Unlike his negative review onair, his book explains in simple terms how and what to do for trading and investing. Good book for the beginner trader like myself. :P MUST BUY. Serious product.

This book is bold, informative, and well written. It feels like I've gone to college and found a fantastic professor that knows how to teach the subject well. He does not assume you already know everything. You will understand why stocks are priced the way they are, how to buy stocks without getting ripped off, how a company goes public and begins to sell stock, how to know enough about where a stock is going to make your own informed decisions. I've always wanted to get my feet wet in the stock market, but never felt confident enough. Now I'm swimming with the big fish! Buy this book.

This book contains valuable information for managing your money and the do's and don'ts for investing.

This guy is nothing short of a genius in my opinion, I've purchased all of his books I'm pretty sure and have NEVER been dis-appointed with them. He's a 5 STAR AUTHOR all the way.

Having read several investment books, this book is a much needed shot in the arm in that it opens the doors to the type of independent thinking that the mutual fund industry doesn't want individual investors to engage in. Cramer's book encourages readers to move beyond what may be an effective but somewhat restrictive investment philosophy, and utilize several strategic approaches to building wealth in stocks. I never could have guessed that Cramer could do so much to help me see investing in a different light and ultimately help me understand investing much better.

All I have to say is BOO YAHH!

If your looking here you already know Cramer is King.

Respectfully, Dennis Lloyd

His first book "Confessions of a Street Addict" was thoughtful and interesting. This book reads almost like one of his TV shows. He "co-wrote" this one and it feels like he just sat down with his assistants and let it rip in his usual stream of consciousness style for a couple hours. The book seems hardly edited from that. Meaningless digressions , backtracking, repetition -- all left in here.
If you're a fan of the show, you've heard ALL of this on the show (repeatedly). If you're not, you won't get anything from this book. I was hoping for a more coherent and deep window onto how Jim Cramer views the current markets. Not what I got.

After reviewing "Cramer's Real Money" my wife and I started to put this trader's guidebook method to work.

I am happy to report that from last January until April we had a twenty four percent gain. We researched and searched and purchased and sold stocks that we felt comfortable with. Not bad for beginners. We now call Cramer a stock guru.

After gaining our trust in Cramer we started watching Mad Money on MSNBC. We watched and learned. Every now and again Cramer would make stock pick suggestions. Saying things like boy if you can get this stock for under xxx amount then "that is a gift". Buy Buy Buy.

So we thought this stock trading guru has helped us make money with his trading guidebook why not take his advice from Mad Money and trade those "gift stocks" that he gets so excited about.

Well I can say that the stock guru is our leader no more. Since Cramer's guidebook clearly states "tips are for waiters" we feel foolish. The twenty four percent we gained is now less than one percent. If we would have not believed the tips from the stock guru himself and we would have just continued with the traders guidebook methods we would have been much better off.

It is hard for us to believe that this man's reckless "GIFT" stock picks are from the same person that wrote the book. From what I have been reading online there are many that consider Cramer very reckless with total disregard for his own books methodology.

So buy the book but do not take TIPS even if the TIPS come down from the stock guru himself.

Really, I figured what could it hurt to read & listen. Tried all his ideas, watched his picks on TV etc. Set up HIS ideal portfolios on my trading page where I trade stocks. After 2 years what are the results? Cramer's picks as well as Vectorvest picks got CREAMED compared to MY own idiotic attempts at making money long term as well as short term.
So, do what you like, but if ever in San Diego & you want this book? You can have mine for FREE. Do however pay attention to his common sense "get out of debt" strategy.

Before reading this book I knew nothing about stock market investing. This book has so much info that I feel it is not a one time read but rather a reference book. Many terms are clearly defined and many situations in the market are clearly explained. For the first time in my life, I understand how basic options work. There is far too much for me to cover in a review. If you want to learn about the stock market, this is the book for you.

Jim Cramer's books and tv programs provide expert help to every investor; however, as a small investor on a fixed income with small investment money available at 77 woman, I have to be very cautious with my money. I am confidence in anything that he says. If he makes a mistake, he steps up to the plate and says,"I called it wrong, let's do something about it."
His writing and TV program are not only an inspiration to me, but have given me the confidence to influence my grandchildren to learn from Jim as I have done.
Thanks a million,
Love ya, Jim,
Peggy Wildman
Dallas,Texas 75205

Very easy to understand book. The author knows the audience very well and the strong and weak points about them. He has tried honestly hard to make sure the amateur stock investors learn the tricks of the game and equip themselves with knowledge they need before venturing into a brutal game of stock investment.

