Financial Services Books and other readings of Interest

A Random Walk Down Wall Street, Burton Malkiel

• First published more than 30 years ago, Malkiel has recently released the 9th edition of this ‘must have’ book updated with a new chapter that draws on behavioral finance, the field that studies the psychology of investment decisions. This best-selling book offers an authoritative and gimmick-free guide to investing.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Shareholder Letters

• Shareholder letters from 1977 through to 2008
• I really enjoyed the 2005 discussion of frictional costs in the story of the Gotrocks family

www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/letters.html

Canadian Taxation of Life Insurance, Cuperfain and Marino

• More than you will ever need to know…

Capital Ideas: The Improbable Origins of Modern Wall Street, Peter L. Bernstein

• This is a great introduction to the evolution of the prevailing theories of how the markets work.

Fooled by Randomness – The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets, Nassim Nicholas Taleb

• Named by Fortune as one of the smartest books of all time.

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, Steven D.Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

• Levitt is perhaps the most influential economist in America today, and his book is a great read.

Security Analysis, Benjamin Graham and David Dodd

• A seminal work on value investing.

The Only Guide to a Winning Investment Strategy You’ll Ever Need, Larry E. Swedroe

• Swedroe provides a good description of the crucial difference between “active” and “passive” investing.

The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many are Smarter than the Few, James Surowiecki

• New Yorker business columnist Surowiecki argues that “under the right circumstances, groups are remarkably intelligent, and are often smarter than the smartest people in them.”

Wealth: Grow It, Protect It, Spend It, and Share It, Stuart E. Lucas

• This is the Story of an ultra- rich family and the challenges they face to manage their wealth. The issues are well illustrated. Lucas struggles with the investment approach where he endorses passive management for others but applies active to the family assets. His business is active management and this may partially explain the contradiction.