The Ponzi Factor cover art

The Ponzi Factor

The Simple Truth About Investment Profits

Preview

Get 30 days of Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30-day free trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options
Buy Now for £11.99

Buy Now for £11.99

About this listen

"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as self-evident." (Arthur Schopenhauer)

The Ponzi Factor is the most comprehensive research ever compiled on the negative-sum nature of capital gains (non-dividend stocks). This means, as a whole, ALL investors will lose money from buying and selling stocks.

Most people don’t realize that profits from buying and selling stocks come from other investors who are also buying and selling stocks. When one investor buys low and sells high, another investor is also buying high and needs to sell for even higher.

Companies like Google, Telsa, Facebook never pay their investors. Their investors’ profits are dependent on the inflow of money from new investors, which by definition, is how a Ponzi scheme works.

This book is not for everyone. If you are a finance junkie who wants to rationalize why companies don’t have to pay their investors and believe a system that shuffles money between investor can magically create more money than people contribute, then this book is not for you. On the other hand, if you understand that money doesn’t grow on trees and investors invest because they want money, not value, then you will learn something you will never forget: the simple truth about what makes a stock price move and the mechanics of how the stock market really works.

A stock without dividends is a Ponzi asset. It’s not how ownership instruments were designed to work historically or logically.

True ideas will never disappear. It can be covered, and we can get distracted, but the truth never goes away and becomes self-evident over time. The Ponzi Factor is not a perspective or an opinion. It is a proof that is based on definition, logic, and it is supported by observable facts and history. This is not a story that will disappear after another market crash. It is an idea that will remain relevant for as long as the stock market exists.

©2017 QuantStyle LLC (P)2018 QuantStyle LLC
Economic Conditions Economics Personal Finance Social Classes & Economic Disparity Sociology Stock Investing Money Crime
All stars
Most relevant
Tan Liu lays it bare and simple: most of the common stock market can be defined as a Ponzi scheme. There are some exceptions, but as Liu writes, not enough to justify the current system where gains are always won from new investors. It’s a short and very entertaining read. I listened to it in two days, couldn’t stop listening to it. I’ve had a hunch that there’s something terribly wrong with the financial system for a while, and this book gave evidence for my concerns. The stock market is terribly fragile, and Liu also gives some suggestions on how to fix the system (hint: regulation).

Sean Pratt does a fantastic job narrating the book. 5/5.

Fantastic book about the fragility of the stock market

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.