Reddit mentions: The best public finance books

I havent read "Candlestick Charting Explained", but as far as candlestick charting goes... Steve Nison's "Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques" is considered the bible. Candlesticks is really a discussion on price action... I think candlesticks can get you into a lot of trouble.

I think that Edwards and Magee "Technical Analysis of Stock trends" is looked upon more more favorably than Murphy for an overview of TA and methods. Though, IMO they both leave a lot to be desired. Really the best way to learn technical analysis is to find someone who uses these methods to execute trades and can explain the reasoning and risk-reward metrics behind their trades. If this interests you, I recommend Peter Brandt https://www.peterlbrandt.com/ He has a track record and has even written a book.

If i were to recommend a couple books

For true beginners in investing and don't want to spend time doing the "work": I recommend "4 pillars of investing" it discusses asset allocation and investing in a broad sense 4 Pillars

For beginners that want an intro to stocks: Greenblatt's "Little Book that beats the market" is the best book that I know of for an intro to stock investing. And it can be read in one sitting. Little Book

If you want to be a more active trader/investor in the market then I recommend:
Oneil's [How to make money in stocks] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00916ARYS/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1)
Minervini's [Trade like a stock market wizard]
(https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C1NKPUE/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1)
Lynch's [One Up On Wall Street]
(https://www.amazon.com/One-Up-Wall-Street-Already/dp/0743200403/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8)
Cramer's [Real Money]
(https://www.amazon.com/Jim-Cramers-Real-Money-Investing/dp/0743224906/ref=pd_sim_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0743224906&pd_rd_r=156ZB32KPJ8XN7V9K1HQ&pd_rd_w=Anlpz&pd_rd_wg=aZn7O&psc=1&refRID=156ZB32KPJ8XN7V9K1HQ)
Town's [Rule 1] (https://www.amazon.com/Rule-Strategy-Getting-Rich-Minutes-ebook/dp/B000GCFCQE/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1479913887&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=rule+no+1+investing)

These picks are all different styles and have something different to offer. A lot of the advice you are going to get is going to be bent towards value investing, diversification, and asset allocation... This is good advice, and will make you a smarter investor but not a richer one.

If you are interested in day trading or swing trading then you will probably need to find some personalized training and I wish you the best because there is a ton of crap out there... I dont think that many people are willing to put in the time and effort to be sucessful at this and so I don't recommend it.

The idea of joining with another organization is a good idea but dont give up on the idea of starting your own. Starting a non profit is a lot of work. You need to start it as a business, get a board, incorporate it, and then you can apply for 501 3c status. I have seen non profits go through this process in a few years and some that have taken a decade to establish. A better way to get it going is to get connections with another non profit and have them be your umbrella non profit. This will allow you to get the benefits of a non profit without going through the hassle, but you must get another non profit on board. To be taken seriously you will have to be making an impact, have a vision and mission statement, a strategic plan, and have some money coming in. you should look into funding sources. Grants are hard to write at first and they take a lot of time but funding is out their for this. Check out grants.gov or the Knight foundation. You should just pick up this book. Spend time on your vision and mission statement. A lot of non profits dont take time to write these clearly and concisely. Dont make that mistake. Google how to write both of these and examples will abound. With a good plan, funding, and a motivated team anyone can start a nonprofit. If I think of anything else I'll write more.

Well, first, again I'm not a CFA and these are just recommendations you'll have to consider and figure out if the risk is acceptable to you. I'm not liable for any financial decisions you make.

With that being said, you should be researching every means of investment opportunities available: rental properties, careful long-term stock investments, potentially starting a business (different than a sole proprietorship or being unemployed—the business, once set up, should effectively run itself). If you want to start simple, you could do a mall pop-up store or a local service of some sort and employ high-schoolers.

But if that's not for you, 7% is the approximate amount you can expect from sticking your money in an index fund and letting it sit there, so that's what you're looking to beat with other investments. If you can get a 10% or 15% return from an apartment rental, for instance, then that's a better place to stick your money.

But at the very least you want to be getting some return on your money so long as it beats inflation. Putting it in well-performing index funds or exchange traded funds to get a 6-7% return is a good start. I'm pretty bullish of self-driving cars being huge after 2020, so Tesla and other manufacturers of self-driving cars might be a good bet.

If you want to get really crazy you can invest in buying stuff like the crypto-currency Etherium (Reddit.com/etherium) as that seems to be taking off. It took me a while to realize that a crypto-currently like Etherium (ETH) or Bitcoin (BTC) are not "funds" like on a stock market but are the actual product, like an actual bar of gold, that you're buying and holding on to ... it just happens to be stored on your computer in a digital wallet instead of a safe.

I've also heard of people making lucrative over-seas trades on Japanese or other foreign stock exchanges because of the time zone difference from the US, but I have no idea how that works.

Anyway, two good books to start with are

Rich Dad's Guide to Financial Freedom https://www.amazon.com/dp/1612680054/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_rs2nzb2S9WABC

And

How to Make Money in Stocks: A Winning System in Good Times and Bad, Fourth Edition (Personal Finance & Investment) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0071614133/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_xL2nzbJRN9YA5

Oh, wow, this is a really complicated question with so many variables.
I'm currently, slowly going through this here book:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Benefit-Burden-Reform-Why-Need/dp/1451646194/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Which is a good place to start. Basically, yes and no.

