Average customer rating:
- The book lists some very good tax saving strategies.
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J.K. Lasser's Year-Round Tax Strategies, 2003
David S. De Jong , and
Ann Gray Jakabcin
Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Personal Taxes
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Tax Planning
| Taxes
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General
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ASIN: 0471249734 |
Book Description
- Be tax-conscious all year long and lower your tax rates
- Record-keeping essentials to project your tax deductions
- Year-end tax moves to cut your taxes
Plan now-so you can save later
With each new tax year comes new tax laws, and this year is no different. From the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, and the Victims of Terrorism Tax Relief Act of 2001 to the Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act of 2002, you can no longer afford to take a wait-and-see attitude when dealing with your taxes. You have to be proactive.
If you're looking to avoid unwelcome surprises at tax time, pick up J.K. Lasser's Year-Round Tax Strategies 2003. Whether you invest in stocks or mutual funds, own a home, work from home, or own a business, this invaluable book provides tax-saving strategies that will guide you throughout the year-ensuring a shock-free April 15th. Plan ahead, prepare for new tax laws, and pay fewer taxes with the help of J.K. Lasser's Year-Round Tax Strategies 2003.
Detailed tax coverage provides you with:
- Comprehensive coverage of new tax legislation and IRS rules
- Plain English explanations of income-reporting rules, tax deductions, and tax credits
- Special sections highlighting tax-planning and tax-saving opportunities for investors, business owners, and individuals planning for retirement and other special circumstances
- Questions and answers that illustrate tax-filing and tax-planning techniques
Customer Reviews:
The book lists some very good tax saving strategies........1999-08-13
The book lists some very good tax saving strategies, however a little bit more details on each one of them would have made the book better.
Product Description
After a long and beguiling climb, the stock market dive of 2000-2002 put phrases like irrational exuberance and speculative bubble back into common usage and was a stinging reminder of the importance of portfolio diversification. Financial wizard Mahesh Kumar shows how to guard against the inherent riskiness of the stock market while still reaping the benefits of a profitable portfolio in his new book Wine Investment for Portfolio Diversification: How Collecting Fine Wines Can Yield Greater Returns than Stocks and Bonds. Its a thorough piece of academic analysis, which combines the Nobel Prize winning Markowits Theory and Kumars Fine Wine Fifty Index and empirically proves that Fine Wine is one of the best diversification tools available (whether youre high-finance or a modest personal investor). Fine Wine is uncorrelated with stocks and bonds; that is, they arent affected by the same types of risk. Moreover, Kumar points out that Fine Wine has a HIGHER expected return relative to its overall contribution of risk. Smart investors are those who recognize large shifts in the economy early on and invest for the long term, he writes. In the 70s, gold investors thrived; in the 80s it was the real estate owners turn. In the 90s the action shifted to stocks. What will this decade bring? Alternative investments (Fine Wine, Fine Art or Antiques) will make a breakthrough, and compensate investors for their disappointing equity, bond and cash portfolio returns. The book also includes a history of wine markets dating back to the 12th century; chapters on the different modes of marketing and distribution in Bordeaux, and the primary and secondary markets; and he critically analyses the total alternative investment market, and the relationships between their price and quality. He also discusses, systematically, the key question: what constitutes a good investment portfolio?
Customer Reviews:
Gift it to your financial advisor.......2006-09-23
According to Professor Mahesh Kumar, and his dense Wine Investment for Portfolio Diversification, people who invest in wine don't all have butlers for alarm clocks. They don't all have different homes for different moods.
It's true that some wines have Bentley price tags. A few years ago, three bottles claiming to be the past property of Thomas Jefferson (the handwritten "Thom. J." on the label giving it the seal of authenticity) was auctioned off to a Florida millionaire for 500K. Their actual provenance is being determined in a NY court as I write. These sorts naturally get the headlines. So we, those who've never raised a paddle to a rapidly appreciating Monet, naturally think the whole indulgent scene is the domain of the moneyed set.
