Schaum's Outline of Investments

List Price: $17.95 Discount Price: $10.00

Customer Reviews:

A Good Book For The Do-It-Yourselfer [Posted on 1998-09-10]
A good book for someone who wants to learn the mathematics and mechanics of the various financial instruments.

Good introduction to the beginning student of investment [Posted on 2002-03-06]
This book gives an excellent elementary introduction to investment techniques and concepts for the beginning student of business or economics. It is full of useful examples and solved problems as is characteristic of all books in this series, and it also gives adequate explanation of the terms and results in most areas of investment activity. Some of the parts of the book which are particularly well-written or helpful include: 1. The diagram of the corporate bond rating process . 2. The flowchart detailing a primary offering made through a syndicate of investment bankers. 3. The summary of the different security market indices. 4. The discussion of the "naive buy-and-hold strategy" and their use as benchmarks against which other investment strategies may be compared. 5. The discussion of the Dupont framework for analyzing equity returns and growth to reveal the sources of the growth of the firm. 6. The discussion of time-series comparisons for the ratios of a firm. 7. The discussion of the various problems involved when doing financial statement analysis. 8. The discussion on arbitrage. 9. The treatment of moving averages and the accompanying illustration of different moving averages. 10. The discussion of the random walk theory in the context of the efficient markets theory. The random walk theory has been been taken to be axiomatic by most financial analysts but has recently been challenged recently by empirical studies of financial data. 11. The treatment of the different levels of market efficiency, including the weakly efficient, the semistrong efficient, and the strongly efficient market hypotheses. 12. The discussion of the anomalies in market data that point to deviations from the efficient market hypothesis. 13. The chapter on portfolio analysis via the use of covariance and the treatment of the efficient frontier. 14. The treatment of the capital asset pricing model.

A Gem for Supplemental Studies [Posted on 2005-03-29]
Schaum's Outlines consistently provide good topical studies. I have read several of their finance and accounting books to supplement my CFA curriculum studies. The "solved problems" present a myriad of practical questions / scenarios, followed by detailed solutions. I consider this format a great way to learn!

INVESTMENTS helps round out a finance students' or investment professionals' understanding of a variety of concepts.

The book excels at presenting topical material in an orderly way. Chapters nicely segue into others. Authors Francis and Taylor's early chapters cover various financial instruments (money market securities, common and preferred stock, corporate bonds, US securities, municipal bonds) and then progress to the financial environment in which these instruments operate.

The book explores financial statement analysis, portfolio management and analysis and also specific applications of short positions, hedging, arbitrage, security valuation, put and call options, and capital market theory.

I give this book a 4-star rating instead of 5 because the end-of-chapter problems (true false and multiple choice) are not supplemented with detailed explanations to the correct answer. This being said, I give much credit to the effectiveness of the Solved Problems throughout the book. They are practical and have enhanced my understanding of topics.

The book could be improved if the authors would provide problem-solving guidance using financial calculators. I use an HP 12-C calculator extensively and perhaps had an easier time solving problems with it rather than mulling through the algebraic formulas.

All in all, for the serious CFA candidate or student of investments, I highly recommend this book for supplemental reading. I've learned a lot and hope you do too!

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