The Education of a Value Investor: My Transformative Quest for Wealth, Wisdom, and Enlightenment Kindle Edition

I enjoyed reading the book. It is about the author's life in investing. It does not give a great deal of an action plan, but as the reader reads the book, he/she gains insight into another investors thinking. In Chapter 10, the author gives his rules for investing. One needs to read several value investing books. Phil Town and several on Warren Buffet or Benjamin Graham to understand his rules. If you read multiple sources, this book can help you a great deal. I was a technologist in my pre-retired life. In technology, one must read many sources and a study the data before deciding on which direction to take in solving a problem. Investing is no different. If this is done, Guy's book is a great help. In reading Guy's book, one can gain a great deal of insight. It is very worthwhile for a value investor to read. No book offers a magic answer on investing. If you want insight, Guy's book can help a great deal. I was helped by reading it.

This book is about the life of a value investor, how he started, how he evolved and what lessons he learned through his journey. Let's be honest this story doesn't represent the average investor, because the average investor won't handle a fortune or manage a multi million dollar hedge fund, but through this book you as an active and value investor can learn so much about investing. As you read the book the author suggests books that are the best of their kind (Influence, The intelligent investor, Meditation, How to win friends and influence people etc). If you are an investor you can learn a lot reading this book.

This book has a lot of great content presented in an easy to digest way. I bought it as a gift for someone just getting started to give them a framework and to make everything that came after a bit more digestible. I planned on purchased several copies, but this first copy had pages out of order and the quality of the binding was a bit lacking. I think this book's content is probably worth 4-5 stars, but the author was definitely let down by his publisher.Edit: I previously gave a 2 Star review because of issues with binding. The Seller refunded the purchase and was very polite/friendly. I will look to purchase from them again. Review changed to reflect substance of book. Great for those early in learning about the topic.

If you already are a filthy rich hedgie this book is for you. You can then contemplate the value of paying all cash for a mid-Manhattan apartment, relocating to Zurich, or paying $20k/year for no reason at all for a Bloomberg terminal, or having a bronze bust of your idol on the correct side of your giant office. Otherwise this book has little to offer the average investor that they cannot get from far more humble books such as "One up on wall street" among many others. The author talks about the importance of humility. But while Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger's writings do exhibit this quanlity, Mr. Spier's book leaves me with the impression that he is anything but humble, and is trying to pass himself off as such simply because he wants to be viewed in the same manner as his idols. Lunch with Warren Buffet for $250k for the heck of it, anyone? Oh, and let me hang a picture of it in my office for being so humble.It is great that Mr. Spier had an early life crisis and woke up to the excesses of Wall Street, albeit without fully disowning them. To some of us it is obvious that there is nothing moral to paying mid six figure salaries to 20 somethings for the privilege of doing nothing that contributes meaningfully to society. To be clear, I don't begrudge Mr. Spier's money. Anyone who painfully wants to be rich and does not go into finance is not too smart. But he can spare us the "education".I don't be

If you are interested in what it means to be a value investor, you will enjoy this book. It is not a how to, but does provide the theoretical background as well as an introduction to several famous investirs who follow these principles. At times, the hero worship of the author gets in the way, but not often.

I meet Guy many years ago while attending a Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting and have followed his career ever since. When I saw it appear in an Amazon search I do regularly I ordered it immediately.First, the book was not what as I had expected as many others have noted and I was surprised at how frank it was. Sharing your personal mistakes in such a manner couldn't have been easy but Guy has provided his readers with several valuable lessons that I hope young readers take to heart My first job was also at a firm that I wasn't proud to work at, Conseco Capital Management. I worked on the Axys reporting system and I quickly learned what kind of firm I didn't want to work at. I hope all Guy's young readers keep in mind how important it is to work in an environment that you feel comfortable in with people that you admire.It's also so important to analyze your behavior and believe in yourself. I practice concentrated investing which many people in the institutional investing world think is pure craziness but it suits my temperament. I think Guy also talks about in his book how important it is to follow your own path with readers would do well to try and follow their own path to happiness and success.I highly recommend the book, especially to those who have an interest in the investing industry.

