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This book is a very interesting read. Chris Camillo, the author, takes a dim view of Wall Street and the financial analysts. He spends the first part of the book bashing the analysts approach to investing — both fundamental and technical — and the unreasonable fees most investment advisors charge.

Most investors have no idea how much is being skimmed off the top of their mutual fund accounts by the investment advisors.

Then Mr. Camillo introduces his approach to investing. It can best be described as information arbitrage — only invest when you have knowledge which Wall Street does not have or refuses to accept. For the most part this would limit your investment to smaller companies. But Apple was one of the examples cited where the market — the people on main street — where warmly embracing the iPhone but Wall Street was not.

Information arbitrage requires a keen sense of observation — something lacking in most people. You must look at what is happening around, what people are doing and then deduce what that information means to the market place. I know many people who in 2006 — 07 knew the real estate market had gotten way overheated. But few if any could connect the dots and use that knowledge to make a profitable investment decision.

So while the approach is very interesting, having the discipline and insight to carry it off is going to be difficult for most people.

The first half of the book is very interesting, easy to read and quite insightful when the author is presenting his theory and how to use it. He also gives some solid information about how to use the online chat rooms — what to look out for and what to expect. It has been some time since I had visited any financial chat rooms so the reminder and the information I found quite helpful.

When the author started discussing put and call options, I found the tenor of the book slowed down quite a bit. I think the average reader could skip those chapters and not miss that much.

If you are looking for a solid approach AND if you are willing to invest the time and energy in becoming an astute observer of what is happening on Main Street and then confirming what that will do to the price of a particular stock, this could be an extremely valuable book. If you are looking for a quick and easy way to investment riches, look elsewhere. The approach advanced by the author is very slow, find an information arbitrage, confirm it and be patient.

While I totally believe his claims about the money he made, I am not so certain that very many people will be able to follow his pattern.

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