Wall Street Lingo: Thousands of Investment Terms Explained Simply
Finally, a finance dictionary compiled with the individual investor in mind. Wall Street Lingo does more than define the terms your stockbroker, the Wall Street Journal, and CNBC pitch at you — it explains them in a way that traditional dictionaries cannot. Where other dictionaries start at A and end at Z, Wall Street Lingo is organized in chapters, by subject. It begins where you begin — with a topic that has piqued your curiosity — and ends only when your curiosity has been satisfied.
· Have you ever wondered about the difference between CPI and PPI? In other dictionaries, you will find the definitions 200 pages apart. Wall Street Lingo brings them together in the chapter Economics for Investors.
· EBITDA. Gross Profit. Net Profit. Shareholders Equity. You could waste precious time searching for explanations to help you analyze a company’s financial condition. Or you can open Wall Street Lingo to the chapter Decoding Financial Statements.
· If you think technical analysis is only for the pros, flip to the chapter Technically Speaking for dozens of plain English translation to stock chart terms like Bollinger bands, MACD, Elliott wave theory, and Bearish Divergence. It might change your mind.
Whether you are an experienced investor or are exploring the market for the first time, you will appreciate the easy-reading style and unique structure of this innovative investment tool.
q Over 1,000 terms individual investors need to
know and understand for profitable investing
q Definitions organized by topic
q Fully indexed and cross-referenced
q Exhaustive list of commonly used acronyms
q Helpful resources, complete with Web sites
Wall Street Lingo is an essential reference that translates the jargon used on Wall Street into direct, easy to understand, Main Street language and organizes it the way you use it.
Author Nora Peterson brings more than three decades of in-the-trenches securities and futures trading experience to Wall Street Lingo. In the 1970s, she screened stocks by spending long hours pouring over binders of Value Line Investment Surveys and Standard & Poor’s research reports at the library. In the 1980s, she taught herself to chart pork belly futures at a desk in her broker’s office. Today she trades securities from a state-of-the-art computerized control station in her home. The shelves of her office are lined with reference books, but the one tool she could never find was a dictionary that did not intimidate or overwhelm the everyday investor. So she wrote one.
With such an exhaustive table of contents, you might assume this is an exhausting book. But the author prevents exhaustion, not only with a crisp writing style, but with a creative arrangement of the definitions. Yes, other dictionaries are strictly alphabetical. That’s probably the reason that people read how-to books and novels, and they don’t read dictionaries. But “Wall Street Lingo” organizes its definitions by category. Instead of hunting up and down the alphabet to define an unfamiliar word in another definition, the author puts all related terms together. Read a section, you’ll understand a whole area of investing. Yet each piece is short, of course - definition sized - so you’ll reach a stopping place before you get tired. For concepts that require more explanation, the author provides a brief, understandable summary. The result: you not only learn how Wall Street works, but how you can work Wall Street. The author provides simple explanations of rules and laws (and how they are bent, broken and enforced), basic finance and accounting, corporate structure, and types of investments. She even reviews common investment strategies, charting, and stock analysis. You’ll learn about everything from the Dead Cat Bounce to the Ticker Tape Parade. A great general references for the invest
Comment by Michael McGinnis — October 22, 2007 @ 11:38 am
More than just a dictionary, this book gives in-depth, easy to read explanations of financial terms. We here the jargon everyday, on the news, talking to a broker or reviewing our portfolios; but, are we positive we understand what the lingo means. If you have been dabbling in managing your portfolio, are an avid business news watcher, or an amateur investor, this is one book that must be on your book shelf.
It is designed to be easy to read and understand. Although it is essentially a dictionary, it reads like a book. I found myself reading each definition in order because the terms flowed into each other. The author organized the book by category. Each word or phrase is followed by a clear 2 to 3 sentence description; in addition, any acronyms that apply are listed by the phrase as well as the correlating website. There is a glossary of acronyms, websites and an index of terms.
If you want to help understanding the common jargon used in the financial world today, Wall Street Lingo is the perfect place to start. Unlike other financial dictionaries, it is fun and easy to read. There is no doubt; it could be used as desk reference.
Comment by Brye Wiskman — November 26, 2007 @ 8:59 pm
If you aren’t familiar with a Dead Cat Bounce, Triple Witching Week or Naked Option, you’ll learn all about these terms and more after reading this book. While these may sound funny, they all refer to real-life Wall Street concepts that both the seasoned investor and novice will undoubtedly encounter in their financial future. This book is like a travel guide through the Wall Street labyrinth, and it untangles complex ideas in a surprisingly straightforward way. Whether you utilize a broker or manage your money independently, this book will help you take control of your investments and maximize your financial success.
Nora Peterson says her book is designed to “stimulate the reader’s curiosity, not overwhelm it,” and that is exactly what she does. Many stock market shows are so fast-paced that all of the fancy verbeage is lost on people who aren’t familiar with even the most basic stock market terms, and it can be frustrating to attempt to learn anything from them. It is also comforting to note that she herself is an experienced investor and knows what she is talking about. Peterson writes that she had trouble getting over the “intimidation hump,” which is a feeling we can all relate to when dealing with the foreign language of Wall Street slang. By the end of the book, you’ll be remarking to friends about the tremendous success of your latest Sleeper stock or how a Bear Hug squeezed a deal out of a certain target company.
This book was surprisingly easy to understand and follow. It’s fun, and you can pick it up and put it down whenever you want. It doesn’t require a huge time commitment but is invaluable for anyone involved in the financial industry. Not only is Peterson informative, but she has a fun and engaging writing style that makes you want to get started learning new terms and putting them to use right away. This is a great book for beginners such as myself, or for people who want to build upon previous market experience. I was expecting a dry read about technical and difficult financial terms, but instead found a jackpot of easily accessible terms and interesting information about how Wall Street works.
Comment by Kate Kliner — December 11, 2007 @ 11:23 am