In this poor old world, we all need money to stay alive and care for our loved ones. Jim's books are a great place to start, a terrific review, and a fresh perspective on trading. Whether you trade for a living or just trying to build up that nest egg, Jim's books will help. Just don't get so carried away with money that you forget what it's really all about.

When I first checked this book out, I found it too boring and abstract to hold my interest...mainly because of the chapters about how the market works and how hedge fund managers trade. But then I revisited the book and spent some time with these chapters and realized the value of the information and also realized I had learned alot since I first approached the book which made it more interesting to me the second time around. Now Cramer insists he is a bottoms-up investor/trader, but this book has alot of top-down strategy in it. As far as the stock rules, well yeah they are common sense, but forcing yourself to follow them is a a whole 'nother story. Common sense can deviate when put into actual practice, otherwise we'd all be thin and beautiful, right? His strategy is like a diet, it requires willpower to be successful. This book may be beyond the beginner and unhelpful for advanced investors, but it is great if you know a little more than the average person walking down the street. Like Suze Ormond states, alot of people spend time in denial or hiding from their money situations.

Can one book make you an expert money manager? I don't think so, but as Cramer writes, "You have to learn to be either a better investor or a better client; there is no other choice." So in that context, this book offers great insights and lessons learned from his career as a hedge fund manager.

For those who want to manage their own portfolio, Cramer prescribes a "buy and homework" style, rather than buy and hold because companies can lose their edge due to new competition, regulatory changes, etc. He says you need a minimum of five stocks in different industries to be diversified, and you need to spend an hour per week per stock doing your homework.

For those who don't have the time or the inclination to do the homework, he recommends some mutual funds on pages 198-201. Most mutual fund managers underperform the index funds, and Cramer provides some reasons why.

Cramer is a good writer, with a refreshingly candid style. I also enjoyed his previous book You Got Screwed, which opened my eyes to the conflicts of interest which abound in the financial industry.

Cramer writes, "You have to learn to be either a better investor or a better client; there is no other choice."

For those who want to manage their own portfolio, Cramer offers his insights and lessons learned from a career as a hedge fund manager. He prescribes a "buy and homework" style, rather than buy and hold because companies can lose their edge due to new competition, regulatory changes, etc. He says you need a minimum of five stocks in different industries to be diversified, and you need to spend an hour per week per stock doing your homework.

For those who don't have the time or the inclination to do the homework, he recommends some mutual funds on pages 198-201. Most mutual fund managers underperform the index funds, and Cramer provides some reasons why.

It would be easy to dismiss Cramer as an entertainer (and his CNBC show is entertaining) but he's also very smart and refreshingly candid.

It would be easy to dismiss Cramer as an entertainer (and his CNBC show is entertaining) but he's also very smart and refreshingly candid.

Cramer prescribes a "buy and homework" style, rather than buy and hold. Companies can lose their edge due to new competition, regulatory changes, etc. He says you need a minimum of five stocks to be diversified, and you need to spend an hour per week per stock doing your homework. For those who don't have the time or the inclination to do this, he recommends some mutual funds on pages 198-201.

For those who do want to manage their own portfolio, Cramer offers his insights and lessons learned from a career as a hedge fund manager.

In the epilogue, Cramer says, "You have to learn to be either a better investor or a better client; there is no other choice." Either way this is a well-written and interesting book.

I really like this book. It gave good intro just how to start evaluating stocks even if you have't studied economics. Cramer says it like it is, and gives great advice on how to trade, what your mistakes will be and how to avoid them. He also draws from his own experience in a very illustrative way.

I studied economics, yet this book gave me a better hands on approach than all the theory in the world could have done on this topic

Jim Cramer's "Real Money" is a great book. I am learning a lot from the book and from Jim's TV show "Mad Money". You will get more out of the show if you read the book first.

Easy read, though in depth book about finance / investing. He is a sharp customer.

