5 Smart Books: Looking Forward

It’s that time of year when we look both ways: ahead and backward. Here are several books our editors and writers have chosen that examine how we got to where we are and how to move ahead. In business, books include "Aftershock," about the next economic bubbles to pop, "Common Sense on Mutual Funds," an updated edition of a 10-year-old investing tool, and "Broke," about measures the U.S. should take to prevent its ultimate collapse. We’ve also got a nonfiction look at the art of counterfeiting and Sue Grafton’s latest mystery, in which the past and present meet in deadly fashion.

Protect Yourself and Profit in the Next Global Financial Meltdown

By David Wiedemer, Robert Wiedemer and Cindy Spitzer
Reviewed by Jami Makan

Here’s a grim forecast: In the next several years, America’s economy will face double-digit unemployment, double-digit inflation and double-digit interest rates. The stock market will probably crash, the dollar will collapse and the federal government will run out of money.

These claims might seem outlandish, but David Wiedemer, Robert Wiedemer and Cindy Spitzer believe that a series of large, interconnected bubbles are about to pop. These include the stock market and household debt, discretionary spending and the U.S. dollar and our government’s finances. In brief, the recession has only just begun.

Their advice? Short the stock market, invest in gold and euros and dump those pricey collectibles while you still can. Some business owners should even consider selling off their businesses while workers should switch careers to recession-proof fields (such as health care). Whether these bold recommendations are sound is debatable, but they’re bound to spark conversation.

At the same time, anyone who’s been hit hard by the downturn might welcome a little more modesty from these authors, who constantly hawk their newsletter and research services and remind us again and again that they predicted a real-estate crisis and market crash as early as 2006: “Basically, we nailed it.” Got it the first time, thanks. Nevertheless, surrounded as we are by growing talk of recovery and news about “green shoots,” it’s still refreshing to consider the different perspective that Wiedemer, Wiedemer and Spitzer offer here.

By John C. Bogle
Reviewed by Robert J. Hughes

The common sense that John C. Bogle offers in his new book is pretty much what he offered a decade ago when he first published this guide: Do your research and take your time before investing. He still advises the basics (such as not ignoring taxes on investments) in this updated 10th anniversary edition, but also puts into perspective many of the things he first wrote about when the markets seemed on the verge of rising as high as 36,000.

As founder of the giant mutual fund company, Vanguard Group, Bogle writes what he knows: how to steer one’s way through mutual funds and the numbing variety of investment alternatives available today. His is a clear and readable style, and Bogle helps make still somewhat-arcane terms such as quantitative investing understandable.

He compares what worked then and what didn’t in the markets (and his advice). And he is willing to correct himself: “A decade ago…I asked the wrong question: ‘Did the professional investment advisers outpace the market’” The question should have been whether they made money for their clients. His answer: “Far less than they claim.”

This is a textbook for the everyday investor, as well as the investment advisor, even if at 600 pages it’s not exactly casual reading. But it is a well written, accessible and useful guide to everything from long-term investments to indexing, to technological change and even entrepreneurship.