But ask Kumar and he'll tell you that people who invest in wine don't all have their phone numbers on congressional speed dials, and after reading his book, the parts that I could grasp, parts not requiring an advanced math degree, it not only makes sense, it exposes bagging six-figure bottles as merely big-game hunting.
By not assuming as a starting point the profitability of wine, Wine Investment for Portfolio Diversification is unique to the small population of wine investment books, like Sokolin's1987 Liquid Assets, and the new Keys to the Cellar (interesting but superficial buying and cellaring guides). Kumar first presents the arguments against wine investment (and there are plenty of these). Point-by-point he unravels them, with his Fine Wine 50 Index, a collection of a dozen blue-chip Bordeaux (the household names like Lafite, and Petrus) which, over a 21-year period, holds steady with the Dow and beat the FTSE 100 by several percentage points. This alone wouldn't make for much celebration, but taken in step with Kumar's assertion that wine prices aren't influenced by the same sort risk that affect stocks and bonds (recession, inflation, etc.), and are far less volatile, which makes fine wine "and other alternative investments" ideal diversifiers--for as much as a $50,000 per-year earner puts in his 401-K annually. That of course means he's not suggesting holding fine wine as a single asset class, but held as part of portfolio of tradition equities. Kumar also diagrams "relative value analysis." He says it's a "simple and effective indicator of which wines and vintages are under-or over-valued" that "maximizes returns by minimizing overexposure to specific labels." Seems useful enough. But simple? I couldn't tell you. Overexposure to six-inch-long math equations make my eyeballs vibrate.
Thus afflicted, the second half of the book was impenetrable. Kumar is after all a professor of finance. But it does purport to have in it calculations (like "relative value analysis") to help insure prudent purchasing, so I suggest gifting it to your financial advisor. Include a bottle to make it well rounded.
The first half was surprisingly fascinating; not what I was expecting from my experience with other wine investment/buying guides. Kumar unpacks how the alternative investment market interacts with the wider financial world--a brief education in economic and financial philosophy, and the kind of primer that engages the imagination.
The front matter includes an introduction by the iconic Michael Broadbent, a wonderful retrospective of Christie's (the British auction house for which he's director of wine) dealing in the old wine trade; and an interesting short preface by the publisher which attempts to come to terms with the "general anti-wine-investor vehemence" of wine critics.
Book Description
"A wonderful character study of someone whose cognitive dissonance ('I am brilliant, therefore I must be doing everything correctly') led directly to his downfall. Students would do well to read this book before venturing forth into a large firm, a small firm, or any pressure-cooker environment."
-Nancy Rapoport, University of Houston Law Center
"Eat What You Kill is gripping and well written. . . . It weaves in academic commentary and understanding of professional ethics issues in a way that makes it accessible to everyone."
-Frank Partnoy, University of San Diego Law School
He had it all, and then he lost it. But why did he do it, risking everything-wealth, success, livelihood, freedom, and the security of family?
Eat What You Kill is the story of John Gellene, a rising star and bankruptcy partner at one of Wall Street's most venerable law firms. But when Gellene became entangled in a web of conflicting corporate and legal interests involving one of his clients, he was eventually charged with making false statements, indicted, found guilty of a federal crime, and sentenced to prison.
Milton C. Regan Jr. uses Gellene's case to prove that such conflicting interests are now disturbingly commonplace in the world of American corporate finance. Combining a journalist's eye with sharp psychological insight, Regan spins Gellene's story into a gripping drama of fundamental tensions in modern-day corporate practice and describes in perfect miniature the inexorable confluence of the interests of American corporations and their legal counselors.
This confluence may seem natural enough, but because these law firms serve many masters-corporations, venture capitalists, shareholder groups-it has paradoxically led to deep, pervasive conflicts of interest. Eat What You Kill gives us the story of a man trapped in this labyrinth, and reveals the individual and systemic factors that contributed to Gellene's demise.
