My 20 All-Time Favorite Finance Books (Part 2)

As promised, here is the follow up to part 1…read these or risk losing big money in the arkets cuz you didn’t learn the important lessons they teach us.

Education of a Speculator - Forge the fact that Victor has blown up twice now, he’s still worth a few million and he’s had some great runs. Perhaps he should just stop using leverage! Yah right, like that’ll ever happen—the best thing this book will do is to teach you to think differently.

The Disciplined Trader - Wish I’d read this earlier in my career, but alas, somehow it didn’t make the cut for far too long. Don’t make that same mistake, read this and learn from the grand daddy of trading psychology books.

Bernard M Baruch - God, I love stories of truly successful financial speculators—Baruch was one of the best. And even though this book doesn’t go into specific details of his strategies, it’s a great overview of the lifestyle and thinking of a successful trader.

Pit Bull - Another hugely successful trader, this book is much more in your face than Baruch’s and is one of the few recent financial releases worth spending time on.  

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My 20 All-Time Favorite Finance Books (Part 1)

These are my favs, ranked in order of how much of a fav they are–whether enjoyment or education-wise. You can see my whole 300 business library HERE (or at least what we’ve put up so far)

Notice there are few “How To” books—I believe success is more about understanding the variables and players behind the scenes so you can adapt to the inevitable changes. So, I prefer autobiographies—experiences full of lessons told through the eyes of the experienced who’ve learned those lessons the hard way so you don’t have. Throw in a few financial history classics and some trading psychology gems and you’ve got yourself one hell of a financial education. Just order the whole lot of ‘em, the cost of these books are a small price to pay for the money they’re gonna save you in the markets.

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator - My all-time favorite book, not just because it’s quick, entertaining, meaningful, practical, inspirational and timeless…okay well, yeah because of all that. Before you ever trade another stock, read this book!

An American Hedge Fund - C’mon, you knew I had to mention this if only because I’ve never read any other book so many times. Granted, some of that was for editing purposes, but I really think I nailed what the life of a stock trader is like—the passion, the nervousness, the anxiety, the restlessness—it’s not just about the money, it’s a great profession for those willing to challenge themselves and see what they’re made of. And, considering 90% of traders lose money, I wish there were a lot more brutally honest books like this.

How To Make Money In Stocks - My top pick for beginners, this sucker has sold 1+ million copies…besides CANSLIM investing being a successful strategy, it’s now just all one big self-fulfilling prophecy—don’t be the only one on the block who hasn’t read this…lots of angles to profit from its popularity.

Japanese Candlestick Charts - by Nison. If you’re gonna trade based on chart patterns, you need to know how to read candlesticks. This is a semi-expensive book so all you homeless people are gonna have to go to your local library to read it.  

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Two Great Book Reviews And A DVD Review To Boot!

I absolutely love getting emails like this:

“Tim, I just wanted to thank you for An American Hedge Fund and PennyStocking. My boyfriend was the first to read your incredible book and now my boys, Charlie, 6, and Julian, 4, can’t get enough of it; they make me read it to them every night! And your DVD, oh my, it’s so taught us so much; so now we’re not afraid of any recession because as you say “you can profit from betting against companies managed by all the idiots on Wall Street!” And thanks to your strategies, we’ve already made a few thousand dollars in one month through short selling some of these surging microcaps! So, thank you, thank you, thank you, you’ve changed our lives and I’ll be forever grateful!”

Sincerely,

Michelle Casey

And check out the hilarious pics that were attached:

Not to be outdone, I got another great book review from a highly respected investment advisor, Ulli Niemann, aka The Wall Street Bully. Besides having a badass blogger nickname, Ulli advises his clients in ETF and mutual fund investing so I really had no idea how he’d take my wild journey. Guess it’s a good thing he’s a big believer in The American Dream! Here are some of my fav quotes from his review:

“Here’s a man who definitely learned from his shortcomings and is willing let the world know about it by sharing them in his book.”

“The knowledge he gained from several years in the trenches represents wisdom that I have found also applicable to the world of trend tracking.”

“Any trader or investor should adhere to Tim’s findings. This book is a fast and fun read, and I couldn’t put it down.”

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Sykes’ Saturday Seven: March 29th, 2008 Edition

Gotta start this linkfest off with one of the best quotes I received all week:

“I’m 150 pages into An American Hedge Fund already. Best trading book I’ve read since Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, something Tim’s book reminds me of.”

Comments like that just keep streaming in; I’m extremely honored—after all, Reminscences is my all-time fav book

THIS article says my now 2,800 Facebook friends aren’t really my friends. Noooooo!