Tax cuts during a recession for small business will help greatly. They will help large businesses stay afloat if the tax cuts are the difference between bankrupt or getting through the recession. Also, tax cuts rarely "create more jobs", especially during a recession.

Take for example LV. The casinos were crying because they had all time low profits and wanted tax cuts so they can "keep people employed". This sounded great, so even during a recession when the government needed money the most, they gave them the cuts. The idea was, that with all these people working, they would be able to save on unemployment and and would have to minimally have to cut social programs.

What really happened? The casinos pocketed the extra money. They said that they had to fire these people because there was no point having all these people work if there was no need for them. They weren't just going to have employees standing around with nothing to do.

So what happens? The casinos do mass layoffs, and tons of people are put on unemployment. Now, instead of the state having this money, the casinos now do, so to pay for unemployment, Nevada and Las Vegas had to cut tons of social programs, further hurting the working class.

The casinos didn't really need this money to stay afloat. So they just were able to pocket it and weather the storm. The casinos that could have used this money to stay afloat went bankrupt any way.

If this sounds familiar, it's because it's now called "Supply side economics" or formally "Trickle-down economics". See the flaw with this theory is that while you are increasing supply side capital, the demand still remains at the same purchasing power, so there is no need for the supply side to increase production. They simply pocket the money instead. If hiring a new employee actually made the company more money, they wouldn't need a tax cut to do it. If this new guy brought us in 100k a year and he costs 80k to hire, we can get a loan if need be to hire him. It's a no brainer.

The counter argurment is that the casinos should have saved some of their annual profits in long term preparation of a recession, rather than constantly trying to scale out, and when a rescission comes, and going to the state for assistance. This would allow the state to not have to cut massive social programs hurting the working class massively.

There is yet another counter argument to this, but that takes forever. If you can figure it out, I wouldn't mind discussing it.

---------------------

Now, there are effective tax cuts, but execution is key. So it's clear that short term tax cuts in specific instances are useful. For example, a small business, or a large one that needs it to stay afloat and get through 2 more years. But aside from that exception, taxes require 2 things to be useful for business (as well as average households):

1. they have to be permanent. If they are short term, the extra revenue isn't fixed into the long term business model (the Bush tax cuts are a perfect example of this). For a new tax to be effective it has to be long term or even permanent. If it's short term, business and people look at it as some extra pocket cash, and overall, businesses tend to save it and pocket it, rather than use it to expand (there are many examples of this if you'd like me to get into it).
   
   Sometimes -- actually often -- the government tries to use taxes as an incentive. For example they will say, in 2013, we want to reduce carbon emissions. So for every business in this industry that stays below X level of emissions, we will give you a 10,000-50,000 tax credit. Most companies aren't going to shoot for this new emission standard if they are above it. They wont be paying any NEW taxes if they don't follow along, and their business model is already set. There really isn't much incentive to restructure their business just for a 1 year tax cut. Meanwhile, those that naturally are already under X emissions will see it as a free money. They aren't going to reinvest this capital into creating more jobs, because next year, the tax credit isn't going to be there, and how are they going to pay for that new employee they hired? If that new employee would actually bring in the company more than it cost him, they would hire him any ways, regardless if they had a tax break. So the tax cut is ineffective.
   
   A similar failure in this sense is Obama's Cash for Clunkers program. Not the same, but similar in the sense that it didn't change behavior enough to outweigh the cost.
   
   
2. They have to be simple and clear. Confusing tax cuts that are complicated, rarely get the intended effect. Usually, taxes of this nature are, again, to encourage or discourage a type of behavior. But often, these tax breaks are so complicated that a business doesn't even use them, because they don't even understand them, and in most cases where they are used, they are just being abused.
   
   
   Uggg.... I just realized how long I am getting this and I really didn't want to get into this complicated subject, so I am going to stop now. But if you have any specific questions, feel free to ask. Also, check out that book I linked. It's a great read, extremely interesting, explains everything very clearly, though it's a tad difficult at times (in terms of information overload).
   
   Cheers,

My friend recommended me this when I first started, but the truth is all the reading in the world isn't going to give you real-world experience. Start small, do your research, thorough research. Learn about greeks, IV, when to take profit, ect. Study the stocks you're interested in and know about, don't worry about trying to follow someone else's trades on a company you know nothing about.

Personally, I started small with 250 and made smart choices to bump it up to 2400 in three weeks, but I got cocky and didn't fully research an investment so I lost 1000 in one trade. If I had kept a level head I would have noticed that there was a significant short interest trying to drive the stock down and the low volume added fuel to the fire. Undervalued or not, hedge funds with billions to throw around can influence the stock price of most companies quite a bit, always be aware of that.

Once you gain some experience and understanding, day trading with the current level of volatility is pretty easy albeit risky at times. Just remember to not gamble with money you can't afford to lose. It may be boring but I keep about 5/6ths of my portfolio in equity that I rarely touch. For every one person you see on this sub that turns 40k into 250k on a MU yolo, there are ten others that turned their 40k into 0k. Be smart and goodluck!

• Hull's Derivatives is the bible
  
• Stigum's Money Market is a legitimately enjoyable read and taught me SO MUCH
  
• Fabozzi's Fixed Income Handbook is a good general overview of the FI market. (More widely known than, but not as good as Stigum's.)
  
