[.ca] The Great Mutual Fund Trap: An Investment Recovery Plan (ISBN 0767910729)

From Amazon.com:
If you've been burned on Wall Street (and who hasn't?) but still need a practical place to park your savings (who doesn't?), Gregory Baer and Gary Gensler have your number. While somewhat mistitled because it decries "active investing" in individual stocks as well as in mutual funds, The Great Mutual Fund Trap is nonetheless a clearly and even entertainingly written argument in favor of the alternative: investing broadly in stocks that mirror the performance of the overall market. During their years in private investment and with the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve, Baer and Gensler have come to believe the high fees and high risks that go with always trying to beat the market make "active investing"--be it constantly fiddling with your own portfolio or relying on professionals to do so for you--a no-win proposition. Instead, they say, you can actually improve returns by shifting to "passive investments" that offer lower costs and greater tax efficiency. After explaining why they feel as they do, the authors thoroughly describe the appropriate vehicles--index mutual funds, exchange-traded index funds, and several other products--in a way that makes these staid options seem almost exciting and gives interested readers all the tools they need to utilize them. --Howard Rothman

Not bad but nothing special:
There is really nothing new in this book that has not been beat to death elsewhere and the reader will probably find William Bernstein's books more rewarding. For those who buy this book however you will not go too far wrong.

Long overdue!:
This is the kind of book that validates conspiracy theorist. Here you have one most trusted of all american investment institutions...the mutual fund...finally being exposed for what it is...an inefficient and expensive way to invest in the long run. Mr. Baer and Mr. Gensler also expose the fallacy in the arguments of privatising Social Security. After you read this book it becomes more and more self evident that investors cannot rely on the typical buy and hold strategies. They will have to turn to alternative investing such as futures, options, and foreign exchange.

Great Book - I Loved It, Wall Street Must Hate It:
For the ordinary Joe like me, investing is, and should be, so simple, boring even. Yet there is so much clutter out there - books, strategies, seminars, tapes, and various other nonsense - all of it ultimately designed to turn a buck for someone other than you. If folks read and employ what this book preaches, they'll come out way ahead in time and money, and a huge industry incessantly feeding off these folks will bite the dust.

Good job revealing internals of mutual funds industry:
It's a very well written book. The main purpose of this book is to show that mutual funds industry overall does not provide a good choices for regular individual investors and the book covers this topics exceptionally. It really reveals the real intentions of the industry and shows that this is the only way this indstry can work. The book advocates passive investment and especially index funds and exchange traded funds (ETF). While there were already quite a few good, if controversial, books about efficient market theory ('You can't beat the market'), such as famous 'Random walk On Wall Street', this book brings more details about today market environment and explains what choices passive investor has. My only complain is that sometimes I feel some kind of zealotry in authors considerations. Even for somebody that believes in efficient market theory some of the statements in this books could seem very questionable. Stock mutual funds takes majority of books space but the moment authors venture to the other territory (and they do try to cover practically all kinds of investments) their arguments often seem too absolute. Still, this is the book every investor in mutual funds must read (and it will probably convince you to make some changes in your investment strategy - it did this for me)

Did all your homework, and your bubble still burst?:
I read the articles on investing in the major news and business magazines. I watched the financial shows on TV. I read the past performance of stocks and mutual funds before I invested. I read the prospectuses before I bought. I believed in my inteligent ability to follow advice and make money. I failed to even retain the value of my initial investments. All the TV and magazine blabbermouths are back at it. 'Buy this, buy that, buy the other.' But until I read this book, I didn't know what to do. Baer and Gensler explain what happened to my money. They use studies and statistics to back their advice on passive investing. They explain why mutual funds won't make me more money than the index funds. They even explain how to move my funds into passive investments while being careful of tax losses. I recommend reading this book and following it's advice.