A guided journey revealing hidden values and buried treasures while negotiating the investing landscape. A metaphorical journey through the hot, shifting sands of the capital markets ‘desert’ to awaken readers to the urgency of the "Behavior Gap"—a chronic gap of under-performance relative to the markets experienced by investors worldwide. This is a roadmap of portfolio management concepts and contrarian tactics that can turn misbehaviors, undue risks, and short-term gambles into longer-term strengths. Through 27 chapters and four tiers, the author progressively introduces more powerful tools & techniques used in the founding and ongoing management of the Oasis Growth Fund, a North American Hedge Fund.
A guided journey revealing hidden values and buried treasures while negotiating the investing landscape. A metaphorical journey through the hot, shifting sands of the capital markets ‘desert’ to awaken readers to the urgency of the "Behavior Gap"—a chronic gap of under-performance relative to the markets experienced by investors worldwide. This is a roadmap of portfolio management concepts and contrarian tactics that can turn misbehaviors, undue risks, and short-term gambles into longer-term strengths. Through 27 chapters and four tiers, the author progressively introduces more powerful tools & techniques used in the founding and ongoing management of the Oasis Growth Fund, a North American Hedge Fund.
#1 New York Times bestseller and arguably the best business narrative ever written, Barbarians at the Gate is the classic account of the fall of RJR Nabisco at the hands of a buyout from investment firm KKR. A book that stormed both the bestseller list and the public imagination, a book that created a genre of its own, and a book that gets at the heart of Wall Street and the '80s culture it helped define, Barbarians at the Gate is a modern classic—a masterpiece of investigatory journalism and a rollicking book of corporate derring-do and financial swordsmanship. The fight to control RJR Nabisco during October and November of 1988 was more than just the largest takeover in Wall Street history. Marked by brazen displays of ego not seen in American business for decades, it became the high point of a new gilded age and its repercussions are still being felt. The tale remains the ultimate story of greed and glory—a story and a cast of characters that determined the course of global business and redefined how deals would be done and fortunes made in the decades to come. Barbarians at the Gate is the gripping account of these two frenzied months, of deal makers and publicity flaks, of an old-line industrial powerhouse (home of such familiar products a Oreos and Camels) that became the victim of the ruthless and rapacious style of finance in the 1980s. As reporters for The Wall Street Journal, Burrough and Helyar had extensive access to all the characters in this drama. They take the reader behind the scenes at strategy meetings and society dinners, into boardrooms and bedrooms, providing an unprecedentedly detailed look at how financial operations at the highest levels are conducted but also a richly textured social history of wealth at the twilight of the Reagan era. At the center of the huge power struggle is RJR Nabisco's president, the high-living Ross Johnson. It's his secret plan to buy out the company that sets the frenzy in motion, attracting the country's leading takeover players: Henry Kravis, the legendary leveraged-buyout king of investment firm KKR, whose entry into the fray sets off an acquisitive commotion; Peter Cohen, CEO of Shearson Lehman Hutton and Johnson's partner, who needs a victory to propel his company to an unchallenged leadership in the lucrative mergers and acquisitions field; the fiercely independent Ted Forstmann, motivated as much by honor as by his rage at the corruption he sees taking over the business he cherishes; Jim Maher and his ragtag team, struggling to regain credibility for the decimated ranks at First Boston; and an army of desperate bankers, lawyers, and accountants, all drawn inexorably to the greatest prize of their careers—and one of the greatest prizes in the history of American business. Written with the bravado of a novel and researched with the diligence of a sweeping cultural history, Barbarians at the Gate is present at the front line of every battle of the campaign. Here is the unforgettable story of that takeover in all its brutality. In a new afterword specially commissioned for the story's 20th anniversary, Burrough and Helyar return to visit the heroes and villains of this epic story, tracing the fallout of the deal, charting the subsequent success and failure of those involved, and addressing the incredible impact this story—and the book itself—made on the world.
For decades now we have wasted and mismanaged the world?s water supplies. Today, 27 countries are short of water, a quarter of the world?s population has no safe water, 46 per cent have no proper sanitation and each year four million children die of water-borne diseases. As most of the world?s major river systems cross several national boundaries, the scope disputes and the threat to international security is becoming more and more real. In The Last Oasis, Sandra Postel examines the economic, ecological and political factors affecting fresh water supply. She confronts the issues of mismanagement and profligacy and analyses and dangers of confrontation, both between nations and between rural and urban users. She also emphasises that the technology and know-how for effective water husbandry does exist. With methods already in use, farmers could cut their demand for water by 40-90 per cent, and cities by one-third, without sacrificing economic output or quality of life. Investing in water efficiency, recycling and conservation help meet rising demands and stave off disaster. But the priority is a common recognition of the gravity of the position, and with that a widespread push for institutions to manage sustainable use of water.
In this updated second edition, well-known investment author Hagstrom explores basic and fundamental investing concepts in a range of fields outside of economics, including physics, biology, sociology, psychology, philosophy, and literature.
Living in Southern California, Gary Carmell has become very familiar with tectonic shifts: cataclysmic changes in the earth’s crust that cause earthquakes and tsunamis. Carmell has also experienced numerous tectonic shifts in the economic landscape in his nearly thirty-year investing career. Correctly anticipating economic trends has allowed his real estate investment and management firm, CWS Capital Partners LLC, to grow from assets of $250 million in the late 1980s to over $3 billion today. CWS foresaw the collapse of manufactured housing in the late 1990s and anticipated a massive shift from homeownership to renting, prompting them to reposition aggressively for growth in apartment construction and management. Carmell feels special pride in the results his company’s delivers for its investors, as a result—long-term average annual returns exceed 13 percent—even during the Great Recession of 2007–2009. Navigating turbulent economic markets and experiencing his two-year-old son’s near-fatal stroke has taught Carmell that real success requires not only financial acumen, but also deep reflection. He credits Shakespeare, Hume, and Schopenhauer as his mentors, with more modern sages like Buffett, Soros, and Munger also guiding his actions. In The Philosophical Investor: From Wisdom to Wealth, he shares the insights he has gained along the way in the hope of inspiring a new cadre of critical thinking investors.
