The Battle for Investment Survival (A Marketplace Book)

Rating:
Summary: Not much of a surprise ending
Review: After reading this book, all I can say is "wow." That was one long book. It was full of so much information on stocks and when to buy and sell. But the information was not the same old stuff that I have heard before, I was introduced to a whole new theory of buying when everyone else says that you shouldn't because you have sound information on your side. Loeb also talked about putting a good amount of your available money in a smart investment, and watch that investment carefully. A main point that he stressed over and over was not to invest just to invest, only invest when you are going to put in the effort to make money. I thought that it was a difficult book to read because it was about economics, but I think that it might come in handy once I do get money to invest. It was written a long time ago, but I think that the advice that Loeb gives in the book can still be used today.

Rating:
Summary: Not much of a surprise ending
Review: After reading this book, all I can say is "wow." That was one long book. It was full of so much information on stocks and when to buy and sell. But the information was not the same old stuff that I have heard before, I was introduced to a whole new theory of buying when everyone else says that you shouldn't because you have sound information on your side. Loeb also talked about putting a good amount of your available money in a smart investment, and watch that investment carefully. A main point that he stressed over and over was not to invest just to invest, only invest when you are going to put in the effort to make money. I thought that it was a difficult book to read because it was about economics, but I think that it might come in handy once I do get money to invest. It was written a long time ago, but I think that the advice that Loeb gives in the book can still be used today.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding.
Review: As one review put it-- this is timeless wisdom and dated info. The book is fascinating and it is like meeting a Great Guru in person.I had watched the market little deeply only for few months.But even with that experience,I can say "Oh ,how true,how true" for many many paragraphs in the book.I have underlined them everywhere.If you care about your money and investment and want to take charge of it, There is no other compassionate Guru you can find other than Mr Loeb.I think his theory works very well in bull markets too. But you have to work very hard,as he rightly cautions. It is worth all the effort. Thank you Mr Loeb for demystifying the Stock market, its perils and opportunities.If one has time, One should forget all the fancy investment theories floating around in popular journals and fashion, and practice Mr Loeb.I think it will work very well for small investors

Rating:
Summary: A GREAT BOOK FOR AN INVERTOR'S PERSONAL LIBRARY
Review: Great insights into modern day investing. How to cut loses and ride the wave of fast moving stocks. Another book to take a look at is "Making Dollars with Pennies: How the Small Investor Can Beat the Wizards on Wall Street," by R. Max Bowser. It has recently been updated with a second edition. As of January 2005, R. Max Bowser's model "Beginner's Portolio" has continued to beat the DJIA and Russell 2000, according to my most recent copy of "The Bowser Report." I have hundreds of books on investing and advise any serious investor to keep up with all new books on investing. The investment climate is always changing. And often, the more things change, the more they stay the same. So investers, begin a personal library and buy everything new and used on investing. One gem from each book can over time, make you financially independent.

Rating:
Summary: A blunt appraisal of the rules of success on Wall Street.
Review: I read this book on the advice of William J. O'Neil, undoubtedly one of the market wizards of our time. Gerald M. Loeb is an outspoken advocate of perfecting the art of cutting your losses and timing your buy and sell decisions. For those trading for rapid profits, he mentions the importance of concentrating in the "one outstanding, fast-trading leader that is jumping in the right direction". Detaching yourself from the crowd and realizing one's ditance from perfection is one of the many insights to be gained in this book. To me, the compassionate wisdom of Gerald M. Loeb more than justifies the cost of the book.

OLUMUYIWA OMOLOLU.

Rating:
Summary: Perfect Crystallization of a Key Insight
Review: I too read this book (1956 printing from a university library) given the influence it has had on the writing and investment philosophy of William O'Neil. To a large extent, conceptually speaking, if you've read O'Neil's major works, you've already read Loeb. The benefits I gained out of reading Loeb were: 1) Finding that time-tested investment wisdom does exist, and that O'Neil (and even Loeb) are simply restating those pearls. 2) A laugh here and there. A couple of anecdotal sections regarding Loeb's affinity for sweets were a nice diversion. But these are few since he sticks to the point. You have to dig for the humorous gems. 3) Realizing again that whether you are a business or an investor or a financial consultant, serving your client 112% and maintaining strict integrity still works. The Biblical principles upon which this country was founded didn't fail Loeb as he developed his customer base.

The internet and the availability of info has changed tons of what Loeb has written, however. Reading a few reviews of his book a few decades later may well give you the meat with less effort.

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Summary: My cornerstone on speculation and investment
Review: I've read many recently published books on how to profit from the financial markets. Too many of them leave me feeling like I wasted my time and money.

I decided to go back to the "classics"--Schabacker, Edwards and Magee, Graham, Hamilton, Rhea, and of course, Gerald Loeb.

The more I read these "classics" of investment literature, the more I see the market hasn't fundamentally changed at all. All of those books have taught me something important, but I will always have Loeb's "Battle for Investment Survival" close to the top of my list.

Loeb demonstrates he is fundamentally honest. Unlike most books, that get you to think becomming a millionare through daytrading is easy, Loeb teaches that there is no such thing as "easy money" in the financial markets, nor are there "safe investments" (bonds) as the value of money is constantly depreciating.

