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MODERN VALUE INVESTING: 25 Tools to Invest With a Margin of Safety in Today's Financial Environment
My personal goal is to help people reach their financial goals. One way of doing that is through investing education. The book is my attempt to help with the development of a strong investing mindset and skillset to help you make better investment decisions. There is a gap in the value investing world. Benjamin Graham published The Intelligent Investor in 1949 with several subsequent editions up to 1972, while Seth Klarman published Margin of Safety in 1991. With more than 50 years since Graham published his masterpiece and almost 30 since Klarman's, there was the need for a contemporary book to account for all the changes in the financial environment we live in.Modern Value Investing book does exactly that, in 4 parts.Part 1 discusses the most important psychological traits a successful investor should have. Part 2 describes 25 tools that help with investment analysis.Part 3 applies those tools on an example. Part 4 is food for investing thought as it discusses modern approaches to investing. Approaches range from an all-weather portfolio strategy to hyperbolic discounting and others you can take advantage of when the time is right.
293 pages, Paperback
Published April 24, 2018
421 people are currently reading
748 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
October 23, 2018
A very good overall book on investing.
When I was reading the first 10% or so, I thought, this is probably a book for beginners to investing. Then I started finding thing I hadn't quite grasped yet and more clearly redraw fuzzy areas in my brain.
I'd offer 2 smallish critiques:
- There are spelling mistakes, which could have easily been spotted by a proof reader. Considering how much value there is content wise, it's a bit surprising how this happened - but I know from Sven's youtube videos English wasn't his first language. Still, something that could've easily been avoided...
- "Longer term treasuries offer much larger upside if interest rates go lower while the downside is also larger if interest rates increase."
A few sentences of explanation for why this is so, would be appreciated by many readers, especially people new to investing, I'm sure. I'm fairly sure I grasp the reasons why holders of treasury bonds will notice their bonds gain in value if the FED lowers the interest rate, but it would have been nice to get an explanation in the book never the less. (My understanding: If you own treasuries, the interest rate you receive, the "coupon", is locked in. So if the FED lowers the rate and new treasuries are issued with a lower interest rate, the ones you're holding, with the higher rate, will be more desired by the market and bidding will increase the price for which you could sell the treasury to sb else, if you like.)
When I was reading the first 10% or so, I thought, this is probably a book for beginners to investing. Then I started finding thing I hadn't quite grasped yet and more clearly redraw fuzzy areas in my brain.
I'd offer 2 smallish critiques:
- There are spelling mistakes, which could have easily been spotted by a proof reader. Considering how much value there is content wise, it's a bit surprising how this happened - but I know from Sven's youtube videos English wasn't his first language. Still, something that could've easily been avoided...
- "Longer term treasuries offer much larger upside if interest rates go lower while the downside is also larger if interest rates increase."
A few sentences of explanation for why this is so, would be appreciated by many readers, especially people new to investing, I'm sure. I'm fairly sure I grasp the reasons why holders of treasury bonds will notice their bonds gain in value if the FED lowers the interest rate, but it would have been nice to get an explanation in the book never the less. (My understanding: If you own treasuries, the interest rate you receive, the "coupon", is locked in. So if the FED lowers the rate and new treasuries are issued with a lower interest rate, the ones you're holding, with the higher rate, will be more desired by the market and bidding will increase the price for which you could sell the treasury to sb else, if you like.)
September 7, 2021
I have to be honest here.. this book is indeed very poorly written.. not only are there grammatical errors but some of the statements are very repetitive. Granted English is not the author’s first language but still, the book is overrated. Many of the illustrations, tables, graphs, charts are also poorly labelled and scaled. Or should I say.. amateurishly created. Likewise some statements are not backed by robust sources and historical data. Also, I disagree with some of his messages.
The author is a huge proponent of the value investing method i.e. a large part of this investment strategy is to buy and hold for a longer timeframe. He also advocates "buying low", in fact, averaging down. But the truth is often times low can always get lower and it is a fools game to trying to pick top and bottoms in the stock market. A method that is highly risky if one has not done proper risk management with a specific entry-exit plan.
Also, the author repeatedly used the phrase "buying a great business at a discount, be greedy when others are fearful" etc. But am not sure if he has heard of the phrase "sometimes, a great business does not mean it is a great stock, likewise a great stock does not mean it is a great business".
