Friday Feature Book Review: You Can Be A Stock Market Genius: Joel Greenblatt ジョエル・グリーンブラット投資法 M&A、企業分割、倒産、リストラは宝の山

This is an industry bible about stocks that explains how to find value, in any investment. Stocks bonds, real estate, commodities, or even art, it does not matter. Recognizing the value in any investment can be learned at any age. The author Joel Greenblatt, is the founder of Gotham Capital, one of the best and most consistent long term fund investors in the USA. He was known for being able to pick winners over time. Winning choices over time makes any system worth investigating. Hard core P/L results that beat any market average are undeniable. That is his track record at Gotham Capital.

He makes a pretty good case about how any average person can find value and benefit financially. Basically, he explains the weaknesses of Wall Street, and how you can minimize mistakes by understanding the weaknesses of the whole system. Understanding the bigger picture and how is can be seen with value driven eyes, is a skill that can be learned. That may sound difficult, but this is a very easy to read book. Any average investor with discipline will learn and benefit, plain and simple. 

One favorite easy to understand example is with art. If you go to a garage sale or second hand store and see a painting, where is the value? Some would only look at the price of the painting and say the artist is not known and not worth the price, but what about the frame? If the frame was carved wood and worth US$500 but the price of the painting in its frame was selling for US$100, there is great value there. This is the mindset that the author explains in so many other ways so well.

He fills his book with very solid simple investment guidelines that help you make higher than average returns. In many ways, he is teaching basic investing, but also how to filter out the market noise that lowers basic returns. In regard to portfolio diversification, he makes an interesting case for the need for only 8 stocks. He gives good evidence that shows how more stock picks, 9, 10 or more does not really help diversify your portfolio at an equal cost to the upside lost. Diversification mainly helps investors without the time to do proper research of their own. Too often investors worry about how much they may lose with the total value of their portfolio. The author makes a good case about how much an investor can lose out in upside performance with too many mediocre positions that limit total value performance in any portfolio. It becomes very clear quickly how less is more, and more profitable too.

The great billionaire investor Warren Buffett, has many overlapping views with Joel Greenblatt. Both think that success is better found with 5-8 great ideas are better than 15-20 mediocre ideas overall. One of the best points explained is how size both helps and hinders performance. If you have a large amount of capital, great choices that are small in size do not help your total performance very much. Both Warren and Joel, feel that it is better to invest with smaller amounts more actively, than a huge amount in size less often.

The Top 3 Takeaways from this book that impact any reader are:

1) There is a lot to learn about picking stocks. You are better off with 8 great ideas than 20 mediocre ones. There are no shortcuts to success, you must do your own research(DYOR).

2) The timing of stock investments can be in your favor as a true investor over time, unlike a short term day trader. These are different skill sets that need different kinds of stocks.

3) Input from direct research cannot be replaced. There is value everywhere if you learn how to look for it and how to value it properly. Hard work, quality experience and persistence from constant never ending research always finds value over time.

There are many great examples of great investment lessons to learn that apply not only to stocks, but real estate, bonds or any other asset. The goal of the book is to help you have a solid nose for value, and recognize it when in front of you. His point is you can find great investments on your own and do not have to "pay experts" to tell you what to buy or when. There is no special secret that an average investor cannot learn. It is a skill that can be learned by many. The market tries to keep the basic rules private, but this book reveals all of the best basics that any investor really needs. A very thought provoking book, highly recommended!

Please visit us for our Friday Feature Review where TMJ Partners will review books, movies, conferences and anything else with a financial theme. Follow us now for our free weekly updates, just click here. Thank you for reading and learning more about how money is made in finance! 

If you are interested in Sales & Trading, Banking or FinTech focused roles in Asia or Japan then click here. Follow TMJ Partners on Linkedin Instagram or Twitter. We are the world's #1 recruiter on Twitter, with over 50,000+ followers globally! click here! 

