billytickets

[billytickets]

Review from my book


Like many on this board, I've read many books on investing. Bill's book intrigued me, and given the number of discussions concerning it, I figured I'd give it a try. To make a long story short, it's well worth the $20.

At the outset, I think that it's important to note that the book is all about maximizing long-term returns. In the early chapters, Bill does a great job setting forth various ways to reduce costs for every day, big-ticket expenses. He's got a contrarian streak in him, which I found intriguing, but which some readers may find hard to swollow. For example, Bill questions the assumption that all education is good in the long run, and he is a big advocate of leverage, done properly.

Later chapters discuss Bill's system. As all readers of this board should know, Bill sticks to large cap stocks. While this may foreclose some opportunities, it has a couple of benefits - most large caps won't go bankrupt, and the reason that most companies become large-caps is that they have done something successful in the past (they have wide moats). Without giving away too much, Bill's system is to wait for Mr. Market to go into a funk and then pile in.

This book is not suitable for someone who wants to get rich quick - it's designed to increase long-term returns of buy and hold investors, thereby minimizing frictional costs associated with frequent transactions. Bill's philosophy appers drawn from Graham and Buffett, with elements of Kelly thrown in (he only makes a few big bets). His focus on trailing performance takes the human judgment factor out (e.g., his system seems like it could be effective at addressing the foibles of behavioral finance). Stylistically, Bill's approach might be closest to Greenblatt in "The Little Book that Beats the Market," although he looks at a much smaller universe of stocks.

I suspect that Bill will be doing quite well as long as he choses to invest, and that others could do as well using his methods. This doesn't mean that others can't do well using other systems, but I do believe that many investors will lack the stomach and the patience (5 year time horizon) to stick to Bill's system.It can be ordered at ticketbill@aol.com

[billytickets]

Here are some other reviews

read the book and it was pretty good, at first i thought you might be a snakeoil salesman, but with further reading i saw that you knew what the hell you were taking about:). Just have to get the hang of the calculations. I wonder if i can get an Excel spead sheet to do the math for me? Thank you for opening my eyes

Posted by: gomezl (IP Logged)
Date: November 14, 2007 04:19PM


Hi Billy:

I love your book. It is direct and full of common sense.



Posted by: loneranger77 (IP Logged)
Date: November 19, 2007 01:06AM


Billy, Keep up with your words. If people would listen to you more, or buy your book, they would richer for it. In more ways than money




Posted by: Salvatorre (IP Logged)
Date: November 20, 2007 10:35AM


I just finished reading Billyticket's book and now I know why the Chinese say "good
things come in small packages." It is not a big book, but it is proof that quality trumps
quanity. Each page is crammed with nuggets of practical advice on how to save money,
how to make money and how to invest. The format is simple,direct, forceful and effective.
Anyone with average intelligence should be able to put this plan into action and several
decades down the road be a much richer man for it. I rate this book 5 stars.


Posted by: budskaloha (IP Logged)
Date: November 21, 2007 02:58PM


I too just finished reading Billy's book. It is practical and should be common sense but, not everyone follows it.

We spend a lot of time and money trying to develop ourselves into something. What? Employees? If your goal is a wealth generating entity, Billy's book may contain some insights into how to better spend your time and money developing yourself to be that person.

As far as the investing portion goes. Let's just say, I'm a piggy backer so I don't know if I really have the qualifications to criticize but... If you're looking for a book to learn the process that Buffett, Whitman, Greenblatt or whoever uses to determine how to value businesses to determine their IV and to do this with a wide universe of stocks, this is not the book for you.

What Billy's book does do is it gives an average person a simple lesson in compounded interest and how this applies to stocks. And how by using a simple formula to determine a particular price range that stocks like KO, PG, BUD with global brands and predictable earnings would be attractive to purchase at. The main lesson being you would want to invest 100% of your money if you were 100% certain of the outcome. So most of your money should be invested in what you are most certain of future outcomes. And the future outcome we want is to compound our money at a certain rate of return.

Overall, I liked this book, it was worth the money. I think most people might be dissapointed in its simplicity. I know I was. But one cannot disupute actual performance, and if you are not performing than maybe you need to learn how to follow the concepts Billy outlines in his book. I know I will try to incorporate a few things I read.

[jnair]

I had been reading Billy's posts on the other forum and reading your posts is the reason I decided to buy your book inspite of all the negative posts you were getting on the forum.

In short, I would say, that is $20 well spent. It is a good read, especially the way you help me understand how to put a fair price to pay for a stock. Billy's formula is pretty straight forward, simple and overall it makes a lot of sense to me... I think Billy says it can be used on any sector, but you will need to do some homework and make some changes before you can do that though...

Billy also talks about many other things about saving and keeping more money for retirement and still enjoy your life...

[20sinvestor]

billy,
I emailed you about the book but never got a response. Should I just PayPal a 20 your way? Just want to make sure you're checking that email address since all the forum messages come from Cats. Thanks.

[billytickets]

20s investor your book went out with my Saturday "batch" yesterday and you should receive it in the next couple of days.Please provide a review when your schedule permits.

Here is my latest.


BillyT:




I read the book again. Priceless wisdom! It is helping me to become a "true" value investor, and thus avoid the speculation that was encouraged by many on Gurufocus. I am already making better investment decisions for the long term. Keep up the outstanding work!

Many thanks,
Andy


This was received by an attorney in the southwest who is a member of our forum.

Please put all YOUR FEEDBACK GOOD and BAD in this thread please. There is a correlation between posts in here and book sales.lolololol

[20sinvestor]

Well I got the book yesterday and finished it yesterday. It was great. I mainly bought it because I was curious about Billy's formula. But the first sections of the book are as informative and stimulating as the last. I really enjoyed it. I'll be re-reading this again and insisting that my brothers' read it. I've not read anything like this.

After reading it I have two questions, why 12% constant growth? And, can you (Billy) better explain the correlation between the projected 5-year value vs. current price ratio and the annual compounded growth projection? Exhibit B, I mean.

[billytickets]

Hello Billy,

I have read your book twice. It's fantastic. I really enjoyed the step by step calculations. I particularly enjoy your view on financial freedom- which you argue comes from owning (or starting) a business. Starting a business is actually what I'm trying to do. Since I'm so young if I can start a business now I can use my background in value investing to allocate the cash it throws off. Anyways, great book, I highly recommended it to everyone. Take care.

[Cashville]

Billy,

I have been following your post for the past few months and got your book to learn more about your approach. I really enjoyed the book and found it to be short and to the point which helps people with a short attention like me.

I am wondering how you came up with the book value in 2006 for Berkshire to start the formula?