What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars

Jim Paul (1943-2001) was first vice president in charge of the Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. International Energy Unit in New York City. During his twenty-five-year career in the futures industry, he was a retail broker, floor trader, and research director and served on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Board of Governors and the Executive Committee. Brendan Moynihan is a managing director at Marketfield Asset Management LLC, where his understanding of markets and the media helps shape their macro views and allocations. He is an adjunct professor of finance at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management. He is also the author of Financial Origami: How the Wall Street Model Broke. He lives in Barrington Hills, Illinois, with his wife and two sons. Jack Schwager is the author of the best-selling Market Wizard series as well as the three-volume Schwager on Futures. His latest work, Market Sense and Nonsense, was published in November 2012. He is currently the portfolio manager for the ADMIS Diversified Strategies Fund. His experience includes twenty-two years as director of futures research for some of Wall Street's leading firms.

Worthwhile reading for those who don't believe in the holy grail in the markets; a must-read for those who do. -- Jack Schwager, author of Hedge Fund Market Wizards A novel approach aimed at pushing you inside your head and outside the losing habits most folks adopt right after multiple successes. A must-have for traders blessed with a string of hot trades. -- Ken Fisher, Fisher Investments FORBES At Ned Davis Research, we like to say that we are in the business of making mistakes and that the only difference between winners and losers is that winners make small mistakes and losers, big mistakes. This book does an excellent job in explaining in simple English the potential psychological 'flaws' that cause investors to make big mistakes. -- Ned Davis, Ned Davis Research, Inc. One of the rare noncharlatanic books in finance. -- Nassim Nicholas Taleb, from Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder Plenty of books recount past successes or focus on how to make money in the market, but what about keeping the money you already have? This may seem like a high-class problem, but it is a very real challenge for investors with substantial capital. -- John Mihaljevic Beyond Proxy [An] enlightening read. -- Brenda Jubin Investing.com The book points out very early that many successful investors have opposing styles and theories on how to make money, and that they can not all be right at the same time. The most important point to take from the book is how to avoid losing money... -- Steve Osbiston Financial Times Advisor

• Foreword Preface to the Columbia Edition Preface Part I. Reminiscences of a Trader 1. From Hunger 2. To the Real World 3. Wood That I Would Trade 4. Spectacular Speculator 5. The Quest Part II. Lessons Learned 6. The Psychological Dynamics of Loss 7. The Psychological Fallacies of Risk 8. The Psychological Crowd Part III. Tying It All Together 9. Rules Conclusion Postscript Appendix Notes Bibliography