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talonx's review
2.0
I could not finish this. This is an anecdote-a-chapter book that does not talk about principles of investing or business but does talk a lot - sometimes in a jingoistic way - about how certain people and families and groups made it big. It however presents itself as being the former kind - a book on investing, which it most certainly is not. And therein lies the problem.
bootman's review against another edition
2.0
This book is absolutely ridiculous, and it hurts my soul that people who I respect think that this is one of the best books ever written on investment. The theory is great, but the practice and arguments that Pabrah presents are so bad that it's hard to put into words. The idea of value investing is to watch companies that dip below their value, so you buy them "on sale". That makes sense. It's like flipping a house or buying a cheap car, doing minimal repairs and making a profit. The issue is that the author makes insane arguments.
The whole premise is small down side with huge upside, or as the author says, "tails I win, heads I don't lose much." A great example of why this is silly is he tells the story of how Patel families own most of the motels in the USA. It started with Papa Patel taking the only $9,000 he had and putting it into a hotel and hoping for the best. My question is, in what universe is investing 100% of you and your family's money "low risk?". Later, the author tells the story about how he did the same thing with his only $30,000 and his backup plan was to pull out of his 401k early. Noboy would call me a genius for taking my family's savings to the roulette table, putting it all on black and calling it low risk high reward.
His argument is that "if it doesn't work, and you lose, you can just make the money back by getting a job." This is the most insane argument I've ever heard. I can go on and on about how silly this author is, but if you can get passed his ridiculous examples and understand the fundamentals of how to calculate the value of a stock, you can be smarter than him with your money and diversification.
The whole premise is small down side with huge upside, or as the author says, "tails I win, heads I don't lose much." A great example of why this is silly is he tells the story of how Patel families own most of the motels in the USA. It started with Papa Patel taking the only $9,000 he had and putting it into a hotel and hoping for the best. My question is, in what universe is investing 100% of you and your family's money "low risk?". Later, the author tells the story about how he did the same thing with his only $30,000 and his backup plan was to pull out of his 401k early. Noboy would call me a genius for taking my family's savings to the roulette table, putting it all on black and calling it low risk high reward.
His argument is that "if it doesn't work, and you lose, you can just make the money back by getting a job." This is the most insane argument I've ever heard. I can go on and on about how silly this author is, but if you can get passed his ridiculous examples and understand the fundamentals of how to calculate the value of a stock, you can be smarter than him with your money and diversification.
vc456's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
Interesting stories about building a business, the ideas of dhandho do not seem revolutionary, though.
wakers12's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5