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Which book will help me to understand finance better?

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Question added by Bassem Al-Ahmad , Financial Director , ADR
Date Posted: 2015/06/02
RAJ DAHIYA
by RAJ DAHIYA , Senior MEP Projects Manager , Trinity Engineering Services L.L.C.

Agree with the answers as well described already.

Nasir Hussain
by Nasir Hussain , Sales And Marketing Manager , Pakistan Pharmaceutical Products Pvt. Ltd.

I am with the experts opinion...........................

khaled elkholy
by khaled elkholy , HR MANAGER , misk for import & export

The22 Most Important Finance Books Ever Written
  • DEC.3,2013,8:48 AM
  • 1,117,219  
  • 26
against the godsAmazon

 

Winter is always a good time to stay in and catch up on a little finance reading.

In case you missed them, we've compiled a list of22 classic works that every Wall Streeter should read.

These are the books that show up time and again in lists of books recommended by the pros themselves.

Topics covered include everything from the fundamentals of investing to the stories behind some of the Street's most speculative episodes in history.

"The Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham

"The Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham Amazon

"This classic text is annotated to update Graham's timeless wisdom for today's market conditions... The greatest investment advisor of the twentieth century, Benjamin Graham, taught and inspired people worldwide. Graham's philosophy of "value investing" -- which shields investors from substantial error and teaches them to develop long-term strategies -- has made The Intelligent Investor the stock market bible ever since its original publication in1949."

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"Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits" by Philip Fisher

"Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits" by Philip Fisher Amazon

"Widely respected and admired, Philip Fisher is among the most influential investors of all time. His investment philosophies, introduced almost forty years ago, are not only studied and applied by today's financiers and investors, but are also regarded by many as gospel. This book is invaluable reading and has been since it was first published in1958."

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"The Theory of Investment Value" by John Burr Williams

"The Theory of Investment Value" by John Burr Williams Amazon

"This book was first printed in1938, having been written as a Ph.D. thesis at Harvard in1937. Our good friend, Peter Bernstein mentioned this book several times in his excellent Capital Ideas which was published in1992. Why the book is interesting today is that it still is important and the most authoritative work on how to value financial assets. As Peter says: "Williams combined original theoretical concepts with enlightening and entertaining commentary based on his own experiences in the rough-and-tumble world of investment." Williams' discovery was to project an estimate that offers intrinsic value and it is called the 'Dividend Discount Model' which is still used today by professional investors on the institutional side of markets."

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"Irrational Exuberance" by Robert Shiller

"Irrational Exuberance" by Robert Shiller Amazon

"As Robert Shiller’s new2009 preface to his prescient classic on behavioral economics and market volatility asserts, the irrational exuberance of the stock and housing markets “has been ended by an economic crisis of a magnitude not seen since the Great Depression of the1930s.” As we all, ordinary Americans and professional investors alike, crawl from the wreckage of our heedless bubble economy, the shrewd insights and sober warnings, and hard facts that Shiller marshals in this book are more invaluable than ever."

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"One Up on Wall Street" by Peter Lynch

"One Up on Wall Street" by Peter Lynch Amazon

"The former star manager of Fidelity's multibillion-dollar Magellan Fund, Lynch reveals how he achieved his spectacular record. Writing with John Rothchild, Lynch offers easy-to-follow directions for sorting out the long shots from the no shots by reviewing a company's financial statements and by identifying which numbers really count. He explains how to stalk tenbaggers and lays out the guidelines for investing in cyclical, turnaround, and fast-growing companies. Lynch promises that if you ignore the ups and downs of the market and the endless speculation about interest rates, in the long term (anywhere from five to fifteen years) your portfolio will reward you. This advice has proved to be timeless and has made One Up on Wall Street a number-one bestseller. And now this classic is as valuable in the new millennium as ever."

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"Against the Gods" by Peter Bernstein

"Against the Gods" by Peter Bernstein Amazon

"In this unique exploration of the role of risk in our society, Peter Bernstein argues that the notion of bringing risk under control is one of the central ideas that distinguishes modern times from the distant past. Against the Gods chronicles the remarkable intellectual adventure that liberated humanity from oracles and soothsayers by means of the powerful tools of risk management that are available to us today."

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"Reminiscences of a Stock Operator" by Edwin Lefevre

"Reminiscences of a Stock Operator" by Edwin Lefevre Amazon

"First published in1923, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator is the most widely read, highly recommended investment book ever. Generations of readers have found that it has more to teach them about markets and people than years of experience. This is a timeless tale that will enrich your life—and your portfolio."

