An exciting follow-up to the bestselling Forbes Greatest Business Stories of All Time In the tradition of the bestselling Forbes(r) Greatest Business Stories of All Time, Forbes(r) Greatest Investing Stories focuses on profiles of fascinating people who have achieved success in a range of investing arenas. This volume chronicles old-time innovators like Benjamin Graham, the father of value investing; Hetty Green, the Street's first female stock picker; T. Rowe Price, founder of one of the largest mutual fund families; and Georges F. Doriot, the driving force behind the first publicly owned venture firm in the United States. Others featured include such modern-day legends as Tom Bailey, founder of Janus Funds; Marty Whitman, value investor supreme and manager of the Third Avenue Value Fund; and Muriel F. Siebert, the first woman admitted to the New York Stock Exchange. Packed with investing lessons, wisdom and even the story of the swindle of the century, Forbes(r) Greatest Investing Stories makes an engrossing read and a great gift for any investor or market mogul. Richard Phalon (New York, NY) has been a contributing editor at Forbes since 1980. He covered personal finance, Wall Street, urban affairs, and politics at the New York Times for sixteen years before joining Forbes. He is the author of The Takeover Barons of Wall Street and Your Money: How to Make It Work Harder Than You Do.
Richard Phalon offers a somewhat eclectic array of biographies ranging from Benjamin Graham and Tom Bailey as marquee value investors, to Anthony "Tino" De Angelis who tried to corner the market for soybean oil (in a huge scam), and finishing the book with a discussion of George Doriot's philosophy (founder of the Venture Capital industry, as we know it). Clearly, not every individual qualifies for the 'Greatest Investor' title, but all of them had one thing in common: large amounts of money circulated through their hands. Perhaps one of the more surprising takeaways from the book is the focus on value investing. The basics of earnings and cash flows, as well as knowing when to take the cash off the table are repeating patterns no matter the industry, time, or place. An insightful read given the current turbulence in the markets - it is somewhat surprising how timeless many of the principles Richard Phalon identified really are.
Inspiring and Relevant
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 23 years ago
Reading this reminded me that bad ecomonic news can create terrific opportunities in the market-- the moral of the story of the very first story, which talks about Benjamin Graham and his protoge Warren Buffett! It was eerie how similar the "Investors Beware" chapter about the CUC/HFS International debacle is to what's currently going on with Enron: "If the 'story' behind the stock seems too good to be true, it probably is." A great read -- the author truly seems to love and relish what he's talking about and I learned a ton that heartened my sagging investing confidence (and hopefully my sagging portfolio as well).
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