Full of Bull: Unscramble Wall Street Doubletalk to Protect and Build Your Portfolio

By Stephen T. McClellan

Book Overview

There's what Wall Street tells you to do. Then, there's what Wall Street insiders are doing themselves -- and that's something else altogether! Today, it's more important than ever to decipher the Wall Street analysts' insider code, and understand what they're really telling their biggest institutional investors. In the completely updated Full of Bull, Updated Edition, Stephen McClellan helps you level the playing field and start earning profits again. McClellan knows exactly how the game is played: for decades, he was one of the Street's leading analysts. Now, he reveals the secrets and deceptions Wall Street researchers are utilizing right now. You'll learn how Wall Street cost its customers billions by consistently denying the realities of the bear market and how self-interest led brokerages to keep recommending stocks like AIG and Fannie Mae all the way down to their ultimate collapse. McClellan identifies superior investment strategies for today's market, showing how to preserve capital and profit from dividends. Next, he presents ruthlessly realistic guidance on evaluating potential investments. You'll learn how to react appropriately to analyst upgrades, downgrades, and stock price targets; decide which research to ignore completely; objectively assess company news; and avoid common errors investors make when they use research. Simply put, this is the objective, focused guidance you need and won't ever get from your broker!

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 013702312X
• ISBN13: 9780137023127
• Release Date: June 2009
• Publisher: FT Press
• Length: 234 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.9" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Easy To Read for the Small Investor

Stephen McClellan's keynote speech and book are both informative, easy to understand, and entertaining. Finally, somebody is addressing the needs of the small investor. In the book he explains how Wall Street really works. Definitely worth reading. Author of Knockout Presentations

Finally, an honest voice from Wall Street

I heard about 'Full of Bull' while listening to Money Talk with Bob Brinker. I trust Brinker, so when he recommended the book and did an interview with the author, it got my attention. I never really understood how detrimental how some of Wall Street's actions can be to my personal investing. This book describes these practices and has helped me learn how to avoid taking what brokerage firms say literally. I never knew why Wall Street analysts are such bad stock pickers, or that emphasis lists are useless, or that stock price targets are just a guess. These guys are just trying to keep the big institutional investors happy. The stories the author tells are very candid and amusing. What I really liked was that after identifing all the land mines, the author gives some really solid, conservative investment advice. Own only a few stocks, don't diversify, no turnarounds or IPOs, and always look for dividends. The most important advice pertains to protection of capital. No one else really talks about this in detail. I wish the book was longer, had a few charts and tables, and that I had discovered it sooner. This is one of the most intriguing, informative books on the stock market.

Illuminating...

I have never read a stock market investment advice book like this one! Other books I've read talk about how to invest, strategies, techniques, and guidelines, but Full of Bull discloses the Wall Street actions that are so damaging to individual investing. I always thought I could take my broker's advice and act on it. Now, after reading Full of Bull, I understand the Wall Street biases and untrustworthy recommendations. Full of Bull helped me understand these Wall Street ways so I will no longer be so naively trusting of the advice I get from Wall Street. This book also showed me some excellent investment strategies that are different from what I have heard before--such as only own a few stocks, and hold stocks that pay dividends. There is an incredible amount of good advice in this short AND easy to read book. I highly recommend it!

Insightful and wise

Full of Bull is a bold, forthright and insightful tool for the average investor. I was particularly impressed by the author's commonsense approach to investing: preserve your capital above all else, and learn how to be a long-term "investor", rather than a "trader" (looking for a quick windfall that is usually highly risky). The book's wisdom lies, I think, in its emphasis on careful, thoughtful study and analysis of one's investments, with an eye on steady growth over the long-term.

A Unique and Informative Investment Bible

This is one of the most unusual stock market books I have ever seen. I find I have highlighted things on almost every other page. It's amazing to learn all the Wall Street activities and recommendations that are averse to real investing. This is the first time I have come across such direct, clear, and revealing information about security analysts and research. It will change the way I deal with research reports, analyst opinions, company comments, and even what I read in magazines and newspapers. The author, after clarifying the "insider" practices that are surprisingly negative for investors, then lays out his own recommended investment strategies that are long term and conservative. Things like only own a small number of stocks and focus on dividend paying stocks. These alone are worth the price of the book. The book is packed with excellent guidance and not cluttered up with tables and charts. So it's a handy reference. The writing style is clipped and often sounds like a casual conversation. Sometimes I want to hear more about a topic but he quickly moves on to the next thing. I would love to have him give us more of a tell-all but maybe that would stray off the main topic. My friends who are investing in the stock market, like me, I know will want to read this.