The New Money Masters: Winning Investment Strategies of Soros, Lynch, Steinhardt, Rogers, Neff, Wanger, Michaelis, Carret

Whenever I read and find worth in an investment book (or any other non-fiction work, for that matter), I like to see what other books the author recommends. I had just finished Pat Dorsey's "The Five Rules for Successful Stock Investing" where he recommends this book's predecessor, viz. "The Money Masters" by John Train. Well, I couldn't get my grubby mitts on that, so I got its "sequel" instead. Note that about 3/7ths of the book consists of appendices (or appendixes, if you prefer). The book contains an interesting hodgepodge of chapters. Frankly, I'd only heard of George Soros and Peter Lynch before reading this, but now I know about Jim "Up with commodities and China . . . and by the way, I don't like people" Rogers (lose the bowtie, man) and John Neff (who I just saw in a Jan. 2009 issue of "Fortune" magazine). Not only do you get brief biographies of each man, but you get insight into their investment philosophies and techniques. By far the least comprehensible "guru" is George Soros. He's a genius, crazy, lucky or some combination of all three. Frankly, I had no idea what he was talking about most of the time and--if reviews of his "The Alchemy of Finance" are accurate--few others do, either. At least when you read the Peter Lynch section, he doesn't constantly say "four-bagger," "ten-bagger" and "twenty-bagger" like he so often does in "One Up on Wall Street." As in that book, he talks about Dunkin' Donuts and companies that make caskets or breed rats for experimentation as good investments. There are two interesting sections that don't discuss investment gurus per se. These are "Old Money" and "Managing Harvard's Money." The first talks about firms that manage rich people's money and how, over time, the investments tend to become safer over time (preserving existing capital rather than risking it) and how the freeloading, spoiled children of the rich are always pawing over Mom and Dad's loot. The other section is self-explanatory. The conclusions of the book are seeping with sagacity, my fellow investing friends. Train considers the widely varying philosophies of the men he has interviewed, generates some observations and makes a few recommendations.

This is an excellent work on the development of time-testedstrategies to invest. For instance, analysts watch fora levelling of the market (near the top); whereby, companieshire large staffs and raise money in the markets. Astuteinvestors watch for over-valuations. Industry bottoms arecritical to identify. Sometimes industries vanish or theyimprove with added investment-private or government.Smart investors identify stocks with increased earnings.Occasionally, an OTC stock will have a good balance sheetwith no term debt. Look for a current ratio of better than 2:1.In the late 1980s, the Japanese market was overpriced.The authors advise against investing in complicated derivativeinstruments because these activities may detract frommonitoring the fundamentals in downturns or upticks.The authors provide specific investment firms experienced inthe art of performance monitoring. i.e. Cambridge Associates,Warburg and Charter Oak (hedge fund). The book is a worthyinvestment if you intend to monitor the personal portfolioof stocks and funds.

If you want to read a concise book about the investment styles and philosophies of recent great investors this book might be the one for you. Any student considering asset management as a career should read this one as well as The Money Masters, its predecessor. I would encourage everyone to understand the difference from this book and its predecessor. This book is primarily focused on investors that became household names in the 1980s such as: Jim Rogers, Michael Steinhardt, Philip Caret, George Soros, George Michaelis, John Neff, Ralph Wanger, and Peter Lynch. The prior book, The Money Masters, deals with Golden Age investors who, for the most part, attained their reputations prior to the crash of 1973 and 1974.Both of Train's books are in the form of interviews he has with them. Train's writing is crisp and entertaining, and his interviews uncover many pearls of wisdom applicable to any investor's philosophy. The biggest brand name interviewed here, for most, is Peter Lynch who ran Fidelity's flagship Magellan fund. Lynch pioneered a consumer approach to the investing process and invested using a hybrid of the growth and value style that has come to be known within the industry as GARP, standing for Growth At A Reasonable Price. Both Soros and Rogers have fairly interesting ideas about the nature of investing and the sentiment behind it. Both of them worked at Soros' Quantum Fund, which was the largest and most successful hedge fund for decades and left both of them extremely rich. If anyone is interested in books on the people behind the financial industry read Money Masters, New Money Masters, Predators Ball, Money Culture, Den of Theives and F.I.A.S.C.O. 25 Investment Classics and Goldman Sachs: the Culture of Success are other notable books. I gave the book 4 stars because, while it was very concise and well written I didn't find any information within the book that was of great help to me. It was entertaining and informative but not ground breaking or made me say "AH HAH" or have that light bulb go off in my head.

The New Money Masters by John Train is the successor to his first book and is just as informative.  Investors covered include the following: Jim Rogers, Michael Steinhardt, Philip Caret, George Soros, George Michaelis, John Neff, Ralph Wanger, and Peter Lynch.  Outstanding investing is the result of a disciplined mental process. It is time well spent to learn how these investors think.

The New Money Masters provides interesting and insightful backgrounds of the most well renowned investors on Wall Street. Describing their tried and tested techniques and methodologies, you are left to appreciate a multitude of differing opinions and options to consider for your own investment opportunities. Each 'Master' has been illustrated in a chapter, with additional statements and transaction records included in the appendix. Overall, 'The New Money Masters' is a piece of literature that will be a pleasant and invaluable read for any investor, experienced or basic.