Friday, September 29, 2006

Resource Review: Wealth Track

There is a PBS show out there that I do not hear much about. It may not be the most hard hitting show but what I like about it is that it brings in various money managers and interviews them. While you may not like everyone who appears on the show they do get some very well know names such as David Dreman and James Grant.

The show is

Wealthtrack

Besides the interviews with people you may follow, there are actually two really great things about the show.

1) You can sign up to receive a weekly email. Every Friday the show emails you and tells you who is going to be on that weekend (the show airs on my PBS station on Sat or Sun). So you do not have to try and figure out if you want to try and catch it that weekend, you get a heads up which is nice.

2) If you miss the show or just do not have time to watch it, they post a transcript on the website the next week. So you can just go and read what you misssed.

About the only thing I would also want is a way to search the transcripts by guest name and not just by date.

Steven

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Davis Dynasty - Book Review

The Davis Dynasty: 50 Years of Successful Investing on Wall Street





What Is It About?

This book is about Shelby Davis. Mr. Davis started with $50,000 in the late forties and by the mid 90's had increased that amount to several hundred million primarily investing in insurance stocks. It is biographical with some discussion of his investment process. The book also discuss the second and third generation of Davis' who have done well in money management; Chris Davis is the most well known of the current generation.


What Did I Learn As A New Investor?

The book is more biographical than investment process oriented. Besides getting an insight into the habits and methods of an obviously successful investor, the best thing about this book is the final chapter where the author reviews a 10 point check list that captures the Davis Dynasty thoughts on investing.


The Good News

Interesting story of a successful investor in the value-growth, buy and hold camp. If you ever wondered how/what Buffett would have done if he just managed his own money this gives you a good idea. The final chapter provides a overview of Davis’ investment process.


The Bad News

The book is not an engaging read. The best part is the last chapter. If you do not like biographies, then you should just skip to the last chapter, make a copy, and peruse it.


The Bottom Line

For those who like biographies, value may be found reading this book. For others, skip ahead to the last chapter. Either way I recommend you check this book out from the library.

Using the Magic Formula

A good blog I found the other day is "Where is The Yield?" The Blog focuses, as the name implies, on dividend paying stocks. There is a nice post today using the magic formula screen to identify dividend payers. Worth a look. Here is the link:

Where is the Yield?

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

I am back and a link to what I read

So it has been a while since I posted. Been reading a lot, thinking about investing. For those new to investing here is a link to what I read on a daily basis.