AnyBook4Less.com	Find the Best Price on the Web Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Home  |  Store List  |  FAQ  |  Contact Us  |
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money Keyword AuthorISBN

Title: Beating the Dow with Bonds : A High-Return, Low-Risk Strategy for Outperforming the Pros Even When Stocks Go South by Michael B. O'Higgins, John McCarty ISBN: 0-88730-883-X Publisher: HarperBusiness Pub. Date: 01 March, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00

Your Country USA Canada United Kingdom Australia Austria Belgium France Germany Italy Netherlands Switzerland Currency AutoUSD CAD GBP EUR AUD CHF Delivery Only cheapest delivery All delivery options Include Used Books Are you a club member of: Barnes and Noble Books A Million Chapters.Indigo.ca

Average Customer Rating: 2.55 (31 reviews)

Rating: 2
Summary: Short on content and poorly edited, but important
Comment: O'Higgins' "Beating the Dow with Bonds" is an updated version of his very successful "Beating the Dow" which outlined the now well-known "Dogs of the Dow" strategy. In his new book O'Higgins presents a simple system whereby investors decide at the beginning of each year whether their money should be in treasury bills, treasury bonds, or stocks.

Simply stated, O'Higgins recommends investing in stocks only when the average yield (the inverse of P/E: E/P) of the S&P 500 exceeds the yield on government bonds. If this is not the case, then one uses the change in the price of gold is an indicator of inflation to decide whether to invest in US Treasury bills or US Government zero-coupon bonds.

While I find the strategy interesting, and am persuaded that the stock market is tremendously overvalued at present (a main point of the book), I think that this information could have been presented in 10 to 15 pages. O'Higgins reiterates the same information over and over again, and the book is the full of what I consider "filler." A full 65 pages (one fourth of the book!) contains synopses of the 30 companies comprising the Dow Industrials. Four pages list "selected" discount brokerage firms addresses.

I have very little patience for sloppy editing. Between O' Higgins, his cowriter (John McCarty) and their editor I would expect such glaring errors as missing words in sentences (not to mention nonsensical sentences) would not make it to publication. They did.

In summary, I would recommend that interested readers check out a copy from their local library and read pages 166 through 170. After reading this outline of O' Higgins' method, thumbing through previous chapters (noting the figures) will provide a quick, and probably useful, overview of his rationale. O'Higgins is making some very important points in "Beating the Dow with Bonds," and he is certainly a well-respected market veteran (as he points out on a number of occasions), but due to the rambling nature of the book and the sloppy editing I cannot recommend its purchase.

Rating: 2
Summary: Interesting...but confusing
Comment: I agree with much of what has already been said as far as the amount of filler and the editorial glitches. And can anyone figure out the last chart -- table 11.1? These numbers make no sense and don't even correspond with the info on table 9.1. I began the book with some excitement but ended up feeling very uncertain about the method.

Rating: 5
Summary: Profitable, Pragmatic Advice for All Investment Scenarios
Comment: This is one of the few stock market books from the 1990s that will be read and appreciated many years from now. While silly stuff like "Dow 36,000" & Harry Dent quickly withers away, O'Higgins advice gains credibility every day in this apparently multi-year bear market. Several web sites (beartopia dot com & others) mention this book. Perhaps the book's title should have substituted "zero coupon bonds" for the word "bonds." Do look up the authors corrected list of investment steps here at Amazon, however, do not let the slightly sloppy editing deter you from learning this powerful investment advice. The more knowledgable one is of the market, the more one appreciates O'Higgins and his two works. This book's advice works in bull and bear markets.

Similar Books:

	Title: Beating the Dow (Revised and Updated) by Michael B. O'Higgins, John Downes ISBN: 0066620473 Publisher: HarperBusiness Pub. Date: 15 March, 2000 List Price(USD): $15.00
	Title: Trouncing the Dow: A Value-Based Method for Making Huge Profits in the Stock Market by Kenneth Lee ISBN: 0070383014 Publisher: McGraw-Hill Trade Pub. Date: 31 August, 1998 List Price(USD): $24.95
	Title: Winning with the Dow's Losers : Beat the Market with Underdog Stocks by Charles B. Carlson ISBN: 006057657X Publisher: HarperBusiness Pub. Date: 23 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95
	Title: Financial Reckoning Day: Surviving the Soft Depression of the 21st Century by William Bonner, Addison Wiggin ISBN: 0471449733 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 12 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95
	Title: How to Retire Rich: Time-Tested Strategies to Beat the Market and Retire in Style by James O'Shaughnessy, James O'Shaughnessy ISBN: 0767900731 Publisher: Bantam Books Pub. Date: 29 December, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.00