Essentials of Investments (The Mcgraw-hill/Irwin Series in Finance

This is exactly what I needed! I was much happier paying around $30 for an actual book rather than $120 for a digital 180 day rental of the textbook. Great condition and I seriously could not be happier. The textbook itself isn't the most captivating as far as material goes, but everything else was perfect!

I cannot Recommend this text. This textbook has been a bit difficult to learn from, which is frustrating when that is why you are reading it. I give a few specific reasons below, on why I feel this way. I guess if the authors were any good at investmenting or giving financial advice they'd be doing that instead.

1) Poorly defined terms. For example:
"Security Analysis - the analysis of the value of securities"
(I was always taught in school NOT to use a word in its own definition, since it doesn't improve understanding)

2) Poor editing from version to version.
-The text I am reading is the 10th edition, and if I had to guess, some topics have moved from one chapter to another over the years, but the corresponding end of chapter review questions have not been moved. I find myself having to go chapters ahead to find the answers for my homework.
-While my professor uses questions directly from the publisher's test bank, some questions reference content that has TOTALLY been eliminated and deleted from the current version. Example: 5th edition in 2001 had 2 pages devoted to a "Small-Firm-in-January-Effect"; by the 8th edition in 2009 it was condensed to 3 paragraphs, with a single sentence referencing abnormal returns in January, and in the 10th edition the section was re-titled simply "Small-Firm-Effect" without mention of January, but test bank questions still remain.

3) Poor explanations and lack of good example calculations do not provide the knowledge needed to answer end of chapter questions/calculations. The text might say for example, p94,
"Turnover is the ratio of the trading activity of a portfolio to the assets of the portfolio. It measures the fraction of the portfolio that is "replaced" each year. For example, a $100 million portfolio with $50 million in sales of some securities and purchases of other securities would have a turnover rate of 50%."
NO WHERE does the text tell (or show) you how the calculation works if the bought/sold values are different (I read online you use the lesser of the 2 to calculate?), or explicitly state it is one or the other not both added together, even though the end of chapter related question stated a scenario such as this where bought/sold values don't match. Likewise, no sample calculation/equation/formula was shown, and the example described above of 50% is TERRIBLE since you'd get the same answer if you accidental used an incorrect formula of [($100m-$50m)/$100m] vs. $50m/$100m...a more specific example would better illustrate the computation.

This book isn't worth any more of my time to review. The book is a waste of time/money if you are trying to learn the material or if you already know it. I'll give it a couple stars since I think there is a corresponding solutions manual that would probably be useful (if I wanted to give these authors/publishers even more of my money)...and I didn't get an access code, which might make it a better learning experience--trying to give some benefit of the doubt.

I'm in college and this book was required reading in my investments course. I read it nearly cover-to-cover (skipping just 2 chapters) and can say that this is a solid introduction to investments. The amount of information this book covers is quite broad, and the authors usually do a good job of balancing the difficulties of giving too little vs. too much information. Occasionally, I did feel some areas warranted more discussion, such as those discussing mutual funds and ETFs. But overwhelmingly the authors give readers enough usable information that further research is then much easier.

Part two on Portfolio Theory is particularly good. Specifically, chapter 6 does a really good job of illustrating how 'efficient diversification' results in the best results. The first time I read their discussion of the efficient frontier I was struck by how well the explanations illustrated the concept. Numerous graphs hammer points home, and even the sidebars (which, in many textbooks, can be filler) provide interesting asides to the topics under discussion.

I also appreciate their Excel examples injected within the text. It is very nice to be able to see exactly what I can do to get the same results they get; in other books, it can be harder to convert the theory discussed in the book into actual practical information. I consider myself someone who is quite proficient at using spreadsheet software, but a few of their examples utilized tools that I wasn't familiar with.

The authors are generally critical of active investing, citing numerous studies that again and again show the benefits of passive investment strategies and the failure of active funds to consistently deliver above-average results. This information is valuable to all investors, not just those in the business/finance field.

I would say that if you have a basic understanding of accounting then you have the requisite knowledge to buy this book. Otherwise, it might be helpful to first get familiar with financial statements and the basics of businesses. Highly recommended.

the store.com delivers its products and implements quick service to its customers no doubt about it.

This book contains so much details but sometimes it is hard to understand these concepts because they contain run- on sentences which is confusing. It takes more than 10 minutes for me to understand what the authors are trying to say. These professors are experts on their subject, but please write it more concisely and in lay men's terms. I guess this a complaint for publishers and authors who wrote the textbook.

I am glad that I bought the loose leaf format because I can bring whatever chapters I need to bring on campus, or take notes on lectures.

At this age, it is still hard to write on an iPad or tablet because it is not efficient to write down on a screen. If interfaces are needed to improve then this would work slowly in the digital age.

The authors make even the interesting areas of finance unimaginably dull with long, confusing sentences and few real world examples. I also think the textbook is setting students up for failure by presenting formulas without enough discussion of the assumptions going into those formulas. All in all, it's a text by academics for academics.

Also, one of the authors is said to have "spent two years at Fredie Mac, where he helped to develop MORTGAGE PRICING and CREDIT RISK MODELS."

Ummmm?

the store.com delivers its products and implements quick service to its customers no doubt about it.

