Top Investment & Business Book Gifts

by Fred Fuld III

There are only several more days until Christmas, and you are probably looking for that last minute gift for a relative or a friend. Why not give a present of an investment or business book?

Here are some examples that you may want to consider, broken down by category.

Stock Trading & Investing Books

These books are all about either day trading, swing trading, or investing in stocks.

Beat The Crowd: How You Can Out-Invest The Herd By Thinking Differently
by Ken Fisher

Investment Guide
by Gary Charles Palmer

Unleash Your Investments
by John Hagensen

Stock Traders Almanac
by Jeffrey A. Hirsch
(every stock trader should have this book)

Day Trading Journal
Wall Street News Network

Stock Trading Journal
Wall Street News Network

How to Day Trade for a Living: A Beginners Guide to Trading Tools and Tactics, Money Management
by Andrew Aziz

How to Make Money in Stocks: A Winning System in Good Times and Bad
by William J. O’Neil

Stock Trading: THE BIBLE This Book Includes: The beginners Guide + The Crash Course + The Best Techniques + Tips and Tricks + The Advanced Guide Immediate Cash With Stock Trading
by Samuel Rees

A Beginner’s Guide To Day Trading Online 2nd Edition
by Toni Turner

The 1 Hour Trade: Make Money With One Simple Strategy, One Hour Daily
by Brian P Anderson

Investment Trivia
by Fred Fuld III

Trade Like Warren Buffett
by James Altucher
Most people don’t realize that not only is Warren Buffett an investor, but he is also a trader, and a successful one at that.

High-Probability Trade Setups: A Chartists Guide to Real-Time Trading
by Timothy Knight
How to use technical approaches to find the best stock trade setups.

Think & Trade Like a Champion: The Secrets, Rules & Blunt Truths of a Stock Market Wizard
by Mark Minervini
The book covers personal trading rules and the secret techniques that made the author one of America’s most successful stock traders.

Trading in the Zone: Master the Market with Confidence, Discipline, and a Winning Attitude
by Mark Douglas
Learn the reasons for lack of consistency and how to overcome the ingrained mental habits that cost money.

Wall Street News Network Day Trading Journal: Notebook Diary Log for your Stock, ETF, and Option Trades
by Wall Street News Network
A journal with over 100 pages of specially designed fill-in-the-blank pages to track all your stock, ETF, and option trades, whether they are long or short trades. Fields include: Date, Symbol, Company, Transaction Recommended By, Why decision was made to do this transaction, Buy or Short, # of Shares, Price/share, Commission, Subtotal of opening transactions, Total opening transaction, and much more.

Wall Street News Network Stock Trading Journal: Notebook Diary Log for tracking your stocks, options, and ETFs trades
by Wall Street News Network
A logbook for tracking your stock trades and investments, priced at less than $7.

Option Volatility and Pricing: Advanced Trading Strategies and Techniques, 2nd Edition
by Sheldon Natenberg
An extensive guide to trading stock options.

Swing Trading with Options: How to Trade Big Trends for Big Profits
by Ivaylo Ivanov
Using stock momentum to generate profits on options over a three to six month time period.

Penny Stock Trading Journal: Notebook Diary Tracker of Your Penny Stock Transactions
by Borsa Valori
A five star rated book designed for you to keep track of your penny stock trades and transactions.

Warren Buffett Books

Here are his recommended books about himself.

Berkshire Beyond Buffett: The Enduring Value of Values

Berkshire Hathaway Letters to Shareholders

50 Years of Berkshire Hathaway Wall Print
This is actually a wall print poster.

Buffet: The Making of an American Capitalist

Buffett’s Bites: The Essential Investor’s Guide to Warren Buffett’s Shareholder Letters

Historical Books About Wall Street

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator – first published in 1923
by Edwin Lefevre
This is the classic book on investing, trading, market timing, and crowd psychology, just as true today as it was almost a century ago. It is based on the life of top notorious trader, Jesse Livermore.

