Value Investing: Tools and Techniques for Intelligent Investment

This book is both informative and practical and for the most part very funny also. If you don't with in finance, some of the language will be a little mystifying but if you are used to reading the mountains of rubbish that most analysts produce to keep their jobs, this is a most refreshing. Also worth noting is that much of his views were validated by the test of time (I speak from experience of trading thro the credit crisis) - again somewhat unique from sell side analysts (no wonder he's now at GMO not SG!).No it isn't a how to book like "The Intelligent Investor" but I would read this before embarking on setting up a portfolio of your own - intact just read it anyway.

This book although cumbersome has some great tools and techniques, it isn't as clear and concise as Benjamim Graham's book, but it nevertheless a valuable effort into a minefield of various other books that cover techniques in investing. The topics are laid out well and it has bullet points for important points. You can easily use this book at work for investing and a quick background into the various methods used.You have to remember that Montier is the man when it comes to EMH, however, there are other techniques and EMH isn't the most valued method. Can you really predict stocks rise and fall, not really and like anything to do with investing you need to have luck and a clear head.Don't expect a book to make you into a millionaire over night, you need tact and a clear conscience. A good book nevertheless and it has a wealth information, but tread carefully as nothing is really crystal clear.

I'm not an expert but want to learn, and I thought this book would be great but I was wrong. He uses a lot of financial market terminology without any explanation of what it means so you have to Google what he's on about. It would be fair enough if the front cover had "for advanced investors" but it doesn't. Maybe after a year into my investment journey I will instantly recognise all the terminology used but for now it will be a paperweight. Here's a tip, add a thing called a glossary at the back then I won't be here whinging

Being someone who works in finance I found the book extremely interesting and insightful. I have met James Montier and found him incredibly sharp and honest. In a time when everybody in asset management is concerned about making a quick sale or a short-term profit, the book reminds us of what investing is supposed to be - a long term endeavor.

I won't pretend that I am an expert on investing, I am just a beginner. When I saw the title of the book, I thought that it could provide me with clear and straightforward ways of investing, after all it's about tools and techniques. But it's not. Or at least it's not if you want a book on investing that could guide you through a solid, precise and practical way of investing. I am not saying that it doesn't guide you at all, just that it's more into proving theories than providing any real tools or techniques.But once you carry on from there, soon this initial disappointment diminishes and you are presented with well-written and thoroughly researched modern theory on value-investing, fully backed-up by plausible examples and credible data. It's not easy to fathom it all, as a student of investing I had to take it slowly. But eventually, James Montier's knowledge and his belief and the way he presents it gets you deeper into the subject matter and I found myself taking interest in the questions that he is asking and answering.I like the parts where he explains the failings of so many companies that seem blatant and unforgiveable in the hindsight. The guide to manage the money is also well explained. Also repeating same kind of arguments (because it is a series of articles) does not tire but rather strengthens the arguments against Gene Fama's theories on efficient markets, and the dissection (I mean theories', not Fama's) is thorough and brutal, but effective.A good book, which probably could have used some more tools and techniques with a lesser emphasis on the academic discussions. But perhaps this requires a totally different kind of book.

Don't buy this as an instruction book, it isn't one. Buy it as an opinionated, irreverent, original look at how markets work; how investors think they work; and the profitable gulf that lies between.Somewhere you will recognise many mistakes you have made... or if you don't, re-read confirmatory bias (p270).