"Payback Time" investment paperback £1 in Poundland

buglawton

I posted this in HUKD but the folks who haunt that site might not be the best target audience!

It is about technique for building your own portfolio and avoiding the rapacious fund managers.

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/payback-time-investment-paperback-1-poundland-1803344

dunstonh

The only real negative is that the author is American and the book geared to the US which has a different taxation system to the UK which results in differences in how to invest. Fund management in the US has different issues to the UK (such as gains in the US being taxed at fund level but not in the UK -this makes managing funds harder in the US). Plus, the US investor tends to be very inward looking and the UK and European investor tends to view things more globally. So, you see differences in portfolio construction to reflect that.

If it costs a pound, its not much but then why is it only costing a pound? Why are poundland distributing a book designed for the US market in the UK? Perhaps a job lot on the cheap as it hasnt sold there?

buglawton

I think you just spent more than a £1's worth of mental energy looking a gift horse in the mouth.

Glen_Clark

buglawton wrote: »

I think you just spent more than a £1's worth of mental energy looking a gift horse in the mouth.

If the author is shrewd enough to advise others how to get the most from their assets, why is he selling his own assets (book) so cheap?

jamesd

Well, it has some positive points. On page 7 of the introduction, his italics:

'There are bestsellers written every year that "prove" to you that no one, not even Mr. Buffett, has beaten the market and, therefore, there is no reason for you to try. These ads, books and shows are wrong. And they are not just "mistaken." They're lying to you. They know that good investors bear the market all the time. It's an inescapable fact'

And on page 26: 'smile when you read a headline that says "Investors lose as market falls." ... there is a buyer for every seller and what hurts one necessarily helps the other'

Buy when markets are down seems to be the key message. Wonderful. Now that we know what the book says we can skip reading the rest and not have to pay attention to his claim that he's made 17-24% annual return for twenty years (page 27). Nor to his 'our nimbleness offsets our lack of experience' as the reason why it's reasonable to expect those returns.

What Mr. Buffett really recommended for beginners and most people subject to US taxation and investing in US markets is that they buy tracker funds.

He really should make up his mind about professional investors as well, are they geniuses who can make 50% a year or worthless?:

'if he knows a number of investors who can do 50 percent a year with $5 million dollars [sic], why can't we do half as well as those guys ... professional money managers ... They are worthless'' (pages 28 and 29)

Probably a good idea not to buy this book, lest you believe it. Sometimes the price is low for a reason.

Glen_Clark

jamesd wrote: »

his claim that he's made 17-24% annual return for twenty years (page 27)

He could only make more than average by taking it from investors who make less than average. If they knew as much as him he couldn't beat them.
But now he has decided to put all his secrets into a book and sell it for a pound.
Rather like those nice strangers who cold call you with wonderful investment opportunities :rotfl:

buglawton

What Mr. Buffett really recommended for beginners and most people subject to US taxation and investing in US markets is that they buy tracker funds.

Which is what the author of Payback Time also advises to people who don't want to learn about investment.

buglawton

Err, he did not decide to sell it for a pound, Jim McCarthy did.

Glen_Clark

buglawton wrote: »

Err, he did not decide to sell it for a pound, Jim McCarthy did.

I don't follow.
Presumably the author is selling it to Poundland for less than a pound?
(I have read Tim Hales 'Smarter Investing' which I think is pretty good. Unfortunately I didn't read it until I had already learned most of what is in it the hard way )