On the financial meltdown...here's the book to read...

From author Janet Tavakoli:

Dear Mr. Buffett: What An Investor Learns 1,269 Miles from Wall Street (publication date January 12, 2009—available for pre-order on Amazon).
Janet Tavakoli, president of Tavakoli Structured Finance, explains the events leading up to the worst financial meltdown in world history through her correspondence and discussion with Warren Buffett over 3 years. Tavakoli shows how they predicted the meltdown well in advance, warned investors, and propose how to fix it. Tavakoli also explains how to prevent it from happening again. Dear Mr. Buffett is a witty well-told account of how principle triumphs over greed and panic, and is a must-read for all those seeking the timeless wisdom that has beaten, and continues to beat, the market.

“Janet Tavakoli warned that the biggest credit bubble in world history was coming well in advance. Now she explains how the world could have avoided this disaster and how we can prevent it from happening the next time.”
JIM ROGERS,
author of A Bull in China, Hot Commodities, Adventure Capitalist, and Investment Biker

“Janet Tavakoli writes about the exotic, abstract financial instruments that helped implode the U.S. financial markets, and she writes in a clear, sprightly way. She knows a lot, and translates it well. Contrasting the shenanigans of recent years against the good analysis and common sense of Warren Buffett is appropriate, and helps to illustrate the levels of irrational behavior.”
ADAM SMITH (GEORGE J.W. GOODMAN),
author of The Money Game and Supermoney

“If you are an investor, either or through mutual funds or managed accounts, you must read this compelling book. You should understand how name-brand institutions like Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Wachovia, and UBS collectively lost hundreds of billions of dollars in ill-conceived products they invented and sold to investors who lost much more. Janet Tavakoli saw this coming and explains what happened clearly, logically, and persuasively. The juxtaposition of Buffett’s investment philosophies provides sharp contrast with those of the major institutional participants who are responsible for the current debacle. Knowing how this disastrous phenomenon evolved will forever change the way you evaluate you investments and/or those intermediaries who make them on your behalf.”
ERIC GLEACHER,
Chairman, Gleacher Partners LLC

“Janet Tavakoli has a gift for using personal anecdotes and clear language to explain the complex instruments of structured finance. Dear Mr. Buffett is an insightful look at the current global credit crisis in language that the layman can grasp. This book is a must-read for every trustee allocating to alternative investments.”
JOHN P. CALAMOS SR.,
Chairman, CEO and Co-CIO, Calamos Investments


Best Regards,

Janet

Janet Tavakoli is the president of Tavakoli Structured Finance, a Chicago-based firm that provides consulting to financial institutions and institutional investors. Ms. Tavakoli has more than 20 years of experience in senior investment banking positions, trading, structuring and marketing structured financial products. She is a former adjunct associate professor of derivatives at the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business. Author of: Credit Derivatives & Synthetic Structures (John Wiley & Sons, 1998, 2001) and Structured Finance & Collateralized Debt Obligations (John Wiley & Sons, 2003, September 2008).
Dear Mr. Buffett: What An Investor Learns 1,269 Miles From Wall Street will be released January 9, 2009.

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