• I don't know where your programming skills are, but try to model out anything that you find interesting in the books above using Jupyter. This will help a great deal with internalizing what's happening mechanically underneath the concepts you're learning.
  
• How I Became A Quant for easy train/bed reading.
  
• Mandlebrot for a dose of realism. Models are always wrong.
  
• The Medium of Contingency for a glimpse into the mind of a practitioner. It's... weird.
  
• Cliff's blog because he's humble (and also my idol). His chapter in How I Became A Quant is the best, imo.
  
  disclaimer: Not a quant, never went to school for it nor worked in finance. I just like reading. This list is more than enough for the summer, but let me know if you want material focused on anything in particular. (Structured products, history, etc.)

I think numerous studies have shown that all these publicly funded sporting events like the World Cup, Olympics, and stadiums are a net drain on the economy.

http://www.amazon.com/Public-Dollars-Private-Stadiums-Building/dp/0813533430/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

>the people pushing these arenas (business networks usually headed by major banks) are interested in using them to either "attract high-priced corporate talent" to the city or to attract corporations to the city. As a result, business leaders want the city to be a tourist destination. They want good roads, plenty of parking, cultural recreations such as a sports stadiums, and good restaurants. They want, in short, to create a place that people will want to visit because they expect their high-priced talent to live in the suburbs, not the city. The politicians who represent the citizens of the city tend to go along with this vision because the voice of the business community tends to be the one they hear the most

The government will be smaller next year than it is this year: you are already getting that, so nothing to negotiate there.

Then this should be easy.

Military spending needs a significant haircut.

No disagreement.

Entitlements have already been cut,

You crack me up. It makes sense that we're having a hard time coming to terms, apparently we live in alternative realities. In mine:

> Spending on entitlements is the highest in American history. In 2010, entitlement spending had grown to be almost 100 times higher than it was in 1960; it has increased by an explosive 9.5 percent per year for 50 straight years. Entitlement transfer payments to individuals (such as for income, healthcare, age, and unemployment) have been growing twice as fast as per capita income for 20 years, totaling $2.2 trillion in 2010 alone—which was greater than the entire gross domestic product of Italy and roughly the same as the GDP of Great Britain.

but further significant cuts may be acceptable. will be required.

FTFY. You gotta cut from where the money goes if you're going to see real results.

Effective corporate tax rates need to be raised. The amount that corporations pay needs to increase towards what published rates actually are.

Whether they are called loopholes, dodges or what-not, you're correct. The tax code is too complex and too imbalanced. I agree completely that too many corporations - and individuals - are getting "favorable" treatment that is unfair, corrupt and disruptive. I'd like to see the tax code reduced to a simple yet progressive tax for all tax payers, including not just corporations but people. Everybody needs to have skin in the game so the alternative minimum tax is set at 5% for ALL income and escalates based upon both gross and net receipts on some kind of linear (not logarithmic) scale. The objective of taxes is to raise money, not social engineering and most definitely not to reward the failures and punish the successful. The entire tax code should be a couple of hundred pages long and should require a plebiscite to change - Congress has simply and repeatedly demonstrated that it is not capable of handling the job.

As for the ACA individual mandate, consider it payment for needlessly incurring billions of dollars of wasted expense that taxpayers will need to cover while also putting more than 800 thousand people out of work for several weeks.

No.*

I want a law that says that all future debt ceilings are raised automatically if authorization is not passed by Congress. The automatic authorization would include mandatory cumulative reductions of 1% of government spending levels AND 1.5% tax increases on personal and corporate income tax every 30 days until a budget or CR was passed by a super-majorities of BOTH houses of Congress.

Now that you've got that out of your system, I want a law that says Congress shuts down if a budget isn't passed every year. I want a law that says deficit spending requires plebiscite approval. I want a law that says I'm handsome and will live forever. Neither one of us is going to see all of our wishes come true.

Write your Congressman today and tell him what you're willing to compromise on and to start negotiating (no, really, and in good faith) in order to resolve this. The problem isn't the intransigent Republicans, it's the ochlocratic Democrats.

Peace. I'm moving on.

It isn't math related but if you want to skip a course on banking but still learn a great deal about how money markets work (spoiler alert: courses in Econ departments on "banking" are often just a combination of intermediate macro and money markets), I would strongly recommend Marcia Stigum's Money Market. New editions are pricey but most of the content is there in older editions. I recommend this book mostly because it gives an intimate and practical account of the channels through which macro policies effect other markets--something which is liable to be glossed over until later in your studies unless you focus on financial markets.

These are the books that helped me most. I've read many; these were my favorites.

How to Make Money in Stocks by William O'Neill. This book makes the assumption that you want to be an active trader and not a passive "buy & hold" investor. This is the one that got me started.

Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom by Van Tharp. This book addresses the trader rather than the trading. Among the most useful concepts I learned is how to think about Risk.

Phil Gordon's Little Blue Book by Phil Gordon. This is a book about how to play winning poker, but the principles are identical: calculating risk/reward, how to think about sunk-costs, cash management. Very, very helpful.

Markets in Profile by James Dalton. I didn't really start trading successfully till I learned what this book teaches about auctions. One caveat: market profile has been superceded by Volume Profile. This is a technical book, that may not be much help unless you are a technical trader.

And speaking of technical trading: I consider Technical Trader's Guide to Computer Analysis to be an invaluable reference.

