The Battle for Investment Survival

The Battle for Investment Survival by Gerald M. Loeb is the book that triggered the shotgun investor blog. It is a great book that was originally written in 1935. This person seems to have begun the whole "investing for the common man" idea. He was a legendary stock broker, whose history you can read about in the introduction of the latest printing by Ken Fisher. the style is very similar to a blog-format, with very short one to three page chapters. Each one with down-home friendly how-to tidbits on the stock market. He gives away his philosophy piecemeal, with examples.

One big theme through the book is discussing the issue of when to sell stocks. Buying them is one thing, but he states that the real decision is when to get out. This is especially difficult for me with losers (United Airlines anyone?). His advice for novice investors is to shed any stocks that drop ten to twenty percent and think about why you invested in the stock in the first place, and try to learn from it.

Other interesting points he makes are following trends, letting profits run, the difference in perspective that young versus old investors have, fallacious wall street proverbs, speculation versus investing, and public psychology. In fact, much of what he discusses are things that seem to be "new" ideas in neuroeconomic circles, technical analysis, and other current market strategies.

The book is also very interesting from a historical viewpoint. In the midst of describing the process of living the Wall Street career, he describes the proper way to create an Ice-Cream Soda. He gives insight into the old-fashion ticker tape watchers, and the other speculators of the day. Truly a must read for anyone interested in the history of Wall Street.

But enough of that. Buy the book (or visit your friendly library and let your neighbors foot the bill). As the most consistent theme in the book that applies to my position is selling losing stocks, that is what I will do. I will sell any losers from my positions that I have held which have dropped more than fifteen percent. These were purchased prior to the official start of this blog. So long!