The Exchange-Traded Funds Manual (Wiley Finance) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Gary Gastineau, a managing director at Nuveen Investments and the author of The Options Manual (1988), has written the most detailed account available in print of open-ended exchange-traded funds: how they work, what are their distinctive characteristics, who trades them (largely, specialists, market makers, and hedge funds), who owns them (largely, brokerage firms clearing and carrying the ETF shares for specialists, market makers, or hedge funds), and what are their advantages and disadvantages over other sorts of investment for various investors.
This is no gripping page-turner, in the league of Jack Schwager's "Wizards" series. But it doesn't need to be. Mr. Gastineau's manual is directed chiefly at investment advisers and financial planners as a reference volume, and it serves that purpose quite well. Advisers and planners, and of course their clients, face a bewildering variety of issues pertaining to these relatively new vehicles-issues of tax efficiency, risk management, trading costs and spreads, etc. In many offices, this book will be a welcome aid in sorting out all of that.

Click Here to see more reviews about: The Exchange-Traded Funds Manual (Wiley Finance)

Full coverage of ETF investments from an expert in the field
The initial edition of Gary Gastineau's The Exchange-Traded Fund Manual was one of the first books to describe and analyze ETFs. It made the case for the superiority of the structure of investor-friendly ETFs over mutual funds and helped investors select better funds among the ETFs available.
With this new edition, Gastineau provides comprehensive information on the latest developments in ETF structures, new portfolio variety, and new trading methods. With a realistic evaluation of today's indexes, Gastineau offers insights on actively managed ETFs, improved index funds, and fund and advisor selection.
Discusses how to incorporate ETFs into an investment plan
Offers updated coverage of new ETFs, including full-function actively managed ETFs, and a valuable chapter on trading ETFs
Written by the leading authority on exchange traded funds

Exchange-traded funds offer you diversification and participation in markets and investment strategies that have not been available to most investors. If you want to understand how to use ETFs effectively, the Second Edition of The Exchanged-Traded Fund Manual can show you how.

Get 27% OFF

Click here for more information about The Exchange-Traded Funds Manual (Wiley Finance)

Read More...

International Economic Indicators and Central Banks (Wiley Finance) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)If you need to understand how central banks function in the major economic markets around the world (European Union, United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, Canada, and China), this book is for you. You might invest in overseas markets, your company might be working with overseas partners or considering expansion to new markets, or you might simply be interested in better understanding the economic events you read in the news. For us, Anne Dolganos Picker has done a wonderful service with this book.
In the first part of the book (the first seven chapters), she gives us an overview of central banks in the world today and then a specific chapter on each of the six central banks being discussed. We learn a bit about their history, their independence (or not), their transparency (or not), what they have been charged with doing (price stability or currency valuation or whatever - they are not all the same), if their objectives have been changed over time, and their track record over time in achieving those objectives.
The second part of the book looks at the economic indicators used by those various central banks in making their decisions and if those indicators are available to the public, by subscription, or not at all (China being the most closed). The United Kingdom is the most open while others are open or closed to mixed degrees. It is important to understand what these banks are tasked with doing, what their favored indicators are in order to try and get a feel for what actions they are likely to take.
Another reason to learn about these indicators is that even measures with the same names such as GDP or CPI are defined differently in different countries. For example, the unemployment rate in Germany is reported two ways, by the way the Germans measure it and by the European standard. This is because the country and the EU define employment differently. Base years for these measurements are not synchronized around the world, either. This can make comparability of changes in these measures difficult to compare without careful adjustment.
I found the book fascinating and was pleased with how clearly the author wrote the book. This subject could have easily melted down into impossible to understand jargon, but she kept it surprisingly lively. Appendix A is a terrific list of the key indicators by country and the issuing agency for each indicator (and if they are available on the web). Appendix B compares the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA) used by the United States versus the System of National Accounts (SNA) used in most other countries. Appendix C discusses the various Industrial Classification Systems (which have a big impact on the usability of certain manufacturing and labor statistics and for comparison across nations). And there is a very useful glossary and index.
This is a terrific book and I am glad to have it on my shelf and expect to refer to it with regularity.

Click Here to see more reviews about: International Economic Indicators and Central Banks (Wiley Finance)

Get 37% OFF

Click here for more information about International Economic Indicators and Central Banks (Wiley Finance)

Read More...

All About Short Selling (All About Series) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I generally don't revel in criticizing someone's hard work, but I gain so much from reading others' reviews I decided to chip-in myself. I've made it through three chapters of this book and, though the author may be a short-selling master, his writing is poor and the editing is shoddy. This doesn't seem like the kind of polished book one would expect under a series label like "All About" or "xxx for Dummies". I've found numerous grammar mistakes and the organization is generally difficult to follow, with sporadic examples and poorly-defined terms. I'd suggest looking at other titles and, if this quality is indicative of the "All About" series as a whole, at other labels for teach-yourself books as well.
UPDATE: See recent review of "All About Dividends", citing editing errors as well. Poor quality may indeed be a series-wide problem.

Click Here to see more reviews about: All About Short Selling (All About Series)


Win the high-stakes game of short selling!

Short selling is growing in popularity—and for good reason. A smart shorting strategy can yield impressive profits while decreasing portfolio risk.

All About Short Selling reveals what you need to excel in this exciting form of trading—without making the classic "beginner's" mistakes. An expert in the field, Tom Taulli provides a comprehensive game plan for playing—and winning—the short-selling game.

Avoiding complicated theories and overly technical explanations, All About Short Selling focuses only on what you need to know, including:
The benefits of short selling—from decreased overall portfolio risk to increased returns in tough markets
Tips for analyzing balance sheets, income statements, and cash-flow statements
Techniques for managing and evaluating a portfolio that includes shorted investments

Get 32% OFF

Click here for more information about All About Short Selling (All About Series)

Read More...