Seriously.. nowadays any average Joe can use a camera and start shooting Youtube videos in their pyjamas and claim to be an "expert" in a certain field and come out with some courses for you to sign up and pay for their services. When most of these people are teaching simple stuff that can be easily searched and learnt at the ease of a Google search. Whilst I don’t believe Carlin is one of those stock market "gurus", but still, in finance, everybody is trying to earn a buck from ya. Be careful who you trust and try to be independent for once.. geez.
Furthermore, most of the ideas or summaries detailed in the book are classical investing theories passed down by the greats such as Graham, Buffet and Lynch etc.
Perhaps the most important of the book is the last chapter on value traps where he detailed some pointers about how-to-not catch falling knives. Once again, easy to be said than done.
The author is a huge proponent of the value investing method i.e. a large part of this investment strategy is to buy and hold for a longer timeframe. He also advocates "buying low", in fact, averaging down. But the truth is often times low can always get lower and it is a fools game to trying to pick top and bottoms in the stock market. A method that is highly risky if one has not done proper risk management with a specific entry-exit plan.
Also, the author repeatedly used the phrase "buying a great business at a discount, be greedy when others are fearful" etc. But am not sure if he has heard of the phrase "sometimes, a great business does not mean it is a great stock, likewise a great stock does not mean it is a great business".
Seriously.. nowadays any average Joe can use a camera and start shooting Youtube videos in their pyjamas and claim to be an "expert" in a certain field and come out with some courses for you to sign up and pay for their services. When most of these people are teaching simple stuff that can be easily searched and learnt at the ease of a Google search. Whilst I don’t believe Carlin is one of those stock market "gurus", but still, in finance, everybody is trying to earn a buck from ya. Be careful who you trust and try to be independent for once.. geez.
Furthermore, most of the ideas or summaries detailed in the book are classical investing theories passed down by the greats such as Graham, Buffet and Lynch etc.
Perhaps the most important of the book is the last chapter on value traps where he detailed some pointers about how-to-not catch falling knives. Once again, easy to be said than done.
July 20, 2020
Summarises a bit of value investing , but nothing really new
June 11, 2022
One of the Best books of investing that've ever read, it explains plain and easy many complicated concepts and the whys and hows of Value Investing. Loved it!
August 14, 2019
Modern Value Investing by Sven Carlin is a book with immense value in simplifying the field of value investing.
Having right investment strategy and philosophy is important to achieve goals associated with investment. Value investing provides the highest returns with lowest risk. Value investing consists of doing lots of research, saying no to thousands of investment opportunities, buying only when something meets all the criteria, and then waiting for the market to recognize the value of the undervalued investments. The market will eventually recognize the Value, it can take years for that to happen. It’s important to remain patient while this value realization takes place. Patience is an important aspect of value investing.
Investing with a view of speculation is different from value investing. Speculators focus on markets perception i.e. price fluctuations trying to predict momentum. It’s important to understand volatility & fluctuations of the stock market. Stock market represents actual economic activity. Actual economic activity does nor experience such swings and is a bit easy to forecast over a long term rather than focusing on speculation and forecasting market swings which is extremely difficult. It’s very appropriately said that the market is a voting machine in the short run and a weighing machine in the long run. The main concept behind the efficient market hypothesis is that the price of a security is always right as the market quickly prices in all new information. Therefore, there is no point in picking stocks as every stocks should be perfectly priced in relation to its known risks and returns. The underlying margin of safety in the value of the business is extremely crucial for sound investment.
Understanding behavioral finance is also crucial for sound investment strategy. The basis of behavioral finance is that people do not behave rationally when it comes to their finances, whereas rationality is the basis of the efficient market hypothesis. There are many behavioral finance topics, the prospect theory and loss aversion theory are the most famous. The prospect theory states that gains and losses are valued differently as investors bases their decisions on perceived gains and not on perceived losses. The prospect theory is the reason why so many people buy high only to sell low in a market panic. The sentimental impact of perceived loss is much higher as compared to perceived gain of similar amount.
Shareholders that got the new shares usually tend to sell the spinoff as they prefer to keep owning the mother company. In such a situation, the spinoff company can trade at an irrationally low price.
In normal life, people love linearity and stability. We are wired to that. But the field of investing is different, it is a world where volatility is quite normal. It’s important to understand volatility and take advantage of it.
When catching a falling knife/stock, investors tend to take action based on intuition rather than on rational analysis. When a stock price moves quickly, people tend to think fast, which is inherent to fight or flight mechanism instead of taking the necessary time to gather and assess new information to be able to take right decision.