This book gets you pumped about your investing practice. It shows how you can use your money to support well run companies that are a positive influence on the world. Value investing nerds and Warren Buffet fans will love it, but it will be enjoyable for the beginner investor as well.

I can't remember how I heard about this book or Guy Spier and whether I heard about Guy Spier first or his book. However I think I will look back at the moment I finished reading this book as a life changing moment.Everybody who takes investing (and life?) seriously, even if they are not pure value investors (as I intend to be) should read this (and to be honest so should speculators/gamblers as it might save them a whole heap of money.)This is simply an amazing and inspiring book from which almost anybody can learn something about themselves. Mr Spier has said that this is probably his first and last book because he is not a natural author; I would beg to differ and hope it is not. I would also add that many people will think we have heard of Mr Spier because he paid $1.6m to have lunch with Warren Buffett but it is my belief that we would have heard of him anyway.The book is part autobiographical, part value investing guide and part self help book. If you are open to what Mr Spier has to say then you will find an awful lot to help you negotiate life. It is frank and honest and open. I am going to read it again after reading Security Analysis (which I had not had the courage to start until reading this book) and Margin of Safety. I would also watch many of the interviews/talks on YouTube (particularly the one given at the Googleplex just three months ago) to enhance your understanding about what Mr Spier has to say.Happy reading!

This book is a frank honest account of how the author became a value investor. At times he is refreshingly honest in his journey of discovering how to be the best 'himself' rather than try to emulate anyone else. He sets out on a homage to Warren Buffet (or WEB as he is known to his fans) only to realise that for true success and to be comfortable inside himself he needs to not emulate WEB but rather be the best he can at being 'Guy Spier'.As a professional value investor myself (who ironically lives not far from where the author went to school) I found it a very good book. However I think the real depth of some of his points can only be appreciated after you have been an investor for a number of years yourself and had periods of self doubt and episodes that have led you to questioning your confidence.The discomfort of having an 'Ivy league' CV and then being pressurised to play in a dirty sandpit with bosses with less ethical integrity than a Silician Mafiosi is palpable. Having been on a somewhat similar path myself it made me smile - very few fund managers or investors will be as honest as he is.Some of the points (eg what is the ideal distance to travel to work) will only be appreciated by those who, like me, commute into the City every day.The most practical input of this book was to give me the self confidence not to be glued to a Bloomberg screen every moment of every day - which given I used a Bloomberg every day for 14 years (except my wedding day) is remarkable.Given the achievements of Guy Spier I think this is a truly humble and indeed humbling book. In an industry with so many individuals with confidence brimming on arrogance hearing the inner voice of another true value investor and understanding their journey of discovery is invaluable.For people early in their investing career I would warn that some of this book will only be appreciated once you have been through at least one cycle in the market and have some grey hair!

Utterly spellbinding from start to finish, Guy Spier is a great, level-headed guy. At first when he honestly and openly admitted that he only got his start when his Dad funded him, I wavered a bit, but his brilliant individual thinking mixed with unabashed appropriation of others' investment behaviour makes for a wonderful read and an exceptionally useful book if you're a keen value investor. Hilarious to read that, like me, he's a motorcyclist as well.... although his rule of avoiding as much influence as possible is something that he seems to ignore when he visits potential investments on his motorbike. That's guaranteed to put you in a great mood and make you feel positive when you arrive..... anywhere! Thanks Guy, a great book.

Basically it is written down how Guy Spier has changed his hedge fund basics before he went to a $650k dinner with Warren Buffet. Interesting read, Also interesting to see how can a hedge fund manager change his view over investing if the motivation comes from somebody called Warren Buffett.

A really enjoyable read, and very illuminating. By telling the story of his personal journey, Guy brings to life what can be a turgid subject (even for those who practice it professionally). He tells it with striking humility and candour. Most investment books, and indeed most "self-help" books, are written by authors posing as teachers. Guy takes a different tack, exposing his frailties and shortcomings with brutal honesty, and inviting us to learn from his mistakes. This book should appeal to anyone interested in investing, and indeed to a much wider audience. Brokers, traders and any other members of the financial community who thrive on noise rather than substance, may want to give it a miss.