Book review: Investment banking booksFmi.online • Part of the MDA Training Group

Title Investment Banking

Author(s) Pearl and Rosenbaum

Publisher Wiley

Amazon rating

Great book that walks you through IB step by step. It even helped me during an interview when they asked me about Enterprise Value. A CAUTION, however, this book is much better as review during or after business school, or after you've started working in finance. If you know nothing about finance, it's probably not the best to jump into this book cold-turkey. (5/5)

4.5/5

Title Investment Banks, Hedge Funds and Private Equity

Author(s) Davis Stowell

Publisher Academic Press

Amazon rating

Used for a class, required reading. The reading was great, the questions were maddening… I'd spend hours trying to find it, going over and over and chapter. Hopefully this is resolved in the 2nd edition. MUCH effort was put into the content of each chapter but the questions seem to be written by someone who hasn't even read the book. (4/5)

4.6/5

Title The Best Book On Investment Banking Careers

Author(s) Donna Khalife

Publisher Hyperink

Amazon rating

Very good insight and well detailed. I especially liked that she addressed certain questions throughout the book, and gave it a better narrative. Feels like having a discussion with someone who knows what they are talking about… highly recommended for anyone thinking of going into Investment Banking from another career. (5/5)

Title Barbarians at the Gate

Author(s) Burrough and Helyar

Publisher HarperCollins

Amazon rating

This should be mandatory reading for anyone interested in understanding the current financial world. The authors write a gripping account of the outsized personalities and egos of the 1980s LBO boom using their exhaustive list of contacts. The book reads like a movie as the personalities leap out of the page. (5/5)

4.3/54.6/5

Book review: Global markets booksFmi.online • Part of the MDA Training Group

Title When Genius Failed

Author(s) Roger Lowenstein

Publisher Random House Trade

Amazon rating

This is a dramatic tale of one of the most impressive companies and hedge fund in history, Long Term Capital Management (LTCM) of Greenwich, Connecticut. A group of academics that used mathematical models of the past to predict future but failed because, “They had forgotten the human factor.” (4/5)

Title Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets

Author(s) John Murphy

Publisher Penguin Publishing

Amazon rating

Excellent. One of the best Technical Analysis books I've ever read. I started my career as a financial advisor by following the work of Alan Shaw and Louise Yamada. This book is almost like having Shaw and Yamada's notes on your bookshelf. This should be required reading for all Wirehouse trainees. Great as refresher course for the seasoned professional. (5/5)

Title Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Author(s) Edwin Lefevre

Publisher Wiley

Amazon rating

A timeless classic! This book examines the thoughts, strategies, and practices of one of the all time best speculators. The author uses a pseudo name for the character. The subject is Jesse Livermore. Livermore has often been quoted by modern day market guru's, for good reason. He was perhaps the first to understand the power of the trend. (5/5)

Title Trader Vic II – Principles of Professional Speculation

Author(s) Victor Sperandeo

Publisher Wiley

Amazon rating

Clear, concise, real world tips and Vic's way of trading. His book is one of those investment books you want to keep on the shelf and re-read. I have read it twice and I think I will read it again in the near futures. Lots of useful, actionable information from a seasoned pro. Classic Keeper! (5/5)

4.6/54.7/5

4.5/5 4.4/5

Book review: Asset management booksFmi.online • Part of the MDA Training Group

Title The Four Pillars of Investing

Author(s) William Bernstein

Publisher McGraw-Hill Education

Amazon rating

Best book on the subject ever, pithy practical readable and re-readable, a light touch upon the maths, and understandable by all continues to stand the test of time very well. Warning - read this book young enough and it can seriously improve your wealth (5/5)

Title Organisational Alpha

Author(s) Ben Carson

Publisher A Wealth of Common Sense

Amazon rating

Tremendously helpful book with practical content delivered succinctly. As the title suggests, very much focused on providing advice for those involved in institutional investing (whether as advisor, consultant or Client). The book is relatively thin but well worth buying as a practical guide. (5/5)

Title The House the Bogle Built

Author(s) Lewis Braham

Publisher McGraw-Hill Education

Amazon rating

Being a relatively new Vanguard investor... I looked forward with great anticipation to learning about how it all came about. At the same time, I knew little about Jack Bogle beyond others' opinions of him, which I found to be almost entirely positive. Mr. Braham did not disappoint me. (5/5)

Title All About Asset Allocation

Author(s) Richard Ferri

Publisher McGraw-Hill Education

Amazon rating

The book goes into great detail about building an optimal portfolio. It provides strategies and gives great insight on what works and what doesn’t. Must read for any finance aficionado and people who want to invest for the long and medium run. (5/5)

4.5/5 5/5

4.3/5 4.3/5

Book review: Quantitative FinanceFmi.online • Part of the MDA Training Group

Title The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution

Author(s) Gregory Zuckerman

Publisher Portfolio Penguin

Amazon rating

Excellent well written book. Fascinating description of the building of a quant finance house and the many years of trial and error it took. Based on many interviews with the people directly involved makes it credible (5/5)

