ODDS-ON Investing™ Newsletter

(This) country...is bigger than Wall Street,

And if they don't believe it,

I'll show them a map.

—Will Rogers
December 1, 1929

February 2009

This quarterly newsletter provides longer term insights
that help to put the odds on your side when you invest.

Web-site Redesign

After much work by my web host, Americaneagle.com, I am pleased to share the new Will-Marshall.com which has better information in a more user friendly format. I am especially pleased to include the new Teen Millionaire Movement section that provides information to young people who are beginning their journey to financial freedom. Also, invisible to you, is a feature that will facilitate more frequent updates Please take a look at all of the sections, and send me ideas for improvement or topics.

How to best use the redesigned Web-site

This website is designed to be an educational tool for different purposes and users. I recommend the following approaches:

For everyone: Take a quick tour of the site beginning with the Home page and site map to get a sense of the site’s scope.
For teens and new investors: Tour the Teen Millionaire Movement to gain insight into what investing is really about and the relationship of compound saving and compound returns.
New and Advanced investors will want to explore the ODDS-ON Investing™ pages to see how I approach investing and some of my current thoughts on the markets and stocks. Stock investors will gravitate to the Stock Picks page, and mutual fund investors will gravitate to the Mutual Fund Picks page.
Managers will want to understand the 2nd Most Powerful Formula in Finance and then the ODDS-ON Investing™ Philosophy and Approach.

The Four Best Investing Books, plus One

During presentations of the Rich Shareowner, Poor Shareowner™ Investing series at Parkland College, I am asked what books will quickly, without jargon, help me to best understand the essence of investing? (As opposed to becoming a millionaire which includes compound saving). The four books that I recommend as being most accessible and enlightening for both new and experienced investors (It is remarkable how most investors, including MBAs, have been misled.) are in order:

The Tao of Warren Buffett by Mary Buffett & David Clark (Laser like, philosophic insights for successful investing)
Warren Buffett and the Interpretation of Financial Statement by Mary Buffett & David Clark (Excellent basic understanding of financial statements without the accounting jargon.)
Rich Shareowner, Poor Shareowner by Will Marshall (Keen insight into who and what creates value in a company…includes a core element that Buffett missed.)
The Successful Investor by William J. O’Neil (Excellent insight into using charts to identify what other investors are doing that impacts supply & demand for stocks or a stock.)

For a broader perspective on what is making a lottery out of free enterprise today. I also recommend Money Ain’t Free by Will Marshall. (Keen insight into how a defect in the way that we practice free enterprise is being used by Wall Street, corporate directors, CEOs, academics, accountants and regulators to make a lottery out of our livelihoods and life savings.)

Additional recommendations are included in the Teen Millionaire and ODDS-ON Investing sections of this website.

Will’s Articles

If you haven’t read the Will Marshall Articles on this website recently, read them. They will save you some cash or embarrassment. For example, many people are investing in companies with high dividend yields. They will be burned if they are not aware of the relationship of the company’s stock price and Enterprise Value…Also, BEWARE: Coming Soon: Acquisitions and Trojan Horse IPOs will soon come back into vogue as money is freed up for lending over the next two years. When is the announcement of an acquisition a sell signal? When is an IPO an invitation to loose money for long term investors?

Wall Streeters are wealth shifters. It is to their advantage that Wall Street history repeats itself…over and over and over. Learn from other people’s mistakes. There are no free lunches in investing. Do your homework. In the end, it boils down to Stock Price vs Enterprise Value (Cash Value). These articles help you to learn history the easy way.