One Up On Wall Street: How To Use What You Already Know To Make Money In The Market Paperback – 3 April 2000

This book could be called Investing for dummies. It is so well written and understandable that everyone can get the message.Even if this book is from the late 80's, most of the companies mentioned still exist (KO, MCD, AAPL...) so you could have found some of the great compounder during that time.I would also recommend the audio book which is possibly even better than the book itself.

The lessons are timeless and readily understood and the book is an entertaining read. The author is very likeable and provides real life examples on how to assess companies and whay to think about.This is a great primer and there is very little maths in it. This is more about qualitative analysis and your psychology to buy and hold the right stocks and when to cut losersIt does point you in the direction of financial statements and basic rules of thumb to follow but there's no discounted cashflow analysis in this and rightly so. This is for someone starting out.I can't recommend this enough. Even if I had no interest in investing I would read this as it's entertaining and there are good life lessons in it.

what i liked about lynch's book is that from the out set it's incredibly easy to read. too many investing books are written in such a boring, dry manner one struggles to stay awake while reading them - and more often than not feel guilty because the reader feels they are missing "great advice" when tryiong to decipher the text. not with this little gem.the book covers how to find companies to invest in, how to value companies, and when to get out of companies invested in - the main theme running through the book is that an amateur investor can and will out perform professionals if they avoid the noise from wall street and focus on companies they understand.the book gives great example of companies that were a "10 bagger/20 bagger" (meaning if you invested £1 you would have made £10/£20 etc.). lynch also gives example of where he missed companies/lost money as wekll - so the advice is very well rounded.so why 4 stars? the book is well written with great examples and advice - but i question how relevant this is today when there are software packages and websites that can perform instant ratio checks, and profitability measures etc. - basically meaning that i am unsure whether lynch would have been as successful today as he was when the book was written - late 1980's. other than that, son't be put pff. this is a great book and well worth the read....

There is something endearing about Peter Lynch's approach. He takes the view that the average retail (amateur) investor can beat the professionals by using common sense and exercising self-control. Whilst investment is always a gamble, the shrewd investor can find companies that swing the odds in favour of a win. Peter Lynch liked companies with a good product that he could understand - he bought into Taco Bell because he liked their coffee, and because he saw it was a strong company with sound management and plenty of room to grow. As a part of his research he would visit company offices. If he found shabby offices with frayed carpets and cracked linoleum in a downbeat part of town, he would reason that these companies put all their money into the business and not into glitzy office blocks. And he would invest. But he shied away from companies that spent their profits unwisely on unnecessary status symbols and acquisitions. All in all his advice is practical. Be your own person. Don't follow the herd. Don't worry about the macro-economic situation. Don't focus on short term movements in share price. Don't pay too much attention to complicated things like charts. Be patient. Be slow to buy and slow to sell. And above all know the company in which you're investing.This is a charming book written by a modest and engaging character, full of great anecdotes and sound advice. It has a place in my top twenty books on investing. Thoroughly recommended,.

I've just read this book - twice - in the last month, and it is very thought provoking.Having been written in 1989 (25 years ago) my initial impression was that it needed to be edited to bring it-up-to-date. Then, on a 2nd reading, I thought it's best off as it is. What changed my view was the comments he made on Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffetts fund) and that it's "never too late to buy a good share". See page 89 (What Stock Market, chapter 5): the Berkshire Hathaway share price was US$7 in the early 1960's' yet at the time this book was written (1989) it was US$4,900. Was Berkshire Hathaway worth buying at US$4,900? You bet it was! Earlier this year (2014) it touched US$208,000 a share!This book isn't about analysis of figures and assessing balance sheets - it's about finding companies with the potential to increase their share price multiple times over a relatively short period (say 3 to 15 years).As Lynch himself writes (see "Reading the Reports, in Chapter 12) you don't need to go on a "wild-goose chase" looking for the numbers to point you in the direction of a share purchase. Barely 2 minutes with an annual report will give you all the info you need. And this info is only providing the icing on the cake.What this book is about is uncovering potential companies to invest in by using your own experience of life.It's telling you to open your eyes, look around you and investigate what you find good - be it a new brand of jam on your toast, or a new gadget you've come across that no-one should be without.