Small cap value stocks if properly analyzed and invested have outperformed any other stock type from growth stocks to blue chips. The thing is that small cap value stocks must first be discovered by the masses, only then, when becoming trendy, do they boom by getting a fair market valuation. Therefore, an investor may wait for a long period of time and stocks may underperform. The low liquidity, higher uncertainty and general unwillingness to research small cap means a higher premium which in the end, brings about higher return. Investors who are ready to invest in small cap values will be rewarded in the long term.
Modern Value Investing by Sven Carlin is an insightful book to understand the field of value investing. It gives wide perspective of the field of value investing. It is definitely a recommended read for anyone understanding the field of investment.
Having right investment strategy and philosophy is important to achieve goals associated with investment. Value investing provides the highest returns with lowest risk. Value investing consists of doing lots of research, saying no to thousands of investment opportunities, buying only when something meets all the criteria, and then waiting for the market to recognize the value of the undervalued investments. The market will eventually recognize the Value, it can take years for that to happen. It’s important to remain patient while this value realization takes place. Patience is an important aspect of value investing.
Investing with a view of speculation is different from value investing. Speculators focus on markets perception i.e. price fluctuations trying to predict momentum. It’s important to understand volatility & fluctuations of the stock market. Stock market represents actual economic activity. Actual economic activity does nor experience such swings and is a bit easy to forecast over a long term rather than focusing on speculation and forecasting market swings which is extremely difficult. It’s very appropriately said that the market is a voting machine in the short run and a weighing machine in the long run. The main concept behind the efficient market hypothesis is that the price of a security is always right as the market quickly prices in all new information. Therefore, there is no point in picking stocks as every stocks should be perfectly priced in relation to its known risks and returns. The underlying margin of safety in the value of the business is extremely crucial for sound investment.
Understanding behavioral finance is also crucial for sound investment strategy. The basis of behavioral finance is that people do not behave rationally when it comes to their finances, whereas rationality is the basis of the efficient market hypothesis. There are many behavioral finance topics, the prospect theory and loss aversion theory are the most famous. The prospect theory states that gains and losses are valued differently as investors bases their decisions on perceived gains and not on perceived losses. The prospect theory is the reason why so many people buy high only to sell low in a market panic. The sentimental impact of perceived loss is much higher as compared to perceived gain of similar amount.
Shareholders that got the new shares usually tend to sell the spinoff as they prefer to keep owning the mother company. In such a situation, the spinoff company can trade at an irrationally low price.
In normal life, people love linearity and stability. We are wired to that. But the field of investing is different, it is a world where volatility is quite normal. It’s important to understand volatility and take advantage of it.
When catching a falling knife/stock, investors tend to take action based on intuition rather than on rational analysis. When a stock price moves quickly, people tend to think fast, which is inherent to fight or flight mechanism instead of taking the necessary time to gather and assess new information to be able to take right decision.
Small cap value stocks if properly analyzed and invested have outperformed any other stock type from growth stocks to blue chips. The thing is that small cap value stocks must first be discovered by the masses, only then, when becoming trendy, do they boom by getting a fair market valuation. Therefore, an investor may wait for a long period of time and stocks may underperform. The low liquidity, higher uncertainty and general unwillingness to research small cap means a higher premium which in the end, brings about higher return. Investors who are ready to invest in small cap values will be rewarded in the long term.
Modern Value Investing by Sven Carlin is an insightful book to understand the field of value investing. It gives wide perspective of the field of value investing. It is definitely a recommended read for anyone understanding the field of investment.
June 13, 2021
A good, practical guide on how to put a price on a company. The core of book goes through a range of tools to value a company and then applies them on Daimler to see when you should buy it. The techniques aren't explained in depth but good to give you a rough estimate. The Daimler example is really useful to see how it all works.
It's a good book to get started with value investing. But it didn't bring anything new to the table. And there were a few typos here and there which could have been fixed with some proof reading.
It's a good book to get started with value investing. But it didn't bring anything new to the table. And there were a few typos here and there which could have been fixed with some proof reading.
June 24, 2018
Great book explores value investing at its finest.
October 10, 2019
I love Sven's YouTube channel and I loved the book. 5 stars.
September 19, 2020
A tad confusing
Do we follow ratios and fundamental analysis or not ?
