The Winning Investment Habits of Warren Buffett & George Soros: Harness the Investment Genius of the World's Richest Investors
Posted by jack_miller | Published 7 months ago
With 90 ratings
By: Mark Tier
Purchased At: $1.45 (52 used & new offers)
Warren Buffett, Carl Icahn, and George Soros all started with nothing---and made billion-dollar fortunes solely by investing. But their investment strategies are so widely divergent, what could they possibly have in common?
As Mark Tier demonstrates in this insightful book, the secrets that made Buffet, Icahn, and Soros the world's three richest investors are the same mental habits and strategies they all practice religiously. However, these are mental habits and strategies that fly in the face of Wall Street's conventional mindset. For example:
-Buffett, Icahn, and Soros do not diversify. When they buy, they buy as much as they can.
-They're not focused on the profits they expect to make. Going in, they're not investing for the money at all.
-They don't believe that big profits involve big risks. In fact, they're far more focused on not losing money than making it.
-Wall Street research reports? They never read them. They're not interested in what other people think. Indeed, Buffett says he only reads analyst reports when he needs a laugh.
In The Winning Investment Habits of Warren Buffett & George Soros you can discover how the mental habits that guided your last investment decision stack up against those of Buffett, Icahn, and Soros. Then learn exactly how you can apply the wealth-building secrets of the world's richest investors to transform your own investment results.
I enjoyed reading this book as this was my first dive into the history and investing success of Buffett and Soros. I have read many books since and I think this is a decent read for anyone interested in these two successful investors.
Let me make sure that everyone is clear; this book doesn't disclose any secrets or any inside information on how these guys invest. It’s basically a macro view ex post (after the fact) into their investment styles.
The author does a very good job of identifying the winning investment habits and also providing real life example to support his points.
Here are my top 3.
1) Don’t diversify - when you have done all the analysis and due diligence on an investment, invest with confidence and a decent amount of your portfolio. Theoretically you are planning to hold forever.
2) Invest in good mgmt - the people who run the company are the most important asset. You should seek out companies that have been run well and that mgmt has a long history of success
3) Don't listen to others - don't worry about the "noise" and other experts. Stick with your evaluation and be confident. Don’t listen to anyone on TV as mostly they are entertainment.
I have combined these and other habits mainly position managements and cutting losses into my investment system and I can tell you that these guys know what they are doing.
obviously we don't have the tools that Buffett has but if you read this book you are on your way to sharpen and develop your investing toolbox
At some points this book is a bit dry but overall I highly recommend to anyone who is interested in the not too technical aspects of Buffett's and Soros' investment.
There are no secrets and you can find this stuff elsewhere but the author does a good job of putting everything together.
Let me make sure that everyone is clear; this book doesn't disclose any secrets or any inside information on how these guys invest. It’s basically a macro view ex post (after the fact) into their investment styles.
The author does a very good job of identifying the winning investment habits and also providing real life example to support his points.
Here are my top 3.
1) Don’t diversify - when you have done all the analysis and due diligence on an investment, invest with confidence and a decent amount of your portfolio. Theoretically you are planning to hold forever.
2) Invest in good mgmt - the people who run the company are the most important asset. You should seek out companies that have been run well and that mgmt has a long history of success
3) Don't listen to others - don't worry about the "noise" and other experts. Stick with your evaluation and be confident. Don’t listen to anyone on TV as mostly they are entertainment.
I have combined these and other habits mainly position managements and cutting losses into my investment system and I can tell you that these guys know what they are doing.
obviously we don't have the tools that Buffett has but if you read this book you are on your way to sharpen and develop your investing toolbox
At some points this book is a bit dry but overall I highly recommend to anyone who is interested in the not too technical aspects of Buffett's and Soros' investment.
There are no secrets and you can find this stuff elsewhere but the author does a good job of putting everything together.
Unlike other books that try to sell you a method, or explain to you their method, this book here explains habits that two of the biggest investors/(Sorros is probably more a trader) use to amass their fortunes and constantly win in the markets. Then, it does something that so few books encourage it's readers to do (Van Tharp Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom being a clear and reccomended exception), it tells you that you are to look into yourself, and figure out a system that works for you. These are just habits, things that two great investors do in their trading that has made them successful.
The stock market is something that many people go into with vague hopes, with pension plans, or mutual funds for some interest, hoping that they'll pay off. Other people try to invest in a company they like--Peter Lynch's books can teach you brilliantly how he turned a mutual fund into something huge using that method--but a lot of people lack the will or the focus to do the research, the studying, and the ability to execute those buy and sell orders (emotionally) that the stock market will for most people remain a suckers bet.
