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Why are We so Clueless about the Stock Market

June 29, 2010 By Shane 2 Comments

Why are we so clueless about the stock market

By: Mariusz Skonieczny

Mariusz could have just as aptly named this book something like “The Beginners guide to the stock market” because that is what the book is; essentially.  He takes a very low level approach to the stock market in an attempt (I believe) to bring the chaos that is the everyday market to a much slower and easier to understand pace.

Even having read the book, and seen some of the examples he used, my mind is still having a hard time with it.  I’ve been so conditioned to see the stock market as this super-duper complex machine that only the smartest and best educated can even begin to understand.  And some of the elements of the stock market are that.  But, at it’s very core, the stock market is nothing more than an exchange for shares of companies.  The beginning of the book makes that abundantly clear.  It goes on from there, to explain some very simple concepts about earnings, e/p ratios, dividends, and stock price.

The book has a couple of failings, in my opinion.  One, it’s terribly short.  At 164 pages, it’s reminiscent of a “how-to” manual or very in depth brochure.  I also think that he took the concepts down to a too simple level.  I would like to believe that a company like Microsoft is similar to a lemonade stand, but I just can’t accept it.  Also, with as much explanation as he gives about the structure of business and the simpler indicators of a business’ health, it would have been nice to see him give a more in depth look at a few of the methods he uses for researching a company.  He very briefly mentions a few, like annual reports, but it would be nice to maybe have examples of where in an annual report to find the information we need and also what form it might take.

The book gives a beginner the tools to understanding the basics of the stock market and to begin investing on the markets simplest level.  And I think that was the goal of the book.  Mission accomplished.  I would have liked to see it have a bit more information on the back end of the stock research and selection process.

Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this book by the author for review purposes.  If you’d like a copy for yourself, you can pick it up at Amazon.  Or, there may be a giveaway here in the coming months, so you could wait for that as well.


Filed Under: Investing, pf books Tagged With: book review, Investing, investment, review, stock market, stocks

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About Shane

I started this blog to share what I know and what I was learning about personal finance. Along the way, I've discovered the Yakezie group, and many other blogging friends. Please feel free to connect with me on Twitter , Google+, and Facebook

Trackbacks

  1. Novelnaut » Blog Archive » Couple of Quick Notes says:
    June 30, 2010 at 11:36 pm

    […] your interested, I wrote a book review for a book called “Why are we so clueless about the stock market” over on my personal finance blog, Beating Broke.  I don’t read a whole lot of […]

  2. Buying a House Can Make You Cry | Money Smart Life says:
    July 19, 2010 at 6:52 am

    […] Why are We so Clueless about the Stock Market @ Beating Broke […]

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