Content Synopsis:
The subtitle of this book is “How I beat the investment pros (by reading tabloids, shopping at the mall, and connecting on Facebook) and how you can too.” This is a good summary of what this book is about.
The author, Chris Camillo, is considered one of the most successful amateur investors in the world. His claim is that from September 2007 until the book came out in April 2010 his self-managed investment portfolio appreciated from $83,752 to $2,388,311. A schedule of that performance is available on his website, chriscamillo.com.
Camillo’s method is to carefully observe trends and fashion products that you see in shopping malls, in the Internet media, and in what you see on television and in tabloid publications. The idea is that demand for a particular product or service can skyrocket for reasons Wall Street is often unaware of and that if you buy the stock of the company involved before Wall Street is aware of the trend and sell as soon as Wall Street see the trend you can make a significant profit. Camillo demonstrates in the book in some detail how he has done this to grow his portfolio so impressively.
It tells us that the traditional Wall Street types, mostly white, male and middle-aged, are not connected to the popular trends that drive this type of market demand. They are based on corporate reports and conventional financial news reports, neither of which report these trends until they are old news.
He offers examples including observations of a cool new shoe he spotted on the beach before it became famous in financial circles and a clothing brand Obama’s first family wore to the inauguration that sparked a buying spree that caused share prices rose rapidly.
Camillo pays some attention to traditional fundamental and technical trading methods and tells us how and why they are not dependent. He then discusses how this popular trend watch is superior. His method requires a lot of observation, web surfing and a form of due diligence to make sure that the trend he suspects he is seeing is genuine and that the stock market doesn’t know it yet on Wall Street. He then dives in, buys this stock and waits for it to peak when it becomes common knowledge.
The appeal of Camillo’s approach is that it doesn’t require any specialized knowledge of stocks, the market as a whole, technical trading techniques, or fundamental analysis of business management for which Warren Buffet is famous. This method can be done by anyone who is observant and disciplined and willing to do the legwork required. A high school student could and has.
As with any method of making money, this one requires a lot of time and effort. This is not really a get-rich-quick scheme, although Camillo has shown remarkable performance in trading it using it. It’s not about day trading either, he waits until he identifies a genuine potential moneymaker, buys and holds the stock until it takes off and market demand ends the up-ride, then sells before it goes down again once everyone knows it. they know.
It should also be noted that the author is a professional market researcher by trade, this is what he does for a living, and in that he watches market trends for a living, he starts out with some advantage over the novice.
This method is clearly not for everyone. It takes time and commitment to the methodology and some awareness and understanding of market trends for a specific product or service that are not yet common knowledge. However, it does appear to offer a unique and highly accessible method of beating the market odds for someone willing to do the work in the manner it illustrates. For anyone with the time and willingness to learn this method, there is clear potential to outperform index fund averages.
This book is a must read for anyone looking for an accessible and relatively simple method of capturing market profits.
Utility:
For the person with some money to invest and the time and self-discipline to apply this method, this book is an excellent introduction to a new and promising way to increase returns on equity investments.
Disclaimer: All investment methods carry some risk, including this one. This review should not be related to professional investment or financial advice. Consult a professional financial advisor for professional advice.
Readability/Writing Quality:
The book is very enjoyable and easy to follow. It is well organized.
Notes about the author:
Chris Camillo is a market researcher who has been unimpressed with more traditional stock trading methods and has used his own power of observation to outperform market averages.
Three great ideas you can use:
1. If traditional market analysis isn’t for you and you don’t want to leave the management of your investment portfolio in the hands of a professional manager, there is a method almost anyone can use to learn about promising stocks before they take off.
2. This method requires continuous time of observing and learning about products and services and emerging market trends that can be observed at the local mall, on Facebook and many other places. It then requires some due diligence to ensure that you have observed a genuine large-scale trend that will increase the value of the stock.
3. By following a proven method of being careful to do your homework, you can improve your odds with stocks. However, you need to read the book for the details of how it’s done.
Release information:
Laughing at Wall Street by Chris Camillo
Copyright 2011 by Chris Camillo. Published by St. Martin’s Press