I have made a lot of poor investment decisions in my time. Believing the buy and hold camp was one of them. This book freed me of a lot of my losses from the Dot Com meltdown, and got me excited about investing again.

This book was highly educational. I felt that Jim Cramer truly wants the average joe to have a better life and make some money in the stock market.

Most high profile investment "personalities" make me suspicious, so I watched Cramer's TV show for about three months before reading this book. Turns out he was right most of the time, both with his stock picks and his market insights. I found "Real Money" enormously helpful because it is enormously sensible. No magic formulas, no shortcuts, no tricks - just common sense, hard work, and discipline. Cramer explains the fundamentals of stocks and markets using simple analogies, which is helpful for people like me who do not have much experience or schooling in finance. In the final chapter, he even provides a crystal clear explanation of the highly complex world of call and put options.

This book is full of valuable ideas, which other reviewers have summarized very well. Here are a few of the points I found especially important.

1. Reading "Real Money" will make you a better investor OR a better client. Not everybody is ready, willing, and able to be an investor. But even if you turn your money over to professionals, you need to know the fundamentals or you could get hurt. A key general principle of investing!

2. Own retail companies before they saturate the market. Here's an example of a great tactical insight. Cramer notes that once retailers are in every market, they have a hard time sustaining growth. If you can catch one on the way up, however, it can be gold. Simple! Obvious! Never occurred to me!

3. When you buy is as important as what you buy. I never realized how important timing is. Cramer does a great job of explaining how business cycles work and what stocks are good buys or sells at a given point on the curve.

4. When you sell is as important as when you buy. I never realized how much science there was to timing a sell. But come to think of it, super gains can be wiped out in a flash if you stay in too long. That's why Cramer advocates "buy and homework" instead of "buy and hold".

Here are some things the book is not. "Real Money" is not a get rich quick scheme, nor does it claim to be. In fact, Cramer offers so many suggestions for further reading, I can't imagine how his guideline of one hour of research per week per stock could possibly be enough. The book is not entertainment - don't be fooled by Cramer's manic TV persona. The writing is straightforward and energetic, but not wild and crazy. And the book is not a total investing solution. Cramer is a very conservative investor who endlessly warns us NOT to apply his rules of investing to our retirement funds. This book is for discretionary investing.

The book is a great starting point. Cramer provides a framework for investing that will help you zero in on types of stock to look at, how to research them, how to buy them, and how to sell them. Now that I've read it, I can't believe I was rash enough to invest without it.

Jims REAL MONEY Sane Investing in an Insane world is a great book. As in any review there are pro's and Con's.....The Pro's are that there is invaluable advice that he offers, For instance he tells you to do you Homework 1 hour per week...This is extremely important as he says know your stocks and know why u bought them? This is because jim tells you to buy stocks depending on the federal reserve rates and GDP. He analyzes which stocks to own depending on where the federal interest rates are as described on page 115. He tells u to own secular stocks when interest rates are at its peak & own retail,banks etc when interest rates are low as to intice consumer spending. The Cons ARe that Jim explains how to evaluate P/E by his equation EXM=P...However he tries to explain the growth rate and a few other technical analysis with-out providing Elementary abc insights, where he uses his "wall-street Gibberish" For Instance He says Dont buy stocks with High Earnings Multiples But Jim Leaves this out,=(He explains that to get earnings you would need to divide the outstanding shares divided by the revenue, OK fine. What is ambiquous and missing is that as the price of the stock increases The multiple increases because as the earnings stays the same U are know dividing earnings into a bigger stock price so obviously the multiple will increase. He doe not explain that as new earnings are announced and the company reports larger earnings, that if the stock price is high and U are now dividing a larger earning into a high stock price that the earnings will decrease? Or that if the company reports smaller earnings than the previous quarter with a high stock price that the earnings will still increase due to dividing a high stock price into smaller earnings that would increase the multiple. There are some technical analysis that he could explain in simpler elementary examples. Also he does not explain in great detail the how to derive growth rate. Also everyone wonders if there is a conspiracy going on with him mentioning certain stocks to buy so his hedgefund buddies that are losing money would be able to recover by the majority buying into his stock picks on his tv show? BuY The Book Learn the fundamentals and U should gain some very inspiring knowledge on how to learn different approaches to picking stocks...

