Paying with Plastic, 2nd Edition: The Digital Revolution in Buying and Borrowing

Paying with Plastic, 2nd Edition: The Digital Revolution in Buying and Borrowing
Average customer rating:

Great Overview

Great book!!

What's old will be new again

A remarkable accomplishment

Highly Recommended!

Paying with Plastic, 2nd Edition: The Digital Revolution in Buying and Borrowing
David S. Evans , and Richard Schmalensee
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Banks & Banking | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | E-commerce | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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Charging Ahead: The Growth and Regulation of Payment Card Markets around the World

Credit Card Nation: The Consequences of America's Addiction to Credit

The PayPal Wars: Battles With Ebay, the Media, the Mafia, And the Rest of Planet Earth

Developing And Managing a Successful Payment Cards Business

Managing a Consumer Lending Business

ASIN: 026255058X

Amazon.com

For better or worse, most of us have at least one of the 720 million little plastic cards that are used each year to complete $860 billion worth of purchases at 15 million incredibly varied merchant locations throughout the world. This is a far cry from the humble beginnings of these myriad credit, debit, and charge cards, which just a few decades ago were generally a perk offered only to elite customers for the acquisition of fine meals, hotel rooms, department-store goods, and oil-company products. They are now so common and such an integral part of our economy, in fact, that few pay them much mind--a situation that makes David Evans and Richard Schmalensee's Paying with Plastic all the more interesting. Evans, senior vice president of National Economics Research Associates, and Schmalensee, dean of MIT's Sloan School of Management, meticulously trace the history of these cards from both the consumer and merchant perspectives in this surprisingly appealing volume, which will prove enlightening to anyone who ever wondered how plastic money works. --Howard Rothman

Book Description

The payment card business has evolved from its inception in the 1950s as a way to handle payment for expense-account lunches (the Diners Club card) into today's complex, sprawling industry that drives trillions of dollars in transaction volume each year. Paying with Plastic is the definitive source on an industry that has revolutionized the way we borrow and spend. More than a history book, Paying with Plastic delivers an entertaining discussion of the impact of an industry that epitomizes the notion of two-sided markets: those in which two or more customer groups receive value only if all sides are actively engaged. New to this second edition, the two-sided market discussion provides useful insight into the implications of these market dynamics for cardholder rewards, merchant interchange fees, and card acceptance. The authors, both of whom have researched the industry for more than 25 years, also examine the implications of the recent antitrust cases on the industry as well as other business and technological changes -- including the massive consolidation brought about by bank mergers, the rise of the debit card, and the emergence of e-commerce -- that could alter the payment card industry dramatically in the years to come.

Customer Reviews:

Great Overview.......2006-11-05

If you work in the payments, credit card or finance industry this book is great. It has a very easy to read history about credit cards, who knew Diners Club invented the category in the 50's. But more importantly is how the industry is moving forward and progressing.

Overall, this is a book you read if you need to, but I can't imagine anyone outside the industry reading it. You would have to be the most intellecually curious person in the world if you read this cause you were interested in how credit cards work.

Great book!!.......2006-01-04

I loved this book and how the author talks about the fine points of credit cards and how American consumers got hooked into it. A terrific read and it is money well spent, although FREE shipping would have been nice!

What's old will be new again.......2005-10-24

Paying with Plastic first edition has been revamped, rewritten and repositioned here with edition number two.

Most important, Paying with Plastic "2.0" addresses new developments of online payment processing. The authors correctly begin to question the requirement of a merchant set top box for reading "antiquated magnetic stripes".

"Old is new" item #1. Frank McNamara's Diners Club platform would cost about $50,000 to set up today. What's the next mutiny of merchants?

Old is new item #2. Sears starting up Discover and getting to more merchants tha American Express -all within 2 years. Moore's law (doubling within time) would suggest the next Discover would ramp up in less time.

Old is new #3. Industries in decline, lobby best. The payment industry's recently raised interchange rates. Does technology cost more?! No, but growth is stagnant.

