- Paperback: 528 pages
- Publisher: WW Norton; New ed of 6 Revised ed edition (Oct 3 1996)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0393315290
- ISBN-13: 978-0393315295
- Product Dimensions: 20.6 x 14 x 2.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 544 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (136 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #662,664 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
From Amazon
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
Latest edition of Princeton professor Malkiel's bestselling investment guide.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
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
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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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Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
An Egghead's Theory on how Wall Street Works,
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
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Down! the Random Walk for Mr Malkiel,
By Charles Chan (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews
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.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Malkiel's Words Boost Market Inefficiency,
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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