1. "Closing" is the term that covers both. "Selling" would refer covering a long position, closing a short position would involve buying.
   
   
2. Sort of. Technically the contract is between you and a clearinghouse. The clearinghouse exists to insure liquidity if the counterparty on the other end of the contract fails to meet their obligations. This prevents you from having to worry about who "owns" the other side of your contract.
   
   
3. If liquidity exists there will be people to buy it. With zero volume/open interest you'll have a harder time closing it because you'll need a market. There are ways this can be done (especially for institutional traders or people with DMA), but the simplest answer is if there's no volume or open interest "its complicated". Try not to end up in this scenario.
   
   You are fundamentally misunderstanding markets in the second part. If every buyer has a seller then the transactions are "closed" and nothing happens at expiration day. If you're left holding the bag on expiration day you'll be forced to take issue of the underlying (in the case of a long) or find the stock to give to the counterparty (in the case of a short).
   
   
4. Yes. With American options you can exercise at any time. Unless you're intended to get a screaming deal on some stock it's usually better to just sell it off.
   
   
5. Options give you the right but not the obligation to the underlying. If it expires ITM you can choose to not exercise. However, in reality most brokers will automatically exercise your options at expiration you so they don't have to ask everyone. So if you cannot afford to exercise you will be margin called and forced to come up with the cash, which as you pointed out will be the difference between the total margin given to you and what you can sell the stock for (plus interest on the margin). I've never had this happen but a broker might do this for you since every broker I've ever dealt with has a "we can sell everything in your account to get our money" clause. They'd rather just sell off your stock + whatever else in your account, take their money, and walk away.
   
   
6. This is options 101. So I'm gonna give you the best book to learn from. Options Volatility and Pricing is the bible of options trading. There are many books, but this book beats "just google it" 10 times over. The material in this is so valuable you can not afford to not have on it on your desk. Read through most of this book before starting to trade options. Additionally, TastyTrade is useful once you've gotten through Options Volatility and Pricing because it deals with far more real world scenarios and gives some legitimately good trading advice. However, they skimp on A LOT of the basics of markets and trading, which Option Volatility and Pricing covers quite well.
   
   

Two excellent titles on the subject are Option Volatility and Pricing: Advanced Trading Strategies and Techniques, 2nd Edition by Natenberg and Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives (10th Edition) by Hull.

The former is lighter, more entertaining read that is easier on math and touches on applied trading. The latter is a more thorough, academic title.

A number of other helpful resources are available. The Ally Invest Options Playbook provides a handy reference for various option strategies. The Interactive Brokers Probability Lab (free version linked at the bottom of the page) provides a modeling tool to visually explore option strategies by modifying expectations of volatility and price. CBOE offers a complete course on the subject. Finally, Tastytrade offers a long running set of shows, tutorials and discussions covering many aspects of options and option trading.

How to Make Money In Stocks by William O'Neil

O'Neil also wrote a "lite" version of that book that covers the same material but at a much higher level:

The Successful Investor

I recommend the first one, but if you want an introduction the second one is good.

I am reading "How to make Money in Stocks" by William J. Oneal http://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Money-Stocks-Winning/dp/0071614133

I have been writing down many notes and taking my time with the read. My girlfriend's father is a successful investor and bought this book for me. For someone who didn't know much about the market at the start of the read, It's answered all of the question's I've had and then some. William J. Oneal is the founder of Investor's business daily, which is a revered source for stock analysis and data.

The book's value far exceeds its 10 dollar amazon price. I highly recommend it!

Here's some books from my library:

The Affordable Housing Reader - Basics on how affordable housing in the US works (or how it doesn't work...)

Cities for People/Walkable City/Death and Life of Great American Cities - Classics that really pertain to most things

The Public Wealth of Cities - How to leverage public/city assets to benefit the most amount of people

The Color of Law - How racism has shaped our cities

Happy City - Planning for social health

> especially leftist urbanism (anti suburbs and single family housing, pro mass-transit etc)

I'd be weary of calling this 'leftist urbanism,' since all of these are perfectly compatible with right-wing viewpoints, just handled very differently. You're looking more for sustainable urbanism and the social impacts of it. The books I have recommended above do all have a centrist or left lean to it though.

Just saw your edit that you're talking about estate taxes. Your dad needs to talk to an estate planning lawyer (even aside fro this windfall). The estate tax exemption is currently $11.2MM, though that could certainly go down. There are also state laws that need to be considered. And you need to keep in mind that when assets are gifted rather than inherited, the basis doesn't get stepped up.

There are a variety of estate planning techniques that are beyond the scope of this sub that he should be considering (Crummey trust, ILIT, etc) but a professional with full insight into the situation should discuss these with your father.

I also like this book to help frame the conversation: https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Grave-Revised-Updated-Children/dp/0062336223/

Well I'm in the process of reading this book:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00916ARYS/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Its awesome so far, and I'm building my screening process around some of the ideals that worked for him. One of his observations states that if new companies break-out and have a good run, they traditionally do so between 5-10 years after their IPO. So I wanted to select a group of stocks from that criteria and then begin analysis on them and go from there.

If you want a very technical look at Chinese economic history, I recommend the following books rather than the general survey book he is recommending.