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"The Alchemy of Finance" by George Soros

"The Alchemy of Finance" by George Soros Amazon

"George Soros is unquestionably one of the most powerful and profitable investors in the world today. Dubbed by BusinessWeek as "the Man who Moves Markets," Soros made a fortune competing with the British pound and remains active today in the global financial community. Now, in this special edition of the classic investment book, The Alchemy of Finance, Soros presents a theoretical and practical account of current financial trends and a new paradigm by which to understand the financial market today. This edition's expanded and revised Introduction details Soros's innovative investment practices along with his views of the world and world order. He also describes a new paradigm for the "theory of reflexivity" which underlies his unique investment strategies. Filled with expert advice and valuable business lessons, The Alchemy of Finance reveals the timeless principles of an investing legend."

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"Security Analysis" by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd

"Security Analysis" by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd Amazon.com

"First published in1934, Security Analysis is one of the most influential financial books ever written. Selling more than one million copies through five editions, it has provided generations of investors with the timeless value investing philosophy and techniques of Benjamin Graham and David L. Dodd. As relevant today as when they first appeared nearly75 years ago, the teachings of Benjamin Graham, “the father of value investing,” have withstood the test of time across a wide diversity of market conditions, countries, and asset classes."

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"The Handbook of Fixed Income Securities" by Frank J. Fabozzi

"The Handbook of Fixed Income Securities" by Frank J. Fabozzi Amazon

"For decades, The Handbook of Fixed Income Securities has been the most trusted resource in the world for fixed income investing. Since the publication of the last edition, however, the financial markets have experienced major upheavals, introducing dramatic new opportunities and risks. This completely revised and expanded eighth edition contains31 new chapters that bring you up to date on the latest products, analytical tools, methodologies, and strategies for identifying and capitalizing on the potential of the fixed income securities market in order to enhance returns. Among the world’s leading authorities on the subject, Frank J. Fabozzi, along with Steven V. Mann, has gathered a powerful global team of leading experts to provide you with the newest and best techniques for taking advantage of this market."

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"Damodaran on Valuation" by Aswath Damodaran

"Damodaran on Valuation" by Aswath Damodaran Amazon

"In order to be a successful CEO, corporate strategist, or analyst, understanding the valuation process is a necessity. The second edition of Damodaran on Valuation stands out as the most reliable book for answering many of today's critical valuation questions. Completely revised and updated, this edition is the ideal book on valuation for CEOs and corporate strategists. You'll gain an understanding of the vitality of today's valuation models and develop the acumen needed for the most complex and subtle valuation scenarios you will face."

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"Common Sense on Mutual Funds" by John Bogle

"Common Sense on Mutual Funds" by John Bogle Amazon

"Since the first edition of Common Sense on Mutual Funds was published in1999, much has changed, and no one is more aware of this than mutual fund pioneer John Bogle. Now, in this completely updated Second Edition, Bogle returns to take another critical look at the mutual fund industry and help investors navigate their way through the staggering array of investment alternatives that are available to them. Written in a straightforward and accessible style, this reliable resource examines the fundamentals of mutual fund investing in today's turbulent market environment and offers timeless advice in building an investment portfolio. Along the way, Bogle shows you how simplicity and common sense invariably trump costly complexity, and how a low cost, broadly diversified portfolio is virtually assured of outperforming the vast majority of Wall Street professionals over the long-term."

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"A Random Walk Down Wall Street" by Burton Malkiel

"A Random Walk Down Wall Street" by Burton Malkiel Amazon

"Especially in the wake of the financial meltdown, readers will hunger for Burton G. Malkiel’s reassuring, authoritative, gimmick-free, and perennially best-selling guide to investing. With1.5 million copies sold, A Random Walk Down Wall Street has long been established as the first book to purchase when starting a portfolio. In addition to covering the full range of investment opportunities, the book features new material on the Great Recession and the global credit crisis as well as an increased focus on the long-term potential of emerging markets. With a new supplement that tackles the increasingly complex world of derivatives, along with the book’s classic life-cycle guide to investing, A Random Walk Down Wall Street remains the best investment guide money can buy."

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"The Essays of Warren Buffett" by Warren Buffett

"The Essays of Warren Buffett" by Warren Buffett Amazon

"By arranging Buffett's lengthy writings thematically, Cunningham's classic book makes clear and coherent the principles and logic of Buffett's philosophy of business, investing and life.  When first published in1997, many knew Buffett's writings were gems, but this book's novelty was to lay out exact principles and their relationship to each other.  The central discovery is that the philosophy pivots around one core concept: the vast difference between price and value.  From that core radiate the other themes that the book's arrangement clarifies.  The Essays of Warren Buffett is a unique book that takes the raw material of Buffett's700+ pages of letters and renders them into a finely-woven270-page narrative, fulfilling Buffett's hope that Cunningham would "popularize" his writings."

