into what investments Keynes owned, how he bought and sold them, how his theories guided his investments, and vice versa. He illustrates why Keynes's ideas, insights, and portfolio strategies have withstood the test of time, and how they will continue to produce financial gains for dedicated investors. In a nutshell, Wasik delivers a pragmatic guide to the style of portfolio management practiced by such Keynes followers as Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffett, andCharles Munger.

    The smart money gets richer in all types of weather,and so can you by following Keynes's Way to Wealth.

    PRAISE FOR KEYNES'S WAY TO WEALTH:

    "Intelligent investing ultimately depends on having an intelligent theory of the economy. This story of Keynes's life as an investor illustrates this beautifully." -- Robert Shiller, professor of Economics, Yale University;New York Times columnist; and author of Finance and the Good Society

    "The great economist John Maynard Keynes speculated and lost big-time. Out of the ashes, he evolved some great long-term investment strategies that will work for every prudent investor. While picking up tips, you'll also find that this book is a great read." -- Jane Bryant Quinn, author of Making the Most of Your Money NOW

    "I'd always heard Keynes was a talented investor but never knew any of the details. John Wasik's excellent book uncovers that story and reveals Keynes's considerable investing skills. If you enjoy studying great investors, add this book to your list." -- Joe Mansueto, founder and CEO, Morningstar, Inc.

    "With the possible exception of Mark Twain, no one surpasses John Maynard Keynes as a source of pithy financial wisdom and sayings. Keynes’s Way to Wealth mines the reasoning and investment experiences behind his quotability, a bounty that will simultaneously edify, entertain, and augment your bottom line." -- William J. Bernstein, author and principal, Efficient Frontier Advisors


Amazon First Reads | Editors' picks at exclusive prices

Frequently bought together

This item: Keynes's Way to Wealth: Timeless Investment Lessons from The Great Economist
$24.99
Get it Aug 21 - 26
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Ships from and sold by Philadelphia Book Company.
+
$18.95
Get it as soon as Tuesday, Aug 20
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Sold by OTTNOT and ships from Amazon Fulfillment.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
spCSRF_Treatment
These items are shipped from and sold by different sellers.
Choose items to buy together.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

John F. Wasik is an award-winning columnist, editor, speaker, and author of 14 books. He has covered investor protection issues for more than 30 years and has won 18 awards for his writing.

About the Author

John F. Wasik is an award-winning columnist, editor, speaker, and author of 14 books. He has coveredinvestor protection issues for more than 30 years and has won 18 awards for his writing.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ McGraw Hill; 1st edition (November 18, 2013)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0071815473
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0071815475
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.08 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9 x 1 x 9.3 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 74 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
John F. Wasik
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

I am the author of 19 books, including "Lincolnomics" and "Lightning Strikes: Timeless Lessons in Creativity from the Life and Work of Nikola Tesla." I've also contributed to The New York Times, Forbes, Real Clear Investigations, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg and several other international publications.

My latest book answers the question: "What would Abe Lincoln think about economic progress today?" I view his life through the lens of infrastructure, education, prosperity and equality. This unique new biography examines one of our greatest presidents in the time of COVID, BLM, climate change and a need for repairs and healing on every level.

As a professional speaker, I've addressed tens of thousands: I have spoken about creativity, technology, history, investing and innovation across North America.

See my piece on Tesla in the New York Times:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/30/technology/nikola-tesla.html?_r=0. Also see my piece in The Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/articles/lessons-from-tesla-the-man-not-the-car-1536950021

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
74 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2013
Wasik (W) and Bogle's (B) introduction give a first rate analysis of Keynes's approach to financial decision making.Bogle correctly concentrates on section 7 of Chapter 12(pp.160-161 of the GT) but misses the important definition of uncertainty as an inverse (negative)function of Keynes's weight of the argument (evidence) concept from chapters 6 and 26 of the A Treatise on Probability on p.148 of the GT.This means that Confidence is a positive function of the weight of the argument(evidence) and a negative function of uncertainty.

