market folly

It's time again for our annual recommendations of gift ideas for those of you involved in the wonderful world of finance. If you're in need of holiday gift ideas for colleagues, clients, bosses, friends, or just yourself, then we've got some items lined up below. Our first recommendation is a 40% discounted ticket to the Value Investing Congress in Pasadena California on May 4th & 5th where you can hear investment ideas from some of the smartest hedge fund managers out there. Here are some more suggestions:


Gadgets:

Amazon Kindle: These 6-inch e-book readers are on fire right now as some hedgies we know can't stop raving about them. Instead of lugging around all those financial reads, just opt for the portable Kindle and have tons of books at your disposal.

Amazon Kindle DX: The same as the Kindle above, except it's 9.7 inches rather than 6.

Apple iPod Touch: Listen to music, watch movies, play games, download apps... you name it.


DVDs / Blu-ray:

Wall Street (Blu-ray): With Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps set to come out next year, brush up on the original storyline and see Gordon Gekko at his finest in high definition.

Wall Street (20th Anniversary DVD): "Greed is good." A nice commemorative edition of the epic movie on finance that is still being quoted to this day.

Boiler Room on Blu-ray and also on DVD: Another one of the movies focused on stock brokers and the finance industry.


Electronics:

Asus Black Netbook: 10.1 inch black netbook with Windows 7. These are great for 'on-the-go.' Enough said.

Dell Adamo Laptop: Dell's new 13.4" sleek laptop that looks unlike anything they've ever made.

Apple MacBook Air: Or if you/they prefer Mac to Windows, here's Apple's 13.3 inch laptop that's highly portable & is ideal for those who travel frequently.

Dell 22" Widescreen Monitor: Dell's UltraSharp monitors are great and are used at hedge funds and trading floors all over. Setup two or three of these badboys together and you've got quite the market command center.


Books:

Too Big Too Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin: In his brand new book, The New York Times Dealbook Editor details the inside story of how Wall Street and Washington fought to save the financial system - and themselves.

Hedge Hunters by Katherine Burton: The Bloomberg author provides us with in-depth profiles on some of the hedge fund masters in the industry.

Bailout Nation by Barry Ritholtz: The popular financial blogger's take on how greed and easy money corrupted Wall Street and shook the world economy.

Market Wizards by Jack D. Schwager: One of our favorite reads because it interviews some of the top traders and hedge fund managers in the game.

The Sellout by Charlie Gasparino. In his brand new book, the CNBC reporter tells us how three decades of Wall Street greed and government mismanagement destroyed the global financial system.

Margin of Safety by Seth Klarman: If you can get your hands on a copy we highly recommend reading it because it is THE premier text on risk averse investing.

The Greatest Trade Ever by Gregory Zuckerman: Here's your chance to go inside hedge fund Paulson & Co as John Paulson devised and placed his trade against subprime that made him billions.

And as always, there are a ton of other great books out there that we've compiled in our recommended reading lists including picks from Warren Buffett, Dan Loeb of hedge fund Third Point, as well as selections from hedge fund Blue Ridge Capital.


Publications:

Wall Street Journal: For someone who doesn't already have a subscription, you can now pick one up for an 80% discount.

The Economist: A 12 month subscription to one of the best reads left in financial print.


Smartphones:

Practically everyone in the finance industry has a Blackberry in their pocket these days. Here's some of the popular models. The Blackberry Tour (Verizon) is one of their latest smartphones. You can also get the Tour with Sprint. Additionally, the Blackberry Curve Javelin is a big favorite these days. And if you want to go with the larger model in their smartphone lineup then check out the Blackberry Bold (AT&T).

HTC Droid Eris (Verizon): The latest phone with Google's Android system.

Motorola Droid (Verizon): Motorola's hardware combined with Google's software.

Palm Pre (Sprint): Palm's new creation for the smartphone market.


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And that wraps up our list!