Jeremy Siegel and his investment books

Jeremy Siegel, a Professor of Finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania has written a number of books on investment. The following two books are his research works on stocks.

Stocks for the Long Run (4Th edition): The definitive guide to financial market returns and long term investment strategies

This book is the best summary of the historical data on investing in US (with some comparison to other financial markets as well). The main topics are:
1. The Verdict of History;
2. Stocks Returns;
3. Economic Environment of Investing;
4. Stock Fluctuations in the Short Run;
5. Building Wealth Through Stocks.

Another book is

The Future for Investors: Why the tried and the true triumph over the bold and the new

This book cover five parts:
First two parts focus on analysis of historic data using very unique perspective, mostly with respect to changing membership of SP500 index over the years.
In the Third and Fourth parts, he discusses the different measures to consider while analysing a company's performance from the shareholders' points of view.
The Fifth part is the most useful for reader seeking investment advice. He provides a sample portfolio based on the principles he explains in the Third and Fourth parts of the book. In addition to percentage allocation for US and non-US(about 30-40%) markets, he provides allocation targets for some of the specific investment strategies he discusses in the book (centred around the dividend paid by the company).

The New Paradigm for Financial Markets

The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What It Means

This is a book written by George Soros. It was published in May 2008 before the severe financial crisis in Sept 2009. So George Soros became a successful prophet of the markets.

In his book, he offers some solutions, which centre on new regulation for markets and how to avoid forced sales for US homeowners. The theory he developed is based on 'the relationship between thinking and reality' - "Reflexivity". He says, participants' thinking plays a dual function: they try to understand the situation, and to change it. The two functions can interfere with each other, when they do so the markets displays 'reflexivity'.

Soros believes that a super bubble has been formed as the result of a "long-term reflexive process". Its hallmarks include credit expansion and a prevailing misconception. There have been numerous financial crisis in this period, and these served as successful tests which reinforced the prevailing trend and the prevailing misconception. Thus the current crisis grows in severity because it marks the turning point when both the trend and the misconception have become unsustainable.

Kristabel in Singapore