With a book like this out there however, with its common and approachable language, it's to the point explainations, and it's brilliant juxtapositioning, you have a book that investors and traders alike should read long before ever buying their first stock.
To help design your own system, a few books that have helped my parents (investors) and me (trader).
Investing:
Benjamin Graham: The Intelligent Investor and Security Analysis (though some things have changed in the market, much of what's written in those books are pretty much biblical in their importance for intelligent investing and well worth the money).
Philip Fisher: Common Stocks And Uncommon Profits (The Intelligent Investor and the book Security Analysis can be considered the most important books for Value investing, then Fisher's must be considered the most important book for growth stock investing. It is one of the best books on finding stocks that will grow and grow).
Peter Lynch: Beating the Street and One Upon Wall Street (he was a massive diversifier, but learning how different people did it is always important.
Dorsey: The Five Rules For Successful Stock Investing (coupled with Keys to Reading an Annual Report) (These two books are astonishing in their key to investment wisdom. Coupled with the other books, you can be finding undervalued companies with growth potential in a matter of a few months, that in a few years will be worth dozens of dollars more than you bought them for).
Jim Cramer: Real Money (I am not a huge fan of his book, but the one thing he does promote is selling the stock. Buy and Hold in the stock market needs to become a dead aphorism, and his selling rules, and emphasis on Buy and Homework, is well worth the small price of the book).
Trading
Van Tharp: Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom (A brilliant book that lays bare the mental needs one must have for a trader and how to get yourself there).
Stan Weinstien: Secrets for Profiting in Bull and Beark Markets (though completely technical analysis, in trading, if you don't couple the fundementals with technicals, you can't expect big gains.
Martin Zweig's: Winning on Wall Street (This book focuses on a style of macro-analysis, taking the big picture, and then finding stocks that fit in the big picture, with government reports, global market, and the such.
William O' Neil: The Succesful Investor, 24 Essential Lessons for Investment Success, and How to Make Money In Stocks (okay, cheesy title I will admit, and it sounds like one of those books you get at your own peril. It's also a massive add for his newspaper Investor's Business Daily--though with the information I've gotten from the book it's my experience that if you have the time you can do the same thing with Barron's magazine. William O'Neil made himself millions by analyzing the market and shorting stocks and buying stocks before they broke in either direction. He supported his fledgling paper with his trades alone. His three books come to a little more than 30 dollars which you'll make back in weeks if you follow his rules).
Nicolas Darvas: How I Made Two Million Dollars in the Stock Market, Wall Street: The other Las Vegas (Another bad title, but a brilliant system called Box System, a system that has inspired William O'Neil and countless others).
Gearld Loeb: The Battle For Investment Survival (An old timers book that aged well and is still relevant).
Michael Covel: Trend Following (a brilliant book that gives a strategy called Trend Following that many successful funds have used).
Jesse Livermore: How To Trade Stocks (This poor Massachusetts boy, went from a small job at 14 or 15, at a stock brokerage, to making a hundred million dollars in the 1920's, his insight into the psychology of the market has saved me money and made me money).
I've read all these books and I think diversifying your knowledge instead of your portfolio and focusing key things that you think are important, and not being afraid to fail, which is a hurdle every trader has to overcome (one time missed out on a 20 point jump in less than two months, because the stock dropped slightly--not even below buying point--and I got scared). Live and learn, that's the major lesson. Start with this book, it's the perfect beginners guide in my opinion.
The stock market is something that many people go into with vague hopes, with pension plans, or mutual funds for some interest, hoping that they'll pay off. Other people try to invest in a company they like--Peter Lynch's books can teach you brilliantly how he turned a mutual fund into something huge using that method--but a lot of people lack the will or the focus to do the research, the studying, and the ability to execute those buy and sell orders (emotionally) that the stock market will for most people remain a suckers bet.
With a book like this out there however, with its common and approachable language, it's to the point explainations, and it's brilliant juxtapositioning, you have a book that investors and traders alike should read long before ever buying their first stock.
To help design your own system, a few books that have helped my parents (investors) and me (trader).
Investing:
Benjamin Graham: The Intelligent Investor and Security Analysis (though some things have changed in the market, much of what's written in those books are pretty much biblical in their importance for intelligent investing and well worth the money).
