Value Investing: From Graham to Buffett and Beyond, is written for students of value investing. The author, Bruce C. N. Greenwald is a Professor and reading this book gave me the feel as if I was attending one of his lectures.

The first part of this book is about the different theories and valuation methods. Only when one is able to fairly value a business will he be able to judge if the business or stocks are selling below its intrinsic value. If you are the type who falls asleep listening to your lecturer, chances are this book is as good as a sleeping pill to you.

The second part of the book analyzes the different approaches used by different value investors such as Warren Buffett, Mario Gabelli, Glenn Greenberg, Seth Klarman and a few others. We see how these investors put their knowledge into use and how they value businesses.

My conclusion, this book is more suitable for readers who love academic theories and formulas.

“Price is what you pay, Value is what you get.” – Warren Buffett

There are no good stocks, or bad stocks. There are only underpriced or overpriced stocks. Great companies with great businesses may not be great investments if you overpay for the stocks. Similarly, moderate or even mediocre companies or businesses could be worthwhile investments if bought at low enough prices. And that is the gist of this book.

Benjamin Graham (1894 – 1976) was the mentor and teacher of Warren Buffett. He was the founder of the discipline known as “security analysis”.

I bought The Intelligent Investor, after a few authors of value investing books I read made references to Graham and his book. And I am grateful to Graham for the knowledge, effort and time he had devoted into writing this book.

Graham outlined the model portfolio for defensive and aggressive value investors. He had also made references to the many bull and bear runs in the last century, highlighting the many different stocks that were overpriced or underpriced and their subsequent performances.

Graham introduced the of “Margin of Safety” as the central concept of investment. This concept is frequently used by Buffett to his great benefits.

I didn’t feel hyped when reading this book. I felt down-to-earth. Graham didn’t promise the sky or the riches. Rather, he highlighted the many rewards as well as pitfalls of stock investing. If he had written only about the rewards, I could have fallen into a false sense of security and over confidence, which could lead to undesirable consequences.

This book is a must read for all investors.

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker is a must read for anybody who aspires to become rich.

The first part of the book explains how our past experiences are programmed into our minds, and how our minds affect how we feel, treat and manage our money. It goes on to show how we could change these preprogrammed mindsets so we could attract wealth.

In the second part of the book, T. Harv Eker lists out 17 secrets of the millionaire minds. Some of these secrets hit me right in the face. They are so obvious, yet I did not realize them. Here are a few of the secrets.

Rich people believe “I create my life.”
Poor people believe “Life happens to me.”

Rich people play the money game to win.
Poor people play the money game to NOT lose.

Rich people focus on opportunities.
Poor people focus on obstacles.

Rich people focus on net wealth.
Poor people focus on income.

Sometimes I feel that this book is an elaborate advertisement to convince the readers to attend the various seminars and workshops offered by the author. However, this should not take the shine out of the book.

This book is easy to read and understandable. I would recommend this book for beginner to intermediate readers of personal finance.

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I read The Warren Buffett Way, Second Edition from cover to cover in less than 2 days. The author, Robert G. Hagstrom has managed to explain and illustrate the way Warren Buffett invests in such clarity even a beginner will have no problem understanding the concepts and techniques discussed in this book.

Warren Buffett is recognized as the best investor in our time. Today, he is the richest person in the world. And he is the only billionaire to have made his fortune from investing. Who wouldn’t want to learn to trade like Warren Buffett?

Robert has studied many of Warren Buffett’s transactions and has identified similarities in Warren Buffett’s techniques to investing in stocks and businesses. He calls these techniques, the tenets. His approach is to invest in a business that is simple to understand, with predictable future earnings, honest management and buying at a discount. These tenets are easy to understand, and not impossible to imitate or follow. The author uses some of Warren Buffett’s popular investments (Coca-Cola, Gillette, Wells Fargo and others) to illustrate how Warren Buffett used his techniques in the real world.

Warren Buffett’s approach is as useful today as it was 50 years ago. Circumstances and businesses have changed, but the principle behind Warren Buffet’s techniques is as valuable and practical as ever. Towards the end of the book, Robert explains how he uses Warren Buffett’s way to invest in the New Economy, an area where Warren Buffet has stayed away from.

I enjoyed reading this book. This book is worth its weight in gold.

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Michael Moe has laid out in this book, Finding the Next Starbucks, a systematic approach to identifying and investing in the hot stocks of tomorrow.

He has put together a list of megatrends that will shape the way consumers behave and spend and the way businesses will adapt and operate in the future. He identified the types of business sectors and areas that will grow as the megatrends gain momentum. He also discusses the reasons why these megatrends will gain popularity and why these business sectors will benefit from these megatrends.

He also showed how he finds his stocks, what to look out for and how he values them.

This book is a good read for investors who are interested in growth stocks. The style of this book is suited to advanced investors. Beginners might feel overwhelmed by the argument and information presented in this book.

As for me, I wasn’t able to understand fully and appreciate this book because I have not invested in stocks before. However, this book will definitely be my reference guide when dipping my feet into the small cap stocks. I will surely re-read this book in the future.

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