Investing in One Lesson

by Mark Skousen

Book Overview

Why are the smartest, most successful professionals so often failures when it comes to investing? Can stock prices really be so illogical that even doctors and lawyers can't figure them out?... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1596985224
• ISBN13: 9781596985223
• Release Date: October 2007
• Publisher: Regnery Publishing
• Length: 175 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.4" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

One easy lesson it is

Dr Skousen gives ample advice for the beginning investor as well as one who constantly makes the same mistakes over time. He's like the clothing retailer who has something for the man who has two of everything or nothing and wants to get started. Of note, he uses the Thomas Sowell approach where he eschews the use of charts and graphs to make his points. As such, you the reader must be able to take his easy-to-understand messages and convert them to your own highest and best use. Because the stock market is counter intuitive it's too difficult for most people who get caught up in its whirling emotional vortex. Its conflicting and confusing signals will always lead to that eternal dance between fear and greed which is enough to make anyone re-study the seven deadly sins in hopes of finding new wisdom in old places. Skousen makes it easy for the investor who will follow his logic by imploring same to invest in companies that pay dividends, both worthy and sound advice. he outlines the reasons for this and his points are erudite and on the money. The slippage occurs where investors cannot discipline themselves to stay in this mental and emotional channel for whatever the reasons affecting their investment decisions. Oh t'were investment advice so intersubjectively transmissable that we could be infused and respond, but alas we too often succumb to our hubristic impulses only to falter on the rocks of false reason. Dr Skousen gives good advice in this very short and easy to understand book. Heed it and prosper and remember that "inch by inch, life is a cinch, but yard by yard life is hard." Indeed!

A voice of reason with a conservative approach to protecting and growing your precious retirement fu

This is not a book about how to pick stocks that only go up or how to draw magic graphs that will lead you to stock market riches. Instead, what Mark Skousen provides is a sound orientation to what investing is really all about, why investing in stocks is very different than buying a share of a private business, why income investing (dividends) makes a great deal of sense, and a look at other types of investments such as buying bonds and real estate. He starts by telling the sad tale of someone he knew who was a very intelligent professional who ended up putting all his money in an off-shore fund that lost all his and his wife's retirement money; $750,000. Skousen notes that many very well-educated, successful professionals put so much effort into becoming experts in their field, and yet they take the precious fruits of their study, work, and saving and invest it haphazardly, without any real study, and chasing the latest fad just after it has begun going out of style. Of course disaster is likely to follow such a program. This book is easy to read and understand. What Skousen says is sound and makes a great deal of sense. If you were to follow his principles you will, in the long run, likely be very much better off. The main lesson to remember is that "Wall Street is not Main Street" and "The business of investing is not the same as investing in a business". He takes you through the perversities of Wall Street and provides a primer on how stocks are issued, what affects stock prices, the problem of investor psychology, fads, momentum, and more. The thing he comes down to is that "dividends don't lie". Even so, he does offer some cautions and honest arguments against dividends. Still, I think his case is sound. All the principles in the book are conservative, and focus on creating income (that you should reinvest until you need it). He provides a short list of other readings that he recommends, a helpful investing glossary, and a good index. Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

Perhaps the Best Investment Book of 2007

Twenty years ago, economist and libertarian Henry Hazlitt did something no one had done before. He took dreary subjects like wages, profits, savings, taxes, tariffs, unemployment, unions and monetary policy and discussed them in a short, highly-readable book that was easily accessible to the layman. The book was "Economics In One Lesson." And it remains a classic, one perhaps especially appreciated by those of us without the time or inclination to read a boring, stuffy economics text. Now Mark Skousen has done the same thing for investors. It's called "Investing In One Lesson." It, too, is destined to become a classic. In fact, I can't imagine an investor who wouldn't benefit from reading it. Why? During my 16 years on Wall Street, I quickly learned that many investors have an implacable enemy standing between them and investment success: themselves. They lack a thorough understanding of important investment principles. This causes them to cast about, trying (and abandoning) one investment system after another. Or buying hot tips from friends and colleagues. Or reacting emotionally - and usually regrettably - to rapid changes that regularly occur in financial markets. Skousen's new book provides a much-needed antidote. In straightforward language - replete with stories from his own experience - he explains how you can use the stock market as a foundation for financial independence. Especially important, he reveals why a company's share price generally fluctuates much more dramatically than the prospects for the underlying business. These fluctuations - often unjustified - create enormous opportunities. But you can't capitalize on them if you don't understand what's happening... or why. In "Investing In One Lesson," Skousen makes it plain. Stock prices are determined at the margin. What does this mean, exactly? It means that on any given day, only a fraction of 1% of the shareholders of a company are actually selling their shares. Yet that tiny fraction determines the value of the entire company - at least temporarily. A sudden imbalance in buy or sell orders can quickly push a stock dramatically higher of lower. Sometimes these changes are triggered by a change in the company's fundamentals. But more often, a company's share price can skyrocket or collapse for reasons that have nothing to do with the outlook for the company... or for the economy. Skousen correctly notes that stock prices can be pushed around by, for example, rumors, official buy or sell recommendations by major wire houses, short selling, computerized technical strategies, tax selling, good or bad publicity, insider buying or selling, fads, takeover speculation, bad news elsewhere in the sector, or a mindless herd mentality. Short-term momentum traders often pile on too, creating even more havoc. But for investors who understand what is happening and why, tremendous opportunities are being created. I'm talking about opportunities to buy at

Common sense investing; a great read

As a financial journalist for 25 years, I'm constantly asked to review investment books. Due to time constraints, I generally don't. However, in the case of Mark Skousen's Investing in One Lesson, I found it well worth the time to both read and report on his new work. Throughout the book, Mark systematically eliminates all the "noise" that makes investing appear overly complex. By simplifying many concepts that investors often view as incomprehensible, he leaves readers with a clear understanding of the difference between price and value, a company and its stock, and a business venture from a publicly traded entity. When he begins teaching his investment classes at Rollins College and Columbia University, Mark Skousen holds up two pieces of paper -- a lottery ticket and a stock certificate. He asks, "Are these mostly the same, or are they mostly different." Knowing the answer to this seemingly simple question could be the difference between investment success and failure. It's a must read for the novice investor who frequently does not understand the counter-intuitive notions that a good company is not always a good stock or that good news does not necessarily spell higher prices for a company's shares. Even for the most experienced investor, he offers compelling insights into the "efficient" market, investor psychology, the real stories behind the 1987 crash and the Internet bubble, the pros and cons of technical analysis, the misconceptions of growth versus income, and an in-depth look into his unique brand of contrarian analysis. Despite a world of increasingly "sophisticated" computer models and technical strategies, Mark's exceptional new work helps remind us all that a combination of experience, knowledge and common sense remain the long-term investor's most important ally.

Common sense advice for all investors

I have worked in the financial services industry for more than 30 years and have been astonished by the dearth of good, solid investment advice that is available for people trying to understand the vagaries of the stock market. Mark Skousen has filled that void with his new book, Investing in One Lesson, recently published by Regnery. Skousen takes a common sense approach to the equities market, stripping it of insider jargon and arcane concepts, and offers beginners and experienced investors alike a sound plan for buying stocks. He writes about this unnecessarily complicated subject in simple English. Too many so-called professionals have deliberately confused the investing public in an effort to enhance their own careers. Skousen lifts the fog of confusion surrounding equities and discusses the essentials in his straightforward style. If you are interested in establishing a core portfolio of sound stocks that will serve you well over time, you can do no better than to start with Dr. Skousen's new book. Jerome Tuccille Vice President and author of Trump, Rupert Murdoch, Alan Shrugged, and other books