My Adventures with Your Money – first published in 1911
by George Graham Rice
About a conman who make money off the early gold mining stock boom.

The PLUNGERS and the PEACOCKS. 150 years of Wall Street – published in 1967
by Dana L. Thomas
Written during the bull market of the 1960s, it provides an entertaining history of the stock market.

Den of Thieves – published in 1991
by James B. Stewart
The “newest” of these old books, it covers the insider trading scandals involving Ivan Boesky, Michael Milken, and other Wall Street financiers during the 1980s.

Storming The Magic Kingdom – published in 1987
by John Taylor
A must read book about the fight for control of one of America’s most famous companies.

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1841) by Charles Mackay included as part of Stock Market Trivia Volume 2 (2014)
The Extraordinary Popular Delusions book was written in the mid-1800s. It has many chapters, but most are unrelated to investing, such as alchemy, witches, haunted houses, etc. However, three of the chapters have extensive and entertaining information about three of the largest investment bubbles in history: the Mississippi Scheme, the South Sea Bubble, and the Tulip Mania. These three chapters are included as the last half of the Stock Market Trivia Volume 2 book. (In interest of full disclosure, I wrote the Stock Market Trivia 2 book.) In addition, the trivia book includes such things as the chocolate chip cookie/stock market correlation, celebrity stock indices, weird stock certificates, and more.

Books About Investment Scams

Wolf of Wall Street Books

The Wolf of Wall Street
by Jordan Belfort
This is the autobiographical story about the guy who made hundreds of millions of dollars by pumping and dumping low priced and penny stocks. The book is filled with sex and drugs and every other kind of decadence. A Martin Scorsese movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio was made from this story. Be forewarned: the chapter that took place in the hospital gave me nightmares for a couple weeks.

Catching the Wolf of Wall Street: More Incredible True Stories of Fortunes, Schemes, Parties, and Prison
by Jordan Belfort
This is the followup to the previous book. What happens when Belfort is arrested, how a case was built against him, and what happens after prison.

Bernie Madoff Books

No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller
by Harry Markopolos
A New York Times bestseller about how Markopolos uncovered Madoff’s scam.

The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust
by Diana B. Henriques
All about how Madoff pulled off the biggest Ponzi scheme in history. Over 130 five star ratings on Amazon.

The End of Normal: A Wife’s Anguish, A Widow’s New Life
by Stephanie Madoff Mack
An inside look at the Madoff family written by the widow of Mark Madoff and the daughter-in-law of Bernard Madoff.Over 200 five star ratings.

Betrayal: The Life and Lies of Bernie Madoff
by Andrew Kirtzman
An in-depth look at Madoff and his victims.

Elizabeth Holmes & Theranos Books

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
by John Carreyrou
Named one of the best books of the year by NPR, The New York Times Book Review, Time, Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. An in-depth look at Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes. Over 2,600 five star ratings.

Billion Dollar Facade: The Rise And Fall Of Theranos And Elizabeth Holmes
by Phil C. Senior
Short 140 page summary of the Theranos scam.

Other Books about Scams

Scam Me If You Can: Simple Strategies to Outsmart Today’s Rip-off Artists
by Frank W. Abagnale
Abagnale was the guy who wrote the book on scamming, Catch Me If You Can, which was made into a major motion picture.

How to Smell a Rat: The Five Signs of Financial Fraud
by Ken Fisher
How investment fraudsters operate and how to avoid them. Written my billionaire money manager and former long time Forbes columnist Ken Fisher.

Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World
by Tom Wright & Bradley Hope
Named a Best Book of 2018 by the Financial Times and Fortune, it is about the man who swindles $5 billion with the help of Goldman Sachs.

Real Estate Investing

The following are some recent top selling books on real estate investing, shown by category.

