Take on the Street: What Wall Street and Corporate America Don't Want You To Know and How You Can Fight Back

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Take on the Street: What Wall Street and Corporate America Don't Want You To Know and How You Can Fight Back Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Scott Brick (Narrator), Arthur Levitt (Author), Paula Dwyer (Author),

4.2 82 ratings

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Investors today are being fed lies and distortions, are being exploited and neglected. In the wake of the last decade’s rush to invest by millions of households and Wall Street’s obsession with short-term performance, a culture of gamesmanship has grown among corporate management, financial analysts, brokers, and fund managers, making it hard to tell financial fantasy from reality, salesmanship from honest advice.

In Take on the Street, Arthur Levitt - former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission - shows how you can take matters into your own hands. At once anecdotal (names are named), informative, and prescriptive, Take on the Street expounds on, among other subjects:

The relationship between broker compensation and your trading account; the conflicts of interest inherent in buy-hold-or-sell recommendations of analysts
What exactly happens - and who gets a piece of the action - when you place an order
The “seven deadly sins” of mutual funds
The vagaries and vicissitudes of 401(k) investments
How accountants engage in sleight of hand to fake impressive company performance
How to find the truth in a company’s financial statements
The real reason for the Street’s hostility to full disclosure
The crisis in corporate governance, and, given these shenanigans and double-dealings, what specific steps you can take to safeguard your financial future

With integrity and authority, Levitt gives us a bracing primer on the collapse of the system for overseeing our capital markets, and sage, essential advice on a discipline we often ignore to our peril - how not to lose money.

Listening Length

13 hours and 7 minutes
Author

Arthur Levitt, see all
Narrator

Scott Brick
Audible release date

August 5, 2004
Language

English
Publisher

Random House Audio
ASIN

B0006IU3DK
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
See all details

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Product details

Listening Length	13 hours and 7 minutes
Author	Arthur Levitt, Paula Dwyer
Narrator	Scott Brick
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com Release Date	August 05, 2004
Publisher	Random House Audio
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B0006IU3DK
Best Sellers Rank	#254,957 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #1,300 in Investing & Trading #1,751 in Economics (Audible Books & Originals) #3,243 in Leadership (Audible Books & Originals)

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4.2 out of 5

82 global ratings

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Al Pal

Assume you will be taken advantage of

Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2017

Verified Purchase

I think it's a good book. It covers a broad range of financial topics from basic (how to pick a financial adviser / if at all) to complex (plumbing of the financial system). Arthur Levitt is perhaps the last competent SEC Chairman who gave a damn (through 2016) about investors' rights, auditor independence, and corporate disclosure.

My favorite thing about the book is his perspective on perverse incentives inherent to the financial system. Advisers' choice of financial products for clients, brokers' choice of market centers, and corporations' relationships with auditors -- to name just a few -- are all sub-optimal arrangements for end-customers, i.e., the investors.

Another favorite is the discussion of different ways companies can game financial statements in the Beware of False Profits chapter. Pro-forma statements that add-back the bad and keep the good (with Trump Hotels used as an example; hmmm can't wait for selective White House disclosures); restructuring charges that front-load recurring expenses; "cookie jar reserves" and "channel stuffing" aka "bill and hold" that inflate profits (where "Chainsaw" Al Dunlap finally cut his teeth); write-downs and reversals; vendor financing (some customers may not pay you back after all, Motorola); goodwill gaming; in-process R&D; and early revenue recognition (hello Microstrategy, you and your scumbag CEO Michael Saylor are still around after all these years). What's appalling is that more often than not, the consequences to such corporate misbehavior are immaterial to perpetrators -- cease and desist letters, fines, and perhaps an occasional short jail sentence.

Bottom line: you have to be very careful who you trust and how you interpret the information provided to you. The devil is in the detail... and understanding everyone's incentives. Assume you will be taken advantage of.

3 people found this helpful

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Forevereire

I am an AICPA member, I give it 5 stars!!

Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2002

Verified Purchase

I have the audible format, but I am going to keep a print copy. I follow stock market every day, i know the tricks of the analysts. They downgrade stocks when those have already depreciated almost 80%, and upgrade and make 'strong buy' recommendation when stocks have already rocket high. Why? you know why! Luckily, we still have some good stock analysts, though there are not many.
I absolute agree with what Levitt says: brokers are no more than a salesman.... Don't listen to your broker for using margin account... Should avoid using margin account at all cost..
What have happened this year on the Street? Why the big invesment firms have to pay 1.4B fines last week? As an individual investor, you know why.
I highly recommen this book/audible listen to individual investors and those who wish to revisit how they make money from making untruth recommendations to their clients.

10 people found this helpful

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Chiu-ying Wong

Unique and Important Perspective

Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2003

Verified Purchase

The perspective of the former SEC chairman can be very useful for ordinary investors. I learned, for example, how and why some important accounting standards were changed in recent times. This helps me to read financial reports with a better focus. The politics of the investment community was also very interesting. The letters from politicians to the SEC, questioning SEC's proposal to limit the amount of consulting work that accounting firms could do for their audit clients, were particularly enlightening. The expose of how a small group of people can influence policies of public interest is already worthy of the price. I was not completely naive before, but reading such letters from people who gained power by claiming to be protectors of public interest swings the argument for more safeguards for small investors. Self-regulation of professional bodies simply does not work, at least as far as the accounting profession is concerned.
I would have been even happier if the book were to go deeper, and gave more examples, on the issue of number games, in place of the last chapter, on 401K. But the existing chapters on accounting tricks already contained more beef than those in the other book, 'Financial Shenangans' by Schilit, which were very repetitive and not much depth.

4 people found this helpful

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Peter Petrakis

well rounded primer for new investors

Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2009

Verified Purchase

A friend lent me this book after I started investing in an effort to temper
my new found enthusiasm and naiveté for the market. It succeeded and I also
learned much of the evolution of the stock market with respect to the individual
investor. It showed me where to look for reputable independent market analysis which
I've used to my benefit. The section on how to evaluate a balance sheet is priceless.
My only problem with the book is that it can get a little chatty at times but it was
well worth it.

3 people found this helpful

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dogfish

Good information interesting,somewhat intermediate concepts

Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2003

I found the book informative in some areas, but somewhat disappointed in it's rehashed discussions of areas which have been previously covered by more knowledgable individuals. An entire section of potential for accounting irregularities is something that can be found in Mumford's book "The accounting numbers game". This is a book by an expert in accounting, which Levitt is not.
I found the discussion of lobbyists and the accounting and technology industry interesting. There are obviously great stories which can be ventured into, but i don't think Levitt went into too much depth. He is passionate in his protection of the investors, but seems hesitant to take a stand against the special interests. They are lining there pockets at the expense of the individual investors. It is a collabarated efforts on the part of politicians, the brokerage industries, accounting industries, and ceo's and numberous others. Unfortunately they hold all the power in the U.S. & this will continue to increase the discrepancy between the wealthy & poor / working class. I guess what I'm saying is Let's call a spade a spade not tapdance around the issue.
He explanation of hidden commissions is good for people who are unfamiliar with this area. There is a book called "License to steal" who spells it out in plain english what this is really about. This is a story written by a broker / salesman.
Overall, I thought it was a good read, & somewhat informative. Well worth the few days or so it took to read.

2 people found this helpful

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