One of the great things about vacation - in addition to all the time I get to spend with my wife and five-year-old son - is that I actually get to peruse the books and watch the movies that I spent the other 51 weeks of the year setting aside.
Don't misunderstand: I don't spend the week away from the office holed up and away from my family. Quite the opposite.
This year, in fact, the three of us rented a house down at the Delaware shore for a week in mid-August, and spent our days swimming, shopping, walking, and playing miniature golf and Skee-Ball. We ate Dough Roller pizza and even had some Dumser's Dairyland ice cream.
My folks said my little boy later described it as "the best vacation ever."
Even so, I did manage to find some "me" time that week.
Late in the week, after my tired-but-happy son conked out in my arms (smiling to the very last), and I'd tucked him in, I found time to watch two films about the U.S. financial crisis that I suspected would be worth talking about here.
Turns out I was right....
The movies in question are "Too Big to Fail" (2011) and "Inside Job" (2010). They both address the same topic - how the 2009 financial crisis nearly brought down the global financial system (a tacit warning that this could easily happen again). But they attack the topic in totally different ways.
The HBO-produced "Too Big to Fail" (TBTF) is based on the superbly executed best-seller of the same name written by journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin. The film adaptation is actually a scripted "docudrama" - with Hollywood actors standing in for the real people they portray (William Hurt does a great Hank Paulson).
The Sony Pictures-filmed "Inside Job" is a straight documentary, narrated by "Bourne Identity" trilogy star Matt Damon. It features interviews with such financial stalwarts as billionaire George Soros, former Fed Chairman Paul A. Volcker and super-economist Nouriel Roubini.
Both efforts were critically acclaimed: "Inside Job" was a hit at film festivals around the globe, while "TBTF" was nominated for 11 Emmy Awards.
Both films underscore some valuable lessons for investors - the same ones, in fact, that we consistently convey here. Key among them:
We've talked about these concepts many times before. And, I promise you, we'll be talking about them again. If you watch these two movies (and read Andrew Ross Sorkin's book, as well), and I think you'd find it tough to disagree.
Both "TBTF" and "Inside Job" were very well done - informative, entertaining and insightful. If you watch either one, you'll end up feeling enraged.
But you'll also end up a more-vigilant, better-informed and more-effective investor going forward. As always, that's the goal here at Money Morning and in Private Briefing.
In fact, the "profit-while-you-learn philosophy" that Private Briefing is built on has attracted over 14,000 investors over the last 12 months. I can't even begin to tell you how personally gratifying that is.
Five days a week, we show readers step by step exactly how to think... invest... and win like a pro. It's hard work, but it's been a really great job.
Believe me, a lot of times it's what you don't know about the markets that can sting the most. If you'd like to join the thousands of investors we've already helped, click here.
Starting with your very first "lesson," you'll be on your way to creating the kind of wealth Wall Street would never help you amass.
And once you have it - with what you'll learn from us - you'll never fall for the kind of tricks that Wall Street employs to try and take it away.
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