This book gives not much other than Mr. Cramer's self-promotion. It is almost as bad as the TV program that I had once seen (Big Money). If someone tells you which stocks to buy and which to sell, you need to run away from that person as fast as possible. I suspect that he must have his own interest to promote some stocks. Usually his interest will be opposite to yours. When all the gullible followers are buying, he is quietly selling. There is nothing sane in Mr. Cramer's book. And yes, the world must be insane to have this book so high on the list of bestsellers. For some good rading I suggest Intelligent Investor: A Book of Practical Counsel

This book was very informational for someone that's interested in investing. Cramer covers what wall street looks for when it comes to investing i.e. earnings and multiples. Also he talks a lot about how his hedge fund made money along with his wife who he calls "the trading goddess." Of course you have to do your research and he stresses "buy and do homework" instead of "buy and hold."

This book explains how to invest in stocks very well.... but there is only ONE problem... his rules are based upon a multimillion dollar investment strategy.

If you have upwards of 50,000+ of available cash to spend on stocks, then this book will truly make you money. However, the problem with the 'rules' of buying and selling do NOT account for the costs of your commission.

His advice recommends to 'take a little off the top' as your stock increases in value. Rememeber though... 'a little off the top' means to sell about 200 shares in Cramerica... for the rest of us, a little off the top may only represent 5-10 shares, which may not be worth it (as your commission cost will offset any gains you make)

For the rest of us who only have about $5000-10,000 to spend on stocks, his strategy will never truly make your portfolio profitable.

His books are very entertaining, and also have some knowledge behind the words... but the absolute truth is that you need to be able to comfortably afford to buy $70 stocks by the hundreds, and still only have that represent 20% of your protfolio.

On a final note... don't expect to make money in the stock market unless you wait it out for nearly a year.
I recommend this book ONLY to get you interested in learning more about the stock market... DO NOT use this book as a manual on how to invest unless you have $50,000+ to spend!

I enjoy his show, but, like his show, this book has a lot of fluff in it. While he give some excellent advice, he takes page after page to get his point across. The first 6 chapters could be consolidated down to one easily. If you're looking for hard advice, not endless rambling, this book is not for you.

This is the second book by Mr. Cramer that I have purchased. Looking forward to delving into the pages to see what is in store. I have already started and it is full of information. A real plus for the at home investor. Take Charge of your Finances and Make Real Money... A must read.

This book is just great if you're wanting to get into the market. It breaks it down in easy to understand terms with no Wall Street gibberish. I recommend even more the audio book of all of Cramer's books because he's just so enthusiastic reading them to you. It makes you get excited about a very boring topic.

The overwhelming majority of the book is a sales pitch/pep talk about investing. It's a good book if you need to convince yourself to invest. If you're already a believer in stock market investing, I would skip the book.

Solid advice that can put you on the right track as a new investor. You have to balance what Cramer recommends in his books and on TV with additional research and your own experience. Over the past year, I've found that you should really take Jim's advice to ignore the short-term gains in the stocks that he recommends on TV (the "Cramer" Effect). In most cases, you can wait and get a much better entry point.

Great book for those interested in getting a base knowledge for investing and want some good tips from a credible source. Easy read and entertaining.

This is a college course in investing with Jim Cramer. Take it to the bank . Buy and Do Homework!

I bought the cd book loved it, and I bought the printed copy as well.
No nonsene and to the point. The book was very educational and entertaining as well.

I just recently graduated from college and started working. I caught the money making bug. I am brand new to investing and had no idea even where to begin. My dad is a huge advocate of Cramer's so I decided to buy the book. I was not dissappointed! A must buy for anybody new to the game. Very fun, fast read! I'm excited to put this new knowledge to work. I thought I'd be done with homework after college however I have a feeling that this homework will be much more fun!

Real Money is a great title for this book. Here Cramer tells in a very readable, enjoyable way how he trained people to work at his hedge fund. I had read a few "beginner books" that mostly explained in general terms how the market operates and how to invest in that usual ultra-conservative way barely better than the bond market. But Real Money shows with some rigor how to go about finding and researching winners.