Taxation and Governmental Finance in Sixteenth-Century Ming China

1587, A Year of No Significance: The Ming Dynasty in Decline

Note: The Chinese version of this book (under the title 萬曆十五年) is EXTREMELY popular in China the number douban reviews it has exceeds most pop fiction books, and it is often used as textbook in Chinese colleges.

China: A Macro History

For more detail on the 1994 Chinese tax reform. Zhu Rongji was such a badass in implementing it, and laying the foundation for the China we know today, I would not be surprised if in the future he'll be elevated to the same position as Zhou Enlai.

-----------
Also to copy my comment on the original article.

In Normal times, perhaps you're right. But China have not being in normal times since the Opium war, from 1840 to 1979, China emerged a fundamentally different nation. Even commentaries knows the changes they are experiencing, the times they're living in and the enemies they are facing are "unseen for more than three thousand years" and direction and consequences of these changes will affect the very existence of Chinese civilization itself. This quote is well known in China, and it came first from 1872 memorial to throne by Chancellor Li Hongzhang on building oceangoing ships, and a more serious 1875 memorial to throne on the 1874 Japanese Invasion of Taiwan. The memorial are in Classical Chinese, hence its translation is beyond my abilities. It's last quote were from the I-Ching "change is needed in circumstance hitting a limit. Change will in turn lead to an unimpeded pathway, and then lead to continuity."

臣竊惟歐洲諸國，百十年來，由印度而南洋，由南洋而中國，闖入邊界腹地，凡前史所未載，亙古所末通，無不款關而求互市。我皇上如天之度，概與立約通商，以牢籠之，合地球東西南朔九萬里之遙，胥聚於中國，此三千餘年一大變局也。西人專恃其槍炮輪船之精利，故能橫行於中土，中國向用之器械，不敵彼等，是以受制於西人。居今日而曰攘夷，日驅逐出境，固虛妄之論，即欲保和局守疆土，亦非無具而能保守之也(中略)士大夫囿于章句之學，而昧於數千年來一大變局，狃於目前苟安，而遂志前二三十年之何以創钜而痛深，後千百年之何以安內而制外，此停止輪船之議所由起也。臣愚以為國家諸費皆可省，惟養兵設防練習槍炮製造兵輪之費萬不可省。求省費則必屏除一切，國無興立，終不得強矣。

-復議製造輪船未可裁撤折 1872
Note: There is a very nice CCTV documentary on this building/education facility. Here is where it specially talking the ships in this memorial.

目前當務之急，與日後久遠之圖，業經綜括無遺，洵為救時要策。所未易猝辦者，人才之難得，經費之難籌，畛域之難化，故習之難除。循是不改，雖日事設防，猶畫餅也。然則今日所急，惟在力破成見，以求實際而已。何以言之？歷代備邊，多在西北，其強弱之勢，主客之形，皆適相埒。且猶有中外界限。今則東南海疆萬餘裏，各國通商傳教，往來自如，麇集京師，及各省腹地，陽托和好之名，陰懷吞噬之計，一國生事，諸國搆煽，實惟數千年來未有之變局。輪船電報之速，瞬息千里，軍器機事之特，工力百倍，又為數千年來未有之強敵。外患之乘，變幻如此，而我猶欲以成法制之，譬如醫者療疾，不問何症，概投之以古方，誠未見其效也。庚申以後，夷勢駸駸內向，薄海冠帶之倫，莫不發憤慷慨，爭言驅逐。局外之訾議，既不悉局中之艱難，及詢以自強何術，禦侮何能，則茫然靡所依據。臣於洋務，涉曆頗久，聞見較廣，於彼己長短相形之處，知之較深。而環顧當世餉力人才實有未逮，又多拘于成法，牽於眾議，雖欲振奮而未由。易曰：窮則變，變則通。蓋不變通則戰守皆不足恃，而和亦不可久也。

-因臺灣事變籌畫海防折 1875

References

Background on the time period the two memorial are written in

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Strengthening_Movement#Second_phase_.281872.E2.80.931885.29

background of 1874 invasion of taiwan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_invasion_of_Taiwan_(1874)

background on Li Hongzhang

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Hongzhang

1901 Biography of Li Hongzhang which the source material for the quote is recorded

https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%9D%8E%E9%B4%BB%E7%AB%A0%E5%82%B3/06

What you're looking for is pretty realistic. The biggest thing with selling options is consistency if you're writing the same style of options. You could see larger returns in futures/commodity options and playing seasonality. I recommend reading this book: https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Option-Selling-Options/dp/0071837620

Lots of information to help with learning about selling options

Books I found helpful were The Complete Guide to a Successful Leveraged Buyout and Capital Structure Decisions in Institutional Buyouts. Just as a heads up though, they are both considered text books. That said they will explain everything in greater detail than any "book" will.

The Wordly Philosophers a great book explaining how we came to think of economics today by looking at it's most influential thinkers

Stigum's Money Market a fundemental look at how modern money markets work

History of Economic Thought looks at economics throughout history, taking into consideration the unique historic and cultural context of different schools of economic thought.

I've taken a course on public economics, we used this textbook by Stiglitz. You can find it online if you look around. It's pretty good but it's long so not exactly casual. Still, it doesn't get very technical so it's pretty accessible. The important chapters are the ones under welfare economics and the first few chapters on taxation, that might be a good starting point.

