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Malkiel Random Walk down Wall Street (Cloth)
  
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Malkiel Random Walk down Wall Street (Cloth) [Hardcover]

BG MALKIEL (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (136 customer reviews)

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It's unlikely that you'll spot many dog-eared copies of A Random Walk floating amongst the Wall Street set (although bookshelves at home may prove otherwise). After all, a "random walk"--in market terms--suggests that a "blindfolded monkey" would have as much luck selecting a portfolio as a pro. But Burton Malkiel's classic investment book is anything but random. Since stock prices cannot be predicted in the short term, argues Malkiel, individual investors are better off buying and holding onto index funds than meddling with securities or actively managing mutual funds. Not only will a broad range of index funds outperform a professionally managed portfolio in the long run, but investors can avoid expense charges and trading costs, which decrease returns.

First published in 1973, this seventh printing of a A Random Walk looks forward and does so broadly, examining a new range of investment choices facing the turn-of-the-century investor: money-market accounts, tax-exempt funds, Roth IRAs, and equity REITs, as well as the potential benefits and pitfalls of the emerging global economy. In his updated "life-cycle guide to investing," Malkiel offers age-related investment strategies that consider one's capacity for risk. (A 30-year-old who can depend on wages to offset investment losses has a different risk capacity from a 60-year-old.) In his assessment of rocketing Internet stocks, Malkiel defends his "random" position well, explaining how "the market eventually corrects any irrationality--albeit in its own slow, inexorable fashion. Anomalies can crop up, markets can get irrationally optimistic, and often they attract unwary investors. But eventually, true value is recognized by the market, and this is the main lesson investors must heed." Written for the financial layperson but bolstered by 30 years of research, A Random Walk will help individual investors take charge of their financial future. Recommended. --Rob McDonald --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

The eternal truth of this updated investment classic, originally published in 1973, is simple: you can't beat the market. Well, technically, you can beat the market, but not profitably, because the transaction costs of your brilliant trading will eat up the extra returns. You can also beat the market by pure luck-but you can't deliberately beat the market, because you can't predict future stock prices. You can't predict them by divining Wall Street's crowd psychology; or by charting trends in stock prices; or by doing lots of research on companies' business prospects. You can't predict them from hemlines (though there's been "some evidence" for correlation between skirt length and market prices in the past, Malkiel poo-poos future possibilities) or Super Bowl winners (this, he says, makes "no sense"). In fact, according to the efficient market theory, which states that all knowable information about a stock's value is already reflected in its share price, you can't predict them at all. Malkiel, a Princeton economist and professional investor, backs it all up with statistics, charts and studies, and gives an entertaining review of the sorry history of market bubbles, panics and delusions of omniscience, from the Dutch tulip craze to the Beardstown Ladies. This edition looks at new wrinkles (it seems you can't beat the market by buying companies with ".com" in the name), and provides a lucid overview of novel investment vehicles. Standing by his notorious claim that "a blindfolded chimpanzee throwing darts" at the NYSE listings could pick stocks as well as the Wall Street pros, Malkiel advises investors to "buy and hold" a diversified portfolio heavy on index funds that passively mirror the market, which usually out-perform actively managed funds. His witty, acerbic style and persuasive arguments will delight readers but, alas, leave Wall Street unmoved.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
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In this book I will take you on a random walk down Wall Street, providing a guided tour of the complex world of finance and practical advice on investment opportunities and strategies. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

136 Reviews
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars An Egghead's Theory on how Wall Street Works, Feb 19 2004
By 
Joe Cool "thedancingcrab" (Bronx, NY United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Random Walk Down Wall Street (Paperback)
It's interesting how with each new edition, the efficiant market theory slowly morphs into value and growth investing. When the book first came out, Malkiel wrote that a monkey throwing darts can beat professional stock pickers. Well, for a couple of years the Wall Street Journal ran a series pitting stock pros against a monkey. From what I remember the monkey lost. I also remember that Malkiel ran a mutual fund which wasn't all too hot (he probably used the Wall Street Journal's monkey!). Now Malkiel recommends loading up on index funds, which by the way are loaded with blue chip stocks and are not at all chosen randomly. Save your money and buy Graham's Intelligent Investor, The Essays of Warren Buffett, and Fisher's Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars Down! the Random Walk for Mr Malkiel, Nov 13 2000
This review is from: Random Walk Down Wall Street (Paperback)
This book is the ideal piece of folly of academic generalization. Mr Malkiel is no trader himself. Thus he ignore the psychological aspect of trading. I am wholly qualified to write this critics because I am a full time trader by myself with an annual compound growth for 25% (for the past 3 years in stocks and futures). So, if you want to promote an efficent market theory, please prove it first. For disproving the thesis, according the Karl Popper, you just need to find one instance to prove that the thesis is wrong. And all of you know that around us there are bundles of successful trader, such as Warren Buffett, Soros, Livermore, Gann , O'Neil, Darvas, Michael Marcus, Stanley Kroll (the one I most appreciated among living) and so on. If you want an academic discussion of the subject of investment, trading is not for you. If you believe that your position is the market is random, if you think that Warren Buffett's analytical skill is no different than a monkey, then you may go and buy this book. The only book I give it a one star rating is becasuse I think that it has acquainted me with the mainstream academic belief of the market. Hope that there will continue there belief and make us a even profitable class.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars Malkiel's Words Boost Market Inefficiency, April 5 2000
This review is from: Random Walk Down Wall Street (Paperback)
How interesting that an efficient market theory advocates' advice only helps create market inefficiencies! By urging everyone to buy into passively-managed index funds, Malkiel only helps spur widespread indiscriminate capital allocation by America's investors. If the American public, en masse, turned to index funds, it would create an overpriced market in general through the massive pouring of investor capital into arbitrary lists of stocks (like the Dow, the S&P and the Russell 2000).

There is a fundamental reason people invest: to be paid for delaying their gratification. Why does Malkiel only briefly discuss the work of Williams, Fisher and Graham, and not even touch upon the true champion of fundamental analysis, Warren Buffett? The long-term strategy they proposed and used (all are among the most successful investors of all time; Graham and pupil Buffett rank 4th and 1st, respectively) has produced the most consistent and profitable returns of any method ever.

Malkiel's work is not completely without merits (he does debunk the authority of high-profile "analysts" on Wall St. whose aim is not to give you good advice, but to produce profits from selling something to the investor), but the core of his work, Efficient Market Theory, doesn't hold water, especially in light of the spectacular results fundamental analysis has provided generations of investors. Malkiel misses the boat by not impressing upon the reader the fact that stocks are shares of a company; by buying them, you become an owner. Burton just sees them as scraps of paper. Go ahead, take a random walk. You'll do just as well as the average investor. But the whole crux of investing is being better than average. Burton proves his professorship to be a misnomer by urging millions of investors to pursue mediocrity.

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