Title Nerds on Wall Street

Author(s) David Leinweber

Publisher Wiley

Amazon rating

If you're a quant or institutional trader, this will be lightweight, interesting, and amusing. If you are an investor, it will give you an idea of what the short-term guys get up to. If you're an individual trader, it's a must-read, so you can see what you're up against. (4/5)

Title The Ultimate Algorithmic Trading System Toolbox

Author(s) George Pruitt

Publisher Wiley

Amazon rating

This book is totally worth your money if you are interested in algorithmic trading. It provides generously many full programs in several programming languages like Python, AmiBrokeror EasyLanguage, which are more valuable than the price of the book itself. (5/5)

Title Flash Boys

Author(s) Michael Lewis

Publisher W. W. Norton & Company

Amazon rating

One of the things I enjoy about Lewis's writing is his ability to explain difficult and complicated subjects. This one on high speed stock trading was no exception. Even though I am in the financial services field, there are aspects of this topic that were totally mystifying. (4/5)

4.4/5

4/5

4.8/54.5/5

Book review: Fixed Income and Equity MarketsFmi.online • Part of the MDA Training Group

Title The Bond Book

Author(s) Annette Thau

Publisher McGraw-Hill Education

Amazon rating

Excellent book. It brought lots of useful information and helped me to develop a basic understanding of the bond market, its terminology and dynamics in individual bonds. (5/5)

Title The Handbook of Fixed Income Securities

Author(s) Frank Fabozzi

Publisher McGraw-Hill Education

Amazon rating

I got a non-finance job at a finance company and looking to make a move into a finance role. I had no prior experience and just wading in with very basic knowledge. This book was suggested to me by a mentor and I'm so glad he did! (5/5)

Title The Equity Culture

Author(s) B. Mark Smith

Publisher Farrar Straus Giroux

Amazon rating

... a readable account of the evolution of the global equity market... this is not the history of the U.S. stock market... An account of equity markets in Japan, Germany, Malaysia, and elsewhere, though invariably much of the focus is on Japan, the U.S., the U.K. and Germany. (5/5)

Title Fooled by Randomness

Author(s) Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Publisher Random House

Amazon rating

…. if you can get past the author's arrogance in some places and overlook these as mere human flaws, then you will gain value from his insights... I found the real-life explanations of the psychological processes of Nassim's trader colleagues worth the read alone. (4/5)

4.6/54.3/5

4.7/5 4.3/5

Book review: Commodities and FXFmi.online • Part of the MDA Training Group

Title A Trader’s First Book on Commodities

Author(s) Carley Garner

Publisher DeCarley Trading

Amazon rating

I’ve wanted to trade futures for a very long time and have read many books that gave the basics. This book gave the basics and a lot more. I really felt after reading this book that I could realistically do it without putting up a fortune to open an account. (5/5)

Title From Tulips to Bitcoin

Author(s) Torsten Dennin

Publisher River Grove Books

Amazon rating

Nice short little stories. I'm not always sure of the main point, but they have all been worth reading. Clearly the author is a close follower of the markets, with the ability to add interesting background on the characters. Look Inside the Book feature proved valuable, and I was not disappointed. (5/5)

Title FX Derivatives Trader School

Author(s) Giles Jewitt

Publisher Wiley

Amazon rating

Highly recommended for anyone who wants to get or is already in FXO trading. This gives you a clear hands on appreciation of what the job is like and thorough understanding of most of the challenges and tasks. (5/5)

Title Currency Wars

Author(s) James Rickards

Publisher PORTFOLIO

Amazon rating

Currency wars is a very good book. It gives a good historical perspective to the monetary system we find ourselves in today. It also provides a good analyses of the financial crisis. I found the sections on the impact of VAR and complex systems very interesting (5/5)

4.3/5

4.5/5

4.5/5

4.5/5

Book review: DerivativesFmi.online • Part of the MDA Training Group

Title Derivatives Essentials

Author(s) Aron Gottesman

Publisher Wiley

Amazon rating

This book is simply the best. Even a third grader can understand the options after reading this book. Not math heavy. Explains the concepts in very simple and understanding ways. Definitely an addition to my library. (5/5)

Title Interest rate swaps and other derivatives

Author(s) Howard Corb

Publisher Columbia University Press

Amazon rating

… is all-purpose: a Wall Street reference manual, an introductory to intermediate textbook for business school and financial engineering students, and an entertaining and accessible read for all audiences interested in the $500 trillion rate derivatives market. (5 /5)

Title Managing Derivatives Contracts

Author(s) Khader Shaik

Publisher Apress

Amazon rating

There are players involved in derivatives market. Add to that, it is scattered in many segments. This book has done a great job bringing all those pieces together. This is a good source for someone to understand all that without spending life on Google. (5 /5)

Title All About Derivatives

Author(s) Michael Durbin

Publisher McGraw-Hill

Amazon rating

… makes learning about derivatives easy. I don't think this would be a good read for someone already knowledgeable on the topic but it could be used as a refresher. This book is good for understanding concepts and getting basics down. (5 /5)

4.8/54.7/5

4.8/54.4/5

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