Robert Kaiser's Act of Congress is one of the best accounts of the internal functioning of Congress I have ever read. He looks at the push to pass Dodd Frank and goes in depth into how it was written and passed.

Personally, I think if you're interested in domestic and Congressional politics, this is a must read.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009UAO0BQ/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Here's an article that talks about this from the National Review of all places, which draws on data from a variety of sources, most notably Wealth and Welfare States: Is America a Laggard or Leader? (which is actually a left-leaning source which argues that we are spending our money inefficiently; ironically, the NR makes the same argument, but from a right-leaning standpoint).

The US spends a fuckton of money on welfare. Indeed, a family of four in poverty can expect to get somewhat north of $17k/year in benefits from the government between food stamps, rent subsidies, and medicaid, which is comparable to what you see in Switzerland or Norway (once you take purchasing power into account). The different countries give these benefits in different ways, but it ends up coming out quite similarly.

> Spending doesn't equal a good net

Well, if you look at how well off poor people are materially, they're pretty well-off in the US - better off than in most of Europe.

I'm not sure how else you could meaningfully measure it.

They can't leave quick enough. I'm not a fan of publicly supporting stadiums and their owner's personal wealth.

worth a read.
http://www.amazon.com/Public-Dollars-Private-Stadiums-Building/dp/0813533430/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y

http://www.amazon.com/Field-Schemes-Stadium-Swindle-Expanded/dp/0803260164/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_1

https://www.amazon.com/Principles-Auditing-Other-Assurance-Services/dp/1259916987/

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393624854/

https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Maribeth-Assistant-Professor-Geology/dp/1259929655/

https://www.amazon.com/Lone-Star-Politics-Tradition-Transformation-ebook/dp/B07C6JG56L

https://www.amazon.com/Lone-Star-Tarnished-Critical-Politics/dp/1138562696/

https://www.amazon.com/Examples-Explanations-Criminal-Richard-Singer-ebook/dp/B07CLGPC88

https://www.amazon.com/Basics-Public-Budgeting-Financial-Management/dp/0761869751/

​

Need all these. Please PM me and provide your prices. Would need some more soon.

​

TIA

I think this question is a great example of why probability theory requires so much measure theory.

The probability of the finite sequence (H,H,H, ..., H) approaches zero as you increase the size of the sequence to infinity. The probability that the sequence does not occur is said to be "Almost Surely".

But this statement holds for any sequence you write down. Any specific sequence of heads and tails does not occur with probability "Almost surely".

Yet the space of possible outcomes is a probability space, so we require the sum of probabilities of all outcomes to be: Prob({space of all outcomes}) = 1.

This has implications on the construction of the probability space associated with these "experiments" of infinite coin tosses. This is very related to measure theory, where the set [0,1] has the same measure (length) as the set (0,1).

The book Shreve - Stochastic Calculus for Finance II: Continuous-Time Models happens to start off with precisely this example to explain the idea of a probability space, without going too deep into measure theory and all that.

This is one of the books I used to buy every year, last 4 years, and read it

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1507208944

​

First year, it was very useful and I read a lot.

Later years, I know the stuff, but I always buy this book and read once during the dec holidays as they publish around that time.

Every year, they drop around 10 stocks out of 100 and add new 10 stocks.

Each one, they write 2 - 3 pages analysis, fundamentals, moat ...etc

​

I would also recommend this book for CANSLIM

https://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Money-Stocks-Winning/dp/0071614133

​

Some books I've enjoyed:

• http://www.amazon.com/Taxes-America-Everyone-Needs-Know%C2%AE/dp/0199890269
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Showdown-Gucci-Gulch-Alan-Murray/dp/0394758110 (journalistic/historical account of 1986 tax reform)
  
• Check out resumes of tax professors and find their SSRN page to browse their publications. As an example, if you're interested in corporate income tax: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=103310

Some light reading to get you started on your way to be a quant:

Stochastic Calculus for Finance: The Binomial Asset Pricing Model

Stochastic Calculus for Finance: Continuous-Time Models

Stochastic Implied Volatility: A Factor-Based Model

Methods of Mathematical Finance (Stochastic Modelling and Applied Probability)

Pairs Trading: Quantitative Methods and Analysis

Alpha Trading: Profitable Strategies That Remove Directional Risk

The Encyclopedia of Trading Strategies

Evidence-Based Technical Analysis

I can recommend some reading for you to help you out.

How To Day Trade For A Living by Andrew Aziz☆☆☆☆☆

Trading For A Living by Alexander Elder

Day Trading 5-in-1 Bible by Samuel Rees

The best thing for you now to Educate yourself by reading FAQ and few starter books

https://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Money-Stocks-Winning/dp/0071614133

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0471269654

A great place to start learning would be the book "How to Make Money in Stocks" by William O'Neil.

http://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Money-Stocks-Winning/dp/0071614133

>The Complete Guide to Option Selling

Ayyyy lmao

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Option-Selling-Options/dp/0071837620/

This is one of my favorites

https://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Money-Stocks-Investment/dp/0071614133

teaches you to not fear the strength a market shows, but to embrace it

Not just about vol trading but the ultimate option bible "Option Volatility and Pricing: Advanced Trading Strategies and Techniques" by Natenberg. Might be a little bit more broad than what you're looking for but this book is phenomenal. Was recommended to me by an option trader at a BB.

https://www.amazon.com/Option-Volatility-Pricing-Strategies-Techniques/dp/0071818774

Find me a study that suggest otherwise? But for now I will just leave these here....

