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Easy Money
In the last few years there has been a change of mentality. No longer do people think that they will have to work throughout their lives to earn a people think that there is easy money to be had. Whether it is Internet millionaires yet to leave school, city slickers in the Daily Mirror passing tips to tabloid readers, the rise of spread betting, the triumph of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and new lottery millionaires every week - people now think it is possible to make money without effort. Most of all this is seen in the new interest in the stock market and especially new technology stocks as they flick in and out of favour making paper millionnaires (and paupers) in a few hours. But so it last and what will happen if (when) the market turns downwards? A lively, entertaining and timely book. Author Phillip Coggan is the Markets Editor of the Financial Times. (So he knows whereof he speaks). He is the author of a number of previous books including The Money Machine a bestselling guide to the City, now in its fourth edition.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2001
About the author
Philip Coggan
19 books29 followersPhilip Coggan is a British columnist and author of books on economics. He currently writes for The Economist. Previously, he worked for the Financial Times for 20 years.
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December 3, 2018
Back during the previous bubble, I co-founded and ran an Internet startup. We stopped trading sometime in 2001.
I had (and continue to have) immense respect for Philip Coggan, so I bought this, perhaps to fill up all the spare time I was suddenly left with. But I never read it. It was too close to home.
Last week, some 17 years after buying “Easy Money,” I packed it along when I flew to the US to see some potential clients for my current startup.
Barring the odd poor prediction (and frankly, nobody could have predicted then that Amazon would go on to become the most formidable organization on planet earth) it’s still very fresh.
In particular, here’s what it gets right: crashes happen chiefly because we’d all rather get rich without putting in the work. The rest is merely about “how” this all comes about!
The chapter about the equity premium, the chapter about prudent investing, the chapter about career choice, all that stuff is present and correct, but the big idea is we’ve lost whatever inhibitions we ever had about getting rich quick and the laws reflect this as well. And away we go!
So it was very enjoyable. If he were to update the book and perhaps take a less UK-centric perspective, it would come out on time to tell us about the great crash of 2019!
I had (and continue to have) immense respect for Philip Coggan, so I bought this, perhaps to fill up all the spare time I was suddenly left with. But I never read it. It was too close to home.
Last week, some 17 years after buying “Easy Money,” I packed it along when I flew to the US to see some potential clients for my current startup.
Barring the odd poor prediction (and frankly, nobody could have predicted then that Amazon would go on to become the most formidable organization on planet earth) it’s still very fresh.
In particular, here’s what it gets right: crashes happen chiefly because we’d all rather get rich without putting in the work. The rest is merely about “how” this all comes about!
The chapter about the equity premium, the chapter about prudent investing, the chapter about career choice, all that stuff is present and correct, but the big idea is we’ve lost whatever inhibitions we ever had about getting rich quick and the laws reflect this as well. And away we go!
So it was very enjoyable. If he were to update the book and perhaps take a less UK-centric perspective, it would come out on time to tell us about the great crash of 2019!
Displaying 1 of 1 review