Old is new #4. Whoops, John Reed (ex-ceo of Citibank) pulled their Visa membership (p14) and moved the Mastercard logo to the back. Why?! Pull the entire Citi into a closed loop - Citi wanted to be like Amex and Discover. There will be more banks doing this like Chase (Octogon) or MBNA (PayPass).

Old is new #5. Wal-mart as a bank. See Sears above in #2. Wal-marts pays fees to V/MC/D/Amex but they'd rather charge fees and lend money. Why just make $2.00 on the VCR when you can make $10 on the financing. By the way, I like the payment system name, "Wallycard"... just kidding.

A remarkable accomplishment.......2005-07-11

It is a very difficult and ambitious task to write a book about an industry combining indispensable facts and history, fundamental business aspects and subtle economic insights. Yet this is precisely what the authors have done for credit cards, the digital quantum leap in the evolution of payment instruments. It is a very rewarding and fun read, providing the equivalent of a comprehensive 3D animated view of the organization of credit card companies (not-for-profit associations like Visa or for-profit firms like American Express) and of the complex ecosystem that surrounds them: banks, merchants, cardholders, regulators, ATM networks, etc.
And the "lens" of "multi-sided platforms" that Evans and Schmalensee use to conduct their analysis turns out to be so appealing and insightful that one wonders how economists, policy-makers, business people and even casual observers managed to make any sense of this industry before.

Highly Recommended!.......2005-05-09

In this history of payment cards, David S. Evans and Richard Schmalensee provide an amazingly lucid account of a couple of unusual business models: the "two-sided platform," which in the use of payment cards means walking a tightrope between the interests of merchants and consumers; and the "co-opetitive," in which the bank members of MasterCard and Visa cooperate in developing industry practices while competing for business. The authors, who are both former Visa consultants, sound like your favorite college professors - up to date and extremely sophisticated, yet friendly and anecdotal (at one point, they describe a Shell gas station near MIT to make a point about competition among cards). They typically begin chapters with easily understood notions from which they methodically build complex structures of ideas and information. Another virtue of the book is its concreteness - although that occasionally devolves into repetitiveness - starting with an explanation involving electronic signals and following the paper path of what happens when you hand your credit, debit or charge card to a cashier. The authors even consider the design and manufacture of the cards themselves. We recommend this book as essential reading for those in the banking or payment card industries; and it's not a bad idea for card users to read it - which these days means you...and just about everyone else.

Technology Management: Developing and Implementing Effective Licensing Programs (Intellectual Property-General, Law, Accounting & Finance, Management, Licensing, Special Topics)

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Technology Management: Developing and Implementing Effective Licensing Programs (Intellectual Property-General, Law, Accounting & Finance, Management, Licensing, Special Topics)
Robert C. Megantz
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Business Law | Reference | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0471200182

Book Description

A step-by-step guide to licensing technology-based intellectual property assets

For many modern, high-technology companies, licensing their technology-based intellectual property assets is the best way to fully exploit them. Firms that are unable to utilize their proprietary technology assets can license them to other companies more capable of doing so. This book serves as an informed and comprehensive guide to developing a technology licensing program and the legal hurdles, operational needs, and strategies involved.

Suitable for companies seeking to implement or redesign a technology licensing program, as well as individual inventors who want to protect and profit from their proprietary technology, Technology Management covers all the bases.

Learn to:

Develop a licensing strategy
Conduct proper valuations of intellectual property
Gather and utilize market research
Market your technology
Negotiate and draft licensing agreements

Utilize these handy resources:

Glossary of important terminology
Case studies and sample documents
Lists of organizations, publications, trade shows, and other helpful sources of information

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wills and Estates, Third Edition

Average customer rating:

Crystal Clear, Easy to Read
Very good book - wish it was my text for class
Very understandable over view of a complex subject!
up to snuff
good to start out with..