Rental Property Investing
by Charles Pennyfeather

Real Estate Investment
by Lee Strong

Preparing for a Property Upturn: Trends and Pitfalls in Real Estate Investments
by Ku Swee Yong

Keep Claiming It!: A Guide To Property Depreciation
by Tyron Hyde

Real Estate Investment 101: Learn The Passive Income That Everyone Is Talking About
by Meir Zaslavskiy

Real Estate Investing UNCENSORED: Real Answers From The Flipping Coach
by Delinda Harrelson

Success Secrets of Real Estate Investors
by Peter Crisp

How To Jump Into Property Investing: Without Being Eaten By Sharks
by Mike Harvey

Real Estate Trivia
by Fred Fuld III

Business Books

Strategize to Win
By Carla A. Harris
A Wall Street veteran offers proven strategies for success.

The Pocket Small Business Owner’s Guide to Building Your Business
By Kevin Devine
Each step of the entrepreneur’s journey.

Boost Your Career
By Sander Flaum and Mechele Flaum
How to climb the corporate ladder.

The Serving Mindset
By Farnoosh Brock
Practical guide to making sales pitches.

The 7 Principles of Public Speaking
By Richard Zeoli
Improve your communication skills.

10-Minute Focus
By Daniel Walter
Guide to maintaining your focus and maximizing productivity.

Chasing the High
By Michael G. Dash
How to manage the highs and lows of business.

Getting to Yes
By Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton
Master the art of win-win agreements.

Your Living Trust & Estate Plan
By Harvey J. Platt
Tips on creating a living trust, will, and estate plan.

Happy Reading! Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Holidays! Happy New Year!

Disclosure: A few of the above books were written by me.

This page contains Amazon Affiliate links

Is It Time for Gold Stocks to Move Up?

by Fred Fuld III

Over the last three months, stocks have been going up, bitcoin has been going up, but gold and gold mining stocks have been dropping in price.

This is in spite of the fact that gold is considered a safe haven, interest rates are very low, the dollar is weak, and the economy will experience eventual increasing inflation.

Not only that, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) (BRK-B) bought Barrick Gold (GOLD) earlier this year.

So it it time for gold and the gold mining stocks to start moving up?

The following is a group of gold stocks that are down over 10% for the latest quarter, have a trailing price to earnings ratio of less than 20, and a forward P/E ratio of less than 20.

AngloGold (AU)

Caledonia Mining (CMCL)

Galiano Gold (GAU)

Barrick Gold (GOLD)

Disclosure: Author didn’t own any of the above at the time the article was written.

Investment Books Recommended by Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett, head of Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) (BRKB), really came out with a list of books that he recommends on how to invest.

At last year’s Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, Buffett actually provided such a list. The books he recommended about himself can be found here and here.

However, if you are interested in reading books about how to invest, that are recommended by Warren Buffett, they can be found on the list below:

Business Adventures Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street

Common Sense on Mutual Funds: Fully Updated 10th Anniversary Edition

The Great Crash 1929

The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing. A Book of Practical Counsel (Revised Edition)

Investing Between the Lines: How to Make Smarter Decisions By Decoding CEO Communications

Happy Reading!

Affiliate links

Books that Warren Buffett Recommends about Himself Part 2

Vlast month, we published a list of books that Warren Buffett recommends about himself.

At last year’s Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, Buffett actually provided such a list. Here are more books that he recommends about himself.

My Warren Buffett Bible: A Short and Simple Guide to Rational Investing: 284 Quotes from the World’s Most Successful Investor

The Oracle & Omaha, How Warren Buffet and His Hometown Shaped Each Other

Tap Dancing to Work: Warren Buffett on Practically Everything, 1966-2013

Warren Buffett on Business: Principles from the Sage of Omaha

Warren Buffett’s Ground Rules: Words of Wisdom from the Partnership Letters of the World’s Greatest Investor

Warren Buffett Speaks: Wit and Wisdom from the World’s Greatest Investor

Enjoy your summer reading!!!

Books that Warren Buffett Recommends about Himself

Yes, Warren Buffett, head of Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) (BRKB), actually comes out with a list of books that he recommends, and he even recommends books about himself.

At last year’s Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, Buffett actually provided such a list. Here are his recommended books about himself.