あなたがアジアや日本のセールストレーディング,
バンキング、フィンテックの役割に興味がある場合は、こちらをクリックしてください。ティエムジェィパートナーズをLinkedin Instagram またはTwitterでフォローしてください！ 世界中のTwitterで第1位のリクルーター、50,000以上のフォロワーを既に持っています！クリックしてください。

For more Buy-Side and Sell-Side roles in Asia-Pacific, contact our TMJ Partners Japan & Asia Finance team.
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      Mark  Pink                               Shinichi Nagasawa
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Friday Feature Movie Review: "The Wolf of Wall Street" Leonardo DiCaprio & Martin Scorsese "ウルフ・オブ・ウォールストリート":レオナルド・ディカプリオ＆スコセッシ (ウォール街のテーマ)

"The Wolf of Wall Street" is a great movie, and it is all about excess, just like our US president. It is perfect if you are single and living life to the limit. Alternatively, it is a train wreck of misbehavior if you have matured beyond that. It confirms what could go wrong if you go down the wrong path. It seems that the answer depends on your age and desires. If you are single, (or love the single life even while married), are in the 25-35 age range,(or wish you still were without the responsibilities)​ then you will love this movie. It will be nostalgic for crazy times in your past before the Lehman Brothers fiasco back in 2008.

Escapism can be relaxing, and this delivers. How can you not enjoy it from that point of view? It is all about tremendous everything where "too much of everything money can buy" is still never enough. This is the target market. Director Martin Scorsese, does an amazing job of taking us back to the life and times of bucket shop "boiler rooms", where the phone line is the con man's way to gold. I cannot think of a more hedonistic life on any movie screen since seeing "Caligula" many years ago. 

Having a threesome or foursome is nothing to the main character Jordan Belfort, (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) why not go for a 100 some! I have never considered it possible to have a sex orgy on a commercial airplane with 250+ people. I now have seen it on screen and think differently. Throwing midgets for sport, or even stripper performances in the office, all change your perspective on what is normal. What can happen in the office bathroom has also changed for me, perhaps permanently.

It is a kind of visual orgy, New Roman style, but set in Long Island, New York. That is the only kind of description that could work for this movie. You may think this is a really positive thing, or you may not, but it does seem to be a kind of benchmark. For good or bad, such is the attitude on screen, and it can be amazing to watch. Or not watch in the case of Dubai, where almost 45 minutes of the 3 hour movie were cut in the local version. That is a lot of film, a pretty major slimmed down version.

Why do you watch and why can you enjoy such a movie basking in excess? You come away with different reasons. It represents a fantasy of what could happen if the financial "perfect storm" takes place during your career. The big money comes in and you have to find ways to spend it. The trouble is, it all ends badly, very badly, with many involved all part of the collateral damage, some end up dead. 

Best moments? worst moments? Too many to really count although seeing a person take so many drugs that they cannot speak on the phone and be understood was certainly memorable. Not being able to stand up or have motor skills, and being forced to crawl down stairs was another. Driving a Lamborghini Countach in such a state or even opening the door was notable. 

The Top 3 Takeaways from this book that impact any reader are:

1) There is a lot to learn about the many levels of finance within Wall Street. There is no single way to success, so be aware of every player in the financial game, bottom feeders do thrive.

2) The best rainmakers know how to make money and keep doing what they do best by maintaining their confidence. When this comes from drugs though, the end comes sooner than expected.

3) When becoming a successful rainmaker, your emotional strength from close friends or family at home, may help you perform at work. Every person has a personal life, so the more empty or fulfilling it is, the more you can succeed.

Sinking a yacht near Italy in a major storm, and seeing the rescue plane sent blow up as a sign from god or some other warning to wake up and change, all come to mind as key scenes. Stratton Oakmont, the chop shop firm in question, will be a very tough act to follow on screen or anywhere else. Perfect for your holiday weekend with a US president who is all about excess! It is all realistic, and portrayed wonderfully by an excellent cast. An amazing movie that is perfect for the holidays, highly recommended!

Please visit us for our Friday Feature Review where TMJ Partners will review books, movies, conferences and anything else with a financial theme. Follow us now for our free weekly updates, just click here. Thank you for reading and learning more about how money is made in finance! 

If you are interested in Sales & Trading, Banking or FinTech focused roles in Asia or Japan then click here. Follow TMJ Partners on Linkedin Instagram or Twitter. We are the world's #1 recruiter on Twitter, with over 50,000+ followers globally! click here! 