Customer Reviews:
Well Told Story About An Intriguing Subject But Analysis Could Be Better.......2006-07-17
Eat What You Kill: The Fall of a Wall Street Lawyer is the story of John Gellene, the only attorney to ever go to jail for making an incomplete disclosure of "connections" to creditors and parties in a bankruptcy case. While it is clear that Gellene committed an ethical lapse, the fact that he was prosecuted, convicted and served time is truly surprising. Others have failed to disclose much more and have suffered much lighter consequences. As a result, the question of why this particular case resulted in a prison sentence rather than a slap on the wrist is really interesting, particularly to lawyers.
This is a book about lawyers and the law, so that a little background on the law is helpful Representing large companies in bankruptcy is big business. The fees can run into the millions of dollars. In order to secure one of these potentially lucrative appointments, the lawyer must seek court approval of his employment and demonstrate that he is "disinterested." To show that he is "disinterested," the lawyer must submit a sworn statement disclosing his "connections" to the debtor and its creditors. Since the statement is submitted under penalty of perjury, a false statement is subject to criminal prosecution.
In the Gellene case, the large New York law firm of Milbank, Tweed was hired to represent Bucyrus-Erie Corporation in its bankruptcy proceeding. The bankruptcy was very contentious because the largest unsecured creditor, Jackson National Life, had accused the company's investment banker, Goldman Sachs, with manipulating the company's financial affairs to its own benefit. Things got worse when a Goldman Sachs partner, Mikael Salovaara, started his own firm, South Street Fund, and that firm did a deal with Bucyrus-Erie which put them ahead of all the other creditors.
All this happened before bankruptcy lawyer John Gellene entered the picture. However, it created an adversarial situation between the company and between different groups of its creditors. The debtor's attorney would be caught in the middle of this conflict and would have to navigate it in order to successfully reorganize the company. John Gellene began representing Bucyrus-Erie a year before its bankruptcy at a time when his law firm was not representing either Salovaara or South Street. However, shortly before the case was filed, Milbank, Tweed began representing South Street in another bankruptcy and also represented Salovaara in a dispute with his partner. Both of these were "connections" with creditors. However, Gellene failed to disclose these relationships in either of two affidavits filed with the court.
Gellene successfully guided Bucyrus-Erie through its reorganization and his firm was paid nearly $2 million in fees for doing so. Unfortunately, his successful plan put the company's old adversary, Jackson National Life, in control of the company. Years later, Jackson found out about the failure to disclose and sued Milbank, Tweed to return its fees and for malpractice. This proved to be very costly for Milbank, Tweed but it was worse for John Gellene. The publicity spawned by the fee litigation prompted the U.S. Attorney to file criminal charges against Gellene. A deal to plead to a misdemeanor fell through and the case went to trial. The prosecution sought to portray the failure to disclose as black and white, the while the defense attempted to put the statement in context. The jury sided with the U.S. Attorney and Gellene was convicted and sentenced to 15 months in prison. Gellene went from being a highly respected bankruptcy attorney to a convicted felon in a relatively short period of time.
Eat What You Kill does a good job of telling the story and does an adequate job of explaining why this lawyer did what he did, but really fails to answer the big question of why John Gellene was prosecuted. The book does its best job at opening a window onto the pressures faced by a big firm lawyer struggling to survive but cutting corners to do so.
Part 1 of the book does a slow but methodical job of setting the stage. In particular, it describes the world of the large New York law firm where security is an illusion. Gone are the days where clients maintained loyalty to a single firm and firms maintained loyalty to their partners. This world was replaced by a much more fluid one where clients award their business to the best suitor and partners compete against each other in a continuous tournament to see who can bring in the most clients, or failing that, who can bill the most hours. In such a world, it is tempting to cut corners if doing so means being able to attract more business and bill more hours. Additionally, it creates an atmosphere where the "service partners," the ones who perform and supervise the work, must maintain the good will of the "rain makers" who bring in the clients.