This means that there is a second variable in Keynes's formal decision making apparatus besides the expected probability.Animal spirits ,one's optimism,pessimism,or spontaneous urge to act,is an emotional response on the part of the financial decisionmaker to the amount of relevant knowledge he has versus the amount he could obtain if he were to wait for the future to arrive.There are thus careful distinctions that must be drawn between confidence,uncertainty,expectations,and animal spirits.
Keynes's approach to decision making is very different from that of Kaheman -Tversky(K-T),Shiller-Akerlof(S-A),and Thaler(T),who are all advocates of using Subjective Expected Utility (SEU ) Theory as the normative approach to decision making.Keynes completely rejects SEU theory as a normative goal except as a very special case.SEU is merely a more advanced version of Jeremy Bentham's approach explicitly rejected by G E Moore and Keynes by 1903.

The K-T,A-S ,and T approach regards issues of animal spirits,framing,framing effects,anchoring ,representativeness,overconficdence -overoptimism ,and many other behaviorist results as being biases and errors on the part of the decision maker that could be corrected if only the decision maker would become a good Bayesian Ramsey-De Finetti - Savage type statistician .He could then correctly solve problems like the Linda the bank teller problem or the Blue -Green taxi problem and avoid all of the erroneous mistakes that result.
Thus, Mr. De Cecco's claim on p.92 concerning the equivalence of the K-T and Keynes approach to decision making and Wasik's conclusion on pp.101-102 directly conflict with Keynes 's approach.
Keynes rejects the biases and errors approach for the exact same reasons that LJ Cohen did .The K-T approach assumes linear and additive probabilities and views the non linear and non additive decision weights as incorrect manifestations of decision makers ill-trained in probability and statistics applications .
5 people found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2013
The important contribution of this book is that it reveals how Keynes invested his own money, and much that he invested for others, over a period that includes the Great Depression, WW2, and other volatility. Keynes's investing is barely touched on in other books, such as the magnificent biography by Robert Skidelsky. There is much statistical information (lists of holdings, charts), and just enough supporting biographical context. There's a good introduction by John Bogle.

In brief, Keynes moved from commodities and active trading to "buy and hold" of favorite stocks, rather in the style of Warren Buffet, though the book stops just short of the investing conclusion it seems to promise. A valuable contribution to understanding Keynes's thinking on economics. At a time when there are those who brand Keynesian theory as socialistic, this book reminds us that he was a very active capitalist, and that for him an enriched life was more important than being rich.
10 people found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2016
Too much history. Keynes's personal life did lead to his predilection for investment style. Too much revering of the guy, not enough analysis of K's investment approach and it's successes/failures. I put down the book half way through; maybe I missed the best . . .
Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2013
These days the liberals have glommed on to Keynes because he was very concerned about aggregate demand in the 1930s, but Keynes is more complicated than that, and Wasik brings that home by showing Keynes as the money manager, which he did for Provincial Insurance Co., National Mutual Life Assurance Society, King's College (Cambridge), and for friends and family.

Keynes thought because of his positions in government that he had "superior" knowledge of the commodities markets, but I'm afraid, although the trades are voluminous and have not been totted up, he did not do very well. However, as a long term investor, his "special confidence" in companies with great management worked out very well indeed. And in this latter capacity as a long term investor he joins other long term investors like Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett.

He had an eye for value beyond commodities, stocks and bonds. He bought the supreme achievement in physics, the manuscript of Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica. He had a good eye for paintings also buying works by Pablo Picasso, Braque, Seurat, Degas, Ingres, Cezanne, and Matisse.

Unfortunately, there are few capitalists and conservatives who are as intent today on stewarding the entire economy towards the benefit of the many as John Maynard Keynes was during his time. And these things are not necessarily mutually exclusive (being a capitalist but wanting the whole economy to improve). In our time, a problem may have arisen with the disparity between those with great wealth and those without wealth, which is that the wealthy simply cannot spend enough, and the more lopsided our society becomes the more this will become self-evident. The enlightened among the wealthy seem to understand this, that if the consumer does not buy his company's products, his company will suffer, revenues and earnings will decrease, his stock price will decline, and with it his wealth.

