Not bad, but the previous titles were far superior
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The highly anticipated 'update' to the Wizard series. Some problems: - Some of the interviewees weren't really traders!?!??!
- Expected more 'modern' trading info. For example, what about some discussion on how technology enhances or is used by day traders who trade from home on private accounts? Nonetheless a good book: - Great writing style. I just love it. It's easy to read and has great clarity.
- Been waiting for aaaaaaaages for this update, and it hasn't disappointed. Definitely worth reading if you're into the previous 2 wizard books.
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Great Book
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Some of the traders stories I found boring and a few of them were interesting and useful to me. The most valuable part of the book, however, is not any of the individual traders stories but the "Wizard Lessons" (pgs 293 - 318). This part is actually all the best concepts that Schwager has found from his interviews. These are the concepts that make the most exceptional traders. Just reading this part of the book alone is well worth the cost. I read this part 2 X and will probably read it again in the future.
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Worthwhile although not as great as first two
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While I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to stock market investors, I didn't think it had the same depth and level of insight as Schwager's first two Market Wizards books, which I consider two of the most valuable volumes in my investment library. There were a few interviews that I liked, though, such as the one with Ahmet Okumus, the Turkish immigrant who buys quality stocks he thinks have been punished too much and will eventually turnaround. Furthermore, he sells puts on them when he thinks they're still overvalued for the options income, and if the stock declines to that level, he's actually delighted to have the stock "put" back to him since he really wanted to own the stock at that price anyway. This means he does exhaustive fundamental research and must be very accurate and confident in and of his valuation of the company for this to work, and his historical returns show he can make this work, too, as it significantly added to his overall performance. I thought that was an interesting strategy and an example of someone with a niche that they're able to exploit. I still found most of the other interviews worthwhile, though, and I would recommend this book to stock market investors since there is a lot of good advice about the pitfalls of investing there, too.
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I thought the original version was great, but...
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...did anyone notice the Michael Lauer disappering act? He was featured in the original version, but not in the current version. It seems that between the time the original version was released and the current version came out he got himself in trouble with the SEC. A search of the web led me to the SEC's web site where it shows that Lauer has been charged with several violations of the law -- basically, it is alleged by the SEC that his hedge funds were scams. Oops. What is a bit disconcerting, though, is that there is no mention of anything related to Lauer in the new version. I'm not sure whose decision that was, but it seems disingenuous. As embarrassing as it may have been to feature an "alleged" crook as a "wizard," there are still lessons to be learned and there should have been some sort of followup -- not just sweeping it under the rug and hope no one notices. I did. Kind of ironic because I found the section on Lauer to be one of the most valuable for me (at the time). That's why I gave it 2 stars. The rest of the book is good, but since he blew his credibility with me I've got to wonder how much of it is real.
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Something here to learn
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As a neophyte that doesn't have a nickel in the stock market, I read this book with the intent of learning. For that I recommend it highly and believe it is definitely worth the investment of time and money. The downside was that a couple of the interviews were pretty useless for the average person, some of the traders have very complex computer trading systems and some use methods that require millions in capital or extensive understanding of legal aspects and other disqualify (for the average person) criteria. Nobody that is in that league would gain anything from the short interviews here, and the rest of us don't gain much. That being said the rest of the stories were either very encouraging or very helpful or both. Those interviews give a great overview of methodology used by the various traders and at the end of each chapter Schwager gives a recap that I found to be very enlightening. Also at the end of the book he gives a long list he calls "wizard lessons" and these as well are worth the time to go over. The bottom line here is if you are going to put money in the market, this book is certainly one to go over. One important lesson learned by using someone else's mistakes can be a huge windfall. I recently reviewed another good book called "The Honest Thief". The title to that book sounds like an oxymoron, however, this is a perfect example of what an honest thief does: "steal" the knowledge that other traders had to pay real money for. If you bought this book and just read the end of chapter reviews, you'd easily get your money's worth, a strong recommendation for any interested in the stock market.
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