Take on the Street: What Wall St. and Corporate America Don't Want You to Know / What You Can Do to Fight Back

by Arthur Levitt

Investors today are being fed lies and distortions, are being exploited and neglected. In the wake of the last decade’s rush to invest by millions of households and Wall Street’s obsession with short-term performance, a culture of gamesmanship has grown among corporate management, financial analysts, brokers, and fund managers, making it hard to tell financial fantasy from reality, salesmanship from honest advice.

In Take on the Street, Arthur Levitt—former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission—shows how you can take matters into your own hands. At once anecdotal (names are named), informative, and prescriptive, Take on the Street expounds on, among other subjects: the relationship between broker compensation and your trading account; the conflicts of interest inherent in buy-hold-or-sell recommendations of analysts; what exactly happens—and who gets a piece of the action—when you place an order; the “seven deadly sins” of mutual funds; the vagaries and vicissitudes of 401(k) investments; how accountants engage in sleight of hand to fake impressive company performance; how to find the truth in a company’s financial statements; the real reason for the Street’s hostility to full disclosure; the crisis in corporate governance, and, given these shenanigans and double-dealings, what specific steps you can take to safeguard your financial future.

With integrity and authority, Levitt gives us a bracing primer on the collapse of the system for overseeing our capital markets, and sage, essential advice on a discipline we often ignore to our peril—how not to lose money.


From the Hardcover edition.

Genres: Finance, Business, Economics, Nonfiction, Money

352 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Richie Gill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book on financial regulation and how investors can protect their interests.

[Lance Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Levitt is a good writer, and his concern for doing what is right permeates his work. He is honest and not afraid to highlight his own participation in questionable financial practices. This book highlights that importance of ensuring that incentives and compensation of financial professionals lines up with their responsibilities to everyday investors. He highlights problems that exist and the solutions that have been proposed or applied and what still needs to be done. There are some real gems of information in this book, but being from 2002 much of it is outdated. Some of the things he warns about have been mostly stamped out, while other new pitfalls have since emerged. People interested in Levitt himself or in a history of conflicting interests will find this a worth while read, but people looking merely for investment advice would do better to look for more up to date information.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Narrative Perspective The story is told from a perspective that allows the reader to observe events from a distance. This objective approach helps in maintaining a neutral view of the unfolding situations. The narrator provides enough context to understand the setting without becoming overly emotional. Find out more about the narrator's point of view here. >>> https://script.google.com/macros/s/AK...

[Bob Engeman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am likely not the intended reader, complicated by the fact that the book was written more than 20 years ago. I found the book very basic and outdated.

[Hbombme · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think it's a good book. It covers a broad range of financial topics from basic (how to pick a financial adviser / if at all) to complex (plumbing of the financial system). Arthur Levitt is perhaps the last competent SEC Chairman who gave a damn (through 2016) about investors' rights, auditor independence, and corporate disclosure.

My favorite thing about the book is his perspective on perverse incentives inherent to the financial system. Advisers' choice of financial products for clients, brokers' choice of market centers, and corporations' relationships with auditors -- to name just a few -- are all sub-optimal arrangements for end-customers, i.e., the investors.

Another favorite is the discussion of different ways companies can game financial statements in the Beware of False Profits chapter. Pro-forma statements that add-back the bad and keep the good (with Trump Hotels used as an example; hmmm can't wait for selective White House disclosures); restructuring charges that front-load recurring expenses; "cookie jar reserves" and "channel stuffing" aka "bill and hold" that inflate profits (where "Chainsaw" Al Dunlap finally cut his teeth); write-downs and reversals; vendor financing (some customers may not pay you back after all, Motorola); goodwill gaming; in-process R&D; and early revenue recognition (hello Microstrategy, you and your scumbag CEO Michael Saylor are still around after all these years). What's appalling is that more often than not, the consequences to such corporate misbehavior are immaterial to perpetrators -- cease and desist letters, fines, and perhaps an occasional short jail sentence.

Bottom line: you have to be very careful who you trust and how you interpret the information provided to you. The devil is in the detail... and understanding everyone's incentives. Assume you will be taken advantage of.

[Johnny Galt · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was lots of great information here. Some of it was a bit over my head but I could tell it was directed at novice investors like myself and was just too technical to break down any better. I found he would switch every chapter between talking about the industry and talking about consumer relevant strategies. Sometimes they dovetailed well, sometimes they were nonsequiters. The biggest downside was his self absorbed martyr first person didactic but still good info and worth reading.

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

first i though it would be a boring book :) but after i read it ,, i want to recommend it to my friend " ISMAIL " so much ,, he would love it :) i think

[Iceyloveice · Rating 5 out of 5]

here's where you can download the book for free

http://www.4shared.com/office/MbEtB6b...

[Keith McGowan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The information in this book is dated. I would recommend this book only to someone who is interested in the history of the regulation of the stock market.

[Monster Jin · Rating 5 out of 5]

dated information, but still valuable. tge mentality never changed.