Another blog comment (you guys are givin’ me some good stuff, thanks!) showed that TIM is not the first totally transparent trader, not by a long shot. I’m about 8 years off. Unfortunately, those other guys lasted just over a year, probly cuz they were also trying to raise capital…that won’t be a problem here!

This blogger tries to pick a fight with me in order to get some press for his crappy little blog…that’s fine, I’ll oblige. See my comments under his post correcting his assumptions with facts. Only one thing worse than a value investor—a value investor who jumps to conclusions without doing the proper research beforehand!

Now these are some real blogs, the TOP 25 BLOGS, all seriously banking (I might get up there one day, but rest assured no value investor will EVER get close, they’re all sooooooo boring!)

Former Countrywide guy creates a new loan company, just like the LTCM guys founding other hedge funds—we really need some kind of law to ban these bastards from business if they lose x billion dollars, would prison sentences be too much to ask for?

Classic clip from one of my all-time fav movies, There Will Be Blood

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Zecco and FOX Biz Interviews And Some More Glowing Book Reviews

Andrew Horowitz, wealth manager, the godfather of financial podcasting, aka “El Podrino” and author of beginners-must-read-or-else-you’ll-stay-stupid-forever book The Disciplined Investor and I will be talking about our different strategies for this bear market in a Zecco/BlogTalkRadio sponsored podcast fiesta next Thursday, March 20th, 5PM EST. It’s free to listeners—you can even ask us questions live—but there’s also gonna be a televised Pay-Per-View event, check with your local cable company. Tim Sykes bomaye!

Listen to the promo and register below so we can send you annoying reminders the day or two before the event and then harvest your emails FOREVA. (I’m kidding, there will be no harvesting… just reminding)  

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Reminiscences of a Stock Operator: Maria Bello And Me

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator is not only my all-time favorite book, nor is it simply the book to which countless reviews (including one from the Dow Jones Newswire) have compared my book, but the activity itself is actually quite helpful for trading because it’s only through careful reflection of the past that we are better prepared for the future.

After many weeks filled with too many 20-hour work days, I enjoy reminiscing about my favorite annual trip, the Sundance Film Festival. Over the past five years, my friends and I have had some wild and crazy times: partying our asses off, schmoozing with celebs, networking, gawking at the seemingly near-plastic LA models/wannabe actresses and seeing incredible movies many months before they’re fit for public consumption (get ready for The Wackness), but this year the trip went by far too quickly.

Perhaps it was because most of my friends now have serious girlfriends or that my newfound blogging business/TIMtv consumed most of my time or the fact that because I was working so much, I didn’t get to enjoy Sundance as much as I would’ve liked.

But the entire trip was made worthwhile by my brief encounter with the stunning Maria Bello. She may be a bit older than me, out of my league and in a committed relationship, but when we met, sparks flew.

Don’t take my word for it, see for yourself:

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Some Saturday Morning Link Love & 5 More Questions Answered

Ever get that FreeCreditReport.com jingle stuck in your head? I do, that and the Hotwire.com one. Great, great advertising, they should be commended and linked to often. I even used Hotwire a few weeks back, they really were cheap. Anybody use FreeCreditReport?

Check out my new website’s first official sponsor…If you’re interested in getting your brand seen by 3,000 daily visitors, click here!

WallSt.net launches a new half-hour TV program, guess who’s in it?

A-Train Finance interviews me, you know you wanna click it!

More financial transparency? A good start, but not nearly enough

A SPAM-free search engine for financial blogs

Jason Leavitt of Leavitt Brothers does a really thorough book review of my book
Powerpoint Presentation and all! Among other things he says, “It’s a good book, it’s a fun read, it’s a light read”  

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Some Friday Afternoon Link Love And Fun Videos!

Stocktradingtogo.com is a blog dedicated to the independent investor—daily market analysis, stock picks, and investment insight (basically like mine without the attitude/chip on their shoulder). Writers include a hedge fund manager, Covestor.com’s #1 most followed trader (I’m currently #4, but I’m comin’ for you epicady!!!), and badass owner Blain Reinkensmeyer. The site also offers nearly 100 stock education articles, so def. consider subscribing to their feed!

Here are some of their golden nuggets:

50 Ways You Know You’re An Emotional…

7 Great Shorts In Down Markets

60 Tips For Investment Success

Day Trading Basics

Ultra ETFs + Strategies Explained

Boiler rooms are getting popular again, awww yeahh!

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A Little TimothySykes.com Sunday Morning Link Love

This SocGen story is crazy scary — a nobody trader playing with 50 Billion Euros (half of all the gold and currency reserves held by France), $7 billion in losses in 10 days, higher ups say it could’ve been 10x worse, we’re practically asking for a global catastrophe.

Check out the list of biggest trading losses, all within the last 20 years!  

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