あなたがアジアや日本のセールストレーディング,
バンキング、フィンテックの役割に興味がある場合は、こちらをクリックしてください。ティエムジェィパートナーズをLinkedin Instagram またはTwitterでフォローしてください！ 世界中のTwitterで第1位のリクルーター、50,000以上のフォロワーを既に持っています！クリックしてください。

For more Buy-Side and Sell-Side roles in Asia-Pacific, contact our TMJ Partners Japan & Asia Finance team.
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      Mark  Pink                               Shinichi Nagasawa
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Friday Feature Book Review: Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond 文明崩壊 上: 滅亡と存続の命運を分けるもの (草思社文庫) ジャレド ダイアモンド

Economics are a reality. The maths need to work. In this follow up by Pulitzer Prize award winning author Jared Diamond, he continues his detailed observations of human life and their global economic impact. He uses his training in anthropology to search for how people prosper economically or just disappear after a collapse. He has a very entertaining way of comparing ancient societies around the globe. He then compares these people with the current US population in the same locations. If you invest in real estate personally or professionally, this may change your longer term valuations.

This is really a scientific approach to various sections of finance. Real estate development, population control, and renewable energy impacts on economic wealth and prosperity. Using his wonderfully clear explanations with just enough numbers to keep you in full attention, you see a bigger picture of the world economy. The cost of military power, basic food and resources bring unexpected changes to the economy of each society observed.

Empires rise and fall, be they Roman, Mayan or Anasazi. Water and cheap energy show how certain communities rise and fall. They do so very quickly in fact, they collapse. Water is a key resource impacting the economy of California, and this book reflects how the modern world may have to change, as a result. South East Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and many other water bottle necks around the globe have a water crisis on the horizon. Major global cities like Hong Kong, New York or Mumbai may have to move.

Will people really be able to live in Southern California in the future without water? Will parts of India or China be able to sustain populations without local water supplies? If global warming melts the ice on top of the Himalaya mountains without replacing the snow, will the great rivers like the Indus or Ganges just stop flowing? Massive migration of large cities may be needed, or wide scale famine may spread afterward anyway.  The impact of Syrian refugees into Europe, will seem very minor by comparison.

Jared Diamond, paints many dark worse case scenarios in order to focus attention, but does offer the balance that they is a choice. Some societies may take the best action for survival long term. Eco habits and organic farming seem to be the kind of choices that the author hopes more people will make. Energy in the middle east may not be valuable in future, yet over half of all food is imported. What happens when there is not enough money for food? Will the Arab spring be a small sign of change to come in that region?

The Top 3 Takeaways from this book that impact any reader are:

1) There is a lot to learn about how the USA, China or India thinks about the world and their economic policies. Many hard truths cannot be escaped. Globalization has both winners and losers. Some economies may fail quickly and actually collapse.

2) The economies of Europe or the USA cannot expect to stay number one without knowing how rivals economies are working and taking advantage. Facts on Africa or Russia need to be learned. Differences need to be understood.

3) When becoming a successful global investor, you have to put in the long hours, work hard and learn by experience. You have to consider a wide variety of scenarios. You never get lucky long term.

Local sustainable farms in large cities with easy transport of locally grown food, seem to be a successful long term goal. Information is now widely spread via the Internet. This was never the case with the Roman, Mayan or Anasazi empires. This access to figure out how to avoid the mistakes of the past is hopefully the choice we make. Will the current age of information help us learn to avoid the great mistakes of the past? Only time will tell, but there is a chance to minimize misery. A very thought provoking book, highly recommended!

Please visit us for our Friday Feature Review where TMJ Partners will review books, movies, conferences and anything else with a financial theme. Follow us now for our free weekly updates, just click here. Thank you for reading and learning more about how money is made in finance! 

If you are interested in Sales & Trading, Banking or FinTech focused roles in Asia or Japan then click here. Follow TMJ Partners on Linkedin Instagram or Twitter. We are the world's #1 recruiter on Twitter, with over 50,000+ followers globally! click here! 

あなたがアジアや日本のセールストレーディング,
バンキング、フィンテックの役割に興味がある場合は、こちらをクリックしてください。ティエムジェィパートナーズをLinkedin Instagram またはTwitterでフォローしてください！ 世界中のTwitterで第1位のリクルーター、50,000以上のフォロワーを既に持っています！クリックしてください。

For more Buy-Side and Sell-Side roles in Asia-Pacific, contact our TMJ Partners Japan & Asia Finance team.
Tokyo                                          Tokyo

      Mark  Pink                               Shinichi Nagasawa
Direct + 81 3 3505 3891              Direct + 81 3 3505 3891

Friday Feature Book Review: Why we want YOU to be RICH by Donald J. Trump and Robert T. Kiyosaki あなたに金持ちになってほしい: ドナルド・ トランプ + ロバート・キヨサキ

This book was a positive surprise. I expected the typical Trump style saying how "Money is a Game, and I play to Win!" However, it was quite the opposite. It was subtle and well thought out. It was even understated. Not at all what I expected from our US President. The main concept is that for many Americans, and many others globally, very basic financial intelligence is often lacking. If the average person had better insight into how finance worked, and had a higher financial IQ, they would be able to invest with more confidence and benefit greatly. 

