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Summary
Summary
PRAISE FOR HIGH-FLYING ADVENTURES IN THE STOCK MARKET
"A wonderful read-Baker takes you through a year in the life of a fund manager-it's so well conceived and written that you'll think you were there too. Individual investors who manage their own money should put this book in their 'portfolio.' Informative, educational, great fun."-Larry Waterhouse Jr., Chairman, TD Waterhouse Investor Services, Inc.
"Most Americans know mutual funds only by their performance numbers. In High-Flying Adventures in the Stock Market, Molly Baker takes us inside the fund industry to give us a compelling and intimate look at the human drama of running a fund."-Douglas K. Sease, Editor, Wall Street Journal Books
"Baker uses the eye for detail she acquired as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal to explain the high-pressure world of the money manager in laymen's terms. For those seeking a readable, inside account of the '90s historic stock market boom, this is a book to add to the portfolio."-Dana Milbank, staff writer, The Washington Post
"Baker has provided an unusual perspective into the world of mutual fund management. She is a real reporter who is skilled in her understanding of what she describes and lively in her choice of episodes. The book is fun as well as informative."-Peter L. Bernstein, President, Peter L. Bernstein, Inc. author of Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk
"A fantastic voyage through the mutual fund universe. Every investor should read this book."-Andrew Metrick, Assistant Professor of FinanceThe Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Author Notes
Molly Baker is a freelance journalist and has worked as a reporter with the Wall Street Journal, NBC News, and the Rocky Mountain News. In addition, Ms. Baker was a financial analyst on Wall Street for CS First Boston. She lives outside Philadelphia with her husband and two children
Reviews 3
Publisher's Weekly Review
In the last three years, Delaware Investments mutual fund manager Gerald S. Frey has more than quadrupled his shareholders' money, an extraordinary performance in any market. Drawing on behind-the-scenes information on how Frey runs his funds gathered over more than a year, former Wall Street Journal reporter Baker portrays him sitting behind a computer screen (one that usually malfunctions), reading reports and listening to salespeople. He's a modest and soft-spoken guy who occasionally says things such as "buy 25,000 shares." Although trading makes up the book's action, Frey's insights about buying or selling particular stocks, unfortunately, are hidden inside his head. Though Baker tries to make his job seem high pressure, it makes for pretty dull reading. And since Baker never reveals at what price Frey gets his 25,000 shares, or what happens to the stock afterward, she's doesn't generate any excitement about the market's fluctuations. We learn about Frey's bonus provisions in detail, but it's hard to get too worked up over whether he and his team split a $3.3 million or a $2.1 million bonus pool. In addition, the traders on his team are not sketched sharply enough to sustain interest: one always seems half asleep with his feet on the desk and his chair tilted back; the other constantly tosses a foam rubber ball up and down, while giving excruciatingly slow answers to questions. Ultimately revealing little about successful fund managers and their colleagues, this book is decidedly earthbound. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Although popular fascination with online investing and day-trading has skyrocketed, mutual funds remain the investment vehicle of choice for most Americans. These two books look at mutual funds from contrasting perspectives. Baker is a former Wall Street Journal writer who now works as a freelance journalist. She focuses on a single fund to show how it is managed and how investment decisions are made. New York Times reporter Diana Henriques similarly looked at the trillion-dollar Fidelity Fund management group in Fidelity's World: The Secret Life and Public Power of the Mutual Fund Giant (1995), but she went looking to air dirty linen. Baker, instead, paints a year-in-the-life portrait of the much smaller but highly successful Delaware Aggressive Growth Fund. Having sat in on meetings throughout 1998 with the fund's management team, headed by Jerry Frey, she effectively captures the traders' passion, drive, commitment, frustration, worries, and exhilaration. Kazanjian, on the other hand, considers the investment philosophies and strategies of some of the "world's most steadfastly successful fund managers." Kazanjian is the author of the New York Institute of Finance Guide to Mutual Funds [BKL Ja 1 & 15 99] and several other books on investing. He has looked to experts in the past with his annual Wall Street Picks, in which he highlights the current recommendations of several dozen Wall Street pros. He now profiles the careers and stock-picking methods of 18 mutual fund managers who have outperformed the Standard & Poor's 500 index over the past five years. Kazanjian also comes up with an analysis of the traits that those investors share, and he lists 10 keys to beating the market. --David Rouse
Library Journal Review
Baker, a freelance journalist, has worked as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal and as a financial analyst for CS First Boston. Like a filmmaker using cinema verit‚ techniques, Baker observes Jeffrey Frey, who is in charge of the Delaware Select Growth Fund, and records his team's activities during 1998, a tumultuous but highly successful year for investors. She describes in minute detail the decisions behind buying and selling initial public offerings, tech stocks (especially AOL), and the stocks of other companies whose rapid growths were forecast; the pressures to stay on top (the fund was one of the best performers that year); and everyday goings-on at its Philadelphia office. Baker's style yields a readable, exciting account, offering insight into the world of mutual-fund management that should interest investors, students, and those looking for a career in the field. Recommended for public and academic libraries.--Steven J. Mayover, formerly with The Free Lib. of Philadelphia (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
| Prologue: Scaling Mountains | p. 1 |
| 1 Don't You Just Love It? | p. 9 |
| 2 Dollar Days | p. 37 |
| 3 Shorter Than the Life Span of a Stick of Gum | p. 72 |
| 4 Where's the Pony? | p. 98 |
| 5 Hurricane Season | p. 119 |
| 6 Fevers of Unknown Origin | p. 139 |
| 7 This Used to Be Fun | p. 162 |
| 8 Do You Have a Band-Aid? | p. 183 |
| 9 The Hangover Is Commensurate with the Party | p. 206 |
| 10 All I Want for Christmas Is a Dot-Com IPO | p. 218 |
| 11 You Can Make One Mistake, or You Can Make Two Mistakes | p. 235 |
| 12 Star Light, Star Bright | p. 254 |
| Epilogue | p. 269 |