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wills and Estates, Third Edition
Stephen Maple
Manufacturer: Alpha
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Financial Planning | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Estate Planning for Dummies
The American Bar Association Guide to Wills and Estates, Second Edition: Everything You Need to Know About Wills, Estates, Trusts, and Taxes (American Bar Association Guide to Wills & Estates)
The Complete Book of Trusts, 3rd Edition
Beyond the Grave revised edition: The Right Way and the Wrong Way of Leaving Money To Your Children (and Others)
Executor's Guide: Settling a Loved One's Estate or Trust (2nd Edition)

ASIN: 1592573630
Release Date: 2005-08-02

Book Description

Start planning for the future today.

Although a majority of Americans know they need a will, about 70% of them don't have one. In fact, the legalities involved are not very complicated and most people can get it done easily with this book. Estate planning is largely the same. In this revised and updated edition of Complete Idiot's Guide to Wills and Estates, readers will find a complete inventory of everything to be considered in creating wills and estate planning, vital information on trusts, taxes, and eldercare planning, and much more.

• All tax information revised and updated
• Sections on IRAs and Roth IRAs have been revised to reflect changes in the law
• Features online estate and financial planning sites
• Additional coverage of post-mortem estate planning
• Additional material on eldercare planning, such as living and support arrangements

Customer Reviews:

Crystal Clear, Easy to Read.......2006-07-14

My husand and I just wanted to put together a living will and health care directive and at this point just need something fairly simple. This book is easy to understand, yet comprehensive.

Very good book - wish it was my text for class.......2005-10-17

Have not had a chance to read cover to cover yet, but it looks very well written and organized so far, so that any normal person can absorb and understand. Wish this was the required text for my class. No doubt it will probably fill in the gaps that my real text missed, since this book seems more grounded in reality, than textbook theory. It may not help me on the test, thought I'm sure it will; but I'm sure it will help me in real life.

Very understandable over view of a complex subject!.......2001-09-04

As a development officer for a prep school, I was looking for a book that would give me a birds-eye view of issues involved with estate planning. Steve Mapleýs The Complete Idiotýs Guide to Wills and Estates does this masterfully. And, to my relief, in plain English. Impressive for an attorney thatýs taught and practiced for the over 25 years!

In very easy-to-read language, Maple thoroughly lays out the whole terrain of estate planningýfrom having a will to ways to save on current taxes and issues to consider in caring for aging parents. Going beyond mere explanation, heýs packed this book with helpful forms and lists to get the reader started in their own estate planning. I picked up this book to help me with my conversations with donors but I ended up sitting down with an attorney to work on my own plan!

Maple groups his 24 chapters into five sections:

Part 1: Assets, Assets, Assets
Part 2: About Wills, Trusts. . . and Probate
Part 3: All in the Familyýand Just a Little Beyond
Part 4: Taxes You Must Pay, and Those Maybe You Donýt
Part 5: Retirement, Elder Issues, and the Broad Planning Picture

The structure of The Complete Idiotýs Guide to Wills and Estates makes it a great book for busy professionals. Itýs very easy to read in short chunks of time. And itýs not just for the beginner. Although itýs now somewhat dated, Maple gives some pretty technical examinations of taxes and IRS regulations. For readers that way find themselves losing interest during the dryer technical sections there are tips, quotes, and anecdotal information interspersed throughout. As a development professional, I was particularly glad for Chapter 18 ýHow Charitable Donations Can Save You Money.ý Iým trying to figure out how I could make this chapter required reading for prospective donors.

More than any planned giving seminar Iýve attended, and for a lot less money, The Complete Idiotýs Guide to Wills and Estates has helped me see estate planning from the donorýs perspective. I highly recommend this book.

up to snuff.......2000-11-15

I'm a big fan of the idiot's guides since they are always clear and easy to follow. The authors do an excellent job of explaining complex terms and concepts so even an ordinary person can understand the reasons behind drafting a will. After reading this book, you'll see that you'll want to do everything you can so that you do not find yourself "intestate" -- then the state fights over what belongs to whom. Although it's difficult to think about dying, it's even worse to think about having all your money thrown to taxes or tied up in court as relatives fight. Prevent this ugly mess by learning the basics of wills and estates. I should add that this book goes well beyond the basics -- even a millionaire could learn a few good tips from this excellent book.

good to start out with.........2000-04-05

Excellent source of information for anyone who doesn't have a clue where to start. Easy to read and packed with hints. Motivating little scenarios to keep those of us who have been procrastinating in motion. Both my husband (who this was all new to) and myself (with a background in accounting) found it to be useful.

