The Autobiography of a Stock by Manoj Arora: Book Review

Title: The Autobiography of a Stock

Author: Manoj Arora

Publisher: Jaico Books

Publication Date: May 2018

My Rating: 3.5 stars

Links: Amazon Goodreads Instagram Twitter

Stock investment is very much hyped investment option besides being a liquid one. More than half of the population in the country invests in stocks and that too without any requisite knowledge and understanding.

Have you invested in stocks? Does the investment is after proper analysis or just on the basis of ‘hearsay’ or “tips” available. Majority of investors depend on “tips” to invest their money in particular stock or shares. And they think that’s enough for long-term investment goals but later usually incurs losses.

During my finance internship, I too was caught by this stock market bug and played as a dummy investor to learn the stock investment fundamentals. Then, I was investing on the basis of news and tips available in the market and not with insights as talked about in the book. Even though I was aware of the terms but didn’t know how to utilise them for profitable stock investment.

The Autobiography of a Stock is a learner’s guide who is keen to invest in stocks with simple understanding of the fundamentals and concepts.

The book has been formulated into a storytelling form keeping the reading interest intact. Here the narrator is himself “The Stock” telling his story and providing valuable investing insights. Also includes, Govind, an investor to whom all lessons where taught in the book by Mr. Stock. Narration through conversations between Stock and Govind has made the book an effortless read.

The book involves study and interpretation of financial formulas and ratios covering from Earning per share (EPS) to Free Cash Flow ratio (FCF Ratio). The investing process has been elucidated with tables and charts enumerating the step by step approach to stock investing. Moreover, the author has provided his copyrighted Innovations in the book where he defined few terms, for instance, Dividend Oxidation Effect and Client Inertia.

The information in the book of numbers and stock values is very much real and were part of the author’s portfolio.

The book encapsulates the process of how a stock should be chosen for investing and techniques that would ensure that the amount is invested in profitable stock with wisdom and knowledge. The author has provided his techniques and has done his own analysis for stock investing which will prove fruitful practically.

The book also holds eighty-three lessons which acts as manual rules for stock investing. These rules were somehow the essence of stock investing process.

The concepts and terms have been explained in a clear manner in a way understandable for a non-commerce person. Though in the second half of the book, there are calculations, interpretations of the ratios and financials of the company which may not work in favor of a person with non-commerce background and having less qualifications.

Also, I felt there was a detailed or prolonged analysis for buying a particular stock which may somehow could cause unwillingness in the investor to follow.

 

Why to read this book

The ones who are looking forward to long-term stock investments with an aim to invest with the requisite knowledge necessary to invest in the market should surely go for this book.

 

Have you happened to read this book? or thinking of it lately?

Do share your thoughts in the comments below.

 

-Harshita