I stumbled across Russell Bailyn's blog a while ago, and have enjoyed his articles so when he posted that he was publishing a book, I requested a copy to review.
Navigating the Financial Blogosphere serves as an excellent introduction to financial planning that references online (often free) resources for each topic covered.
There are as many approaches to 'providing' financial advice as there are financial advisers. And like anything, some are good and some are bad. On page one of Russell's book, he explains:
"All too often we trust the insight of so-called experts when it comes to managing our money and helping us make financial decisions. The problem is that many of these experts are driven by a profit motive, which leads to distorted information. Other experts have become comfortable with the idea of giving the same advice to different groups of people."
Russell goes on to explain his approach and why he works that way. As one of the "so-called experts" it is impressive to see that Russell explores what he is doing and why from the outset, in an open and honest way.
His book is organized and reads like a series of meetings with a financial planner. The very first topic talks about banking which inspired me to look at my own bank and make some changes. More about that soon.
Anyone interested in learning more about financial planning, especially those who are prone to browsing around online, should find this book very helpful. If you are thinking about hiring a financial planner, I strongly recommend you pick up this book first. If you read through this and research the topics you are most interested in, following the links provided, you will get far more bang for your buck from your planner as you will have a good base understanding of the topics you are exploring.
Many of the blogs Russell references are blogs I have found as well, but I still found the book well worth reading. The only criticism I have is that the chapter on Mutual Fund investing is a little light. Russell states, "In the blogosphere, at least at this point, no individual blogs have been written that strictly focus on mutual funds." I humbly submit that WylieMoney.com is a blog that explores mutual fund investing in depth. This book was being written while my blog was in its infancy... maybe I'll make the second edition. (hehe).
Anyway, I'll post soon about actions I've been inspired to take, reading Navigating the Financial Blogosphere. If you've got some amazon.com gift cards to spend, you can find Russell's book here:
Showing posts with label Book Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Book Review. Show all posts
7.26.2007
Book Review: An American Hedge Fund
Timothy Sykes contacted me and asked if I would be interested in reviewing his soon to be published book, An American Hedge Fund.
I checked out his site, watched videos of some of his TV appearances, shook my head, laughed and said "sure."
After reading the book, my first reaction was: "This guy is nuts!"
Timothy took $12,000 and spent his college years day trading in his dorm room and made millions. That in itself is not nuts- its incredible. And the book explains how he did it in more detail than you might expect.
He started a hedge fund as the title indicates, but the book is less about his fund, and more about him, which is a good thing. He chronicles his journey from a tenacious youngster seeking to maximize profits (I'm glad he never strung my tennis racquet) to a college bound freshman with an obsession for finding market trends and playing them like a professional sportsman, to a young adult trotting the globe and riding high on his successes and also the parts of his personality which he very self consciously has learned can lead him to amazing new opportunities.
He makes the pitch that finance is THE American sport and for him, it certainly was. I say was because it is unclear to me if his market niche, much like some of our more intense physical sports, requires the 'muscles' or 'audacity' of youth. By the end of the book, Timothy seems to be hedging his investing profession with a stake in financial celebrity- a field almost as mysterious to me as Hedge Funds...
Ok- so why am I calling him nuts? I mean it in the most affectionate way possible- This book is highly entertaining as Timothy does a great job of telling his story with the same kind of speed, focus and energy that he must have taken to whatever computer terminal around the globe he found to sign on, and compete in his financial sport.
He shares in great detail, but in plain English, many examples of trends he saw and trades he made both scoring big and fouling out. As the book goes on, he shares more and more about his own ego and lack of discipline getting in the way of consistent crushing returns. His approach toward dealing with overcrowding in his dorm room, 'preparing' for interviews, and the frankness with which he lays bare some of his biggest failures and why he made them paints a picture of a driven, flawed, crazed, man on a mission.
Near the end of the book he sums it all up quite nicely: "Maybe I’m going overboard, but you get the point."
I was left wondering why on earth anyone would want to trust him with their money... but then you remember the $12,000 he started with and the millions he made.
Is investing the American Sport? And is it a game that requires the reckless abandon and singular focus that only a young mind can truly excel at? Will Timothy, like so many professional athletes after great success on the field, move into the media full time? Only time will tell.
But like the stories of some of our more 'lively' athletes, Timothy's tale is a highly entertaining look into the life of a driven competitor. The release date is Oct. 1st, 2007.
I checked out his site, watched videos of some of his TV appearances, shook my head, laughed and said "sure."
After reading the book, my first reaction was: "This guy is nuts!"
Timothy took $12,000 and spent his college years day trading in his dorm room and made millions. That in itself is not nuts- its incredible. And the book explains how he did it in more detail than you might expect.
He started a hedge fund as the title indicates, but the book is less about his fund, and more about him, which is a good thing. He chronicles his journey from a tenacious youngster seeking to maximize profits (I'm glad he never strung my tennis racquet) to a college bound freshman with an obsession for finding market trends and playing them like a professional sportsman, to a young adult trotting the globe and riding high on his successes and also the parts of his personality which he very self consciously has learned can lead him to amazing new opportunities.
He makes the pitch that finance is THE American sport and for him, it certainly was. I say was because it is unclear to me if his market niche, much like some of our more intense physical sports, requires the 'muscles' or 'audacity' of youth. By the end of the book, Timothy seems to be hedging his investing profession with a stake in financial celebrity- a field almost as mysterious to me as Hedge Funds...
Ok- so why am I calling him nuts? I mean it in the most affectionate way possible- This book is highly entertaining as Timothy does a great job of telling his story with the same kind of speed, focus and energy that he must have taken to whatever computer terminal around the globe he found to sign on, and compete in his financial sport.
He shares in great detail, but in plain English, many examples of trends he saw and trades he made both scoring big and fouling out. As the book goes on, he shares more and more about his own ego and lack of discipline getting in the way of consistent crushing returns. His approach toward dealing with overcrowding in his dorm room, 'preparing' for interviews, and the frankness with which he lays bare some of his biggest failures and why he made them paints a picture of a driven, flawed, crazed, man on a mission.
Near the end of the book he sums it all up quite nicely: "Maybe I’m going overboard, but you get the point."
I was left wondering why on earth anyone would want to trust him with their money... but then you remember the $12,000 he started with and the millions he made.
Is investing the American Sport? And is it a game that requires the reckless abandon and singular focus that only a young mind can truly excel at? Will Timothy, like so many professional athletes after great success on the field, move into the media full time? Only time will tell.
But like the stories of some of our more 'lively' athletes, Timothy's tale is a highly entertaining look into the life of a driven competitor. The release date is Oct. 1st, 2007.
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