Investments: Analysis and Management, 12th Edition

Preface

This book is designed to provide a good understanding of the field of investments while stimulating interest in the subject. This understanding is valuable because each of us must make various investment decisions during our lifetimes—definitely as individuals, and possibly in our chosen careers. If we try to avoid making these decisions, they will likely be made for us, and often to our detriment.

My goal in this text is to help readers gain an appreciation of what is involved in (1) understanding what is involved when it comes to investing, (2) making good investment decisions, and (3) recognizing where investment problems and controversies arise and knowing how to deal with them.

This book is designed as an appropriate guide to investments for everyone wanting to learn, being neither too basic nor too advanced. Descriptive material must be—and is—thoroughly covered. Equally important, however, the analytics of investments are presented throughout the discussion to help students reason out investment issues for themselves and thus be better prepared when making real-world investment decisions. Terminology and trading mechanisms may change, but learning to carefully analyze and evaluate investment opportunities will pay off under any circumstances.

The book is written for the first course in investments, generally taught at the junior/senior level. Standard prerequisites include basic accounting, economics, and financial management. A course in statistics is very useful ...