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"Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" by Charles Mackay

"Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" by Charles Mackay Amazon

"Classic survey of crowd psychology takes an illuminating, entertaining look at three historic swindles: "The Mississippi Scheme," "The South-Sea Bubble," and "Tulipomania." Fired by greed and fed by naïveté, these stratagems gone awry offer essential reading for investors as well as students of history, psychology, and human nature."

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"Manias, Panics, And Crashes" by Charles P. Kindleberger

"Manias, Panics, And Crashes" by Charles P. Kindleberger Amazon

"Selected as one of the best investment books of all time by the Financial TimesManias, Panics and Crashes puts the turbulence of the financial world in perspective. Here is a vivid and entertaining account of how reckless decisions and a poor handling of money have led to financial explosions over the centuries. Covering topics such as the history and anatomy of crises, speculative manias, and the lender of last resort, this book has been hailed as "a true classic . . . both timely and timeless." In this new, updated sixth edition, Kindleberger and Aliber expand upon the ideas presented in the previous edition to bring the history of the financial crisis up-to-date.  It now includes two new chapters that provide an in-depth analysis of the causes, consequences and policy responses to the first global crisis of the21st century, the Financial Crisis of.  In addition, these new chapters also cover significant crises of the last fifteen years."

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"Barbarians at the Gate" by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar

"Barbarians at the Gate" by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar Amazon

"A #1 New York Times bestseller and arguably the best business narrative ever written, Barbarians at the Gate is the classic account of the fall of RJR Nabisco. An enduring masterpiece of investigative journalism by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar, it includes a new afterword by the authors that brings this remarkable story of greed and double-dealings up to date twenty years after the famed deal. The Los Angeles Times calls Barbarians at the Gate, “Superlative.” The Chicago Tribune raves, “It’s hard to imagine a better story...and it’s hard to imagine a better account.” And in an era of spectacular business crashes and federal bailouts, it still stands as a valuable cautionary tale that must be heeded."

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"The Little Book of Behavioural Investing" by James Montier

"The Little Book of Behavioural Investing" by James Montier Amazon

"Bias, emotion, and overconfidence are just three of the many behavioral traits that can lead investors to lose money or achieve lower returns. Behavioral finance, which recognizes that there is a psychological element to all investor decision-making, can help you overcome this obstacle. In The Little Book of Behavioral Investing, expert James Montier takes you through some of the most important behavioral challenges faced by investors. Montier reveals the most common psychological barriers, clearly showing how emotion, overconfidence, and a multitude of other behavioral traits, can affect investment decision-making."

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"Too Big to Fail" by Andrew Ross Sorkin

"Too Big to Fail" by Andrew Ross Sorkin Amazon

"In one of the most gripping financial narratives in decades, Andrew Ross Sorkin-a New York Timescolumnist and one of the country's most respected financial reporters-delivers the first definitive blow- by-blow account of the epochal economic crisis that brought the world to the brink. Through unprecedented access to the players involved, he re-creates all the drama and turmoil of these turbulent days, revealing never-before-disclosed details and recounting how, motivated as often by ego and greed as by fear and self-preservation, the most powerful men and women in finance and politics decided the fate of the world's economy."

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"When Genius Failed" by Roger Lowenstein

"When Genius Failed" by Roger Lowenstein Amazon

"In this business classic—now with a new Afterword in which the author draws parallels to the recent financial crisis—Roger Lowenstein captures the gripping roller-coaster ride of Long-Term Capital Management. Drawing on confidential internal memos and interviews with dozens of key players, Lowenstein explains not just how the fund made and lost its money but also how the personalities of Long-Term’s partners, the arrogance of their mathematical certainties, and the culture of Wall Street itself contributed to both their rise and their fall."

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"Liar's Poker" by Michael Lewis

"Liar's Poker" by Michael Lewis Amazon

"The time was the1980s. The place was Wall Street. The game was called Liar’s PokerMichael Lewis was fresh out of Princeton and the London School of Economics when he landed a job at Salomon Brothers, one of Wall Street’s premier investment firms. During the next three years, Lewis rose from callow trainee to bond salesman, raking in millions for the firm and cashing in on a modern-day gold rush. Liar’s Poker is the culmination of those heady, frenzied years—a behind-the-scenes look at a unique and turbulent time in American business. From the frat-boy camaraderie of the forty-first-floor trading room to the killer instinct that made ambitious young men gamble everything on a high-stakes game of bluffing and deception, here is Michael Lewis’s knowing and hilarious insider’s account of an unprecedented era of greed, gluttony, and outrageous fortune."