Keynes was a pragmatic man, who was looking for pragmatic solutions during the Great Depression, and also, ultimately, in his investments. Let John Wasik give you a peek inside this other world of Keynes, which is, that Keynes was not just an ivory tower economist, he was also down. if not in the trenches, down in the trading pits - a man of the world.
8 people found this helpful
Report

Top reviews from other countries

Yahoo2
5.0 out of 5 stars and confirmed many things with this fine book. Pick companies that you know something about ...
Reviewed in Canada on August 2, 2017
Learned a lot, and confirmed many things with this fine book. Pick companies that you know something about and have confidence in their long term outlook and stick with them through thick and thin.
The Reader
3.0 out of 5 stars I expected more from this book. It was too ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 25, 2015
I expected more from this book. It was too superficial and basic for my liking as I would have expected a more technical book rather than a book for the masses - particular as the subject matter, at face value, seems more niche.
2 people found this helpful
Report
Vinay Srinivas Vasisht
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in India on May 29, 2015
Good read.insightful.
Darren J. Mcgough
3.0 out of 5 stars Basic Investment Guide
Reviewed in Australia on February 16, 2015
Fairly basic. I felt that there was only superficial dicussion of how Keynes's used his economic wisdom to make investment decisions.
GD
3.0 out of 5 stars Could have been better...leaves you wanting more...
Reviewed in India on March 6, 2015
I have read scores of books on investing and I am always on a look out for good investing insights all the time. I knew Keynes was a terrific investor and wanted to learn more about him and learn in the process. I had high expectations from this book which were not met.
The author had an unenviable task of filling 200 pages. The whole problem is Keynes has written a lot about his economic ideas but has written very little on his investing methods and insights. It is very sporadic and whatever he has written can be filled in 3-4 pages. A good crisp essay or white paper would neatly cover Keynes investment methodology. All this means Wasik has filled the pages with Keynes's economic ideas which were postulated by him in his various books. The book become more about economics than investing philosophy to large extent. I don't blame the author. He tries his best to talk more about Keynes's investing in many places but there is a limit on what one can unearth that happened almost 100 years ago.
Another negative about this book is at many places the author has postulated his own investing beliefs. The example is his promotion of index funds, his belief that ordinary investors should avoid investing directly into the stock market, the commodities ¤cy trading is sheer speculation and is best avoided by individual investors, investors should avoid leverage because it cuts the both ways. I am not saying some of his ideas have no merit. It is just that I don't understand what are they doing on Keynes's investing book. Because Keynes violated almost all of these rules. He indulged in commodities and currency trading, used leverage, invested in stocks etc. As an objective observer he should make a note that due to speculation and leverage he lost heavily ...and then move on. He should avoid playing personal finance adviser for the readers. We have not bought the book for his personal finance advice.
Wasik's attempt to project Ben Graham and Buffet being influenced by Keynes is ludicrous to say the least. It is possible that Keynes was influenced by Graham's 'Security Analysis' which came out in 1934 and influenced many people after that.

Having said that the book has few good points and takeaways...
1. You will know journey taken by Keynes from currency and commodities trader to long term value investor.
2. You will learn from Keynes's example..the pitfall of leverage and indulging in such trading. Keynes lost every thing twice in 10 years.
3. Perhaps a significant learning is finally Keynes attained his investing success (he left 33 Mil USD estate on his death at 2013 prices) by investing in solid companies making everyday products at cheap price and holding those stocks through all the turbulence in the market. in the final analysis after reading this I felt I got my money's worth. It is a reaffirmation of the universal value and validity of value investing principles. And if this wisdom is coming from a great like Keynes then who are we to argue with it.
4. Long term investing beats short term trading any day. In the end long term investors make the real money in the market.
5. Diversification, he calls it opposed risks, is critical for your long term sustenance as an investor.
6. Dividends are very important selection criterion. That too rising dividends.
7. Stocks beat bonds. Though you need both.
8. Be contrarian to earn superior returns. Don't go with the herd. Herd may be wrong though comforting.
9. Most importantly...life is more than accumulation of money. Money is of no use if it does not confer you a freedom and time to pursue your non economic interests. Keynes advises us to smell the roses, enjoy good art, books, travels & friends. Although he was an economist and investor he did find time for art, theater, rare books, farm, literature, bohemian friends and serving his country during the war. Perhaps this last part is the most inspiring for all the investors. At least it was for me.

I don't know if I should recommend this book as a must read book to all. May be you should buy this book if you already have scores of investing books in your library and you would like to add some account of Keynes's investing in 30s and 40s.
9 people found this helpful
Report