The Successful Investor: What 80 Million People Need to Know to Invest Profitably and Avoid Big Losses

by William J. O'Neil

FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE BUSINESSWEEK , USA TODAY , AND WALL STREET JOURNAL BUSINESS BESTSELLER HOW TO MAKE MONEY IN STOCKS! Simple-to-follow strategies for making--and keeping--profits in today's perilous stock market More than 80 million investors lost 50 to 80 percent of their savings in the recent stock market crash. Investor's Business Daily publisher William J. O'Neil, however, was one of the first to see--and warn investors about--the dangers inherent in what had been, up to that point, a historic bull market run. Those who followed his counsel were able to sidestep devastating losses and emerge with their sizable bull market profits largely intact. In The Successful Investor, O'Neil steps up to tell all investors how they can make money and, more important, avoid losses in up markets, down markets, and everything in between. Showing how mistakes made in the recent market collapse were amazingly similar to those made in previous down cycles, O'Neil reveals simple steps investors can follow to avoid costly mistakes and:

Genres: Finance, Business, Nonfiction

183 pages, Paperback

First published August 26, 2003

About the author

William J. O'Neil is a stock trader, entrepreneur and writer, who founded the business newspaper Investor's Business Daily and the stock brokerage firm William O'Neil & Co. Inc. He is the creator of the CAN SLIM investment strategy.

He studied business at Southern Methodist University, received a Bachelor's degree and served in the United States Air Force.

Reviews

[Nathan Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why was this really good

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reads like a shortened version of his last book, How to Make Money in Stocks.

[Will Waller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Given to me by a church parishioner who knows that I'm starting to get into personal investing, this book provides a really wonderful survey of reading the graphs of the stock market. Written many years ago before meme investing began, it will provide you with a primer on how to look for dips and when to buy. For that alone, I think this book is worth your time. Still, it is a dinosaur. Stock information is so much more widely disseminated now that going to a book seems antiquated. Perhaps its not, but with the change of the market to 0 dollar commissions and the internet, this book may not be around much longer. It focuses almost exclusively on the stock dot.com bubble in the late 90s and early 2000s.

[VLADISLAV · Rating 3 out of 5]

a simple strategy for growth stocks.

Screen for high growing sales and eps, buy on breakouts from consolidation, sell after 25% gain or after  7% dd. (3:1 PnL). Also sell when market down several unconnected days on increasing volume. 10 stocks in portfolio. Only good for large or mid caps.

that is it.

The last sentence should be the first one: Only good for bull markets.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some tips to glean. That said, the book is more or less an advertisement for Investor’s Business Daily.

[Vũ Sơn]

Good for all

[Robert lll Fire . · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave me clarity in some areas of my trading.


Robert Fire
www.robertfire.com

@irobertfire (US)
@frobertfire (ESP)

[Kylee]

No rating

[Arkadev · Rating 3 out of 5]

So so

[Ed Winslow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth the read to better understand the investment market and obtaining skills to invest.

[Khu Dccard]

good

[Charlie Lake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

[Glenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Concise trading system using supply and demand signals for buy/sell triggers. In this work, O'Neil moves his fundamental screen (CAN SLIM) to the appendix, freeing you to choose or develop another. It's a little sparse on the portfolio management aspect of trading, but there is some usable material. Sure, there's a bunch of bias for his IBD products throughout. But if you can't find a signal in the noise, you shouldn't be in speculative trading.

[Jef · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will has written some timeless principles here about investing in the market.

while some of this may seem counter-intuitive it's information that can be applied, learned and adapted to your own investing.

possibly goes beyond the beginner investor although take your time, read this a couple of times and you'll be able to apply a great deal

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few good bits of info. More of a promotion of Investor's Business Daily than a piece of real literature. I'm still thinking about the sell at 25-30% gain and only 8% loss... I think I need to read more about value investing and re-read this one.

[Kevin Xu · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is just a shorter summary of his earlier book, How to Make Money in Stocks: A Winning System in Good Times or Bad.

[Schnitzer Ang · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very technical book. The teaching is illustrate by graphs and examples.

[Jose Taveras · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good book if you follow the can slim approach, and you're a long term investor however if you're an intraday trader this book is useless. I still think is an excellent book.

[Janet (Muy) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since i'm not a business major, I would say it's an ok book to read. It's a bit hard for the beginner at least.

[Fai Poon]

Accumulation and Distribution. This book is boring, but you can learn when is the market is going to turn.

[Nguyendat]

very good

[Michael Bond · Rating 2 out of 5]

A long ad for Investor's Business Daily.

[Leah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't get it!