John Mihaljevic

What happens when a young hedge fund manager spends a small fortune to have lunch with Warren Buffett? He becomes a true value investor. This book traces the arc of a transformation. Author Guy Spier started his career as a Gordon Gekko wannabe -- brash, short-sighted and entirely out for himself. Then, a series of transformations and self-realizations led him from an investment banking job with a third-rate firm to managing his own fund, which has generated tremendous returns for his investors. His journey began with the discovery of Ben Graham's The Intelligent Investor, then took him on a path to a life-changing meeting with the renowned investor Mohnish Pabrai, followed by his famous lunch with Warren Buffett. That $650,100 meal proved to be a bargain, teaching Spier some of the most valuable lessons of his life. Along the way, he has gained many powerful insights about investing and business, including: why the right mentors and role models are the key to long-term success as an investor; how a top-notch education can get in your way; why self-knowledge is so critical to becoming a great investor; and how Buffett taught him that the ultimate goal in life is to be true to yourself. This book is an extraordinarily candid memoir that takes the reader into some of the darkest corners of Wall Street. It's also a remarkably smart and practical guide to what it takes to become a successful investor. Most important, Guy Spier provides those who want to take a different path with the insight, guidance and inspiration they need to succeed on their own terms.

Please visit our website at pitchtheperfectinvestment.com to download a sample chapter and sign-up for email updates Investors who succeed on Wall Street spend their career analyzing companies, and honing and refining their investment strategies. But they had to start somewhere. Training for research analysts is basically non­existent on Wall Street resulting in a "baptism by fire" that forces the new analyst to develop expertise on their own through an agonizing process of trial and error. To overcome this deficiency, Sonkin and Johnson have written the ultimate "survival" guide for someone embarking on a career as an investment professional. Arnie Ursaner, a sell side veteran, who retired after 43-years on Wall Street said, "I wish I had this book when I started in the business. I re­member my early days being characterized by a lot of hits and misses. This book provides valuable short­cuts to experience more hits and fewer misses." The single most important element in survival is having knowledge, as knowledge dispels fear, and on Wall Street, fortune favors the prepared mind. Pitch the Perfect Investment accelerates the learning process, giving the college or MBA student the edge they need to succeed, whether they are pitch­ing a stock idea in a job interview, in a stock pitch competition, or for a student-run investment fund. Echoing this sentiment, Aswath Damodaran, a prolific author of over 20 books on valuation and a professor at New York University, said, "...this is a book that most of my students would have loved to have had before their first interview and job." Sonkin and Johnson also seek to push the open-minded, seasoned investment professional out of their comfort zone and challenge them to think about familiar concepts differently. In an industry where even the most successful veterans must worry about younger managers snapping at their heels, Pitch the Perfect Investment equips the Chief Investment Officer and Director of Research with new tools, enabling them to tighten their analytical process and signifi­cantly improve communication and efficiency throughout their organization. As noted by Geoffrey Moore, author of several highly-acclaimed strate­gy books in the technology industry, "Much heartache will be avoided and faster decisions will be reached by any organization that adopts Sonkin and Johnson's recommendations." Nicholas Galluccio, CEO of Teton Advisors, added, "In this era of hyper-competition on Wall Street, active portfolio management is under attack by ETFs and passive investment vehicles. In this new environment, beating the market is even more essential to the active portfolio man­ager and even the smallest edge can make the difference between success and failure. Pitch the Perfect Investment will give the professional inves­tor that edge." No other single resource will provide students, money managers, analysts, bankers, executives, salespeople, and individual investors with a faster way to improve their performance. Pitch the Per­fect Investment is the essential guide to winning on Wall Street. Questions? Email info@pitchtheperfectinvestment.com

“One of the best investing books ever written.” —Charlie Munger From an award-winning financial journalist, a fresh and insightful book that draws on interviews with more than forty of the world’s super-investors to demonstrate that the keys to building wealth also apply to everyday life. Billionaire investors. If we think of them, it’s with a mixture of awe and suspicion. Clearly, they possess a kind of genius—the proverbial Midas Touch. But are the skills they possess transferable? And do they have anything to teach us besides making money. In Richer, Wiser, Happier, William Green draws on interviews that he’s conducted over twenty-five years with many of the world’s greatest investors. As he discovered, their talents extend well beyond the financial realm. The most successful investors are mavericks and iconoclasts who question conventional wisdom and profit vastly from their ability to think more rationally, rigorously, and objectively. They are master game players who consciously maximize their odds of long-term success in markets and life, while also minimizing any risk of catastrophe. They draw powerful insights from many different fields, are remarkably intuitive about trends, practice fanatical discipline, and have developed a high tolerance for pain. As Green explains, the best investors can teach us not only how to become rich, but how to improve the way we think, reach decisions, assess risk, avoid costly errors, build resilience, and turn uncertainty to our advantage. Green ushers us into the lives of more than forty super-investors, visiting them in their offices, homes, and even their places of worship—all to share what they have to teach us. From Sir John Templeton to Charlie Munger, Jack Bogle to Ed Thorp, Will Danoff to Mohnish Pabrai, Joel Greenblatt to Howard Marks, Green explains how they think and why they win. Profound, practical, and “unexpectedly illuminating” (Peter Diamandis), Richer, Wiser, Happier provides “many nuggets of wisdom” (The Washington Post) that will enrich you both financially and personally.