Philip Fisher: Common Stocks And Uncommon Profits (The Intelligent Investor and the book Security Analysis can be considered the most important books for Value investing, then Fisher's must be considered the most important book for growth stock investing. It is one of the best books on finding stocks that will grow and grow).
Peter Lynch: Beating the Street and One Upon Wall Street (he was a massive diversifier, but learning how different people did it is always important.
Dorsey: The Five Rules For Successful Stock Investing (coupled with Keys to Reading an Annual Report) (These two books are astonishing in their key to investment wisdom. Coupled with the other books, you can be finding undervalued companies with growth potential in a matter of a few months, that in a few years will be worth dozens of dollars more than you bought them for).
Jim Cramer: Real Money (I am not a huge fan of his book, but the one thing he does promote is selling the stock. Buy and Hold in the stock market needs to become a dead aphorism, and his selling rules, and emphasis on Buy and Homework, is well worth the small price of the book).
Trading
Van Tharp: Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom (A brilliant book that lays bare the mental needs one must have for a trader and how to get yourself there).
Stan Weinstien: Secrets for Profiting in Bull and Beark Markets (though completely technical analysis, in trading, if you don't couple the fundementals with technicals, you can't expect big gains.
Martin Zweig's: Winning on Wall Street (This book focuses on a style of macro-analysis, taking the big picture, and then finding stocks that fit in the big picture, with government reports, global market, and the such.
William O' Neil: The Succesful Investor, 24 Essential Lessons for Investment Success, and How to Make Money In Stocks (okay, cheesy title I will admit, and it sounds like one of those books you get at your own peril. It's also a massive add for his newspaper Investor's Business Daily--though with the information I've gotten from the book it's my experience that if you have the time you can do the same thing with Barron's magazine. William O'Neil made himself millions by analyzing the market and shorting stocks and buying stocks before they broke in either direction. He supported his fledgling paper with his trades alone. His three books come to a little more than 30 dollars which you'll make back in weeks if you follow his rules).
Nicolas Darvas: How I Made Two Million Dollars in the Stock Market, Wall Street: The other Las Vegas (Another bad title, but a brilliant system called Box System, a system that has inspired William O'Neil and countless others).
Gearld Loeb: The Battle For Investment Survival (An old timers book that aged well and is still relevant).
Michael Covel: Trend Following (a brilliant book that gives a strategy called Trend Following that many successful funds have used).
Jesse Livermore: How To Trade Stocks (This poor Massachusetts boy, went from a small job at 14 or 15, at a stock brokerage, to making a hundred million dollars in the 1920's, his insight into the psychology of the market has saved me money and made me money).
I've read all these books and I think diversifying your knowledge instead of your portfolio and focusing key things that you think are important, and not being afraid to fail, which is a hurdle every trader has to overcome (one time missed out on a 20 point jump in less than two months, because the stock dropped slightly--not even below buying point--and I got scared). Live and learn, that's the major lesson. Start with this book, it's the perfect beginners guide in my opinion.
Among the abundance of books available on both Warren Buffet and George Soros in publication, few if any capture the essence of their investment philosophies the way Mark Tier has in this masterpiece. The book goes directly to the root of the psychology and overriding behaviors that compose each of the billionaire's mindsets.
Preservation of capital, minimizing risk by operating within areas of competence, and building upon experience and knowledge toward a level of unconscious competence all represent the hallmark of each investor's strategies. Perhaps most striking is the simplicity offered in each investor's approach; their vast fortunes perhaps having more to do with discipline and adherence to their philosophies than to genius.
Many billionaires would struggle to present reliable strategies for anyone to follow in their path, yet as Tier illustrates both Buffet and Soros do not follow complicated strategies, they are both essentially bright investors who maintain the habit of sticking to rigid guidelines. Each of these habits is dissected in detail and as a result I have full confidence any investor will benefit from reading this book.
Preservation of capital, minimizing risk by operating within areas of competence, and building upon experience and knowledge toward a level of unconscious competence all represent the hallmark of each investor's strategies. Perhaps most striking is the simplicity offered in each investor's approach; their vast fortunes perhaps having more to do with discipline and adherence to their philosophies than to genius.
Many billionaires would struggle to present reliable strategies for anyone to follow in their path, yet as Tier illustrates both Buffet and Soros do not follow complicated strategies, they are both essentially bright investors who maintain the habit of sticking to rigid guidelines. Each of these habits is dissected in detail and as a result I have full confidence any investor will benefit from reading this book.
