| The Only Three Questions That Count: Investing by Knowing What Others Don't (Fisher Investments Press) | 
 enlarge | Author: Ken Fisher
Creators: James J. Cramer, Jennifer Chou, Lara Hoffmans
Publisher: Wiley
Category: Book
List Price: $27.95
Buy Used: $3.50
You Save: $24.45 (87%)
New (60) Used (61) Collectible (2) from $3.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  120 reviews
Sales Rank: 51450
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 480
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.7
ISBN: 047007499X
Dewey Decimal Number: 332.6
EAN: 9780470074992
ASIN: 047007499X
Publication Date: December 11, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Very good in very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 448 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Very Assertive but OK December 3, 2008
Ken Fisher is very assertive in his book. I don't know how anyone can be so certain about what affects the market and what not. He asserts many things that I find questionable some of whoch I totally don't disagree (then who am I to disagree with Ken Fisher the $1 billion man). Some of his arguments are valid only from one point of view.
For example on page 29, he asserts that in the period following budget deficit troughs stock market had good returns. He says that it's because the deficit was high which is a good thing for the stock market for following period. But maybe the stock market did good because the deficit was decreasing (since it was a trough, deficit could only decrease after that point). Who knows what really goes on.
So what I like about this book is that it gives you a dicipline to not take everything granted and do your own analysis and possibly create your own "capital markets technology" to know something others don't and beat them in the market, which is a fine idea.
What I don't like about the book is that other than beeing too assertive there are many redundancies. Like his father, Ken likes to write long, very long. Why does he have to talk about the stone age and the cavemen in every chapter? I also don't like that the investment strategy he promotes in this book is passive investing (as he does). So stick to your benchmark and try to over-under allocate sectors as you find evidence regarding their future performances. I am not a fund manager and I dont have $30 billion under management. I need sharper investing strategies. Also he occasionally makes jokes throughout the book. He ain't funny, not at all. I don't know if he does that coz Buffet does (I have seen some indications of jealousy towards W. Buffet while reading), but that's something he needs to work on quite a bit. Anyway, I give him 4 stars for his "mind opening" book.
Good but 100% too many pages December 3, 2008
CXO Advisors blog mentions this author as one of the best forecasters out of the people they follow. That is the key reason for buying the book. If somebody is good at forecasting you should pay attention to the person.
The book is largely about fundamental analysis (as opposed to technical analysis). How can you see things that the general gruop of investors haven't seen yet? And how can you be sure that what you are seeing is correct? This might sound philosophical but it becomes very concrete in the book. But it certainly is impressionistic.
The key problem I have with the book is the number of pages. Had the number of pages been cut in half, I would have been a better book
 "The Only Three Questions That Count" is superb. October 31, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Ken Fisher brings a fresh outlook to investing. This is not the typical buy low, sell hign manuscript. It delves into the psychology of reading the market. A must read for the investor.
WLH
So far so good July 14, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I haven't gotten all the way through the book yet. But so far so good. Questioning what we all "know" makes sense. And I am a believer in most data is already built into the stock price. So you have to determine what is true that everyone else does not know. Good so far.
Great Read, Good Advice from a Contrarian Curmudgeon June 25, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Ken Fisher is an interesting guy. But don't let me tell you about him - let him talk about himself. He does that a lot in this book.
The book itself feels like a sort of wandering conversation in which Ken takes you through his mindset to approaching stocks, how he questions market myths that the unwashed common masses take as gospel truth. To avoid following the herd, he asks three questions to make sure his mind is focused on uncovering 'real' truths of market movement. Stuff like 'deficit spending is good for the economy', and 'high p/e ratios do not necessarily signal over-priced stocks'.
Ken Fisher is a smart guy; having a conversation with him that lasts this long is a lot of fun, and it will make you all the wiser in your general approach to investing. I enjoyed his random rants on politics, and his general advice on finding your own causations and correlations in an increasingly complex world.
Where I fault this book is in its organization and its mild contradictions. Ken flat out denies for example that he's a contrarian by defining what he thinks is a contrarian and then describing why he isn't like that definition. He's also quite contradictory in his effusing of the efficient market hypothesis while bragging about his discovery of the p/s ratio to find undervalued stocks.
Finally, Ken has a lot of pent-up anger toward the financial industry, and he writes like he feels he's never received the respect he deserves. Kind of put a sour taste in my mouth when taking in the advice.
I recommend this book all the same. Like I said - Ken is an interesting guy; see through the faults, and you'll realize a wealth of interesting advice from a guy who knows what he's talking about.
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