Take on the Street

Investors today are being fed lies and distortions are being exploited and neglected. In the wake of the last decades rush to invest by millions of households and Wall Streets 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 analystsWhat exactly happens - and who gets a piece of the action - when you place an orderThe seven deadly sins of mutual fundsThe vagaries and vicissitudes of 401(k) investmentsHow accountants engage in sleight of hand to fake impressive company performanceHow to find the truth in a companys financial statementsThe real reason for the Streets hostility to full disclosureThe 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.