How the Stock Market Works

De: Ramon P. DeGennaro, The Great Courses

Narrado por: Ramon P. DeGennaro

This course is an introduction to the stock market and stock investing for novices and experienced investors alike. Professor DeGennaro uses simple analogies to explain the origin of stocks and other securities, as well as their relative risks. He stresses the danger of trying to beat the market by trying to pick winners, predict price trends, or otherwise find opportunities that other investors have missed. Far better, he counsels, to own a well-diversified portfolio of individual stocks or stock funds, which tend to grow as the economy grows. He offers detailed guidance on how to pursue this course.

Among the topics covered in these 18 lectures are how to open a brokerage account and choose a financial advisor; the essentials of mutual funds, including index funds, and exchange traded funds (ETFs); how to trade individual stocks, including how to use options; the relative advantages of traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, and 401(k) plans; how to minimize transaction costs and use tax laws for your benefit; the dangers of frequent trading; and the basics of corporate balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements.

For anyone who owns stocks or is thinking of entering the market, this course provides indispensable advice. If you entrust the management of your assets to a financial advisor, this course will give you the background you need to communicate more knowledgeably with him or her and be an informed participant in your own financial well-being.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2014 The Great Courses (P)2014 The Teaching Company, LLC

Intro to Stock Market

The professor is an investor not a trader, so if you have aspirations to be a trader then this might not be for you. Most of the course was a refresher for me but got me to think about how to get my kids to start saving in tools like ROTH's.

I will have to try the other parts of the series, economics are rather confusing but it seems to be worth having a better understanding of the topic so that you won't make the dumb mistakes that most people make because they have no understanding of money at all.

A truly exceptional guide to investing.

This books goes way beyond how the stock market works. Professor DeGennaro does a superb job in both content and narration. His lectures are well-spirited, direct to point, highly understandable, even for the layman/laywoman. Knowledge builds with each chapter and teh good news is that It comes with a course guidebook which includes approximately 80% of what is said. Overall, this audiobook is extremely useful to understand investing in general and is worth more than many of the books/audiobooks that are currently available. Be smart and don't overlook this course.

You can’t and won’t

All the book is saying you’re not going to make much. I felt that meant the author can’t make much. Then I wondered why learn from someone who can’t make much if I’m trying to learn how to make much.

I was listening to a book on warren buffet on parallel to this book. Definitely have conflicting recommendations.

When fully trained the student will be like his teacher. Who is your teacher?

it was drawn out yet covered what was needed

it was drawn out yet covered some good points eventually. I guess that's efficient for a beginner.

me likey

Great and very informative course, from an enthusiastic and incredibly knowledgeable professor. Tthis audio book is a fantastic way to get a foot in to the world of stocks.

Interesting, but definitely not for beginners and not what I expected

I wish he gave more direct advice. But I did I like how he explained the government role in it all

Well articulated basics fostering further thought.

Chapters 12 and 13 more by far the most enjoyable for me personally. They triggered further research for me, and I learned a lot.

Essential for anyone who is into investing

Very down to earth and pragmatic information. The main points of this book are:
- Markets are close to 100% efficient, so do not try to beat them. It's much more reliable to save on management fees and taxes.
- Diversify and do not take risks to the point that it costs you a good night's sleep.

Rough start, but decent from there.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The politicizing in the beginning of the course was very offputting. I originally wrote a pretty harsh review and then worked with Audible to revise it because the course does get much better after the first two hours.

What was most disappointing about The Great Courses’s story?

I had originally written the following review: I am approximately two hours into this "course," and it's the first time I've been truly disappointed in the quality of a lecture from the great courses series. I've listened to approximately a dozen courses, mostly history, philosophy, and psychology, and was excited to expand my horizons. However, instead of a lecture on how the stock market works (what I expected from the course based on the title), what I've gotten so far has been a two hour lecture on why corporations and the stock market are a good thing, why "we" really shouldn't be actively trading but should leave that up to the professionals, and why we just basically deposit money with the market and hope for the best in the long term. I want to make sure to clarify that I was not looking for a "get rich quick"-type course, nor was I expecting to be able to listen to this course and go out tomorrow and develop a stunning portfolio, but this feels more like an ad for Wall Street than an educational presentation. I will continue to listen for a few hours more, in the hopes that this turns into the kind of course I was expecting, but so far, this is not up to the standards I set for these lectures.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

After the initial rough start, the course does start to detail some interesting and helpful facts about the terminology used, the activities that take place in the market, and the different tools and techniques used by different kinds of market participants to navigate the system.

Did How the Stock Market Works inspire you to do anything?

I'm still not ready to throw my hat (and money) into anything more complex than my current ultra-conservative portfolio, but I am at least ready to learn more without feeling overwhelmed.

Good basics

I’ve been trading stocks since I was 18 (31 now), but have had mostly passive securities, and haven’t paid too much attention. This was a good first book to break into the world of more active stock trading. Mostly too elementary for me, but that’s okay. He spends a long time describing key terms, sometimes too long, but by the time you move to the next key term he’s really beaten that key term down. I learned a few good tidbits about ETFs, index stocks and not listening to much to experts who can “beat the market”.

I’d recommend it as a first read to anyone lookin to get started in stocks.