JK Lasser's New Rules for Estate and Tax Planning, Revised and Updated

Average customer rating:

Tax book.
Very Thorough and Detailed Book

JK Lasser's New Rules for Estate and Tax Planning, Revised and Updated
Harold Apolinsky , and Stewart H., III Welch
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Estate Planning | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Estates & Trusts | Taxation | Law | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 047170007X

Book Description

A complete guide to planning an estate under today's tax rules

When it comes to your estate—no matter how big or small it may be—you shouldn't leave anything to chance. Proper planning is necessary to protect both your assets and your heirs. Estate Planning Law Specialist Harold Apolinsky and expert financial planner Stewart Welch III know this better than anyone else, and in the Revised and Updated Edition of J.K. Lasser's New Rules for Estate and Tax Planning, they offer valuable advice and solid strategies to help you plan your estate under today's tax rules as well as preserve your wealth. Packed with up-to-the-minute facts, this practical resource covers important issues, such as:

How new legislation will impact inheritances and trusts
Estate and generation-skipping tax planning
The role of wills, executors, and trusts
Treatment of charitable contributions
The do's and don'ts of gifting
Life insurance and retirement planning

Filled with in-depth insights and expert advice, this book will show you how to efficiently arrange your estate today so that you can leave more to those you care about tomorrow.

Customer Reviews:

Tax book........2006-11-13

I used to use Lassers all the time to help me do my taxes. However since Tax programs have been out I have used them. I thought it time to review some of the basics myself. I trust Lasser's guides.

Very Thorough and Detailed Book.......2006-03-03

This is a good book to help prepare someone with an estate plan before consulting a lawyer. Depending on your situation, it might be easier to use this book and some estate planning software instead of paying a lot of money for an attorney. I think the key here is that this book will help motivate people to TAKE CARE OF YOUR ESTATE! After you read some of the stories that occur when people fail to do this you will be glad you have purchased this book. It certainly is not a substitute for an attorney, but it will help make the layperson ask those critcal questions as to what should be done with their estate after they are deceased. It talks about avoiding estate taxes, setting up partnerships, trusts, financial planning, life insurance, and gives some referrals to professionals in each one of these fields.

Mapping the New World of American Philanthropy: Causes and Consequences of the Transfer of Wealth

Average customer rating:

Marvelous overview

Mapping the New World of American Philanthropy: Causes and Consequences of the Transfer of Wealth
Susan U., Ph.D. Raymond , and Mary Beth, Esq. Martin
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Nonprofit Organizations & Charities | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Casebook for The Foundation: A Great American Secret

ASIN: 0470080388

Book Description

Praise for

Mapping the New World of American Philanthropy

Causes and Consequences of the Transfer of Wealth

"This book does a wonderful job of guiding the reader through the increasingly changing world of philanthropy. These changes must drive dramatic change in the not-for-profit sector if it is to respond efficiently and effectively. Only then will we be able to maintain the quality of our society."
—Thomas J. Moran, Chairman, President, and CEO of Mutual of America

"The Great Wealth Transfer has been a mantra for years for fundraisers and donors alike. What does it really mean? Susan Raymond and Mary Beth Martin bring rigorous analysis and profound insights to the phenomenon in this book, which provides the definitive map for navigating a brave new world of philanthropy."
—Fiona K. Hodgson, Vice President for Leadership Giving, Save the Children

The anticipated transfer of wealth between generations—and its practical implications for philanthropy—is the subject of much interest in the nonprofit community. Edited by noted nonprofit experts Susan Raymond and Mary Beth Martin, Mapping the New World of American Philanthropy offers candid, insightful essays that offer an insider's look at every angle of wealth transfer, with contributions by leaders in the field of philanthropy, including:

Marc H. Morial
Preston H. Koster
Steven DiSalvo
Nora Campbell Wood
Rodney W. Nichols

With hard-to-find data, graphs, and charts, as well as other practical tools, Mapping the New World of American Philanthropy is your seminal guide to prepare for the coming intergenerational transfer of wealth that will affect your nonprofit and?philanthropy in general. Get practical insights and strategies from the most experienced wealth transfer leaders and practitioners in America.