I had actually bought and read his newer book, Mad Money, before purchasing this one. It was such a great book that I had to read Real Money, and I'm so glad I did. Although Cramer does update a few of his methods a bit in Mad Money, they are still built on the basics of Real Money. It might be better to read them in order, but I didn't lose anything by reading them in reverse.

Cramer's methods are very logical and they work. My husband and I really studied both books, and now we never miss his nightly show "Mad Money" on CNBC. Since we began this, we have made at least three times as much money as we did using the Morningstar type of stock-picking. More important, we have not had any big losses because of Cramer's "buy and homework" rule, which requires spending one hour per week for each stock held.

Cramer's anecdotes are downright funny, and his analogies help to simplify more complex subjects such as shorting and trading options. He is not a purely growth invester nor just a trader. He applies both growth and value investing methods and differentiates between an investment and a trade. There is nothing reckless about Cramer's system.

Real Money is a fantastic book. If I had to pick one thing in it that has had the greatest value for us, it would be how to research sectors and stocks in a logical, systematic way both before and after picking a stock. In short, (or long), I heartily recommend Real Money. Or in other words, BOOYAH!

This book does a tremendous job explaining how to make money. Great read, good tips, excellent read.

Jim Cramer's book is full of usefull and sound advice about investing in stocks. All his rules make common sense and should be easy for anyone to apply in thier own investing. Discipline is the key, and he stresses that. He didn't become a multi-millionaire and get his own show on CNBC by being a dummy. No one can be right all the time, and Cramer is no exception, but he is right much more than he is wrong. And that is all you need to make alot of money on Wall Street. Dont listen to the Cramer haters out there, THEY KNOW NOTHING!!! and will never come close to duplicating Cramer's investing success.

I am just starting to dabble in the stock market so I'm trying to learn as much as I can right now.

This book is very easy to understand and a very fast read. Being a really big fan of Cramer already this was a 'no-brainer', and although he is very educated he really translates his thoughts and advice in an easy to understand way.

I strongly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in the stock market.

Not much value on my side reviewing this book for the hundreds time. What's the take away?
I've been investing in stocks for nearly 20 years, with at least so much success that I keep with it, more or less. The difference is now I get why stocks move or don't (at least much more than I did before). And this book (and his show) is key to that. Awesome guiding priciples, rules of thumb, and market insights.
It's a fun book to read, if you have a certain level of interest in the business world, which is kind if key, of course. Many good laughs! I love his style (which I'm sure many might find offensive or so). But heck, it works for me. I bought both his other books as well. It's so good. The return on this "investment" can't be calculated. Hope this helps! :-)

Booya Jim!! This is a great book about investing using a fundamental approach. What is great is that the basics of investing are explained in a layman's language. You have to read chapter 5 to get a basic 101 on business cycles and how to exploit the cycle in buying and selling stocks.

I can list all the chapters and what they tell you about or list all the rules Jim explains - but that is rote repetition. Read chapter 4 about basics of evaluation. Jim does a wonderful job about comparing apples to apples e.g., Walgreen to RiteAid and goes into depth why he thinks what should be bought. This lesson alone is worth the price of the book for an investor starting out. Another good lesson is to evaluate the current value of a stock.

Of course, you can attend some expensive classes and get uncompreshensible instructions in an university, but for the price of the book, the value of the lessons here cannot be beaten.

In addition to business cycles, Jim gives some great insights e.g., he states that it is stupid to consider investing and trading as a dichotomy. How true! His famous buy-and-homework approach is like hearing a great 101 lesson from a Professor who also knows the real world. I haven't made any money in buying and holding. My emotions eventually have gotten hold of me. Instead, you need to know when to buy and when to sell. There are separate chapters on predicting tops and bottoms of both the market and individual stocks - again, wonderful reads.

In addition there are 40 rules about investing. Some gems are "I don't care what you paid for the stock, would you buy it now?" question to paraphrase. He gives a lot of credit to the Goddess, now his wife!

All in all, a great book and a must-have book in your investing library. I read the book almost two times so that I could reinforce the lessons, especially about valuation and business cycles. My style of investing, which has been pretty successful, is both a combination of fundamental and technical factors, while Jim's is more fundamental. But the fundamental 101s in the book is useful and should be a must background for anyone wanting to put their hard-earned money on the fire in the stock market.

Awesome Read! I've read a few investment books, but this one is the best! I've been out of the market for a bit, my old way to investing had not produced what I thought it could. Jim has turned me around and retaught what all the professors in college could not. Super fast read, and I could not thank Jim enought for sharing is expertise. I feel like a new and better invester....Homework, Homework, Homework...the Key to succuess.
Five Stars******

The book is a great read. It helps to understand how stock prices go up and down. It explains why you should invest, when should you take risks, speculation is fine. Some of the chapters can be confusing at times. It starts pretty simple and gets into some deep ideas. I highly recommend it to investors who are interested in the highly volatile stock market.

This is a great book for investing. It is good for beginners as well as if you have experience in the stock market. Jim does a great job of explaining how he values his stocks.

This was a solid read with new thoughts on stock investing in general. I enjoyed reading it and definitely learned some stuff. This is probably about the 10th investing book I have finished over the past couple of years and is worth the read.

Jim's approach to investing is in some ways unorthodox and will at times seem contrary to all other investing books you may have read. The key to getting this book is understanding that Jim is giving you a shotgun approach to investing. He's giving you about 20 different tools to use in different market environments and different trading styles. Many people will employ, at most, half of the strategies depending on their risk tolerance and their time to invest in doing the homework.

A lot of what Jim tries to teach in the book is an understanding of market forces, market cycles, how the big guys play in the market, and how the individual must understand all these in order to navigate the market's waters. He also tries to teach you how to do your homework. This is key to his approach. Without your homework you might as well park your money in mutual funds.

For me this is a great primer to investing but it's not the only book you should be reading. The classic Peter Lynch books are a good place to start reading further. I would also recommend perusing the many investment sites like [...] (Jim founded and still owns this site), [...] are just a few of the more well known sites.

You will likely run across people who say Jim is just trying to make money for his big hedge fund buddies, or Jim knows full well that you can't make any money using his ideas - he just wants to sell more books, or you can't make money like Jim unless you are a day trader. Ignore these people. You CAN make money in the market and you can do well at it but it won't happen over night. You have to keep learning, keep on reading about and watching the markets and above all don't give up.

First of all, I tend to be bullish on anything that people recommend to me. My dad recommended this and I liked it. I learned a lot. My education has been primarily in sciences, and I didn't know much about anything financial. I read this book a week ago, and I can already tell my understanding has increased when I read articles in the Wall Street Journal. I think he gives brilliant insight into the stock market. Someone is always making money, whether the market is up or down, and Cramer reveals rules on how they do it. I have read other books on personal success, and most are purely motivational. This book is a technical piece on how to actually operate. I heard Cramer say on his show, that this book was a manual he gave to employees at his hedge fund, and I believe it. One thing that really sticks out is his insistence on homework. He does not even propose that managing stocks is an easy way to make money. He states, don't do it unless you can spend at least five hours a week. He also acknowledges, that in order spend this time, one must love it. I love learning about businesses, learning about economics cycles, learning how Fed decisions affect stocks and different sectors. If you have a love for learning, this book gives you avenues to pursue. This is a great introduction.

I have listened to both this books and yes I am a follower of his show. I've been an active investor for 25+ years and in college I majored in corporate finance/fundamental corporate analysis. I find this book extremely useful in driving home the type of analysis and research we should all do in picking which stocks to invest in.

At times he goes a little too quickly in his explanations but the joy of having it on CD is that you can listen to in over and over during your mindnumbing commute.

I do not agree with his recommendation that you should invest in only 5-10 stocks whic his far too few but htat being disregarded this book is a must for all investors. I guarentee that you will reduce the chances of losing money if you follow his suggestions.

Oh............if you find him too iritating on TV don't worry he has toned it down on the CD.

This book gives you a down to earth look on investing your money. Simple rules and principles give you food for thought and make you think your own way of investing. Jim Cramer has strong opinions and easy to understand view on how to make the best of the continually changing markets. This is a great book. It's easy to read and gives you ideas how to manage your own stocks. It encourages you to take active role on investing and stock buying and holding. This is good advice for all who own stocks, whether it is for trading or for the long run. It makes you think the markets as a whole too and how to react to different situations, which investors regularly face if they stay on the business for years. The ideas give you good look on the market especially now that the stocks are turning more volatile.