Trade Like Warren Buffett challenges the current coverage of this great investor by including details of all of Buffett’s investing and trading methods, including mean reversion, commodities, bonds, arbitrage, market timing, funds, as well as Graham-Dodd. In addition to the value investing approach, this book discusses other, lesser-known trading strategies and techniques that have helped to make Buffett the greatest investor in history. To augment the discussion of each strategy, Trade Like Warren Buffett also includes interviews with leading financial professionals, who reveal in detail how they’ve successfully used the same techniques.
Warren Buffett has had one of the longest and most successful investment careers of all time. While he’s considered the “world’s greatest value investor,” there’s another side to Buffett that is not very well known. Although Buffett has gained recognition for his value investing approach to the markets, the fact is that nobody—over the past fifty years—has traded and invested with a more diverse group of strategies than Buffett.
Given the fact that Buffett’s investment career has spanned five decades and multiple styles and disciplines, is it possible to Trade Like Warren Buffett? It’s impossible to trade exactly like Warren Buffett, but with author James Altucher as your guide, you’ll come close. Altucher skillfully details Buffett’s career and uncovers the paths that led to his success. You’ll have a front row seat to the best that Buffett has to offer, including:
- The Early Years: Buffett’s hedge fund years, when he built his fortune from essentially nothing to about $25 million
- The Middle Years: During the ’70s and ’80s, Buffett made the full transition from successful hedge fund manager to operator, asset allocator, and insurance company magnate
- The Later Years: During the ’90s and ’00s, there was a flight to safety from the dot-com bubble as well as a diversification into bonds, silver, fixed-income arbitrage, and ultimately, foreign currencie
Contents:
- Does Warren Buffett Trade?
- Graham-Dodd and a Dose of Fisher
- Equities
- Current Holdings
- Merger Arbitrage Like Warren Buffett
- Relative Value Arbitrage
- PIPEs and High Yield
- Junk
- Warren Buffett’s Personal Holdings
- Closed-End Fund Arbitrage
- Interviews with Two Buffett-Style Hedge Fund Managers
- P/E Ratios, Market Timing, and the Fed Model
- Buffett and Disasters
- Life and Death
- Fixed-Income Arbitrage
- Trade Like Bill Gates
- Jealousy
Trade Like Warren Buffett By James Altucher pdf
Abdullah Sellers (verified owner) –
I have read several books about Warren Buffet and this was the best. The way the author drilled downed on many actual investments and investing techniques that Warren uses was very helpful to this investor. I read this book in one weekend, couldn’t put it down. I have been managing money for more than a decade and found this book very educational and a breeze to read. I highly recomend it any investor or anyone who wants a better understanding of one of the greatest investors of all time.
Stevie Brady (verified owner) –
This is the single best volume on Warren Buffett’s investment history. Written for the financial professional rather than the general reader, this book focuses on what Buffett actually did and how what he did changed significantly over time.
Altucher’s account goes into detail and explains how Buffett’s thinking evolved as the result of a changing financial environment and a more nuanced perspective on Dodd’s notion of intrinsic value.
Malaysia Harrison (verified owner) –
Most people think of Buffett as the owner for life, but what people don’t realize is that he’s only recently become that because of his large cash base. This shows how even a small investor can create superior returns by following strategies that Warren used most when he was much younger and had much less capital to deploy.
Brynleigh Rocha (verified owner) –
In the interest of full disclosure, I write for Realmoney.com, as does the author of this book. That said, I say this with the utmost objectivity: This book is a must-read for any investment professional.
As I wrote in my book review on Realmoney: I devoured James Altucher’s new book, Trade Like Warren Buffett this weekend. At the risk of gushing, the book is fantastic and extremely readable, and it blasts all kinds of the the conventional myths around the greatest investor/trader that the world has ever known.
My favorite chapter — the last one, called “Jealousy.” Yeah, jealousy. As in player-hating. I’ve decided that the downfall of the modern world won’t come from nukes or terrorism — but from player-hating. Buffett’s the best, and he’s been rewarded for it. The facts speak for themselves.