Parts 2 and 3 of Eat What You Kill tell the guts of the story in a fast-paced, easy to read manner. It is exciting to watch (at least from a bankruptcy lawyer's vantage) as John Gellene tries strategy after strategy to bring the reorganization to a successful conclusion before the company implodes under the weight of the litigation. Then, just as Gellene has achieved success, everything comes crashing down on him with the weight of a Shakespearean tragedy.
Part 4 and the epilogue try to make sense of what happened. This part of the story could have benefited from a thorough job of editing and re-writing. Pieces of the story which were apparent from the original telling are replayed over and over again in over 70 pages of mind-numbing discussion without achieving a coherent explanation. The epilogue strays into proposals for reforming legal ethics while paying scant attention to the story.
It is possible for the reader to put together the "why" of John Gellene's actions, but it requires some patience. In short, Gellene was placed in an atmosphere where he had to succeed to survive. Disclosing the connections to Salovaara and South Street would have risked losing a lucrative piece of work that he had already been working on for a year. It would have also risked incurring the displeasure of his rain maker who controlled the relationships with Bucyrus-Erie, South Street and Salovaara. The disclosures were one piece of paper of thousands filed in the case. There must have been overwhelming pressure to give them scant attention and move on to more substantive issues. If Gellene did weigh the risks in any detail, he probably dismissed them, since disclosure violations frequently resulted in mild consequences. Thus, it is likely that John Gellene felt sucker-punched when he was indicted, tried and convicted.
Unfortunately, the book gives little emphasis to the "why" of his prosecution. White color prosecutions are rare and prosecutions for failure to disclose conflicts in a bankruptcy case are rarer still. In this case, the Asst. U.S. Trustee (an official charged with overseeing bankruptcy proceedings) had previously been the U.S. Attorney. Perhaps he approached the case with a prosecutor's mindset rather than from a bankruptcy point of view and thus was able to lobby for a prosecution. This was a case where a big New York law firm collected millions of dollars in fees in a case filed in Wisconsin. Perhaps jealousy and mistrust of outsiders played a role. Unfortunately, these themes are not discussed in any depth.
This is an interesting book about an interesting topic, but a revised edition could be better.
Spellbinding and hugely educational.......2005-08-11
Hats off to Professor Regan for his prodigious research and painstaking, vivid recreation of the saga of a prominent lawyer's startling rise and fall --an all-the-more remarkable achievement given Gellene's refusal to cooperate in this project. This is an amazing look-behind-the-curtain as to: how large law partnerships reward and penalize their producers and non-producers; how complicated bankruptcy negotiations unfold; how investment bankers and vulture investors exploit weakened corporations; how a brilliant professional succumbed under pressure to career-ending ethical blunders; and much more. An extremely valuable reading experience for practioners and students of law and business that deserves to be a best-seller.
Important book about ethics.......2005-08-09
Great book showing what can go wrong when law firms let top lawyers get away with violating common practices.
a patient reader reaps far more than an ethics case study.......2005-05-05
Read for: lessons in bankruptcy law and practice, junk bonds, vulture investment, corporate law generally, white collar crime and trial tactics, and a nuanced ethical exploration
Avoid if: seeking simple answers, easily bored by thorough and balanced legal arguments
"Eat What You Kill" explores in excruciating detail the rise and fall of John Gellene, bankruptcy attorney extraordinaire, who failed to disclose a conflict of interest which landed him in prison.
Yet Milton Regan's book offers more than an ethics case study. A blow-by-blow survey of corporate restructuring, bankruptcy litigation tactics, and white collar criminal prosecution, Regan's book overwhelms with useful instruction. Though focused upon Gellene's life at law, Regan uses it as a prism to explore the environment of many others swimming in the same waters.
Lay readers may find the professorial tone both vice and virtue, as the riches grow tiresome to anyone uninterested in following the pros, cons, counter-pros, and counter-cons of various litigation tactics and arguments. Within this web of contextual detail, the ethical story threads diverse legal doctrines.