Customer Reviews:

Marvelous overview.......2007-04-12

A superb collection of essays about literally every angle of contemporary giving -- and the expert views are presented w/ detail, verve, and literate assessments of the problems and challenges. Readable, and an eye-opener on a range of perspectives from religion, and women's wealth, to science and technology --often with historical briefs to put the current and prospective trends into deeper context.

Tax-Deferred Investing : Wealth Building and Wealth Transfer Strategies (Wiley Financial Advisor)

Average customer rating:

Tax-Deferred Investing : Wealth Building and Wealth Transfer Strategies (Wiley Financial Advisor)
Cory C. Grant , and Andrew D. Westhem
Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Introduction | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Taxation | Law | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0471357332

Book Description

Take control of your most important retirement assets

Investment advisors, financial planners, accountants, and attorneys are always hungry for expert advice and guidance on the best ways to help their clients make the most of their investments during their work lives and successfully manage their payouts when they retire. Written by two of today's most visible retirement planning experts, Tax-Deferred Investing meets that need. Cory Grant and Andrew Westhem describe proven wealth-building and payout strategies for both employers and employees.

A complete guide to plan selection, investment, asset allocation, and distribution strategies
Includes estate planning techniques for keeping the wealth in a family from one generation to the next

Book Description

This book represents the first study in the literature that provides a systematic, US-wide analysis of local university-high technology connections at the lowest possible level of spatial aggregation. Its contributions are twofold: it focuses on the regional aspects of the interaction between high technology innovations, university and private R&D at the proper spatial scale, at the level of counties and metropolitan areas; and it uses the specialized methodology of spatial econometrics to explicitly deal with potential spatial effects in cross-sectional data. The study is based on a quite data set of high technology innovations and industrial R&D employment in the USA in 1982.
From an exploratory spatial data analysis implemented at the county level, it is shown that the concentration of high technology product innovations, private R&D and university research follow a similar spatial pattern across the United States. A formal regression analysis is carried out for 43 States and 125 Metropolitan Statistical Areas which implements the Griliches-Jaffe knowledge production function framework. This provides strong evidence that university research expenditures have a positive and very significant effect on aggregate high technology innovation. However, the intensity of knowledge transfers between university research and regional innovation is not constant over space. It is demonstrated that the same amount of university research expenditure yields substantially different levels of local innovation activity depending on the concentration of economic activities in the metropolitan area. The findings in this book strongly indicate that a stimulation of research activities in universities located in existing agglomerations of high technology production and research has significant positive effects on the regional economy.
This book aims to serve the interests of both academic researchers in the fields of regional science and economics of technological change, and economic developers concerned with practical problems of innovative technology regions. The text may be used in graduate-level courses of regional economics, economics of technological change, economics of education, and applied spatial econometrics.

Early-Stage Technologies: Valuation and Pricing (Intellectual Property-General, Law, Accounting & Finance, Management, Licensing, Special Topics)

Average customer rating:

Jewel in the Crown of Technology Valuation Reference Books
Engaging Book for a Technical Subject
Great Teaching Tool

Early-Stage Technologies: Valuation and Pricing (Intellectual Property-General, Law, Accounting & Finance, Management, Licensing, Special Topics)
Richard Razgaitis
Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Pricing | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

New Business Enterprises | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Administrative Law | Law | Subjects | Books

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General | Intellectual Property | Law | Subjects | Books

Patent, Trademark & Copyright | Intellectual Property | Law | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

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Valuation and Pricing of Technology-Based Intellectual Property
Valuing Intangible Assets
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ASIN: 0471328561