Great, great job, James. Rock on.
Sariah Duarte (verified owner) –
I very much enjoyed reading this book. I have read many of the books about Buffett and this is definitley one I would recommend to anyone who is interested in gaining a deeper understanding of Buffett’s investment philosophy. Too many people believe Buffett just “buys and holds” companies like Coke and Gillette, but that is a long way from the whole story. This book details many of the strategies Buffett employed through out the years. The author does an excellent job discussing why Buffett used the startegies and about where Buffet was in his career that made him able to do those sorts of trades. I also think it was good how the author was able to point out certain principals Buffett maintains regardless of what kind of trade he is making.
“Trade Like Warren Buffett,” is an excellent read and I highly recommend it.
Dario Singleton (verified owner) –
“Trade like Warren Buffet” is a superbly organized and well written account of the history of Warren Buffet along with his personal secrets to his financial success. Altucher gives you everything about Buffet, from his personal background, his earlier years as an investor, what he holds, and what TRADING strategies he has used throughout his legendary career. “Trade Like Warren Buffet” is written in a way that enables the reader to easily benefit from the comprehension of Buffets unique trading styles and techniques. This book has given me a fantastic view of Warren Buffet “The Trader” and a better understanding of Warren Buffet “The Man.” I was recently privileged enough to see Mr. Altucher speak in person. His ability to demonstrate his knowledge of Warren Buffet’s “trading” prowess as well as his analysis of the financial markets is outstanding. The only substitute to seeing him speak is reading this book. This book is a MUST READ for any level of trader, investor, financial planner or Warren Buffet enthusiast
Marilyn Beil (verified owner) –
As a professional money-manager based in the midwestern U.S., I am always seeking to improve my methodologies and improve my chances at producing strong performance. An essential part of my intellectual journey is to read as much as I can about those who have been successful in the investment realm. To put a point on it – I have read a lot of investment books over the past decade.
This one is the best I have read in a long time. It reads easy, but it covers several rather complex topics. On the surface, it is yet another book about the over-exposed genius Warren Buffett, and yet it places him and his strategies in an entirely new light.
In short, this book taught me new stuff, and it entertained me. I think my investment psyche is the better for having read it. If you are a serious investor (either an individual or a professional), I most strongly recommend you read this book.
Reed House (verified owner) –
much inferior to the warren buffett way, not to say the making of an american capitalist,
in the begining of the book, the author says he will analyse buffett’s investment in commodities and give a book list for further study, but these are no where to be found in the book,
what do you expect from such an author?
another chapter ‘buffett’s personal holdings’ just copy all the charts and figures from yahoo, without any analysis of why buffett bought and sold them, what is it if not just for making the book thicker to sell more money,
another chapter just summaries buffett’s articles in fortune, again where is the originality?
Ariyah Church (verified owner) –
pg 47 “If the earnings yield of a given stock is much higher than Treasury bill interest rates (that is, if the P/E ratio is low), then many investoirs think that the stock constitutes a good investment”. hmm… actually NO. This is incorrect. Two stocks with identical E’s, but on has a lower P (and therefore lower P/E) means investors view a higher degree of risk in that E being deliverd = they don’t think its as good/safe as an investment as the high P/E stock. I stopped after reading this sentence, since this guy doesn’t know what he is talking about. He also refers to depreciation as “depreciations” throughout the book!?!?
Derrick Buckley (verified owner) –
I bought this book with the intention to learn something but i have not. The book is sectioned into lengthy paragraphs. the author also throws in some comments and interviews from other investment guru (how guru are they) but it makes reading even more confusing,
more often, the interviews serve no purpose to the chapter and tends to deviate away from topic.
A better book would be “The trading habits of warren buffett and georege soros”
A bad book for new investors.
Gavin Osborne (verified owner) –
I was first exposed to James Altucher’s work on theStreet.com and have always found his articles to be worthwhile. “Trade Like Warren Buffett” is no different. Mr. Altucher’s concise observations and comfortable writing style make this book a fun, fast read.