That's not really answered. But over all ac great read for beginners
Do we follow ratios and fundamental analysis or not ?
That's not really answered. But over all ac great read for beginners
December 20, 2020
The book is a good summary of the concepts behind value investing with a really basic explanation though. The most interesting part is the example of the Daimler analysis using the 25 tools
April 17, 2025
This is a more modern update of the classic book "The Intelligent Investor" by Graham that was published in 1973. Carlin writes in a clear manner, explaining the most important concepts, and gives a some examples of the calculations and formulas which is always helpful.
What would improve this book in our age of AI and endless websites would be to show AI tools or at least a website that can build and summarize these calculations. I will never take a 100 stocks and crunch 10 or 20 calculations to find two great investments. I will find an AI tool to do it in seconds. I think an Appendix with all the formulas would also be helpful rather than have every reader recreate their own summary.
What would improve this book in our age of AI and endless websites would be to show AI tools or at least a website that can build and summarize these calculations. I will never take a 100 stocks and crunch 10 or 20 calculations to find two great investments. I will find an AI tool to do it in seconds. I think an Appendix with all the formulas would also be helpful rather than have every reader recreate their own summary.
May 30, 2021
A good introduction to Value Investing
Sven Carlin does a good job in going through a number of different “tools” for the value investor. I think this book is a good starting point for whom who are curious about the subject, to start further explorations and eventually come back to the book, after a sound grasp of the tools has been achieved. Very interesting and practical the Daimler case that is presented.
Sven Carlin does a good job in going through a number of different “tools” for the value investor. I think this book is a good starting point for whom who are curious about the subject, to start further explorations and eventually come back to the book, after a sound grasp of the tools has been achieved. Very interesting and practical the Daimler case that is presented.
January 2, 2021
Everything a new value investor needs to know
At this point in my educational journey, this book didn’t add value to me. However, I wish I had found it earlier and that I had such a book when I was starting out. It contains all the information you’ll ever need to be a successful investor and how to edge the odds in your favor.
At this point in my educational journey, this book didn’t add value to me. However, I wish I had found it earlier and that I had such a book when I was starting out. It contains all the information you’ll ever need to be a successful investor and how to edge the odds in your favor.
November 29, 2021
"Hello my fellow investors..." Love this line on Sven's YouTube videos :) Not necessarily the best value investing book out there. Sven gathers and presents a set of tools (already known investing concepts) for the value investor in a simple and understandable way. Overall I liked the book and found value in it, though the writing quality could be better.
July 13, 2025
I’ve read many value investing books related to Warren Buffet’s way of investing since I was little. I didn’t find the book too many new and modern concepts. So I can read it very fast. Anyway it’s a good way to remind me of how better to do value investing and also try to incorporate other investing successful investing philosophies from other famous and successful investors.
December 1, 2019
Excellent
May 2, 2020
I follow Sven Carlin for a while in Youtube. The book is short but interesting. It's focused on value investing for the modern day, in line with the thougths of Benjamin Graham.
August 23, 2021
The writing in this book (spelling, grammar etc.) was complete shit. There were some valuable ideas, however, so… three stars.
December 29, 2021
Great book
Great book easy to understand and alot of useful information. A lot of good investing principles in the book. Really enjoyed reading
Great book easy to understand and alot of useful information. A lot of good investing principles in the book. Really enjoyed reading
August 27, 2019
One of the best book on value investing
This book presented well the value investing and deep dive into the methodology. I’m looking for the next book to cover options and portfolio risk assessment.
This book presented well the value investing and deep dive into the methodology. I’m looking for the next book to cover options and portfolio risk assessment.
January 25, 2022
It's a good book overall as it provides a value-oriented mindset in different dimensions. The not so good part is the writing, although I love Sven's insight I don't appreciate some of the unnecessary repetitions made throughout the book as well as the typos. Either way, I recommend this book for those who Sven's YouTube content.
December 20, 2019
This is a great book. A nice update on value investing taking the best insights from the founding fathers of value invesing (Graham, Buffett and Klarman in my view). A must if you are starting your path in value investing.
March 11, 2024
Book reads like prophecy today, but it does so because it’s written upon great fundamentals analysis. Also, I’m saying it again just because it needs to be said: Risk is not volatility. Risk is probability of sustained loss.
March 6, 2021
Some useful tools to utilise and I like Sven’s approach
October 7, 2022
Nice review, could use glossary with formulas.
September 19, 2023
Better than expected
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews