Where Are the Customers’ Yachts?
Fred Schwed's witty 1940 takedown of Wall Street, whose title asks why the brokers have yachts but their customers do not.
Fred Schwed Jr., a former trader, wrote this slim, funny book in 1940 after the excesses of the 1920s and the crash that followed. Its title comes from an old joke about a visitor admiring the yachts owned by Wall Street brokers and asking where the customers’ yachts were. Beneath the humor sits a serious point about fees, conflicts, and the gap between what the financial industry promises and what it delivers.
Recommended by 2 People
Jason Zweig
This is such a fun book. The author, Fred Schwed, was, for many years, a broker, but it’s very clear, when you read the book, that his real love was for writing. He wrote beautifully. Even now, some 70 years after it was written, I believe this is still the funniest book ever written about Wall Street.
Interview · September 2017
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