Book Description

Comprehensive coverage of the issues, methods, and art of valuing and pricing early-stage technologies To develop or not to develop; to license or not to license; what price will be a true reflection of the product's value from both the buyer's and seller's point of view? These questions are crucial to companies dependent on intellectual property—particularly technology companies, universities, and biotech companies. The risks associated with early-stage technology are high, and decisions must often be made years before any potential product will reach the market. In Early-Stage Technologies: Valuation and Pricing, Richard Razgaitis presents TR-R-A-DE™, a comprehensive approach to determining the future of new technologies based on technology rights, risk assignment, the art of deal-making, and deal economics. He considers the key components involved in a licensing transaction, offers a detailed presentation of six valuation methods for intellectual property, examines risk in both quantitative and qualitative terms, and explores the negotiation strategy and structuring of agreements that are the keys to the art of technology rights deal-making. Early-Stage Technologies is an indispensable tool for anyone involved in the development, valuation, and licensing of intellectual property, the most valuable resource and driving force of the information age.

Customer Reviews:

Jewel in the Crown of Technology Valuation Reference Books.......2002-05-25

Of all the technology valuation reference books I have read, this one is by far the best. Richard has compiled and condensed the most useful valuation techniques/methods into his book, and it's easy reading. However, if you're just looking for one tried and true, quick and dirty recipe to value all technologies in all markets and in all business conditions you'll be disappointed. Richard has provided an excellent collection of methods, however unlike many authors, he writes for the business professional and thus he requires the reader to use professional judgment, coupled with good business intelligence (information) to select and then apply the methodologies. Basically, there are rarely easy and simple answers when valuating technologies, however Richard's book makes it a heck of a lot easier and the results provide a more credible foundation for commencing valuation negotiations.

Engaging Book for a Technical Subject.......2000-12-13

I enjoyed reading Dr. Razgaitis book on the Early -Stage Technologies. It covered the different basic approaches to valuation. I specifically liked his analysis of the 25% rule and the Monte Carlo method for valuations. These two methods are on opposite ends of the difficulty spectrum of valuations. The details mentioned in those two methods has allowed me to strengthen the valuation reports that we do at Inavisis, Inc.

I also liked Chapter five which covers the Rating/ranking method to determine valuation. Although the chapter was general in nature, it outlined the basic principles that appraisal professional use in their valuation report and in litigation environment to support their analysis.

I use the stories outlined in the book in many of my valuation training courses. Dr. Razgaitis book is a must for the libraries of appraisal professional.

Sam Khoury

Great Teaching Tool.......2000-04-02

Effective and very thorough in its detail

The PayPal Wars: Battles With Ebay, the Media, the Mafia, And the Rest of Planet Earth

Average customer rating:

From the frontlines of startups
The successful rise of the company against overwhelming odds.
A good read as told by an insider
A great story about the early days of online transactions
sadly lacking in technical depth

The PayPal Wars: Battles With Ebay, the Media, the Mafia, And the Rest of Planet Earth
Eric M. Jackson
Manufacturer: World Ahead Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Company Profiles | Biography & History | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

eBay | Business & Culture | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
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Paying with Plastic, 2nd Edition: The Digital Revolution in Buying and Borrowing
Amazon.com: Get Big Fast

ASIN: 0977898431

Book Description

When Peter Thiel and Max Levchin launched an online payment website in 1999, they hoped their service could improve the lives of millions around the globe. But when their start-up, PayPal, survived the dot.com crash only to find itself besieged by unimaginable challenges, that dream threatened to become a nightmare. PayPal's history - as told by former insider Eric Jackson - is an engrossing study of human struggle and perseverance against overwhelming odds. The entrepreneurs that Thiel and Levchin recruited to overhaul world currency markets first had to face some of the greatest trials ever thrown at a Silicon Valley company before they could make internet history.

Business guru Tom Peters, author of "In Search of Excellence," called the hardcover edition of The PayPal Wars "a real page turner" that featured what he called "the best description of business strategy unfolding in a world changing at warp speed." This new paperback edition features updated material and even more insights on the state of internet commerce.

Customer Reviews:

From the frontlines of startups.......2007-05-05

Eric Jackson's Paypal Wars reads like a novel and offers an insightful look into the early days of Confinity. Brought in as an early impromptu marketing employee, he stuck with company until its final sale to eBay. As part of this process, he describes the early struggles of the company, the continuous fight against Billpoint, the enormous problem of fraud, and even some corporate politics.