Berkshire Beyond Buffett: The Enduring Value of Values

Berkshire Hathaway Letters to Shareholders

50 Years of Berkshire Hathaway Wall Print
This is actually a wall print poster.

Buffet: The Making of an American Capitalist

Buffett’s Bites: The Essential Investor’s Guide to Warren Buffett’s Shareholder Letters

The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, Fifth Edition

A Few Lessons for Investors and Managers From Warren Buffett

Happy reading!

Affiliate links

A Quick Summary of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting

by Fred Fuld III

In case you missed watching Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) (BRK-B) Annual Meeting, or if you don’t feel like watching the four and a half hour rerun, it may be easier to see a quick Cliff Notes-like list of important points from the meeting.

Here is a quick summary of the meeting that was held online yesterday, May 2, at 4 pm ET, 1 pm PT.

Buffett started out with a PowerPoint presentation about the history of the United States. He was born during the 1930 depression.

The Depression

Warren Buffett was born August 30, 1930. The day before, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 240.42, which was up 20% from the 1929 low. On September 1o, 1930, the DJUA reached a high of 245. No one realized that the country was in a Depression yet. On July 8, 1932, the DJIA dropped to 41.22. In other words, $1,000 became $170 in less than 2 years.

The FDIC

If we had the FDIC 10 years earlier, it would have been a much different experience. It was tne good thing that came out of Depression, as over 4000 banks failed. The FDIC has not cost the American taxpayer a dime. It is paid for by bank assessments.

Getting Back to Even

It was January 4, 1951 before the stock market got back to 240.85, more than 20 years to get back to even.

In 1954, the Dow went from 280 to 400 at the end of the year

The stock market provided a 100 to 1 return from 1954 (the year he graduated from college) to today.

Berkshire Business Segments

In regards to Berkshire’s business segments, insurance profit margins have improved due to a reduced number of accidents. Railroad and utilities revenues are down.

Buybacks

Buybacks are good, “when conditions are right.” “It’s a way of distributing cash to shareholders.”

Occidental Petroleum

Admitted mistake in buying Occidental Petroleum. “It doesn’t work at $20 a barrel.” “Production is going to go down in the next few years.”

Airline Stocks

Buffett announced that Berkshire sold all airlines in the portfolio and they were sold at a loss.

Splitting the A Shares

A question was asked about the possibility of splitting the A shares because, the questioner gave an example of needing $60,000 for his retirement, having to sell one share for $300,000 with a cost basis of $100,000, and having to pay a huge capital gains. Buffett explained that it is not an issue as A shares can easily be converted to B shares at any time [assuming without tax consequences, but check with your accountant].

Berkshire’s Past Performance

Buffett said that investing in an S&P ETF is the best way to invest for the long term, and doesn’t recommend buying individual stocks or short term trading. However, one questioner asked why Berkshire has been underperforming the SPY for 15, 10, and 5 years, and even year-to-date. Buffett admitted to the underperformance, and said that no one will work harder than himself and his staff to provide the best performance.

Credit Cards

He said to pay off credit cards; don’t invest until you pay them off. It is the best way to earn 18%. You shouldn’t even be paying 12%.

US Debt Defaults

The US will never default on its debt as long as the debt is issued in US dollars, as it can always print more money.

Government Bailouts

None of the Berkshire businesses have received any government bailouts.

There was a lot more but these were some of the major topics.

If you want to see a list of the Berkshire Hathaway stocks, before the sale of the airline stocks, see the article on What Warren Buffett has Been Selling.

Happy investing.

Disclosure: Author didn’t own any of the above at the time the article was written.

What Warren Buffett has been Selling

by Fred Fuld III & Nkem Iregbulem

As the fourth-wealthiest person in the world, Warren Buffett is widely regarded as an investment guru. His investment philosophy is based on the concept of value investing. He is the chairman, CEO, and largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway, the world’s 10th largest company by revenue. As of 2018, Buffett is estimated to be worth about $89 billion. He is not only an investor but also a dedicated philanthropist. In fact, he has promised to give 99% of his fortune to charitable causes.