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"Stocks For The Long Run" by Jeremy Siegel

"Stocks For The Long Run" by Jeremy Siegel Amazon

"Stocks for the Long Run set a precedent as the most complete and irrefutable case for stock market investment ever written.  Wharton School professor Jeremy Siegel provides a potent mix of new evidence, research, and analysis supporting his key strategies for amassing a solid portfolio with enhanced returns and reduced risk. "

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Vinod Jetley
by Vinod Jetley , Assistant General Manager , State Bank of India

1. "The Total Money Makeover" (2007) by Dave Ramsay Well-known personal finance expert Dave Ramsay has again achieved bestseller status with his latest book on improving your financial life. Ramsay's books focus primarily on the early stages of getting your finances in order. According to Publisher's Weekly, "The bedrock of his system is simple: work hard, pay what you owe and stay out of debt." In particular, Ramsay is known his "snowball" strategy for getting out of debt. The strategy involves focusing on paying off small debts first, while paying only the minimum for all other debts. Then, once a debt is paid off, one takes the amount saved from not paying interest on that debt and focuses on paying off the next smallest debt. Mathematically, this is not the most effective way to pay off debt (which would focus on debts with the highest interest rate), but as Ramsay points out, it is a more motivating approach. After all, if people were perfectly rational, they would not get into so much debt in the first place.2. "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" (2009) by Robert Kiyosaki Rich Dad, Poor Dad certainly ranks as one of the all time classics in personal finance books. Rather than focus on concrete steps for what people can do to fix their financial life, the book presents an alternative mindset about money. According to Kiyosaki, the rich teach their children a fundamentally different view of the financial world. For example, the book points out that working hard and even earning a high income are not enough to ensure financial success. Rather, the book emphasizes that the rich work smart and spend more intelligently. Indeed, a person with a $100,000 income and $110,000 in expenses will end the year poorer while a person with a $30,000 income and $20,000 in expenses ends the year wealthier. "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" is a must read for those looking to change their attitude about money and wealth. You can read all the practical books with sound financial advice, but if you lack the mindset to truly build wealth, it will be difficult to achieve financial success. (We provide some classic and lesser-known titles to add to your collection. See Investing Books It Pays To Read.)3. "The Intelligent Investor" (1949) by Benjamin Graham The Intelligent Investor is the grandfather of investment strategy books. Author Benjamin Graham is often regarded as one of the fathers of the value investing school. The book stresses the importance of fundamental analysis and truly understanding your investments. By learning to analyze potential investments in depth, investors can learn how to spot underpriced stocks backed by robust companies. The central tenet of the book is that a scientific approach should be used when directing your investments. Reading this book you will learn to keep your emotions out of your investments, and develop a skeptical stance toward anything resembling the type of Wall Street hype that so often gets the average investor into trouble. IN PICTURES: Baby Buffett Portfolio: His6 Best Long-Term Picks4. "Real Money" (2005) by Jim Cramer Popular financial analyst Jim Cramer's book "Real Money" has continued to sell well since its2005 debut. The book provides an interesting look into Cramer's mind. The most striking thing you will find about Jim Cramer is that he is far more intelligent and deliberative than the over-the-top caricature he presents on television. The book provides a basic play-by-play analysis of the basic techniques that Cramer advocates for buying stocks. This is not the book for those who want set-it-and-forget-it investments. Cramer advocates not "buy and hold" but rather "buy and homework" reflecting his desire that you spend at least one hour per week analyzing each position you hold. While this homework can quickly become a large time commitment, Cramer recommends that you hold somewhere in the ballpark of ten positions so that you remain diversified. This may not be the right book for every investor, but if you are interested in the types of things that a hedge fund manager thinks about all day, you will enjoy this book.5. "The Richest Man in Babylon" (2004) by George Clayson Another oldie-but-goodie is amongst the top books to read this year. "The Richest Man in Babylon" is somewhat of the same genre as "Rich Dad, Poor Dad." You will not necessarily get a lot of actionable items from this book; instead, the book is a collection of parables about money. These are the type of fairy tales one could imagine Warren Buffet would tell small children about his road to wealth.

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