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Essentials of Investments Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: A Tough Read
Comment: I would have to agree with what others had to say about this book. It is dense and written in such an "academic" way, that Cramer could not understand what they are saying. To be sure, I am not a student but bought this as reference. The best part of the text is that it features lots of CFA type questions.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Confusing, poorly written
Comment: Part ONE provides a good base for the material to be covered later and chapters 9 and 10 on bonds and bond portfolios are decent (although the explanation of duration and horizon analysis could use some work). The latter half of chapter 6 and all of chapter 7 are horribly written. My professor's lectures on this material weren't really driving the point home, so I decided to read chapters 6 and 7 hoping to gain some insight and clarification. I'm not having much luck. It's going to take a lot of re-reading and memorization of these concepts before they start to click.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent book for begineers
Comment: For someone who is new to world of finance, this is best book I have come across which is easy to read and covers details of investment. I like the layout of chapters and most of basic chapters are followed by more advance concepts in next chapter.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: If you'd like a serious headache, buy this book.
Comment: I made the mistake of choosing this book as this text for an undergraduate finance course because it is used by the New York Society of Financial Analysts in their portfolio management class. Don't make the same mistake!! Part One is very informative and gives the reader practical information and advice. The rest of the book is terrible. The equity section concentrates on Modern Portfolio Theory--the Efficient Fronter, co-variation, efficient markets, blah, blah, blah. While Value Investing is mentioned (barely), it is almost an afterthought and it's certainly frowned upon. I wonder how poor investors like Warren Buffet and Seth Klarman have made any money at all using the Value Investing approach. I found the section on bonds and fixed income portfolio management interesting but difficult to follow. I traded corporate and municipal bonds for 20 years. If I had not had such a background, I would have been totally confused. If you are a quantitative GENIUS, this book MAY help you. If you are not, you can choose another book and learn much more.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Poor
Comment: This is a poorly written finance text. It is not organized and unclear in some sections. I have a degree in Finance, and I would never recommend this book to anyone.

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