Preface.

Acknowledgments.

Part One:The Emotional Controls.

1: The Beginning, and the End Game.

Inside the Box Won’t Get You There.

The Craft versus the Art.

The End Game.

You and Tim.

2: Investing for Your Life versus Spending Your Life Investing.

What Do You Really Want?

Cows.

What Would Actually Make You Feel Rich?

The Bottom-Line Question.

3: The Power of Hedging:Always Hedge Your Bets.

Hedging Step 1: Giving Up the Windfall to Avoid the Big Fall.

How Can You Avoid Serious Losses? Emotional Hedges.

Hedging Step 2: Diversification.

Endeavor Not to Invest More Than You Are Emotionally and Financially Able to Lose in Any Single Investment.

Hedging Step 3: Logic of the Mind Is Not the Only Kind.

The Gambler’s Catch-22.

Part Two: Knowing the Difference between Market Stats and Market Hype.

4: Just the Facts, Ma’am.

Market Forecasting and Timing.

Higher Risk Too Often Equals Less Reward.

What Is True Diversification?

The Two Great Myths of Traditional Investing.

Tax Confounding:A Story.

Contrarian View of the Future of the U.S. Stock Market.

Hedge Funds:The Dark Side.

Hedge Fund and Mutual Fund Taxes—Buyers Beware.

5: Addressing Investors’ Questions from Part One.

6: The Right Stuff (and the Wrong Stuff).

Venture Capital Investing: Zero in a Million.

Real Estate: Live in It.The Rest Is Investing.

Tale of Two Bubbles.

The View from a Family Office.

What Does the Fed Really Want?

The Diary of an Intuitive Investor.

A Theory Stephen Hawking Has Yet to Discover:

Parallel Investment Universes.

Investment Gods Say:“Do the Right Thing”.

Part Three: Hedging Wall Street: Hedged Portfolio Construction.

7: Successful Investments:Where Are They?

Putting Together a Portfolio.

Are You a Conservative Investor or an Aggressive Investor? Oh, Shut Up.

Thumbnail Sketch of Prudent Portfolio Construction.

Portfolio 1: For Future Millionaires—Diversification and Dollar Cost Averaging.

Brokerage Firms, Money Management Firms, and Financial Planning Firms with Time.

Portfolio 2: For Millionaires Who Do Not Wish to Become Ex-Millionaires.

8: Hedge Fund Mind-Set.

Addressing Investors’ Questions from Part Two.

Using Etiquette, Receiving Respect:The General Partner/Limited Partner Relationship.

Part Four: Planning for the Future and Seeking the End Game.

9: The Financial Planning Maze.

How to Plan for the Future:A Simple Three-Step Program.

Family Budgeting: Securing Present Assets While Having Fun.

Seeing Life, Business, and Investing as One Portfolio.

10: The Game Beyond the End Game.

Downsizing the American Dream.

Relative Downsizing.

Investing in the Twenty-First Century.

Transcending the Centuries:Whom Do You Serve?

Appendix: Specific Due Diligence Notes and Fund of Funds Questionnaire.

About the Author.

Index.

". . . the only four investment strategies you will ever need. . . I dare anyone to read this book and not wake up to the realities of Wall Street, and change their investing habits on the spot."
—Steve Trager Watson Retired CEO and CIO of the hedge fund Watson Investment Partners, LP

"A true Renaissance man and teacher, Gary Marks adeptly explores four investment strategies that can achieve strong results and peace of mind—two concepts usually considered mutually exclusive in the world of Wall Street investing. Using his vast experience and folksy storytelling, Gary provides lessons, anecdotes, and strategies that will help readers find multiple levels of success."
—Mitch Levine Founder and CEO, Enable Capital Management

"Rocking Wall Street brings a musician's heart and soul to the investment process, balancing strategic investing with 'living your life.' Marks's creative approach is sure to strike a major chord with both new and seasoned investors."
—Kerry Paul Altman, PhD Clinical Psychologist

"Rocking Wall Street tips the scales over to the side of the investor and away from the hype masters and media 'experts,' whose lures and promises all seem to vanish in a bear market."
—Michael J. Sell Former auditor, CPA, Investment Consultant

Celebrated money manager and songwriter Gary Marks has been down this road, and along the way, he discovered what it takes to create wealth and enjoy it. Now, with Rocking Wall Street, he wants to show you how to do the same.

Filled with in-depth insights and practical advice, Rocking Wall Street reveals which investment strategies favor the independent investor, and which only benefit the market makers, money managers, and other Wall Street insiders. It skillfully outlines a unique approach for forming risk-averse, multi-manager strategies to lock in financial profits while ingeniously shielding against losses in both bull and bear markets.

With Rocking Wall Street as your guide, you'll discover how to free yourself from the deadly illusions of "traditional" investing techniques, and how to profit with far less risk than anything a traditional broker or a financial advisor can offer. How can you accomplish this? By following the four key investing strategies described throughout these pages:

1)The Emotional Controls: how to hedge your emotions as well as your investments.

2)Knowing the Difference Between Market Stats and Market Hype: there are market statistics, and then there are statistics that are neatly packaged and marketed to you.

3)Hedged Portfolio Construction: how and why to make hedging techniques the rule, not the exception,in your investment portfolio.

4)Planning for the Future and Seeking "The End Game": seeing your portfolio of assets, your career,and your personal life as one inseparable "investment."