Where Are the Customers' Yachts: or A Good Hard Look at Wall Street (Wiley Investment Classics)

". . . one of the funniest books ever written about Wall Street."
-- Jane Bryant Quinn, The Washington Post

"How great to have a reissue of a hilarious classic that proves the more things change the more they stay the same. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent."
-- Michael Bloomberg

"It's amazing how well Schwed's book is holding up after fifty-five years. About the only thing that's changed on Wall Street is that computers have replaced pencils and graph paper. Otherwise, the basics are the same. The investor's need to believe somebody is matched by the financial advisor's need to make a nice living. If one of them has to be disappointed, it's bound to be the former."
-- John Rothchild, Author, A Fool and His Money, Financial Columnist, Time magazine

Humorous and entertaining, this book exposes the folly and hypocrisy of Wall Street. The title refers to a story about a visitor to New York who admired the yachts of the bankers and brokers. Naively, he asked where all the customers' yachts were? Of course, none of the customers could afford yachts, even though they dutifully followed the advice of their bankers and brokers. Full of wise contrarian advice and offering a true look at the world of investing, in which brokers get rich while their customers go broke, this book continues to open the eyes of investors to the reality of Wall Street.

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

The funniest stock-market book I've ever read., 2008-09-24
Yes, I am one of the few who read the book cover to cover. It does not take long, and it is really really funny.

The funniest chapter was the one on short-selling.

RShaw


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

How timely, 2008-09-19
As the financial sector has neared meltdown lately the wit and wisdom of this broker from the 1920s era was enlightening. Will Wall Street ever learn? I expect to see more bubbles before I am done investing. I'll probably be re-reading Schwed's book then, too. Jason Zweig is great, he made a lot of helpful updates to a few archaic references in the book, and otherwise updated it.


0 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

Funny, but useless , 2008-01-22

For the author investing is nothing but a flipping contest where you have 50/50 odds...

Of course there is always a risk, and a possible reward, but if you are able to at least approximately calculate these risks and the reward outweights by a good margin the risk, then you are investing (which according to the author is impossible)...

It is funny, but if you are looking for a funny investing book "A fool and his money" is much more enjoyable...



0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Timeless and User Friendly Insight into Wall Street, 2007-12-06
Where are the Customers' Yachts? was written in 1940, but the advice and insights contained in this slim volume are as up-to-date as anything you will read on the Internet this week. Written in a humerous and down-to-earth style, without a lot of confusing jargon or mathematical equations, Mr. Schwed tells investors what they can expect from Wall Street and what they ought not to expect. He never talks down to his readers; nor does he require that they have PhDs in Economics. Rather, he simply states facts about what it is possible for Wall Street to provide and what it is foolish to ask Wall Street to attempt.

Mr. Schwed has a low opinion of the SEC and demonstrates convincingly that the "investor confidence" mantra of the SEC and its brother regulators is not only deceitful but wrong-headed. What is needed is investors that understand the nature of the game they are playing.

Reading this enjoyable and enlightening book is one of the best ways for any sensible person to gain that understanding.




0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Know more about the stock market and participants.., 2007-10-10
You should consider reading this book if you are an active investor in the stock market or even participating in the market through mutual funds. This book is too fun to read and most probably you will not be putting the book down till you finish it, at least I found it so interesting to finish it in one sitting. Though I read lot of more academic and conceptual books on investing, this book is also much relevant to investing.

The writing is so hilarious and it presents very hard look at brokers, bankers and different participants in the financial markets. Some of interesting chapters from this book for me are on stock options and short selling. If you don't like playing with stock options like me, then you will surely find the chapter on stock options much useful and fun to read. It would be worthwhile to consider reading this book before you visit your broker next time or investing in any stock based on tip from your portfolio manager.

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