Offering no simple denunciations or defenses, Regan sees Gellene as merely a lawyer who tends to lie to avoid the consequences of his own negligence. Flawed, perhaps, but hardly a gross flaw.
Refraining from potshots or praise permits Regan to hold Gellene accountable while looking more deeply into the practice of corporate law itself. Regan's conclusions seem to be that lawyers, preoccupied with the business of law, lose sight of its spirit.
terrific, gripping, insightful.......2004-12-23
A better read, simply as a page-turner, than many novels.
Gellene, the protagonist/anti-hero of this book, graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude from Georgetown with degrees in philosophy and economics. He graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School, then clerked for Justice Morris Pashman of the New Jersey Supreme Court. Pretty impressive resume, eh? He had the "world at his feet," yet before much more time had passed he was in a prison cell.
This book should act as a warning on several levels. On one of them, it warns a certain type of investor about the nature of the chapter 11 process (in the course of which Gellene made the false statements that led to his downfall). Vulture investing in the instruments of distressed companies going through this process isn't an explicit theme of the book, one it ends up here nonetheless. There are traps for vultures, too.
Average customer rating:
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The bankruptcy of marriage
V. F Calverton
Manufacturer: Macauley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
General
| Sex
| Health, Mind & Body
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Marriage & Family
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
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ASIN: B0008558EU |
Average customer rating:
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The Ethics of Bankruptcy (Professional Ethics)
Jukka Kilpi
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Finance
| Business & Investing
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| Banks & Banking
| Corporate Finance
| Foreign Exchange
| Inflation
| Interest
Ethics
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| Business & Investing
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Bankruptcy
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Ethics & Morality
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General
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Bankruptcy
| Business
| Law
| Professional & Technical
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ASIN: 0415171741 |
Book Description
Have bankrupts committed a mortal wrongdoing? The fundamental ethical problem in bankruptcy is that insolvents have promised to pay their debts but can not keep their promise. The Ethics of Bankruptcy examines the morality of bankruptcy. The author explores ethical concerns raised by forgiveness, utilitarianism and distributive justice and the moral aspects of insolvents' contractual, fiduciary, tortious and criminal liability. This is the first comprehensive study that employs the tools of ethics to examine the controversies surrounding insolvency, which makes valuable and sometimes controversial reading in a decade recovering from the Recession. This text compares and contrasts the Humean doctrine of promises as useful conventions with the Kantian view of autonomous agency constituting promissory obligations. Finally, the author assesses recent bankruptcy law reforms, examining British and European modes of dealing with bankruptcy as opposed to American methods.
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Reflections of a Bankruptee on Debt Amnesty Revolution and History: A Critique of Contract Theory
Frank Deangelis
Manufacturer: Authors Choice Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Business & Investing
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General
| Personal Finance
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Ethics
| Business Life
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Bankruptcy
| Business
| Law
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Consumer Law
| Business
| Law
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General
| Politics
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History & Theory
| Politics
| Nonfiction
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Bankruptcy
| Business
| Law
| Professional & Technical
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ASIN: 0595180914 |
Book Description
The most comprehensive book - to date, on debt, bankruptcy, law, and its entire history - up to the present. Professor DeAngelis gives a most helpful and enlightening analysis.