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

https://www.stlouisfed.org/Publications/Regional-Economist/April-2001/Should-Cities-Pay-for-Sports-Facilities

Stanford department of Economics

http://news.stanford.edu/2015/07/30/stadium-economics-noll-073015/

The Brookings Institute:

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/sports-jobs-taxes-are-new-stadiums-worth-the-cost/

Urban Planning at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design

https://www.amazon.com/Public-Private-Partnerships-Facilities-Routledge-Management/dp/0415806933

Lake Forest department of Economics

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-2257.1990.tb00513.x/abstract

It truly is one of the least controversial things in economics.

Here are two books:

https://www.amazon.com/Public-Dollars-Private-Stadiums-Building/dp/0813533430

https://www.amazon.com/Field-Schemes-Stadium-Swindle-Expanded/dp/0803260164/ref=pd_sbs_14_img_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=28RY3QNDND8H7927BFB2

>despite being 18, i have landed several jobs in the finance sector which give me valuable experience to become a quant ...

What's your IQ? When you look through Steven Shreve's, Stochastic Calculus for Finance II: Continuous-Time Models, do you understand it?

I started with this...

http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Options-2E-Michael-Sincere/dp/0071817840/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1452437941&sr=1-2&keywords=options+for+beginners


Then after a year or two I moved on to this...

http://www.amazon.com/Option-Volatility-Pricing-Strategies-Techniques/dp/0071818774/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1452438013&sr=1-1&keywords=option+pricing+and+volatility

This is a good reference to keep by your side when thinking about strategies....

http://www.amazon.com/Options-Playbook-Expanded-2nd-strategies/dp/0615308147/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1452438066&sr=1-1&keywords=option+playbook

if...and ONLY if...you are willing to put the work in and try to develop a skill instead of looking for get rich quick shortcut money....ill leave this here.

https://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Money-Stocks-Winning/dp/0071614133

This is very good too.

http://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Money-Stocks-Winning/dp/0071614133

The first edition is from 1988, and the Amazon reviews for the second edition say that there are a lot of errors in the new version. How well does the 1988 edition hold up to current trading strategies? Or is there another newer book that you would recommend?

EDIT: Any thoughts on The Rookie's Guide to Options; 2nd edition: The Beginner's Handbook of Trading Equity Options by Mark D Wolfinger? Or Options as a Strategic Investment by Lawrence G. McMillan?

This website is a good source of higher level information:

Cfapubs.org

This book helped me:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0071818774/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523193422&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=option+volatility+and+pricing&dpPl=1&dpID=51RxE6P0LkL&ref=plSrch

https://www.dough.com/

https://www.tastytrade.com/tt/shows/wdis-season-1-tom-case?locale=en-US
(I recommend doing doughjo first. You will have to watch WDIS videos to get the certificate)

http://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/1k6481/sheldon_natenbergs_option_volatility_and_pricing/

NEW VERSION: http://www.amazon.com/Option-Volatility-Pricing-Strategies-Techniques/dp/0071818774/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1420568538&sr=1-1&keywords=sheldon+natenberg


OLD VERSION: http://terredegaia.free.fr/ppics/Trading/Mcgraw-Hill%20-%20Option%20Pricing%20And%20Volatility%20-%20Advanced%20Strategies%20And%20Trading%20Techniques%20-%20Sheldon%20Natenberg%20-%20(1994).pdf

Pretty sure someone posted this as a joke, but currently am reading this monster. Probably a bit deep of a read if you are just starting out.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0071818774/

Before buying anything, read through"How To Make Money In Stocks (4th ed.)" by William O'Neil
and "Secrets To Profiting In Bull And Bear Markets" by Stan Weinstein

Edit: I suggest reading the simpler old Weinstein book before the modern O'Neil book

Because Euro rates are low and going negative (Euro libor is negative right now). China is also devaluing their currency/rates to stimulate their economy in light of the trade war.

If there was no rate cut and the above continues to hold, the US dollar will be further weakened against these currencies - which already is & will continue to impact the US economy.

People here seem to believe that because the rate was cut, it is an indication that the US economy is doing poorly which is quite a simplistic and possibly quite ignorant view. That's not how the Fed works. There are many factors that come into play but right now it's mainly the Euro/China rates.

I encourage people to understand the money markets. Marcia Stigum's book is a great start.

https://www.amazon.com/Stigums-Money-Market-Marcia-Stigum/dp/0071448454

James Cordier, the guy behind this fiasco, wrote a book on selling options. The best part of his marketing is this:
> Option-Selling Strategy and Risk Management
Choosing the right options to sell, the most powerfulspread strategies, the mechanics of selling, and protecting yourself from downside risk like a pro

it is like a little baby

This was recommended as one of the best books on investing in general by a blog on Forbes. Not a self proclaimed technical analyst (uses CAN SLIM), but uses a lot of chart reading, etc. Too bad it's by the founder of Investor's Business Daily and he spends quite a bit of pushing IBD (I'm currently reading it...). Regardless, it does have a lot of good insight about locating the correct buy points via charts.

It's fairly well established that publicly funded stadiums do not pay off economically for taxpayers.