PayPal is an interesting company even if just for the fact that it survived the dot com crash. But they also managed to raise hundreds of millions in venture capital, fought off eBay on their on turf, and managed to go through an IPO and several mergers. As you can tell, the storyline is exciting, and Eric Jackson does a great job of documenting it in this book. For a technology entrepreneur, this should prove to be a captivating read.

The successful rise of the company against overwhelming odds........2007-03-12

THE PAYPAL WARS appeared as a limited-release hardcover in 2004 and received acclaim as one of the best business books of the decade: its wider release as a trade paperback with new, expanded material included is a 'must' not just for libraries strong in business, but for those with healthy computer sections - thus it's reviewed here, so computer holdings don't miss it. It recreates the launch of an online payment service in 1999 which was the first to allow money transfers via the Internet - and it covers the successful rise of the company against overwhelming odds. Of particular note here is the first-person insights into how companies create and hone successful business strategies and compete in the face of overwhelming obstacles.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

A good read as told by an insider.......2007-02-10

The PayPal Wars provides a good narrative of life inside a silicon valley startup. The story starts from the humble beginnings of yet another dot-com that garnered traction via viral marketing. However, the difference was in this company's nimbleness in maneuvering around its obstacles. The author discusses the company's various competitive responses without boring the reader with too much detail. The reader gets a good appreciation of the importance of timing in the rapidly changing Internet space.

Overall a brisk and informative read.

A great story about the early days of online transactions.......2007-02-06

The story of Paypal's struggle for World Domination is well told by their former marketing director who joined the company Conformity in its early days. He is a strong supporter of the Paypal Brand and an arch enemy of all things Ebay whose attempts to throw "roadblocks" at the company would almost cause disaster on numerous occasions. This book is very well done with top analysis on the business functions of Paypal. It considers Paypal's inability to get profitable and the problems inherent in its business model to ways that it prepared its consumer base to enjoy the benefits of having a flexible pay service. The internet and computer industry is filled with wonderful business stories and Paypal's is truly near the top. For those who want real business analysis and an understanding of how Silicon Valley works this book cannot be topped.

sadly lacking in technical depth.......2007-01-14

Roughly an average book in the genre "histories of successful startups told by insiders"; I would rate it higher if it had more technical depth, but unfortunately the author's viewpoint is entirely focused on the marketing side of things. The quality of the writing is uneven, and the book's organization is not ideal; in particular, the prose is far too "breathless" -- every single event of any significance (and quite a few that prove to mean zilch) is played up as super-important, making it quite hard to ascertain what really DID matter, and what did not.

Protect Your Estate: Definitive Strategies for Estate and Wealth Planning from the Leading Experts

Average customer rating:

A nice book on estate planning that made me feel like I was reading an online blog.
Protect Your Estate - by Esperti, et al
Good Stuff!
Detailed overview in layman's terms

Protect Your Estate: Definitive Strategies for Estate and Wealth Planning from the Leading Experts
Robert A. Esperti , and Renno L. Peterson
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Financial Planning | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Estate Planning | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Consumer Law | Business | Law | Subjects | Books

Estates & Trusts | Taxation | Law | Subjects | Books

Wills | Practical Guides | Law | Subjects | Books

Private Law | Law | Subjects | Books

How To Pay Zero Estate Taxes: Your Guide to Every Estate Tax Break the IRS Allows
The Complete Book of Trusts, 3rd Edition
JK Lasser's New Rules for Estate and Tax Planning, Revised and Updated
Your Living Trust and Estate Plan: How to Maximize Your Family's Assets and Protect Your Loved Ones
The American Bar Association Guide to Wills and Estates, Second Edition: Everything You Need to Know About Wills, Estates, Trusts, and Taxes (American Bar Association Guide to Wills & Estates)

ASIN: 0071351981

Book Description

Estate planning is more important than ever, and it's no longer just for the very rich.