He also teaches that there are NO guarantees, and that most people WILL lose money regardless of what they do. I think this is true, but most people cannot face it--even those "efficient market" types who advocate the buy and holding of index funds. (I believe Loeb would be a big fan of Exchange Traded Funds, however)

So, what is one to do in order to preserve purchasing power? His answer: intelligent speculation and the ever-liquid account.

To speculate intelligently, Loeb advises focusing on actively traded stocks--not illiquid "penny stocks" for your SPECULATIVE activities.

Let's be clear--Gerald Loeb is no "buy and hold" advocate. Loeb could be considered an advocate of the "relative strength" approach--before the concept of "relative strength" ever existed.

The moment your stock is failing to deliver superior profits, and you have no fundamental reason to believe its uptrend will continue, he advises you sell and look for another. If you can't find anything interesting, or the market is going down--you stay in cash. For Loeb, you MUST avoid catastrophic losses like those sustained in the crash of '29. A stock that doesn't rise (or fall if you like to short) is a waste to be avoided.

Loeb is not a fan of too much diversification. He thinks it is a crutch that guarantees mediocre performance.

His most important teaching would focus on money management (what we would now call "asset allocation"). Loeb would consider it foolish to allocate a significant (more than 50%) of your capital to stocks. You always need a cushion for those inevitable losses in trading operations.

I've taken Loeb's advice to heart. His advice is even more applicable to options trading.

By keeping a small amount of money in a volatile asset, and ruthlessly cutting losses, you give yourself a chance to match the market or even outperform, but with significantly less risk (volatility), due to the large cash reserves.

Loeb's advice isn't easy to follow. But making money isn't easy. And by following Loeb's advice, I'm quite pleased.

Rating:
Summary: Times they are a' changing...
Review: This is a book that was out of demand for a long time, it seems, and is much needed nowdays. Most investment guides that became popular in the last 10-15 years were about the bull market, obsolete now.
This outstanding work of Gerald M. Loeb sums up his experience of an active investor all the way from the bull market of 20ies, then the Big Crash, the gloomy 30ies, WW2, until 1965. He managed to survive all major market mishaps and he shares his thoughts with the reader. His preferred audience is perhaps the intelligent investor in tough times. What I learned from him (and it was the first time I ever read these things) - losses should be cut promptly, diversification is usually poor tactics, fundamentals can sometimes be ignored. This is just his opinion of course, read the arguments yourself.
A must read on how to survive the recession, IMO.

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Summary: The psychology of a sustained bear market
Review: This is a book to challenge every preconception you have about investment. The world today is full of buy and hold investors (isn't that how Buffett made his billions?). And it is not hard to be a committed buy and holder when the Dow is fast approaching 7000. Buy and hold has been very profitable and almost any fool could play. But it has not always been so. Sustained bear markets do exist. And in a bear market the mugs in mutual funds become more than passingly skittish. Buy and hold was once unfashionable and it will be again. This is a book (first published in 1934) from the period where buy and hold was as deeply unfashionable as it has been any time in history. Loeb is an extreme pesimist. If the Dow ever sees 4000 again he might become popular. Loeb does not think that fundamental analysis makes any sense. He illustrates with companies which have been overvalued for years at a time and with companies where persistent undervaluation has occured. Loeb does not believe in buying good stocks and holding them. Though buying good stocks before events likely to cause revaluation might be a good idea. Loeb does not believe in diversification. A diversified portfolio will get beaten around in a bear market just as surely as an undiversified one. Moreover, a diversified portfolio will reduce the attention you can pay to individual stocks. Loeb advocates putting all your eggs in one basket and taking extra care to watch the basket. Loeb thinks that if you do not know what to do you should be in cash or near equivalents (short dated high quality paper). If you are in stocks you are in for a hiding. Loeb believes in firm (and irrevocable) stop loss rules. If you buy a good stock and it goes down sell it. Buy and holders might just be inclined to buy some more and suffer more damage at the hands of capricious bears. That these views are deeply unfashionable comes as no surprise when the buy and holders have had such a good run. I come from Australia where the index peaked at 2310 in October 1987 and has only just broken 2400. It spent years in the 1200-1500 range. New Zealand has never broken the pre-crash levels. These are markets where the general populace is scared of stocks. Mutual fund madness is unknown here. I know no Australian who invests in mutuals. I do not think that Loeb is right. But he knows a few things that very few people do know in the US market. Maybe that makes them worth knowing. This is a book about the psychology of a sustained bear market. Dow investors will not recognise it. It is more familiar to us in the Antipodes. Read it so that you will recognise it. And when everyone you know is thinking like Loeb, and the baby boomers have become 'mutual shy', pull out Graham and the other buy and hold bibles and go shopping on Wall Street.

Rating:
Summary: Timeless advice
Review: This is one of the most helpful books you can read on stock investing because it provides, in my opinion, the best advice on selling. Loeb's advice to cut losses promptly helped to inspire me to develop the strategy found in my "Investing: More Success With Less Stress", which I consider to be an extension of Loeb's strategy, quantified. No matter what the pros say, the buy-and-hold strategy is obsolete.