Option Volatility and Pricing: Advanced Trading Strategies and Techniques, 2nd Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/0071818774/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_mm2qDbQRT7CNJ

http://www.amazon.com/Volatility-Edge-Options-Trading-Strategies/dp/0132354691

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=volcube

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Option-Selling-Options/dp/0071837620/

http://www.amazon.com/Option-Traders-Hedge-Fund-Framework/dp/0132823403

Here is the mobile version of your link

Check out this book by William O' Neil, it will change your life!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0071614133/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1524459229&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=william+oneil

> Natenberg's book

The "advanced" one? I noticed there's a "basic" and also a "regular" version.

Anyone wanna buy his book? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Guide-Option-Selling-Options/dp/0071837620

RTFM before you buy. Chapter 25


https://www.amazon.com/Option-Volatility-Pricing-Strategies-Professional/dp/0071818774/ref=zg_bs_2672_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=349CSEGTX0DJYR7A26SW

first this

then this

Public Dollars, Private Stadiums

Meat Market: Inside the Smash-Mouth World of College Football Recruiting

Bart Starr: America's Quarterback and the Rise of the National Football League

The Education of a Coach

https://www.amazon.com/Option-Volatility-Pricing-Strategies-Professional/dp/0071818774

> Most people don't truly understand how our three branches of government really work.

That's because high school civics class gloss over all the "boring" details. Most people have this idea that if you're elected to Congress, you propose a bill on the floor, it either gets a yes or no vote, then the President either signs it or vetoes it.

That isn't how it works AT ALL.

I implore everyone to read Act of Congress by Robert Kaiser. That book should be in every AP government class in the Country. Once you dive deep into how Congress actually functions from day-to-day, you realize that our Civics class are absolute garbage tier in educating the populace.

Snapshots:

1. Graeber's "Against Economics" - archive.org, archive.today
   
   
2. here. - archive.org, archive.today
   
   
3. primer on health care for macroecon... - archive.org, archive.today
   
   
4. Economics of the Public Sector - archive.org, archive.today
   
   
5. Feldstein's 2005 Presidential Addre... - archive.org, archive.today
   
   
6. model joint micro-macro government ... - archive.org, archive.today
   
   
7. Thoughts on the State of Macro. - archive.org, archive.today
   
   
8. Economic Culture Wars - archive.org, archive.today
   
   
9. textbooks - archive.org, archive.today
   
   
   
   I am just a simple bot, not a moderator of this subreddit | bot subreddit | contact the maintainers

in all seriousness check these out


https://www.amazon.com/Technical-Analysis-Complete-Financial-Technicians/dp/0134137043/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=D74P3MCZFQVYMZ4PBFT9

https://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Technical-Market-Indicators-Second/dp/0070120579/ref=pd_sim_14_33?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0070120579&pd_rd_r=WXSXAV2Q884X3RWTYDP1&pd_rd_w=uoVZY&pd_rd_wg=hgPmk&psc=1&refRID=WXSXAV2Q884X3RWTYDP1

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Futures-Market-Fundamental/dp/111885375X/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1492128977&sr=1-3&keywords=jack+d+schwager

https://www.amazon.com/Options-Futures-Other-Derivatives-9th/dp/0133456315/ref=dp_ob_image_bk

https://www.amazon.com/Option-Volatility-Pricing-Strategies-Professional/dp/0071818774/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1492129026&sr=1-1&keywords=sheldon+natenberg+option+volatility+and+pricing

https://www.amazon.com/Bible-Options-Strategies-Definitive-Practical/dp/0133964027/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1492129036&sr=1-

He authored a book on SELLING OPTIONS. Not sure how many copies it will sell moving forward considering that's what led to the huge losses. Apparently, not only did many of his investors lose all over their assets, but they might actually be indebted. Pretty insane.

yea you could do this. there is education involved. you have to learn about relative strength, trend following, and risk management.

here are some books for you to read

http://www.amazon.com/Trend-Following-Updated-Edition-Millions/dp/013702018X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414408329&sr=8-1&keywords=michael+covel

http://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Money-Stocks-Winning/dp/0071614133/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414408378&sr=8-1&keywords=how+to+make+money+in+stocks

there are other books you will have to read but these will give you the right foundation to build on.

ignore when people tell you its not possible to beat the market or time the market. these are people who cant do it themselves so they think its not possible for anyone else. it is possible, in fact it is probable when you have the right knowledge.

P.S. you can write a book on this but I won't get into it more detail than this, read this book if you want a crash course. http://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Money-Stocks-Winning/dp/0071614133

Take that $100 and buy this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0071818774/ref=dp_ob_neva_mobile

Use the remaining $25 for a case of whatever shitty beer people your age drink today. In my youth it was the beast. Not sure that even exists anymore.

Oops! Sorry was listening to some 50 copied wrong link. More beginner resources at :

http://education.optionseducation.org/course/?podcasts=1

https://www.cboe.com/LearnCenter/webcast/

Books:

http://www.amazon.ca/Options-Strategic-Investment-Lawrence-McMillan/dp/0735204659

http://www.amazon.ca/Option-Volatility-Pricing-Strategies-Techniques/dp/0071818774/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418529768&sr=1-7&keywords=options

>
>
>
>
> Writing naked options is so risky, who would let him manage their money if they knew the risks? There is no way his returns were good enough to outweigh the risk.

I don't disagree with you, but this guy literally wrote the book on selling options. I believe his returns were insane for many many years.