From the Inside Flap
The housing market has imploded and the stock market has followed suit, with stock portfolios, retirement accounts, and pension funds cut in half. The U.S. economy is reeling from the real estate meltdown and credit crunch. Not stopping at the border, the storm has broadened to Europe, Asia, and beyond throughout 2008 and into 2009. Is there anyone on the planet who has not been touched by this disaster?
Even though we've all been affected by the calamity and have heard no shortage of news about it, it still seems unfathomable and utterly incomprehensible to most people that the actions of certain banks, mortgage companies, and Wall Street firms could bring the economic engine of the world to a grinding halt. Now, for the first time, and in terms everyone can grasp, noted analyst and value investing expert Whitney Tilson, along with his partner Glenn Tongue, explains not only how it happened, but shows that the tsunami of credit problems isn't over. Another even larger wave is yet to come. If you know catastrophe is looming, you can sidestep the train wreck, and even profit, but you need to understand how bad times present opportunity and where to look.
Tilson, a columnist for Kiplinger's Personal Finance, featured on 60 Minutes, and a regular on CNBC, started presenting his findings to everyday people and found them clamoring for more. Now in More Mortgage Meltdown, Tilson explains in a clear and understandable way how misguided assumptions, insatiable greed, reckless risk taking, and government inaction led to the creation of the greatest asset bubble in history, the aftermath of which is the perfect economic storm. Then, he shows you why there's still much more pain to come and what we can expect from the ongoing crisis over the next few years.
Finally, More Mortgage Meltdown teaches you how to find investment opportunities within the rubble and position your portfolio to take advantage of the crisis. The book uses in-depth case studies of individual companies and stocks to show how to evaluate investments in these uncertain times. You will learn how to spot warning flags in the financial statements of companies that can help you avoid losing your hard-earned money. And you will learn how to spot undervalued businesses with competitive advantages or hidden assets that will likely emerge stronger from the crisis. It is important for all of us to understand how the credit and mortgage crisis happened. Equally important is the chance to potentially profit in its aftermath.
Whitney Tilson and Glenn Tongue are the Managing Partners of T2 Partners LLC and the Tilson Mutual Funds. The former firm manages three value-oriented hedge funds, while the latter is comprised of two mutual funds, Tilson Focus Fund and Tilson Dividend Fund.
Mr. Tilson is the cofounder and Chairman of the Value Investing Congress, a biannual investment conference in New York City and Los Angeles, as well as the investment newsletters Value Investor Insight and SuperInvestor Insight. He writes a regular column on value investing for Kiplinger's Personal Finance, has written for the Financial Times and TheStreet.com, and was one of the authors of Poor Charlie's Almanack, the definitive book on Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger. He was featured on 60 Minutes in December 2008, was one of five investors included in SmartMoney's 2006 Power 30, was named by Institutional Investor in 2007 as one of twenty Rising Stars, and appears regularly on CNBC and Bloomberg TV. He received an MBA with high distinction from the Harvard Business School, where he was elected a Baker Scholar, and graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College with a bachelor's degree in government.
Mr. Tongue spent seventeen years on Wall Street prior to joining T2 Partners, most recently as an investment banker at UBS, where he was a managing director specializing in acquisitions and leveraged finance. Before UBS, Mr. Tongue was at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette for thirteen years, the last three of which he served as the president of NYSE-listed DLJdirect, the consistently top-rated online brokerage firm. Prior to DLJdirect, Mr. Tongue was a managing director in the investment bank at DLJ, where he worked on over 100 transactions, aggregating more than $40 billion. He received an MBA with distinction from the Wharton School of Business and received a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering and computer science from Princeton University.
Visit www.moremortgagemeltdown.com to ask Whitney and Glenn questions, read their latest thoughts on the companies they analyze in the book, see updated color versions of the book's charts, and much more.