I originally bought the book to understand the mind of Soros. Or I should say, try to understand. Adding Buffett was a wonderful treat. After only a few pages, I felt so much better about my investments, though that was not my original thought. I highly recommend this book. The bottom line: Do not waste money, but definitely buy this book. Read it and you will understand the reference.
it is interesting
Menciona y describe los metodos que usan Warren & George
NO cierra con ejemplos del sistema paso a paso.
Recomendable porque menciona muy importantes ejemplos y casos que te pueden evitar malas decisiones y procesos equivocados en inversiones.
NO cierra con ejemplos del sistema paso a paso.
Recomendable porque menciona muy importantes ejemplos y casos que te pueden evitar malas decisiones y procesos equivocados en inversiones.
I bought the resell version but I'll never sell it. This book broke so many of my bad notions... and placed 23 habits you can slowly learn.
Muy interesante. Al leerlo te das cuenta de cómo los grandes inversores adaptan la inversión a su personalidad y sus diferentes habilidades.
Nothing new, most of contents in this book are common sense.
Definitely well written and detailed but for someone starting at the ground level, it lost me at times. It became a struggle trying to read and also learn as I went. However, I did enjoy the human aspects....reading about HOW successful investors thought. ...and why. I would recommend it to those who have a good basic understanding about the subject but not for those who don't. but again an interesting book
- otto_cox
I was very surprised by this book. It looks like a cheap ebook that should sell for $0.99, but it's actually well written and has a lot of useful insights about Buffett and Soros.
it is really a very good book. Any one who is seriously interested in making money( and of course more important is not losing money- very important) must read this book again and again. It is a treasurer of knowledge on stock market investments.
great direct style and a lot of quotes of Buffet and Soros. also other great investors. have the kindle version
The author makes some good points, but overall the book is very waffley. For anyone who's read much at all about Buffett or Soros it won't really add much to your knowledge or understanding.
If it were written more concisely and the points were more purposefully and explicitly argued it could be a much more useful book. As it is, in each chapter the author makes points in a very roundabout way loosely relating Buffett and Soros' philosophies to the title of the chapter in a not particularly compelling way. Unimpressive, as it should be easy to write compellingly about these two guys.
The book is written at a level suitable for someone reading their first or second book on investing. This doesn't make much sense, since if you really want to follow the advice in the book (e.g. make up your own mind about whether a stock is over or undervalued), then you will have to learn a lot more about for example about things like, (Warren Buffett:) how to value a company including how to think about the long term prospects for a company; or (George Soros:) what determines the value of a currency. And if you learn that stuff by reading other books about Buffett and Soros, you won't need to read this book, nor will you find it useful.
Therefore I can't imagine who this book would be useful for.
There are much more interesting and informative books about Buffett's approach, and the chapter on Soros that I read in another book about investing told me a lot more and was more interesting.
Whilst the book is probably not inaccurate and makes some decent points(in a very roundabout way), I consider it fairly pointless and think that it was probably a waste of time reading it.
If it were condensed into 1/5th of its current length it could be useful and less dull.
If it were written more concisely and the points were more purposefully and explicitly argued it could be a much more useful book. As it is, in each chapter the author makes points in a very roundabout way loosely relating Buffett and Soros' philosophies to the title of the chapter in a not particularly compelling way. Unimpressive, as it should be easy to write compellingly about these two guys.
The book is written at a level suitable for someone reading their first or second book on investing. This doesn't make much sense, since if you really want to follow the advice in the book (e.g. make up your own mind about whether a stock is over or undervalued), then you will have to learn a lot more about for example about things like, (Warren Buffett:) how to value a company including how to think about the long term prospects for a company; or (George Soros:) what determines the value of a currency. And if you learn that stuff by reading other books about Buffett and Soros, you won't need to read this book, nor will you find it useful.
Therefore I can't imagine who this book would be useful for.
There are much more interesting and informative books about Buffett's approach, and the chapter on Soros that I read in another book about investing told me a lot more and was more interesting.
Whilst the book is probably not inaccurate and makes some decent points(in a very roundabout way), I consider it fairly pointless and think that it was probably a waste of time reading it.
If it were condensed into 1/5th of its current length it could be useful and less dull.
nice one.
Great book. Fast delivery.
Great ideas in the book nicely presented. Useful for amateurs and professionals both.
Amazing book for investors and traders in any market
It's a behaviour decision making to help you to make money.