Review
“The author introduces an investing methodology with proven results and easily applied unequivocal decision making. Particularly impressive is the way he includes a selling discipline, not just a buying discipline. This book is a must for any concerned investor.” Richard Arms, Analyst, Author, and Inventor of The Arms Index “This is one of the best new investing books of the decade: succinct, practical, and timeless. Built on a foundation of 40 years …
Buy Beat the Market: Invest by Knowing What Stocks to Buy and What Stocks to Sell at Amazon
Although I would like to applaud the book and not wind up in the position of “reviewing the reviews”, a little of both is necessary. I bought the book on the strength of 6 very positive reviews. But I have to wonder about these reviews.
The book makes it very clear that results from this method could not be achieved quickly. A good testing window would be a minimum of 3 to 6 months. The book was published in 9/2008. Some of the reviews were written in less than 3 months. I find it very hard to believe that these people: 1) tested the methods in the book; and 2) achieved positive results in that time frame. It would be especially hard to achieve positive results, given what most stocks were doing between 9/2008 and 2/2009.
On the author’s web site as of today (4/9/09) it is clear that very minimally positive results have been achieved in the last 6 months from the best of the 3 methods outlined in the book. Add to that the fact that in the book, there are numerous spelling and grammatical errors, plus an error in captioning one of the more important charts, plus a few typos thrown in for good measure.
I’m sure that Mr. Kirkpatrick is a learned and accomplished person, and it’s very likely his systems have achieved positive results. However, given the extremely shoddy proofreading, one has to wonder about the actual level of attention to detail in the content of this book.
To be sure, I plan on taking up the author on one of his recommendations, and paper trading using his admittedly best system, in real time. It’s possible I will subscribe to the newsletter he liberally touts in the book. But I wanted to add a more realistic opinion of the book, and of the process by which I purchased the book, to Amazon’s review collection. No one should buy this book based on the 6 highly positive reviews previous to this one, without knowing that there may be a few warning signs lurking between the lines.
The book is short ans succinct in describing his investment philosophy and methodology. Easy to understand and a quick read. I was able to duplicate his Bargain List results using a backtesting website called Portfolio123.com. Keep in mind that Kirkpatrick advocates the use of an overal portfolio filter to determine whether and how much you should be in the market. This is regardless what his stock screen is telling you to buy. Reason is his individual stock selection and disposition method, although will outperform the market over a cycle if fully invested at all times, can have some fearsome drawdowns in a short period of time when the overall market is in correction mode. This was borne out by my portfolio123 backtesting. So if you are sure the market is in a bull market, his methodology does really well. But you need to have portfolio-level risk management in place to control the losses.
I read the previous book Kirkpatrick co-authored, “Technical Analysis,” and so when I saw that he had a new book, I ordered it at once. It arrived on a Saturday morning. I started reading it and didn’t get up — couldn’t get up — until I finished it. I’ve read many books on the stock market. I only need this book to make money. Kirkpatrick is a leader in his studies of relative strength investing. (Several pages are devoted to his methods in Robert Colby’s “The Encyclopedia of Technical Market Indicators.”) He has been trading his techniques for 30 years and the results are astounding — far outperforming the market. His approaches are as simple and straight-forward as they are powerful. Moreover, nothing is proprietary. I am able to duplicate his methods myself without needing to subscribe to his newsletter, even though I do subscribe because I enjoy it. I particularly recommend his chapter on market timing — how to avoid getting caught in the horrors of a bear market such as we are experiencing now. I highly recommend this book.