Today's "middle-class millionaires"created by the booming stock and real estate marketshave more assets than they ever believed possible. That unexpected wealth brings with it new concerns about how to protect their money and their heirs. A best-seller in its first edition, this book shows anyone how to implement estate planning into a long-range financial plan. It includes the latest on:

Disability planning
Living trusts; asset protection through long-term planning
Family limited partnerships

Written by two noted tax attorneys who have revolutionized the estate-planning process with their techniques, Protect Your Estate, Second Edition, enables readers to understand the newest changes in the tax laws and turn them to their own advantage.

Customer Reviews:

A nice book on estate planning that made me feel like I was reading an online blog........2007-09-26

This book was better than most I've read on estate planning. Its objective was to familiarize the reader with the estate planning process. I'm not sure it really covered "the process." But I think it educates the reader well enough to be an educated consumer when consulting an estate planning attorney for help in estate tax planning matters.

As I read I got the feeling the authors were anti-probate and pro- living trusts. And there were certain things included in the book that made it sound like a promotional piece for the authors' own law practices and organizations. I would have liked it better if the book had not come across as a promotional piece.

The authors say to treat this book as a survey of what estate planning can be. When reading this book (7 years after it was written) I got the feeling the content could have been a bunch of blog entries the authors have posted online that they conveniently strung together to make a book. There are 42 chapters and 4 "entries" in the appendix. And the book is only 330 pages long.

I was looking for a Glossary of Terms, but failed to find one. The book would have been better with one. And I would have liked the book better if Appendix D about the history of estate planning had been moved to the front.

Chapter 1: What is estate planning? I felt this chapter was lousy. It was wordy and vague and not really accurate. Estate planning is really "estate tax planning." It is not financial planning or "wealth strategies planning" as the authors suggest. Nor is estate planning to be confused with "disability planning." As a result, I'm not sure why Chapter 4 was included.

Chapter 8: Probate. I enjoyed reading about estate administration in this chapter. But I think the authors did the reader a disservice by equating the probate process to estate administration. Other problems I had with this chapter include the statement made that executors work for the probate court or probate judge. This simply is not true! Executors work for the estate (a separate legal entity). And the statement that probate is complicated is not accurate as stated. In some cases it can be. But in most it is NOT.

Chapter 9: The federal estate tax. Here the authors repeatedly referred to the estate tax as a death tax. The estate tax has nothing to do with death. It only has to do with wealth transfers. If a poor person dies, then no estate tax is due. If the estate tax were really a death tax, then a tax would be due when a poor person dies.

Chapter 10: The unified system. I had a problem with the material the authors chose to talk about here. Why was it necessary to discuss the way things used to be? As far as I am concerned the book would have been much better if the authors had stuck to the present and explained how things are now. The presentation of the material would have been much more straighforward and easy to understand. 4 stars!

Protect Your Estate - by Esperti, et al.......2001-08-09

I bought the previous edition of this book several years ago and learned so much from its straight forward, well-organized and clear presentation (I am neither an accountant nor a tax person) that co-workers and family members began quizzing me on matters of estate planning. This book allowed me to answer many questions and also enabled me to have a very intelligent conversation with a professional estate planner. I consider the book such a valuable resource that I just purchased the updated edition.

Good Stuff!.......2001-07-16

I am an estate planning attorney, not affiliated with any of the author's companies, and I think this book is a "must read" for anyone who is serious about planning his/her estate.

By the way, estate planning is for everone, not merely the "wealthy." The cost (in time and fees) to have a customed designed and implemented estate plan will probably be the best investment you will ever make to protect and preserve your wealth for your loved ones.

Detailed overview in layman's terms.......2001-02-02

Outstanding book to educate yourself on estate planning. This book will prepare you for the planning process so you can understand what your estate planning attorney is talking about and what he or she is trying to accomplish for you. It also very clearly outlines the fallacies inherent in trying to conduct estate planning without competent legal counsel. The authors tell you know how to find competent advice and how to arrange conduct free consultation interviews with any prospective estate planning specialists. If you are even thinking about estate planning, GET THIS BOOK!

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