Lessons from the Lemonade Stand explains investing, stocks and bonds, risk, diversification, commodities, and other sometimes mystifying topics in the context of that most classic of all American businesses: the corner lemonade stand.
Rooted in the fundamental truth that common sense is the best investment tool, this book slices important concepts into simple sections, sweetening them with folksy, easy-to-read language.
The trials and tribulations of lemonade stand owner Lucinda highlight every concept from interest rates to retirement accounts to leverage. Readers learn investment basics as they follow Lucinda Lemonade Inc. along its sweet (and sometimes sour) journey as a start-up, from the squeeze of the first lemon to its initial private equity deal and its eventual foray into tech, all in the tidy town of Lemonville.
Lessons from the Lemonade Stand simplifies investment concepts without watering them down. A stock, for example, is not defined in financial gibberish but for what it truly is: a slice of the business that entitles the stockholder to a little drop of every dollar Lucinda Lemonade Inc. earns.
The book introduces ten simple Lemonade Laws:
1) Every topic in the investment world can be broken down to the basic concept of supply and demand.
2) If someone claims an investment is risk-free, run the other way.
3) Bigger returns mean bigger risks.
4) Hedging may help, but there’s always a cost to it.
5) As Warren Buffett says, “If you’re smart, you don’t need leverage; if you’re dumb, it’ll ruin you.”
6) You may not be able to count on your stocks, but you can always count on your taxes.
7) By the time you invest in a foreign country, it shouldn’t be foreign to you.
8) Owning a home is (still) the best investment of all.
9) Investing without work is gambling: treat the market like roulette, and you’ll land on zero.
10) Counterintuition, not intuition, is the investor’s best friend.
Entertaining and fun, Lessons from the Lemonade Stand supplies readers with the ingredients they need to become savvy investors.
1) Every topic in the investment world can be broken down to the basic concept of supply and demand.
2) If someone claims an investment is risk-free, run the other way.
3) Bigger returns mean bigger risks.
4) Hedging may help, but there’s always a cost to it.
5) As Warren Buffett says, “If you’re smart, you don’t need leverage; if you’re dumb, it’ll ruin you.”
6) You may not be able to count on your stocks, but you can always count on your taxes.
7) By the time you invest in a foreign country, it shouldn’t be foreign to you.
8) Owning a home is (still) the best investment of all.
9) Investing without work is gambling: treat the market like roulette, and you’ll land on zero.
10) Counterintuition, not intuition, is the investor’s best friend.
Entertaining and fun, Lessons from the Lemonade Stand supplies readers with the ingredients they need to become savvy investors.
“By abstracting out the ‘hard’ stuff about investing and focusing on the most simple of businesses, Berman (a finance prof at NYU and an investment advisor) is able to gradually introduce more complicated concepts without overwhelming the reader with jargon. Really, Lessons from the Lemonade Stand encompasses much of an introductory finance curriculum in book form that reads, well, more like a book of fiction than one on investing.”
My Review:
I have to admit, I know very little about money. I can now change that to knew! This was the most money informative book that I have ever read, and I can't believe how much I learned.
Rather than the author diving right into investing he gave me background information so that I would understand when the more involved terms came up.
The simple idea of a lemonade stand and using a company valued at $10 a share was really easy for me to understand and follow. I never understood how companies got their value on Shark Tank, but now I do. Every one that has a checkbook should read this book. The ten simple lemonade laws were easy to understand and learn. The author wrote the book in a way that I was able to easily glide through without needing to stop for a calculator! The fact that this book was just a primer leads me to wonder what else this wonderful author can teach me!
I am giving this book a 5/5 and hope that this book becomes the "go to" book in investing classes and seminars. I was given a copy to review by Orangeberry Book Tours, however all opinions are my own!
You can find out more about this book here:
I am giving this book a 5/5 and hope that this book becomes the "go to" book in investing classes and seminars. I was given a copy to review by Orangeberry Book Tours, however all opinions are my own!
You can find out more about this book here:
James Berman is the president and founder of JBGlobal.com LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisory firm specializing in asset management for high-net-worth individuals and trusts. With over 16 years of experience managing client portfolios, Mr. Berman is a specialist in value investing and asset allocation. As the president of JBGlobal LLC, the general partner of the JBGlobal Fund LP, Mr. Berman manages a global equities fund that invests in the United States, Europe, and Asia.
Mr. Berman is a faculty member in the Finance Department of NYU (SCPS Division), where he teaches corporate finance. He also serves as subadvisor to Eitan Ventures LLC, a venture capital fund based in New York.
Mr. Berman has appeared on CNBC, the Fox News Channel, the Cavuto Show, and the Fox Business Channel and is frequently published and quoted in a variety of publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Barrons, Fortune, Bloomberg, and CNN Money. As a regular blogger for the Huffington Post, he covers financial topics ranging from hedge funds to the economy. He writes a monthly interactive investment letter, the Berman Value Folio, a Forbes/Trefis publication.
Mr. Berman received a BA (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) from Harvard University and a JD from Harvard Law School.
Visit www.lessonsfromlemonade.com
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