Guide to Financial Markets (6th edition)

The Economist

By: Marc Levinson

Narrated by: Philip Franks

Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

The definitive guide to why different financial markets exist and how they operate. 

This edition brings the listener right up to speed with the latest developments in financial instruments and provides a clear and incisive guide to this complex world that even those who work in it often find hard to understand. With chapters on the markets that deal with money, foreign exchange, equities, bonds, commodities, financial futures, options and other derivatives, it looks at why these markets exist, how they work and who trades in them and it gives a run-down of the factors that affect prices and rates. 

Business history is littered with disasters that occurred because people involved their firms in financial markets they didn't properly understand. Listen to this book and you and your company won't be new additions to this list. 

A fabulous source of reference for anyone wishing to understand financial markets - there is no better guide.

©2014 Marc Levinson (P)2014 Audible Ltd

This sharpened my understanding

I have an informal self-education in this topic. I have, for example, a basic ready definition of what a money market fund is, and how a mutual fund works. This refreshes these basic understandings across the full range of markets, and sharpens them nicely. Alongside definitions we get well-chosen bits of background and history where appropriate. It moves briskly and held my attention well.

Not very interesting to listen too.

What disappointed you about Guide to Financial Markets (6th edition)?

It felt more like listening to a dictionary, but if that was the intent then I guess it is good

Complete, accurate and highly recommended

Would you consider the audio edition of Guide to Financial Markets (6th edition) to be better than the print version?

The topic is complex with plenty of financial data and having financial data. This title would greatly benefit from having a reference guide along side printing, for example, the contract definition of a oil future and its formula to calculate tick value. The books is an excellent reference material which is less valuable in audio as opposed to a text book that could be annotated and pages could be flipped more easily. Having that said. it is still an excellent reminder since is was well above 20 years since I left the business school. And as a work in the field of finance I can grasp the audio, probably less suited for beginners.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Guide to Financial Markets (6th edition)?

Its structured way of describing financial instruments through classification by market they trade in.

Have you listened to any of Philip Franks’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Plenty of Ahaa reactions, but I'll save the tears for other books

Any additional comments?

Highly recommended to financial market workers.

Very informative from both economics & finance pov

This book was just great. The author explains quite complex topics with quiet ease. I wasn't expecting much as this book was included in the premium membership for free, but was quite blown away by the ease of explaining concepts.
As an experienced finance professional, I realized how I had forgotten or not paid attention to topics in the past which did raise my curiosity but not enough to push me to deep dive into topics and this book just cleared all or most of it up in a single go.
Interestingly it got me interested to read other Marc Levinson's writings (blog etc) and quite sorry to say it was very anti-climactic. Not sure how he wrote this book so well, while some of his other writings (at least those I touched upon as a result of interest gained from this book) including that on crypto recently was just not up to the standard.
Anyways - this is a great read for anyone interested in finance.

Great reference book

This book is fantastic for the breadth of material it covers. It does not cover any one subject in enough detail that it could be used as a reference for that particular subject however. For example, if you were interested in learning how to invest in bonds, I have would not recommend buying this book and counting on its section on bonds to provide enough information to do so. However, if you are looking to begin learning about financial markets, this book is perfect. It gives clear, easy to follow introductory explanations of virtually all securities and markets around the world.

Very knowledgeable

Good book to learn the terminology of the old ways of investing

Remember now you just have to buy bitcoin and hold it two halfing

Stack sats
Stay humble

Informative

I personally will make more informed investing decisions based on what I learned from this audiobook.

Thorough and tedious

I enjoy articles from the Economist, and I've read or listened through lots of summaries just like this one. This has some excellent info and descriptions, but the content is organized like a dictionary. It's super duper dry.

Very thorough

This book is very thorough in all aspects of the financial markets. It can be a dry topic, but the information given is well explained.

One of the best finance textbooks

Summarizes nicely most of CFA l1 materials. I’m very glad I found this book. And reader was so good. Will listen again!

A dense, comprehensive textbook.

This is one of those "does what it says on the cover" books. It's an educational textbook, consisting of a series of entries describing the salient features of the modern global economic system, with plenty of detail, and delivered in a manageable and readily comprehensible style. If you find this subject interesting, it will give you what you need.

The narrator is clear, and paces the heavy-subject matter well.

It's not a Guide but a Dictionary

Book does not serve as a guide, pretty much what it does it provides dry definitions. Not what I was expecting. Would not recommend.

Touches on most important topics

Fast and factual, not much 'meat on the bones' but a useful overview. Worth reading if you want to gain an appreciation for what financial markets do.

Great guide for beginners

Fantastic insight on complex areas. Most subjects are explained on simple, concise terms, and those that are not are expanded on properly.

Comprehensive and accessible

This is useful stuff. Highly recommended listening for anyone interested in economics and finance.

Great for reference only

As a reference book this is great. If you're a beginner studying the financial markets or even experienced but looking to widen your knowledge base then certainly keep this book in your collection to refer to, but not as a full listen in it's self. If you're listening to another book and need further explanation on a specific aspect then just pause that, hop onto this book, find the chapter you need and you'll hear that exact info in clear, well spoken and easy to understand English. Fact after fact. No story, no nonsense.