What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars

This book provides a great narrative. It is one of the best books I have ever read. The author describes his horrifying loss in detail of $1.6 million in bean oil trading in the commodities market. He also shares some great stories from his younger life in high school, college, and post-graduate life regarding luck. The end of the book includes him reflecting on what went wrong and provides helpful tips that you can use in ANY business. In short, you must have a plan with an entry point, exit point, and time frame. This plan must be decided on BEFORE you do something. If you make the decision afterward, then you are subject to emotional decision-making because you're already involved. The worst losses come from personalizing them, or making them reflect on your self-image. Losses are a part of every business, and you just have to let your predetermined exit strategy or stop-loss plan run its course so you can leave the market without letting the loss get bigger.The author also mentions some real life people who messed up by personalizing their business activities. These people include Henry Ford and Steve Jobs, who messed up a company called NeXT before he returned to Apple. A person who was held up as a positive example was Roberto Goizueta, the man who returned the classic formula to Coca Cola after the "New Coke" failed. He did not take the failure of New Coke as a personal loss, so he was able to succeed.Also note that the author whose life the book revolves around, Jim Paul, was tragically killed on September 11th when he was in the World Trade Center. That was a horrifying day for many people. May God help us.

This is a valuable and insightful book. It approaches the problem of making money in the stock market opposite from the usual direction--A philosophy of how not to lose money.Initially winning in the stock market is perhaps more dangerous than losing because it is natural to feel that you have won due to skill or insight, rather than luck or happening to enter the market during favorable conditions. The author describes a process to help the investor avoid losing which is simple to implement.Assumptions: It is always good to look for underlying assumptions!1) The author assumes you also have a strategy for winning, and that there are many winning strategies that may be conflicting, but which can all work when conditions are right for them. This may be true.2) The author assumes that the market will have ups and downs, sometimes dramatic ones, but that it will continue more or less as it has been for over a hundred years. This might not be true.It is unclear to what extent the increasing computerization of market actions, hidden market activities such as dark pool investing, and the increase in nationally sponsored arbitrage and large player collusions will affect the risk of investing.For example, you may have a good strategy to win in the market and may have learned how not to lose from this book-- But if your money has been invested with some future broker equivalent of a Jon Corzine, your account may be diverted and squandered illegally and without your knowledge and, if your broker (like Corzine) has the right political connections, he will never be prosecuted and you will never get your money back. Maybe these issues are beyond the scope of this book, but it would have been helpful to have a small discussion in it of the role of various types of market rigging, and how to detect and avoid them.Bottom line--I liked this very readable book, and feel it will help me in future investing!

Behavioral economics before the field was truly formed. A nice application of psychology and personal insight. Well worth the read.

The initial portion of the book describes the history of one of the authors, including the mistakes that he had made. Although the writing was a little rough in places, there was a lot that I could identify with.Then, it got more into theory. I loved the chapter that described the difference between speculators, investors, gamblers and bettors. Once again, I could identify with times that I had claimed to be "investing" but was really "gambling."Where I thought the book fell down a bit was when it came time to talk about solutions. I agree that one needs a plan, but there were very few suggestions as to how to develop such a plan. Hints were dropped as far as "exit strategy" and stop-loss limits, but that's a very complex topic. If you set your stops too tight, you'll always be stopped out. If you set them too loosely, you'll increase your risk.For example, when dealing with very volatile securities like penny stocks, a tight stop is pretty much worthless.By the way, the original edition dated back to the late 90's, and it was a little bit humorous to see that some of the companies that he extolled for good management didn't survive the 2001 crash, and others sank without a trace in 2008. On the other hand, other managers that he was a bit disdainful of (for example, Steve Jobs) wound up being stupendous successes.

Il libro è unico nel suo genere, io non sono un grande esperto di lingua inglese, ma comunque con l'aiuto del traduttore e molta pazienza sono riuscito a leggere il libro.

v good quality for used

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O livro "What I Learned Losing A Milllion Dollars" foi escrito por Jim Paul e Brendan Moynihan e conta a história, a ascenção e a derrocada de Jim no universo dos investimentos.Jim conta de forma bastante divertida como conseguiu crescer na carreira, de trader profissional e como - em um único golpe - perdeu todo o dinheiro que havia acumulado durante anos: cerca de um milhão de dólares.Diferente de muitos outros livros sobre investimentos e mercado financeiro, esse livro fala sobre o fracasso. Jim conta que existem muitas formas de ganhar dinheiro no mercado financeiro ou no mundo dos negócios, porém são poucas as formas de se perder dinheiro. E o fator psicológico é o elemento-chave que desencadeia uma série de perdas e fracassos.O grande erro está em personalizar as perdas. Tratar uma decisão de investimento como uma aposta ou um jogo. Muitas pessoas entram em investimentos buscando estarem certas. Isso é um grande erro. O fato de um ativo se valorizar ou desvalorizar não deve ser relacionado a um acerto ou um erro. É apenas um fato. Uma vez que o encaramos como um erro, estamos personalizando a perda. Jogando contra nossa autoestima.Além disso, existe o famoso "efeito manada". Jim conta que não é preciso estar presente em um grupo para começar a demonstrar os sintomas de um efeito manada. Uma pessoa sozinha pode se deixar levar pelas emoções e começar a agir por impulso, colocando em risco seu patrimônio. É provável que essa pessoa até passe pelos 5 estágios da perspectiva da morte: negação, raiva, barganha, depressão e aceitação.Não tem tradução, mas a leitura em inglês é bem fácil e gostosa!Recomendo a todos que queiram tomar melhores decisões nos investimentos, nos negócios e na vida!Show!

With so many books on how to be successful and business coaches teaching their million dollar ways, What I Learned Losing A Million Dollars is breath of fresh air. Like the book mentions, there are many ways to make money, but what works for one person might not work for you. HOWEVER, the way people lose money and fail are similar. This book teaches you about what causes people's failure and helps you identify them.Think about it, if you were to avoid these failing habits, you could SIGNIFICANTLY improve whatever business or endeavor in your life.In a time where so many people say they have the secrets to success, it helps to know what mistakes to avoid.PLUS this book is short but provides so much wisdom that it's worth not missing out on.