People who have had little exposure to Buffett literature beyond the endless magazine cover stories will see that he is at heart an extremely ambitious and competitive investor who is not above making a quick trade, timing the market or relying at least in part on anecdotal evidence when buying a stock. But even though Mr. Altucher makes short work of the “buy and hold forever” myth that surrounds Buffett, he clearly respects Buffett’s prowess and accomplishments. I particularly liked the examination of Buffett’s current stock holdings and the stories from his early investing career. And there are a couple of interviews with money managers that provide good perspective.
It was a little frustrating to read about all the investing opportunities that Buffett has taken advantage of over the years but that no longer exist. However, it was also nice to learn that Buffett has made mistakes too.
Jaliyah Patrick (verified owner) –
This is an excellent book, but it is not a book for a neophyte investor ( or trader). If you are a beginning investor, read a lot more before you pick up this one. Nor is it the first book for those who are interested in Buffett. I would however recommend this book to investors who have already read a great deal about Buffett.
The author could have been a tad more thorough both in presentation and in analysis. For example, he classifies, Berkshire Hathaway’s investment in Cap Cities as a short term trade, which it was not. It was only short term because Disney bought out Cap Cities, after Buffett invested.
“Trade like Buffett” is a useful addition to the Buffett library and reviews some of the strategies that made the “oracle” who he is today. The author does not idolize Buffett and even admits to being jealous of him, but he delivers a brief but interesting tour through some aspects of special situation investing.
Theodora Lim (verified owner) –
I don’t think that many people see Buffett as a trader. Most view him as a long-term investor who buys companies that possess competitive advantages and holds them forever. However, the author points out that Buffett has used many different investment strategies such as cigar butt, value investing, special arbitrage situations, workouts, distressed debt, merger arbitrage, and spin-offs. This book covers all of these strategies. So those who are looking for the classic Warren Buffett buy-and-hold strategy might find it disappointing.
He made pretty good money using other strategies, but unfortunately many of these opportunities do not exist in the same way as they did years ago. The reason for this is the Internet and the growing number of hedge funds exploiting these same opportunities. I found it interesting to learn how Buffett evolved as the financial environment was changing. I think that Buffett’s experience with so many investment strategies gives him an edge over other money managers because it makes him well-rounded.
Alexander Caldwell (verified owner) –
A simple depiction of Warren Buffett’s methods. Wish the author had gone in more details of the theories involved. The book did not help my trading much. It was more of an informational review than anything else.
Onyx Robbins (verified owner) –
Excellent book
Cal Zimmerman (verified owner) –
Correct item . Thanks
Evelynn Castro (verified owner) –
James continues to talk about how he is going to touch on things that warren has done but overall I wasn’t really impressed with this book. That said, reading this was useful for building out my mental framework and I do like james altucher.. so buy this book and support him.. just wasn’t up to my expectations, that said it wasn’t useless like most of the books i read who claim to know things but dont…. so at least there was content here… just not what i expected… i was kind of expecting an in depth analysis of the history of warren buffett and yada yada, but nope… more like a bunch of sideline analysis and parting notes.. but what should have i expected… i guess in retrospect this is what i should have expected.
Terrance Bruce (verified owner) –
This book was rather weak. It touched on alot of interesting topics but often didn’t dive into them in detail. It also had interviews with at least 3 people who run mutual and hedge funds that didn’t have much to do with Buffett’s record itself.
I’ve read just about all of the books on Buffett out there and this one was not one of the best by far. Buy Buffettology or the New Buffettology. They are far better.
Shelby Martinez (verified owner) –
An interesting book which feels like it needed a bit longer in editing. Some chapters speak directly to Buffett’s investing, and these are good, but others are left as raw interviews or as a brain dump of unrelated strategies the author favors.
Ariel Landry (verified owner) –
If you are looking for more insight into why Buffett is the best investor evet, then this book will help you understand some of the techniques he has used beyond the traditional ‘buy and hold’ and value dogma. Buffett has indeed written his own rules. How much this now applies to the individual investor in the modern era is debatable, but a good additional to any investor’s library.