Which Financial Books Are In Your Personal Business Library

If you are a stock broker, work as a financial planner, analyst, banker or securities regulator, then you must have knowledge of the market and know a little bit of the history. The other day a young man was studying to take his securities license at Starbucks and was very interested in getting started as soon as he passed the test, which I am sure he will ace, he knew his stuff down cold.

Nevertheless, there is a big difference in studying for government tests for securities licenses and understanding the inner workings of Wall Street and how the industry actually operates, so I ran home and grabbed some old books off my personal business library to give to the young man, as he said he would be there for a few hours.

Sure enough when I got back he was still there studying away with the same intensity and dedication and so, I gave him a few books. Perhaps these books are of interest to you if you are getting into the securities industry or looking for work as a financial planner, the first book is:

"The Wall Street Gurus - How You Can Profit from Investment Newsletters" by Peter Brimelow - 1986.

How do you pick the best financial advice newsletters? The Author discusses actual newsletters of 2-decades ago, things have changed a bit of course, with the Internet, day trading websites and all the online information now available. So, how do you pick a winning Financial Guru and how do you pick the best newsletters, Blogs, or Ezines for hot stock picks, bonds, commodities or mutual funds.

Knowing where to get information and what information is worthy is very important. Another book of interest was one about what happens when Wall Street Warriors Unite - what's it all about? So I recommend this book to you:

"Takeover - the new Wall Street Warriors - the men, the money, the impact" by Moira Johnston - 1986.

From the Oil Industry to the Airline Industry, no major industry was spared from hostile takeovers, leveraged buyouts and the 1980's craze of mergers and acquisitions. Perhaps you recall the headlines of the day with names like T. Boone Pickens and Carl Icahn, and all the men and money behind them and others as they raided companies, bought and sold assets and made billion dollar deals during lunch.

Think of all the arbitragers, brokers, investment bankers, lawyers, proxy fighters and government regulators all running around working their PR teams to woo Wall Street and fight it out, in a no holds bar game. This book is full of intrigue, dark secrets and battles that are still talked about today at the largest business schools. Next I think you need to know a little bit so you have some understanding of Bond and Money Market Investments, so go check out this book:

"The Dow Jones-Irwin Guide to Bond and Money Market Investments" by Marcia Stigum and Frank J. Fabozzi - 1987.

This book from its front flap cover tells us that it can answer questions that investors wish to know about bond and money market investments such as:

What are these instruments?
How do they measure up in terms of risk, liquidity and return?
How are they bought and sold?
How can they be used in a program for personal investing?
What are long-term and short-term debt securities?


The book goes through risks, returns, liquidity and investment characteristics of debt securities. There are chapters on Certificates of Deposit, Treasury Bills, Commercial Papers, Money Market Funds, Notes and Bonds, Tax Issues with Bond Trading, Federal Government Securities, Municipal Securities, Corporate Bonds, Convertible Bonds, Mortgage Pass Through Securities and strategies when swapping and trading.

After you get through with these books, well drop me a note and I will give you three more to read. You can never stop learning in the financial industry, and the past is almost as important as the future. There are things you need to know, beyond the license.