Review”Stocking Up on Sin is highly readable and informative. It is a strong candidate for the best business book of 2004.”—The Fort Worth Star Telegram, March 29, 2004 There’s an old saying: the only way to win at gambling is to own a casino. Most of us can’t afford one, but put your money in casino stocks instead of slot machines and you can enjoy some real winnings. Gambling and other “vice” stocks—in companies that manufacture or market tobacco, alcohol, sex or weapons?…
Buy Stocking Up on Sin: How to Crush the Market with Vice-Based Investing at Amazon
Hands down, this is the best investment book I have ever read. I’m very highly recommending it. I saw someone reading it on my airplane flight back from Texas last week and bought it as soon as I got home. I found that not only does it explain the basics, like how a low correlation to the S&P is important, but also gives good insights on how I can make money from the things around me in pop culture and in the news. I’ve never read a book, much less an intelligent and insightful one, which talks about how to profit from the trends I notice. I mean the book even showed how a comment from Samantha on Sex and the City affected Sharper Image’s stock!!!! Thanks to Waxler’s book I’ll know exactly how to interpret and invest in all the vices around me and on TV.
I’m going to Las Vegas next month and definitely bringing this with me in my suitcase!!!
This is simply the best investing book I have ever read. Period. There are facts here that ring so true and many principles to apply. These are facts based on research, not just a nice theory.
The primary thrust of the book is to present a very good analysis of what so-called sin stocks are and what investors have to gain by investing in them. Do they outperform the S&P? Can we increase our retirement funds by investing in them? Will we be doing something morally reprehensible by putting our money there? The author’s arguments comments are simple and convincing.
I like all the case studies in the Stocking Up on Sin. Through clean and entertaining examples the author shows us why sin stocks are a good buttress to the market. She argues that by putting 15% of your assest allocation there you are alleviating some of the risk in the market
I’ve read a lot of books that about diversification. Yada Yada. You’ve heard it before but this really makes sense. She also explains about Beta and Sharpe ratios in an easy to understand way so that the reader really understands a. what they’re dealing with and b. why they’re important and c. why the sharpe and beta ratios of these vice stocks are critical. I never would have invested in a sin or beer stocks before I read this. (I don’t drink.) But this book showed me why these stocks are important.
The book is very well researched. The author assembled an amazing arsenal of facts to make–and win–her convincing case. The facts are precise – they are financial performance versus peers – something that can be determined with precision.
Read the book. If you are putting your money in the market it is the type of book that you will keep within easy reach and look at from time to time.
A must buy and 5 stars.
B. McJangles
Waycross GA
This should be the 14th review. As you can infer from the review title, I didnt find the book impressive. So I had been very surprised to see that it had earned 13 full marks from 13 previous reviews. I checked that 12 of them were from anonynmous or one-review-only readers. Well expected! Should Amazon set up something to undermine the manipulation by the authors, the publishers or their associates? As a serious customer highly influenced by Amazon reviews, or victimized in many similar cases like this one, I strongly support so.
Now let’s go back to the review. Content wise, this book did provide good background info of Tobacco, Gambling, Weapons/Defense/War, Booze, Sex and Drugs Industries, and major listed companies within each for your consideration. However, the “Lessons” section in the end of each chapter failed to provide significantly insightful analysis nor high return/risk ratio recommendation in my humble opinion. In short, quite differentiated but definitely not one on the top 20 priority investment/trading book list.