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 enlarge | Author: David F. Swensen
Publisher: Free Press
Category: Book
List Price: $30.00
Buy Used: $8.15
You Save: $21.85 (73%)
New (33) Used (34) Collectible (1) from $8.15
Rating:  86 reviews
Sales Rank: 4461
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 403
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.4
ISBN: 0743228383
Dewey Decimal Number: 332.6327
EAN: 9780743228381
ASIN: 0743228383
Publication Date: August 2, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: [ No Hassle 30 Day Returns ][ Ships Daily ] [ Underlining/Highlighting:NONE ] [ Writing:NONE ] [ Torn Pages:NO ] [ Broken Seams:NO ] [ Edition: Reprint ]
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| Customer Reviews:
An In-Depth Look for the More-Interested Investor May 6, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
While this is an excellent book, I knocked off a star for one main reason: I believe it to be a little too advanced to be called "fundamental."
This is the perfect book for a person with two critical attributes:
1) You have already read Burton Malkiel's "A Random Walk Down Wall Street"
2) You are looking to go beyond a employer-sponsored defined contribution plan and would like some help determining who gets your money.
I say read Malkiel first because having an understanding of the Efficient Market Hypothesis will help you get a lot more out of reading this book. While Swensen presents an excellent work, it is a bit dry and academic. If, however, you can commit to reading it carefully, I am confident you will be a better money manager for it.
Since an individual employee has little control over the firm chosen to administer the company 401(k), I believe this book to be less helpful than "A Random Walk" if you are simply seeking guidance for selecting investments in a defined plan. If, however, you are about to open your own IRA or a standard, taxable account, this book will serve as an invaluable guide.
Stick with it, and happy investing!
Useful Ideas May 5, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The book is useful to those amateur investors that want to become more informed. Some of the terminology (i.e. securitize) takes a bit more background than some readers may have. I'm glad that I read it and will buy his next book due this fall.
 Intelligent Primer for Individual Investor but Lacks How To May 2, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book was mentioned in an article I read and I obtained it thinking the author would share some of his insight into his very successful re-balancing strategy at Yale. Unfortunately, other than providing the basic rationale for doing so (as many others have done more effectively), the author gives little practical, or at least detailed, assistance to the individual investor. He mentions avoiding tax impact, e.g. by using retirement portfolios as much as possible, and utilizing new investment funds rather than shifting existing funds. However, there is nothing about the any other factors, especially frequency (since it's not practical to do daily rebalancing as the Yale fund does), transaction costs, vehicles such as ETFs vs mutual funds etc etc.
This is the same problem with many similar books. They are long on basic philosophy and detailing why one should use passive investment strategies and diversified allocation. They are much weaker on the practicalities of the discipline of effective reallocation - the nitty gritty "how to" that presents a major barrier for so many of the ordinary investors that simply ride the ups and downs of the market (or worse buy into the bull market and sell into the bear). Other authors make the general case as well or better for the average investor. See John Bogle's (Vanguard) books which make the case re the insanity of mutual fund fees and disciplined passive investing very eloquently. For perhaps the best more recent "hands on" manual, see The Intelligent Asset Allocator by William Bernstein (2001). Probably the best option for nearly all individual investors is to rely on an asset allocation services, such as Financial [...], which computes reallocation decisions automatically based on each subscriber's individualized risk profile. The service is available free or at modes cost through many employment retirement funds as well as investment houses like Vanguard. Alternatively, one can pay an annual advisory fee, typically 1% or more to have a professional manager do the allocation task. But many of them may not fully buy into passive index approach. Also paying 1% every year, year after year, just for doing the allocation task is a steep price to pay. That 1% is on top of the annual fees charged by each of the funds in the portfolio.
To underline the hazards of investing in even the best of the actively managed funds or families of funds, one need only look at the performance of the one shining example the author cites - the Longleaf mutual funds. The author praises them because the principals of the private management company that run the funds "co-invest" a considerable amount of their own assets and they had shown (at least as of the date of publication of the book) exemplary concern for their investors' interest by periodically closing the funds to new investment when market opportunities looked dim, thereby foregoing additional investment advisory fees.
However, the most recent five year record of each of their three major funds (large cap, small cap, and international) considerably lags its passive index funds peers - for example, Fidelity S&P 500 Index (FSMAX), Vanguard Small-Cap Tax Managed Index (VTMSX), and Fidelity International Total (FSIVX). It is perhaps ironic, but very instructive, that even the most exemplary active fund manager the author could come up with to illustrate his points about good management also subsequently illustrated the pitfalls of much reliance on any active management strategy for the individual investor.
 Great Compliment February 8, 2008
Great complimentary text along with "Common Sense On Mutual Funds" and "The Intelligent Asset Allocator". Combined, this is a wonderful trio for investing (as opposed to short-term, completely unreliable speculation).
Investment advice from a pro February 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Although for many investors, the stock market is the only game in town, author David F. Swensen, the experienced manager of Yale University's endowment, suggests investing in logical low-cost, fair, nonprofit index funds that track the market closely. He advocates building a carefully balanced portfolio, and strongly recommends regular rebalancing. He comes to these conclusions based on his rigorous analysis of the returns achieved by a host of other investment media, especially mutual funds. In fact, he builds his investment guidebook around a scathing scolding of the mutual-fund industry, even though mutual funds also have strong supporters. getAbstract believes Swensen's counsel will be useful for individual investors who face a bewildering array of choices. In fact, if you had a rich uncle on Wall Street to advise you, he would probably echo much of Swensen's logical advice.
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