Payback Time: Making Big Money Is the Best Revenge!

I have my own results to prove what I learned from Phil's Book Rule One and Payback Time. I started a 100K portfolio in february 2009 when all the technical indicators on the S & P 500 where indicating me to get in. I picked 8 stocks that I screened according to his methods that meet the Big 5 numbers criteria , had meaning, moat and good management. Its been a little more than a year , i sold a few times and bought back. Currently my portfolio is up 161.5% in a little more than one year. I started using packback time as a screening tool now and picked a few Rule one stocks with Payback times of less than 7 years 1 month ago, since then I am up 11% compared to the Dow 3.26% . I am a believer in Phil's teaching. If you follow every step methodically and get your emotions out of you decision making I am sure you'll more than beat the market. I am doing it and expect to keep doing it. I knew very little about investing before reading Phil Town's . To me this are the best practical books about investing in stocks for the long term. Anyone that doesn't get the result I am getting is not following all the steps thoroughly. Great job Phil. I hope to to talk to you soon on your blog.

"Both low and high, Rich and poor together." -- Psalm 49:2 (NKJV) If you read and liked Rule #1 and are using that method, you probably will be disappointed in Payback Time. If Rule #1 seemed appealing, but was beyond what you could apply on your own, you'll probably find Payback Time easier to use. I once attended a major investing seminar conducted by one of the most famous motivational speakers in the world. He spent two hours on an exercise where we were supposed to learn to buy low and sell high. Most people were delighted with that lesson, even though we only learned the principle . . . not how to implement it. I was shocked to see how little it takes to please those who don't know much about stock investing. But I assume you are well beyond that level. If you are fan of Rule #1 (as I am), let me cut to the chase: Payback Time primarily gives you a buy-low-and-hold version of Rule #1 along with an update concerning online resources available and a more complete Web site to help you perform the details. Of the two books, Rule #1 is for those who want to be very active investors. Payback Time is for those who want to do less work and pay less attention to the market day-to-day. Lest you take that point lightly, let me mention that I once had a book contract to write a similar book. I returned the contract after a few months of struggling to explain in simple language with not too many words how to do some similar evaluations. I found it to be harder than it was worth doing. As a result, I admire Phil Town for sticking with his writing to produce a book that is clear, simple, and not too hard to implement. Do I take exception to anything he had to say? Sure I do. Anyone would. But the advice is pretty sound. I thought the best part of the book was in defining the sell discipline, something few investment books take seriously. I think he sets a pretty high target, one that may cause you to miss some well-timed selling opportunities. The main problem with the method is that to have lots of opportunities you require stock market collapses occurring reasonably often. During a period such as the 1990s (especially on the NASDAQ), you might find it difficult to apply the method to stocks you understand well that are dramatically under priced. In today's environment, I suspect bargains by this method are few, for instance. My main quibble with the book is that Mr. Town spends about 20 percent of the content explaining that mutual fund returns aren't very good, the expenses piled onto mutual funds cause your returns to be much lower, and sharing his view that you cannot count on Social Security. All of this material was worth about two or three pages, not fifty. Do your homework!

I find the information provided in this book very pertinent to our times. The subject matter is presented in a simple manner and the author is compeling. Finally, investment information that is attainable by everyone ! Louis Picard

Phil Town makes sense when it comes to investing. It takes some work to find really good companies and some discipline to follow Town's advise, but It is worth the effort.

Phil Town has done it once again with his new book, "Payback Time." After reading his previous book, "Rule #1," I felt like I could become a shrewd investor because of Phil's easy explanations. In "Payback Time" Phil gets into even more detail about buying stocks and steers the novice into the proper investment direction. I recommend this book highly to anyone who wants to buy into "wonderful" companies with no risk.