We are always on the look out for new and interesting books to read and share with our audience. Most recently Mark shared some of his reading favourites that he’s really enjoyed and couldn’t put down. Take a look at the below and see for yourself…
“Markets never forget” by Ken Fisher
Ken is a billionaire Forbes columnist and founder of Fischer investments. It debunks a lot of what we read in the press and looks at market history to tell us useful things about the markets – volatility is normal – i.e. the best returns happen in years where there is volatility. He does a lot of quoting newspaper buzz phrases and showing how they are commonly wrong. There is a big behavioural slant to it, but he’s right! People and journalists believe lots of things which just aren’t borne out by data. “Double dip recessions”, “Secular bear markets”: he debunks them with forensic historic data analysis. He is a hugely successful fund manager and he doesn’t presume to tell the future, just what common beliefs and investor habits aren’t good for you on average. When people are polled about big facts about the world: How many people live in poverty? What is average life expectancy? In multiple choice questions people perform worse than monkeys! We believe the wrong stuff! I have read it from cover to cover. It’s a few years old now, but that doesn’t invalidate it at all. He’s looked at 300 years of return data so it’s a fantastic read for an investor.
“The road to ruin” by James Rickards
James was head of legal at LTCM when it failed. He negotiated the rescue. He is a fascinating guy and has a really cogent argument about the death of the dollar and about the fragility of markets. I don’t think the world is ending soon, but most of what he says is right, so the question is when?
“Misbehaving – The Making of Behavioural Economics” by Richard H. Thaler
Richard recently received a Nobel Prize for his contribution to the development of behavioural economics. For anyone who always felt the efficient markets hypothesis was just the most arrant nonsense, it is a delight. He proved it by reading the finance pages. A superstar. He also shows that the Capital asset pricing model doesn’t work because small companies are undervalued- they give bigger returns, almost as if the market doesn’t correctly discount their future earnings. He has a delightful style and there is lots of practical advice to help you invest and overcome your natural biases.
If you have any reading material that you would like to recommend to our audience or indeed our team, then do contact us. To find out more about our training services in either finance or leadership and development then please do call us on 0203 286 0836 or alternatively email info@capitalcitytraining.com.