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Towards moral bankruptcy
Paul Bureau
Manufacturer: Constable
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
General
| Sex
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
Marriage & Family
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
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ASIN: B00085BI2G |
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When Things Go Wrong: Organizational Failures and Breakdowns
Manufacturer: Sage Publications, Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Organizational Behavior
| Business & Investing
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Corporate Finance
| Finance
| Business & Investing
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General
| Business & Investing
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Leadership
| Management & Leadership
| Business & Investing
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Management
| Management & Leadership
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Ethics
| Business Life
| Business & Investing
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General
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General
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Corporate
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ASIN: 0761910476 |
Book Description
To understand success, you must first understand failure. This understanding is especially critical since failure is a phenomenon that is much more common to everyday life, businesses, and government practice than standard theory would lead us to assume. Failure manifests itself in many ways, including breakdowns, bankruptcies, and other forms of organizational catastrophes and fiascoes. Thus, learning from failure will enable success. When Things Go Wrong brings together contributions from 24 leading scholars who examine the causes, patterns, process, and outcomes of such failures from economic, managerial, cognitive and political perspectives. This book presents failure as a relative concept in terms of the expectations and strategies of stakeholders putting a claim on the performance of the organization and the notion of success. It challenges future research in this field to combine both economic and non-economic performance measures to assess organizational tendencies toward success and failure and to differentiate between failure as process and failure as an outcome.
Book Description
Have you been considering selling your small business but are afraid of the high fees involved? Believe it or not—with business broker, attorney, CPA, and consulting fees, you can expect to pay at least $10,000 just to sell your company! In this easy-to-follow guide, Rexford Umbenhaur gives you everything you need to know to sell your business and save thousands of dollars! You'll find out how to make the entire process as cost-effective and hassle-free as possible.
In addition to covering your business valuation, preparing a presentation, marketing, negotiating, and closing a sale, this informative guide shows you:
- How to determine a reliable and realistic value for your business before setting the asking price
- The best way to locate potential purchasers
- The right forms and contracts needed throughout the sale
- How to save thousands of dollars on commissions or selling fees, even if you hire a professional
- The elements needed to create an effective presentation package.
Selling Your Business Successfully is essential reading for all small business owners, brokers, appraisers, and CPAs.
Customer Reviews:
Simply Practical.......2003-06-21
In an age where "spin" is the norm, this book cuts through to the heart of what a "seller," or for that matter a "buyer" needs to get the job done. This book is a clear map through the mine-field of selling your business. By following and applying the information you will arrive at your desired goal without having something blow up under your feet. A savy buyer would be very wise to read it too. There is nothing like reading your adversary's (in a transaction) handbook.
A practical but very simplistic guide.......2003-04-09
There's a useful book with some pratical ways and approaches to valuate a business. It is not writen with a technical and complicated language, also do not go deeper on technical valuation procedures. It's like a do it yourself guide for those who wants only an initial overview of some practical ways to valuate a business.
Information that Works.......2000-02-28
This book is packed with real down to earth advice that can used by anyone to sell their business. It is also very help for anyone looking to buy a business. The book provides practicle "how to" information that can really get you through the technical aspects of valuing a business and negotiating the sale. Finally a book has been written that does not hold back anything, it gives the information needed in a real straight forward manner--that everyone can understand.
Books:
- Junk Bonds: How High Yield Securities Restructured Corporate America
- Key Indicators of Developing Asian and Pacific Countries: Volume XXVIII: 1997 (Key Indicators of Developing Asian and Pacific Countries)
- Latin American Marketing Information Sourcebook
- Living in Britain: Results from the 2001 General Household Survey
- Loopholes of the Rich: How the Rich Legally Make More Money and Pay Less Tax
- Make Your Paycheck Last
- Managing a Hedge Fund
- Marketing Places Europe: How to Attract Investments, Industries, Residents and Visitors to Cities, Communities, Regions and Nations in Europe
- Mastering Futures Trading : An Advanced Course for Sophisticated Strategies that Work
- MESA and Trading Market Cycles: Forecasting and Trading Strategies from the Creator of MESA, 2nd Edition
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Wollstonecraft: A Vindication of the Rights of Men and a Vindication of the Rights of Woman and Hint
- The Truth War: Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception
- Principles of Political Economy
- Principles of Managerial Finance
- The Art of M&A Due Diligence
- The Good Guy
- The Blackwell Encyclopedic Dictionary of Human Resource Management
- Finance: Introduction to Institutions, Investments, and Management
- The EVA Challenge: Implementing Value Added Change in an Organization
- The Description Of A New World Called The Blazing World
