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Title: A Random Walk Down Wall Street, Completely Revised and Updated Edition by Burton G. Malkiel ISBN: 0-393-05782-8 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: April, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.75 (16 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: An academic's view of Wall Street
Comment: A Random Walk takes the reader on a path from the point of view of an academic, rather than that of a trader. That is sufficient to make this book different from most other stock market tomes. Malkiel's premise is that neither the the average investor nor the professional trader can expect to perform better that the "market" over any significant period of time. He considers market events to be random, and thus unpredictable. He offers piles of data to support his contentions, and his arguments are compelling.
Yet, those who trade using technical analysis scoff at books such at this, claiming their systems consistently beat the averages. The author points to the fact that most managers of mutual funds, pensions etc. fail to perform better than index funds and Malkiel recommends that public investors place their investment money into broad based index funds. The S&P 500 Index fund is recommended, as it is unrealistic to expect fund managers to perform better.
This classic has been around for 30 years and this revised edition is worth your time, especially if you have never read an earlier edition. Just be aware that many technical traders consider this to be a work of fiction.
Rating: 5
Summary: Malkiel has an irrefutable position (paradoxically)
Comment: Burton G. Malkiel's "Random Walk," first published over 30 years ago, is now a classic text on investing and is surely worth anyone's time and effort. Simply written, Malkiel conveys the debate over the validity of the efficient market hypothesis with ease and effectiveness; this edition's updated comments on the dot-com craze are insightful and probably worth the price of the book themselves.
While I support the view that fundamental and technical analysis generally offer very little in the way of helpful advice, I believe that Malkiel's view that no investment strategy can beat the market over the long run is, to put it simply, irrefutable. Therein, however, lies its problem.
Suppose, for instance, that I have this remarkable strategy of buying and selling stocks which has earned me consistant long run returns on the market. Of course, if I tell anyone the specifics of this strategy and how wonderful it works, they will want to start using it for themselves. But then my strategy will stop working; the more people use a particular strategy, the harder it is for that strategy to continue work. Malkiel himself notes that if everyone uses the strategy of buying stocks on January 1st and selling them five days later, a simple strategy of buying on December 31st and selling on the 4th will generate consistant, long run returns. But then, if everyone adopts the new strategy, the long run returns vanish!
The key to a successful investing strategy, then, is to keep it secret. Since any strategy published in Malkiel's "Random Walk" is likely to be read and studied by millions, the moment he publishes something that would refute the efficient market hypothesis, the hypothesis is again reconfirmed. Clever devil, that Malkiel.
Other than that, my only problem with Malkiel's book is that he refers to countless articles and studies published in academia, but he leaves the inquiring reader clueless as to where to look for them. A simple "references" section would solve this problem (although it would easily provide further reason to justify publishing a new edition, thus earning Malkiel even more money).
Rating: 1
Summary: An Egghead's Theory on how Wall Street Works
Comment: It's interesting how with each new edition, the efficiant market theory slowly morphs into value and growth investing. When the book first came out, Malkiel wrote that a monkey throwing darts can beat professional stock pickers. Well, for a couple of years the Wall Street Journal ran a series pitting stock pros against a monkey. From what I remember the monkey lost. I also remember that Malkiel ran a mutual fund which wasn't all too hot (he probably used the Wall Street Journal's monkey!). Now Malkiel recommends loading up on index funds, which by the way are loaded with blue chip stocks and are not at all chosen randomly. Save your money and buy Graham's Intelligent Investor, The Essays of Warren Buffett, and Fisher's Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits
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Title: The Four Pillars of Investing : Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio by William J. Bernstein ISBN: 0071385290 Publisher: McGraw-Hill Trade Pub. Date: 26 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book On Value Investing, Revised Edition by Benjamin Graham, Jason Zweig ISBN: 0060555661 Publisher: HarperBusiness Pub. Date: 08 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Common Sense on Mutual Funds: New Imperatives for the Intelligent Investor by John C. Bogle ISBN: 0471392286 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 06 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Random Walk Guide to Investing: Ten Rules for Financial Success by Burton G. Malkiel ISBN: 0393058549 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: September, 2003 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: Stocks for the Long Run : The Definitive Guide to Financial Market Returns and Long-Term Investment Strategies by Jeremy J. Siegel ISBN: 007137048X Publisher: McGraw-Hill Trade Pub. Date: 21 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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