Develop a sound investment philosophy based on lessons
from history
Trailblazers, Heroes, and Crooks: Stories to Make You a
Smarter Investor is a highly entertaining and insightful look into key
stories from history, teaching lessons about sound principles of investing, and
controlling emotions and bias when managing your investment portfolio to help
you become a stronger, more intelligent investor. Written by author and finance
professor Stephen R. Foerster, this book spans from before the Middle Ages to
the 2020s.
Some of the stories in this book include:
- Cristiano
Ronaldo taking two bottles of Coke off a table at a press conference, and
ostensibly causing Coca-Cola's stock value to plunge $4 billion
- Harry
Markopolos trying to develop a strategy similar to Bernie Madoff's,
realizing his strategy was bogus, and spending a decade proving his case
- A
hostage crisis in twelfth century Venice involving trumped-up charges,
conflict, deceit, a plague, and an angry mob, leading to the birth of
government bonds
- A
salad oil swindle almost destroying American Express, prompting Warren
Buffett to make one of the best stock investments ever
For both experienced and novice investors, Trailblazers,
Heroes, and Crooks: Stories to Make You a Smarter is a fun, accessible, and
informative guide that through history shows, not tells, you how to develop an
investment philosophy of guiding principles, and become a better investor.
About the Author
STEPHEN R. FOERSTER is an author and finance
professor at the Ivey Business School at Western University in London, Ontario,
Canada. He has a PhD from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a
Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
His previous books include Financial Management: A
Primer; Financial Management: Concepts and Applications; and In
Pursuit of the Perfect Portfolio: The Stories, Voices, and Key Insights of the
Pioneers who Shaped the Way We Invest (with Andrew W. Lo), which won
the Axiom Personal Finance category silver medal.
His next project: writing the authorized biography of
William Sharpe, 1990 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics.