Donald Trump teamed up with Robert Kiyosaki, best known for his own best seller "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" because of an overlap at a conference in Chicago. Both were speaking at a real estate conference there, trying to help the many there to learn how to better invest in real estate. Both were speakers and fate crossed both of their paths. A spark started and as they got to know each other, a clear need to help more people learn, was found to be in common. The book started from there, but continues into a lot of depth that is not expected at the beginning. It is a clear set of rules and guidelines on how to be rich by investing. A key point is to enjoy the process, and see it as a game that is fun to win.

What I could not believe was the clear style of flowing ideas about how any average person could learn to be a much better investor. It touched on how China was a huge economic story with plenty of opportunity. It also underlined India, and how the rise of both of these super economies will be worth knowing more about. Facts, clear facts were used that showed clear depth of understanding about both economies. I have to stress how well thought out these strategies are revealed, unlike some of his politics.

This book was written over 10 years ago, but certainly has a clear agenda on how the USA can be better managed politically today and in future. The presidential aspirations are included in many of the arguments presented. This is not another basic investing 101 course that any financial advisor could give. Things like "live below your means, save, and diversify into mutual funds etc". Not at all. It actually questions it. Why would you listen and take advice from a person who takes the subway, when you drive a Rolls Royce? How wrong is it to give great respect to a US financial advisor at the retail level, when it takes fewer hours of study than a massage therapist accreditation?

This is the mentality presented and it is a good one. Not everyone can be rich, but many with the desire do not have the right tools or concepts solid in their financial education. this is who the book is aimed at, and it does so very well. There are three types of investors: (1) non-investors with no money and no financial IQ, (2) savers with some money and limited financial IQ, and (3) investors with a lot of money and high financial IQ. This book is targeted at helping people in group 1 and 2, be a successful investor like number 3.

The Top 3 Takeaways from this book that really impact any reader are:

1) There is a lot to learn about how Donald J. Trump thinks about the world and his economic policies. His political campaigns have given only a superficial view. He has written many books and they include his policies. There is no single book with all of his policies, there are many, so read them all.

2) The economies of China and India are big and need to be better understood from every angle. The USA cannot expect to stay number one without knowing how rivals economies are working and taking advantage. Facts need to be learned. Differences need to be understood.

3) When becoming a successful rich investor, you have to put in the long hours, work hard and learn by experience. You cannot learn to swim from any text book. Only by doing deals and learning what works and what doesn't, can you really become rich and successful.

This was not what I expected to written in a style that I thought I would recognize. This is only one book, but certainly gives a clear indication of what the future president make be thinking about global economies. finance and the USA. That seems worth absorbing and keeping in mind when seeing what first moves come out of this new US president and his administration in 2017. This book reads like the revealing of a man's soul and true colors, the key to a unique and complex personality. A very surprising book, highly recommended!

Please visit us for our Friday Feature Review where TMJ Partners will review books, movies, conferences and anything else with a financial theme. Follow us now for our free weekly updates, just click here. Thank you for reading and learning more about how money is made in finance! 

If you are interested in Sales & Trading, Banking or FinTech focused roles in Asia or Japan then click here. Follow TMJ Partners on Linkedin Instagram or Twitter. We are the world's #1 recruiter on Twitter, with over 50,000+ followers globally! click here! 

あなたがアジアや日本のセールストレーディング,
バンキング、フィンテックの役割に興味がある場合は、こちらをクリックしてください。ティエムジェィパートナーズをLinkedin Instagram またはTwitterでフォローしてください！ 世界中のTwitterで第1位のリクルーター、50,000以上のフォロワーを既に持っています！クリックしてください。

For more Buy-Side and Sell-Side roles in Asia-Pacific, contact our TMJ Partners Japan & Asia Finance team.
Tokyo                                          Tokyo

      Mark  Pink                               Shinichi Nagasawa
Direct + 81 3 3505 3891              Direct + 81 3 3505 3891

Friday Feature Book Review: The Education of a Speculator by Victor Niederhoffer (ex George Soros Trader) "金融市場投機家の教育": ビクター ニーダホッファ（元ソロスのトレーダー)

Any trader who is so good, he worked for George Soros, must have something special. Victor Niederhoffer, was that man, and he was certainly something, and still is. Not only did he go to Harvard and get his PhD at the University of Chicago, he was a 5 time US National squash champion, board game lover, horse racing enthusiast, and music fan. He is pretty complex due to his New York upbringing in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. 