Due to his success, Buffett’s stock purchases and sales are closely followed by many other investors. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) (BRKB) recently sold 13 million shares of Delta Air Lines (DAL) and 2.3 million shares of Southwest Airlines (LUV), lightening the exposure to the airline industry.

If you want to see a list of all of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Holdings, click HERE.

Hopefully, one of the richest men in the world can give you some profitable investment ideas.

Disclosure: Author didn’t own any of the above at the time the article was written.

Warren Buffett Sold 750,000 Shares of Apple, But It’s Still His Largest Holding

by Fred Fuld III

Famous investor and multi-billionaire Warren Buffett has sold over 750,000 shares of Apple (AAPL) during the latest reported quarter, however it is still the largest holding in his Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) (BRKB) stock portfolio.

As a matter of fact, Apple makes up 26% of the Berkshire portfolio. He probably didn’t want to get too overweighted in the stock. He first started buying Apple shares near the beginning of 2016 at an average cost of about 150 per share.

Buffett also dumped shares of another stock, Wells Fargo (WFC). He liquidated over 31 million shares of the company, so now the stock makes up less than 9% of the Berkshire portfolio.

The Oracle of Omaha made no changes to the second and third largest holdings, Bank of America (BAC), and Coca-Cola (KO). Same with the fifth largest, American Express (AXP).

It is interesting to note that the above five mentioned stocks make up over 65% of the total Berkshire Hathaway stock portfolio.

If you want to see a list of all the stocks in Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway stock portfolio, you can go to the following link:

Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway Stocks

Disclosure: Author owns AAPL, BRKB, BAC, & KO.

Top Books for Stock Traders

If you want to hone your stock trading skills, you may want to read the advice of some of the experts. Here is a list of some of the top books relating to trading stocks and options. Obviously, this is not an exhaustive list, as Amazon lists over 10,000 books relating to stock trading. At least, these will give you a start.

Trade Like Warren Buffett
by James Altucher
Most people don’t realize that not only is Warren Buffett an investor, but he is also a trader, and a successful one at that.

High-Probability Trade Setups: A Chartists Guide to Real-Time Trading
by Timothy Knight
How to use technical approaches to find the best stock trade setups.

Stock Trader’s Almanac 2020 (Almanac Investor Series)
by Jeffrey A. Hirsch
Every stock trader should have this resource. It will be available on November 19.

Wall Street News Network Stock Trading Journal: Notebook Diary Log for tracking your stocks, options, and ETFs tradesby Wall Street News Network
A logbook for tracking your stock trades and investments, priced at less than $7.

Option Volatility and Pricing: Advanced Trading Strategies and Techniques, 2nd Edition
by Sheldon Natenberg
An extensive guide to trading stock options.

Swing Trading with Options: How to Trade Big Trends for Big Profits
by Ivaylo Ivanov
Using stock momentum to generate profits on options over a three to six month time period.

Penny Stock Trading Journal: Notebook Diary Tracker of Your Penny Stock Transactions
by Borsa Valori
A five star rated book designed for you to keep track of your penny stock trades and transactions.

What Warren Buffett has been Buying

by Fred Fuld III

Warren Buffett, top investor and one of the richest people in the world, is in charge of Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) (BRKB) which is up about 50% over the last five years. Even during the last month, BRKA outperformed the S&P 500 by 1.3%. So many look to Buffett to see where he is investing his money.

According to the latest reported filing with the SEC, Berkshire has made the following purchases earlier this year:

Bank of America (BAC) bought 31,081,000 shares

US Bancorp (USB) bought 3,150,787 shares

Amazon (AMZN) bought 54,000 shares

Red hat (RHT) bought 61,419 shares

In regards to what Warren Buffett sold, he liquidated all shares of USG Corp. (USG), and sold 284,102 shares of Charter Communications (CHTR).

Disclosure: Author owns AMZN & BAC.