Essentials of Investments, 9th Edition

I'm in college and this book was required reading in my investments course. I read it nearly cover-to-cover (skipping just 2 chapters) and can say that this is a solid introduction to investments. The amount of information this book covers is quite broad, and the authors usually do a good job of balancing the difficulties of giving too little vs. too much information. Occasionally, I did feel some areas warranted more discussion, such as those discussing mutual funds and ETFs. But overwhelmingly the authors give readers enough usable information that further research is then much easier.

Part two on Portfolio Theory is particularly good. Specifically, chapter 6 does a really good job of illustrating how 'efficient diversification' results in the best results. The first time I read their discussion of the efficient frontier I was struck by how well the explanations illustrated the concept. Numerous graphs hammer points home, and even the sidebars (which, in many textbooks, can be filler) provide interesting asides to the topics under discussion.

I also appreciate their Excel examples injected within the text. It is very nice to be able to see exactly what I can do to get the same results they get; in other books, it can be harder to convert the theory discussed in the book into actual practical information. I consider myself someone who is quite proficient at using spreadsheet software, but a few of their examples utilized tools that I wasn't familiar with.

The authors are generally critical of active investing, citing numerous studies that again and again show the benefits of passive investment strategies and the failure of active funds to consistently deliver above-average results. This information is valuable to all investors, not just those in the business/finance field.

I would say that if you have a basic understanding of accounting then you have the requisite knowledge to buy this book. Otherwise, it might be helpful to first get familiar with financial statements and the basics of businesses. Highly recommended.
The market leading undergraduate investments textbook, Essentials of Investments, 9e by Bodie, Kane, and Marcus, emphasizes asset allocation while presenting the practical applications of investment theory. The authors have eliminated unnecessary mathematical detail and concentrate on the intuition and insights that will be useful to practitioners throughout their careers as new ideas and challenges emerge from the financial marketplace. The Ninth Edition includes increased attention to changes in market structure and trading technology, while continuing to be organized around one basic theme - that security markets are nearly efficient.

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Zvi Bodie is professor of finance and economics at Boston University School of Management. He holds a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has served on the finance faculty at Harvard Business School and MIT’s Sloan School of Management. Professor Bodie has published widely on pension finance and investment strategy in leading professional journals. His books include Worry-Free Investing: A safe Approach to Achieving your Lifetime Financial Goals and Foundations of Pension Finance. Professor Bodie is managing director of Integrated Finance Limited, a specialized investment bank and financial engineering company. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Pension Research Council. 

Professor of finance and economics at the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at the University of California, San Diego. He has been visiting professor at the Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo; Graduate School of Business, Harvard; Kennedy School of Government, Harvard; and research associate, National Bureau of Economic Research. An author of many articles in finance and management journals, Professor Kane’s research is mainly in corporate finance, portfolio management, and capital markets, most recently in the measurement of market volatility and pricing of options.

Alan J. Marcus is a Professor of Finance in the Wallace E. Carroll School of Management at Boston College. His main research interests are in derivatives and securities markets. He is co-author (with Zvi Bodie and Alex Kane) of the texts Investments and Essentials of Investments. Professor Marcus has served as a research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Professor Marcus also spent two years at Freddie Mac, where he helped to develop mortgage pricing and credit risk models. He currently serves on the Research Foundation Advisory Board of the CFA Institute.

Product Details :

• Hardcover: 800 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill / Irwin; 9th edition (September 25, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0078034698
• ISBN-13: 978-0078034695
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 1.2 x 11 inches

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