The Wonderful World of Wall Street: Where Ordinary People Can Become Quiet Millionaires

Think for yourself, do your own research, pick your own risks and learn exactly what you're doing, and you too can get rich (quickly or less so) in the stock market. So contends New York lawyer and broker Fisher (How to Make Big Money in the Over the Counter Market). Fisher's new handbook aims to show readers with no stock market experience how they can become ""quiet millionaires""--the author's oft-repeated term for successful investors who depend on their own knowledge and skills. Fisher's first set of chapters explains investment basics: what brokers do, how underwriters operate, what a company's annual statement says (and what else a savvy reader can find in it). The remainder of the book lays out 18 strategies Fisher has learned from one or another ""quiet millionaire."" Among them: look for companies emerging from bankruptcy, use convertible debentures, check out IPOs (initial public offerings) and ""look for opportunities"" in which ""you're not battling thousands of investors,"" especially in the over-the-counter market. Fisher tries hard to stay inviting and nontechnical, interspersing anecdotes of his own successes and the life stories of his ""quiet millionaires"" (a former landlady, an ex-hotdog vendor) among explanations and advice. Useful, clear appendices explain the Street's technical terms (""firm bid,"" ""float,"" ""flurries"") and sketch companies that Fisher considers ""great performers,"" among them General Electric and the toy maker Hasbro. New or would-be investors will welcome Fisher's detailed advice, many tips and chatty prose style. (Nov.)