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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 332.6
EAN num: 9780470074992
ISBN number: 047007499X
Label: Wiley
Manufacturer: Wiley
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 480
Printing Date: December 11, 2006
Publishing house: Wiley
Sale Popularity Level: 68973
Studio: Wiley
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
The Only Three Questions That Count is the very first book to show you how to think about investing for yourself and develop innovative ways to understand and profit from the markets. The only way to consistently beat the markets is by knowing something others don’t know. This book will show you how to do just that by using three simple questions. You’ll see why CNBC’s Mad Money host and money manager James J. Cramer says, 'I believe that reading his book may be the single best thing you could do this year to make yourself a better investor.
In The Only Three Questions That Count, Ken Fisher challenges the conventional wisdoms of investing, overturns glib theories with hard facts, and blows up complacent beliefs about money and the markets. Ultimately, he says, the key to successful investing is daring to challenge yourself and whatever you believe to be true. Packed with more than 100 visuals, usable tools, and a glossary, The Only Three Questions That Count is an entertaining and educational experience in the markets unlike any other, giving you an opportunity to reap the huge rewards that only the markets can offer.
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Rated by buyers 
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I really like this book because it challenges conventional wisdom; and challenges you to challenge conventional wisdom.
Here's an example:
We all know that a high Price / Earnings (P/E) ratio is bad, because it means a stock is overpriced and heading for a fall. Yet the author says he "proved statistically more than 10 years ago [that] the P/E... tells you nothing about market risk or return". I reached the same conclusion via my own independent research in Stock Fundamentals On Trial: Do Dividend Yield, P/E and PEG Really Work?.
I don't agree with everything, though. For example, Ken Fisher suggests that a high federal budget deficit is good for stocks. This might be true, just as low interest rates are good for stocks and for property investment. But eventually the music stops and everyone has to get off -- whether they like it or not -- as the past year has demonstrated. If you can get on and off at the right time, then this "problem" is, of course, an "opportunity".
Stock Fundamentals On Trial: Do Dividend Yield, P/E and PEG Really Work?
DON'T LOSE MONEY!: (in the Stock Markets)
Rated by buyers 
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While Mr. Fisher writes in a very confident, assured style, nevertheless the message I got from this book is that when you take an action with respect to investing in the market, you might be right but then again maybe you might not be right so you need to keep asking yourself those three questions. However, you will never be truly certain whether or not your answers to those three questions are correct until AFTER the fact. So just exactly what good does that do?
Yes, I can see that asking those three questions (I won't bother repeating them here since so many others have done so in their reviews) helps one to hopefully make a more informed, intelligent choice but you might still be wrong. It may improve the odds of your making a good choice, but then so might dozens of other analytical questions that you could just as well ask yourself.
For example, one of the questions deals with seeing something that the masses don't see - so in other words it gives you a jump on the general public. One must ask themselves, however, if indeed everyone is that blind then should we always be a contrarian? How do we know when to be a contrarian versus when to go with the flow? Can there be that many people who are fooled all of the time to allow you to go the opposite way and benefit from that?
Mr. Fisher relates several examples of when he was not successful, and guessed the market was heading one way when it really went the other (he thought tech stocks would lead the recovery back in the early 2000's after the dot com bust but in fact they lagged the market). Part of this he was able to explain but part of it he says he and his two colleagues could never figure out. If that is the case, then doesn't it seem like hindsight is really the only way to see if your decisions were wise or not? And if the market moves in unpredictable ways and, as Fisher himself says we should hedge our bets for that possibility by not committing all of our funds to any specific course of action, then what is the point? We may wind up no better off than we were before, but then again we may wind up spectacularly better - but would that be due to asking ourselves those three questions that count?
I recently read John Bogle's book about the Little Book That Beats the Market. The whole premise of that one is that on average, and that's as good as we can hope to be, no one can beat the market in the long term. He advocates index funds as the way to go. It doesn't matter what sort of quirks or surprises happens, or what questions you ask, he says that the market in the long term will most likely keep going up and up and we should invest in a broad fund that mirrors the market.
After mulling over Bogle's theory versus Fisher's theory, I lean towards Bogle. Why? Because Bogle's is simple. With Fisher, you can still ask yourself those three questions and never really have confidence in your answers until you see the actual result. In the meantime you may spend a lot of time and money and get a lot of grief going through the analytics. On the other hand, if you believe the market is going to rise in the long run, it is very simple to put your money in an index fund and then enjoy life.
That said, Mr. Fisher is obviously very intelligent and I feel it is worthwhile to read what he has to say and ponder it. I found myself nodding my head frequently in the chapters about what my brain is doing to mislead me. All too often I've acted like the example person in his book, selling too soon or buying too hastily. But overall, I still say that there are too many "if's" and unknowns regarding those three questions to make them truly practical. Many will disagree with my review and think I'm an idiot who doesn't understand what Fisher is saying, but I'm just voicing my opinion.
Rated by buyers -
Ken Fisher is very assertive in his book. I don't know how anyone can be so certain about what affects the market and what not. He asserts many things that I find questionable some of whoch I totally don't disagree (then who am I to disagree with Ken Fisher the $1 billion man). Some of his arguments are valid only from one point of view.
For example on page 29, he asserts that in the period following budget deficit troughs stock market had good returns. He says that it's because the deficit was high which is a good thing for the stock market for following period. But maybe the stock market did good because the deficit was decreasing (since it was a trough, deficit could only decrease after that point). Who knows what really goes on.
So what I like about this book is that it gives you a dicipline to not take everything granted and do your own analysis and possibly create your own "capital markets technology" to know something others don't and beat them in the market, which is a fine idea.
What I don't like about the book is that other than beeing too assertive there are many redundancies. Like his father, Ken likes to write long, very long. Why does he have to talk about the stone age and the cavemen in every chapter? I also don't like that the investment strategy he promotes in this book is passive investing (as he does). So stick to your benchmark and try to over-under allocate sectors as you find evidence regarding their future performances. I am not a fund manager and I dont have $30 billion under management. I need sharper investing strategies. Also he occasionally makes jokes throughout the book. He ain't funny, not at all. I don't know if he does that coz Buffet does (I have seen some indications of jealousy towards W. Buffet while reading), but that's something he needs to work on quite a bit. Anyway, I give him 4 stars for his "mind opening" book.
Rated by buyers -
CXO Advisors blog mentions this author as one of the best forecasters out of the people they follow. That is the key reason for buying the book. If somebody is good at forecasting you should pay attention to the person.
The book is largely about fundamental analysis (as opposed to technical analysis). How can you see things that the general gruop of investors haven't seen yet? And how can you be sure that what you are seeing is correct? This might sound philosophical but it becomes very concrete in the book. But it certainly is impressionistic.
The key problem I have with the book is the number of pages. Had the number of pages been cut in half, I would have been a better book
Rated by buyers 
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Ken Fisher brings a fresh outlook to investing. This is not the typical buy low, sell hign manuscript. It delves into the psychology of reading the market. A must read for the investor.
WLH
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