This book contains so much details but sometimes it is hard to understand these concepts because they contain run- on sentences which is confusing. It takes more than 10 minutes for me to understand what the authors are trying to say. These professors are experts on their subject, but please write it more concisely and in lay men's terms. I guess this a complaint for publishers and authors who wrote the textbook.

I am glad that I bought the loose leaf format because I can bring whatever chapters I need to bring on campus, or take notes on lectures.

At this age, it is still hard to write on an iPad or tablet because it is not efficient to write down on a screen. If interfaces are needed to improve then this would work slowly in the digital age.

The authors make even the interesting areas of finance unimaginably dull with long, confusing sentences and few real world examples. I also think the textbook is setting students up for failure by presenting formulas without enough discussion of the assumptions going into those formulas. All in all, it's a text by academics for academics.

Also, one of the authors is said to have "spent two years at Fredie Mac, where he helped to develop MORTGAGE PRICING and CREDIT RISK MODELS."

Ummmm?

I found the frequent inconsistency of terminology disconcerting. There are concept checks, while helpful are necessry because the authors have trouble explaining key concepts. Not intending to be spiteful, the authors could gain a lot from reading Strunk and Whites book. The author has the need to write clearly and directly. Insufficient explanation of key concepts.

This book is widely used in finance courses in my university, a puzzling fact because books should rarely sell if they're hard to read. The bookfs authors introduce a broad array of investment theories and discoveries. Thatfs a plus. But their wordy sentences, which grow wordier and harder to follow as they delve into each chapterfs key concepts, offset the plus. The authorsf inconsistent use of terminology is another drawback. As I move on to later chapters, I feel as if the authors were growing more verbose. That benefits no readers, given the later chapters discussing higher-level concepts.
When they revise this book for the next edition, they should hire proofreaders, journalists if possible. They care about readers and can help rewrite the entire book into a readable piece that helps students instead of confusing them.

Part ONE provides a good base for the material to be covered later and chapters 9 and 10 on bonds and bond portfolios are decent (although the explanation of duration and horizon analysis could use some work). The latter half of chapter 6 and all of chapter 7 are horribly written. My professor's lectures on this material weren't really driving the point home, so I decided to read chapters 6 and 7 hoping to gain some insight and clarification. I'm not having much luck. It's going to take a lot of re-reading and memorization of these concepts before they start to click.

This writing overly complicates simple concepts such as the efficient frontier. All it is is the optimal sets of portfolios that give the highest expected return per level of risk. This writing however devotes practically an entire chapter to the subject, and actually managed to confuse me about a subject that I already know! The questions are challenging, but I get annoyed that there aren't answers at the end of most textbooks anymore. Teachers don't use textbook questions usually, so I'm not sure what the problem is? Anyway, some chapters come across very clear, but they are still rather verbose.

Bodie's "Essentials of Investments" sevres as helpful, comprehensive introduction to investments. This book is modeled on Bodie's larger graduate text "Investments" leaving out only the sections on Equilibrium in Capital Markets and skimping on some of the finer mathematical details within the other sections. You will prefer this book if you are just beginning in the field, and you will not be disappointed with what you learn. The book is an easy and engaging read if you are an "intelligent layman", and it is certainly feasable even if you have a limited general education background. Overall, great introduction to the investment field. Recommended.

This book is great for blooming finance professionals and MBA students. Not too advanced and is aimed at simplifying thoughts and Wall Street practice for the average man. News captions are interesting but not exactly superb.

Horrible. I literally have to google everything cause its written so bad.They use difficult financial vocabulary to explain even more difficult financial vocabulary. It's like they're trying to impress readers by using big words. Oh yeah and half the sentences are fragments or run on sentences. I want to burn this book

The book written in investment lingo, is by far the most hideous attempt I have ever seen reading a finance textbook. The explanations lack clarity and simplicity. If this is an intro for students to get excited about investment, it should be taken into consideration to revise the edition and make it much more user friendly. Everyone is able to follow simple formulas in excel, however it would also help to explain what the outcome is going to tell and why. Statistics like the standard deviation, the co-efficient, variance, as well as the co-efficient variation are explained in a very confusing way and the attempt to make up for it by using long formulas are not helping to make it any easier to understand the material. It takes hours to read through one chapter alone - the fun of investing is certainly numbed using this textbook for finance classes.

I agree with the other reviewers on this text, confusing and poorly written. This text is an albatross in my opinion. The math examples do not flow well; the Connect (on line section) has sub-par examples and work through of problems.
Being an older student and interested in learning,I need and want to use technology in my studies so I may be better prepared for the real world environment.

As I write this I am more aware of how disappointed I am in the progress of our educational system. The special interest groups like publishers, teachers, and administrators have become more entrenched than when I go got my other degrees 20 years ago.

As a tax payer I really wonder how the system is spending all the funds they receive. Paying labor and book publishers over and over each year to produce questionable products seems ignorant not enlightened to me. Embracing technology to become more flexible, lean, effective and efficient in the delivery of an education seems like a goal the highly educated should be able to achieve. Of course anyone studying finance knows moral hazard and the agency problem are always at work.

Call me naïve; I thought higher education would be able to practice what they preach, best practices, ethics, cost cutting, efficient processes and so forth.

Education can be fun and delivered much more creatively with more integrity.

Naïve