With a father who was a cop & squash player, and an uncle who liked to buy & sell stocks, a lot of influences came to make up Victor's personality. Why does a trader who takes risk for a living with USD100Million or more, not wear any shoes in his office? Why does he keep pictures of the Titanic in his trading room and reminders of great men having great failures? Why does George Soros nick-name him looser? There is another image of him at the beach with george. Victor is out in the waves and George is closer to shore in a safe zone. A large wave is about to come crashing down onto Victor. It represents 2 different views on when market waves are safe to trade in. You soon have more questions about him than the money he makes by trading for others.

This book was written during a shining highlight peak of his trading career, well before any Titanic sized trading loss that was to come later on. This book is a self written explanation of how could he have got to his trading role and risk taking success. It is not a simple system that he developed, or an edge that he uses against a market. It is an entire process of thought. He is a great speculator because he is great at cross pollination of his many influences.

In many ways, his education comes from observations made in one area, and then applying them into a very new totally different unrelated area. How can you combine championship squash play strategies to price reactions from a US Fed announcement on interest rates? How do you make clear correlations between how bookies size up horses at the race track, and also see stock prices move in a very similar way to a keen trained eye? You do so in a very unique way. The amazing thing you learn in this book is that a speculator can become great by using any combination of disciplines but only if all are well observed.

This is not a light read. In fact, I would call it intense reading, You need a few moments to fully absorb what you take in. It reminds me of sipping fine cognac. This book is not something you go through fast, just like how you do not guzzle down XO cognac. You take is small amounts, and savor them. That is how best to fully appreciate this well written explanation of a great trader's personal roots, trials and tribulations. This 414 page testament to a 360 overview of influence, was a National Bestseller, and deservedly so.

The Top 3 Takeaways from this book that really impact any reader are:

1) There is a lot to learn about how to be a long-term successful trader, and no one path will do. The more paths you can take, the better. There is no single way, there are many, so learn them all.

2) The best traders know how to make money and keep doing what they do best by observing trends and possible patterns. Squash or any other sport keeps the mind sharp when in competition.

3) When becoming a successful trader, other similar disciplines may be obvious to learn from. Horse racing tracks that "bet on the ponies" can be a great insight into how horse betting crowds react like investors in the markets.

The most sad reality of this book though, is that it came out in 1997, just before a great fall. Like the Titanic image kept to balance human hubris in his trading room, the fall in his risk taking did come and hit hard within 2 years. Going broke at such an age after such a high, is discouraging for anybody who admires & applauds, such amazing courage to win against the markets. Maybe the house does win in the end? Maybe George Soros was right, Victor was a loser in the end, or at least for a time, before he of course, started trading again. Like any Greek tragedy, the hero must suffer defeat, and hopefully rise again. This book reads like the revealing of a man's soul, the key to a unique and complex personality. An amazing book, highly recommended!

Please visit us for our Friday Feature Review where TMJ Partners will review books, movies, conferences and anything else with a financial theme. Follow us now for our free weekly updates, just click here. Thank you for reading and learning more about how money is made in finance! 

If you are interested in Sales & Trading, Banking or FinTech focused roles in Asia or Japan then click here. Follow TMJ Partners on Linkedin Instagram or Twitter. We are the world's #1 recruiter on Twitter, with over 50,000+ followers globally! click here! 

あなたがアジアや日本のセールストレーディング,
バンキング、フィンテックの役割に興味がある場合は、こちらをクリックしてください。ティエムジェィパートナーズをLinkedin Instagram またはTwitterでフォローしてください！ 世界中のTwitterで第1位のリクルーター、50,000以上のフォロワーを既に持っています！クリックしてください。

For more Buy-Side and Sell-Side roles in Asia-Pacific, contact our TMJ Partners Japan & Asia Finance team.
Tokyo                                          Tokyo

      Mark  Pink                               Shinichi Nagasawa
Direct + 81 3 3505 3891              Direct + 81 3 3505 3891