A detailed guide to overcoming the most frequently encountered psychological pitfalls of investing Bias, emotion, and overconfidence are just three of the many behavioral traits that can lead investors to lose money or achieve lower returns. Behavioral finance, which recognizes that there is a psychological element to all investor decision-making, can help you overcome this obstacle. In The Little Book of Behavioral Investing, expert James Montier takes you through some of the most important behavioral challenges faced by investors. Montier reveals the most common psychological barriers, clearly showing how emotion, overconfidence, and a multitude of other behavioral traits, can affect investment decision-making. Offers time-tested ways to identify and avoid the pitfalls of investor bias Author James Montier is one of the world's foremost behavioral analysts Discusses how to learn from our investment mistakes instead of repeating them Explores the behavioral principles that will allow you to maintain a successful investment portfolio Written in a straightforward and accessible style, The Little Book of Behavioral Investing will enable you to identify and eliminate behavioral traits that can hinder your investment endeavors and show you how to go about achieving superior returns in the process. Praise for The Little Book Of Behavioral Investing "The Little Book of Behavioral Investing is an important book for anyone who is interested in understanding the ways that human nature and financial markets interact." —Dan Ariely, James B. Duke Professor of Behavioral Economics, Duke University, and author of Predictably Irrational "In investing, success means¿being on the right side of most trades. No book provides a better starting point toward that goal than this one." —Bruce Greenwald, Robert Heilbrunn Professor of Finance and Asset Management, Columbia Business School "'Know thyself.' Overcoming human instinct is key to becoming a better investor.¿ You would be irrational if you did not read this book." —Edward Bonham-Carter, Chief Executive and Chief Investment Officer, Jupiter Asset Management "There is not an investor anywhere who wouldn't profit from reading this book." —Jeff Hochman, Director of Technical Strategy, Fidelity Investment Services Limited "James Montier gives us a very accessible version of why we as investors are so predictably irrational, and a guide to help us channel our 'Inner Spock' to make better investment decisions. Bravo!" —John Mauldin, President, Millennium Wave Investments
"A lot has happened in the financial markets since 1992, when Peter Bernstein wrote his seminal Capital Ideas. Happily, Peter has taken up his facile pen again to describe these changes, a virtual revolution in the practice of investing that relies heavily on complex mathematics, derivatives, hedging, and hyperactive trading. This fine and eminently readable book is unlikely to be surpassed as the definitive chronicle of a truly historic era." John C. Bogle, founder of The Vanguard Group and author, The Little Book of Common Sense Investing "Just as Dante could not have understood or survived the perils of the Inferno without Virgil to guide him, investors today need Peter Bernstein to help find their way across dark and shifting ground. No one alive understands Wall Street's intellectual history better, and that makes Bernstein our best and wisest guide to the future. He is the only person who could have written this book; thank goodness he did." Jason Zweig, Investing Columnist, Money magazine "Another must-read from Peter Bernstein! This well-written and thought-provoking book provides valuable insights on how key finance theories have evolved from their ivory tower formulation to profitable application by portfolio managers. This book will certainly be read with keen interest by, and undoubtedly influence, a wide range of participants in international finance." Dr. Mohamed A. El-Erian, President and CEO of Harvard Management Company, Deputy Treasurer of Harvard University, and member of the faculty of the Harvard Business School "Reading Capital Ideas Evolving is an experience not to be missed. Peter Bernstein's knowledge of the principal characters-the giants in the development of investment theory and practice-brings this subject to life." Linda B. Strumpf, Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, The Ford Foundation "With great clarity, Peter Bernstein introduces us to the insights of investment giants, and explains how they transformed financial theory into portfolio practice. This is not just a tale of money and models; it is a fascinating and contemporary story about people and the power of their ideas." Elroy Dimson, BGI Professor of Investment Management, London Business School "Capital Ideas Evolving provides us with a unique appreciation for the pervasive impact that the theory of modern finance has had on the development of our capital markets. Peter Bernstein once again has produced a masterpiece that is must reading for practitioners, educators and students of finance." Andr F. Perold, Professor of Finance, Harvard Business School
Today's world of personal investing is not a friendly place. Individuals are assaulted with an unending barrage of financial news, "expert" advice, investing tools, trading systems, and more, to the point where they are overwhelmed. As a result, most people simply entrust their portfolios to third-party advisers and, in doing so, lose control of their financial security. Nobody is more familiar with this situation than author Leland Hevner. As President of the National Association of Online Investors (naoi.org) and a longtime educator in this field, he understands that to succeed in today's chaotic markets you don't need more news, advice, or analysis tools. Instead, you need a completely new and simpler approach to building an effective portfolio on your own one that includes updated investing concepts and dramatically new ways of looking at the market. That's why he created The Perfect Portfolio. Written in a straightforward and accessible style, this reliable resource shows you, step by step, how to use a revolutionary approach to investing called the Perfect Portfolio Methodology (PPM). Developed by Hevner over the course of his successful career and based on input from hundreds of individual investors, the PPM allows you to capture incredible returns under any market condition without exposing yourself to unacceptable risk or requiring you to devote an extraordinary amount of time to the investing process. The journey to creating your unique Perfect Portfolio is divided into three parts: Part I reveals the problems faced by today's investors, outlines a new approach for solving them, and gets you started by showing how to design the Core Segment or foundation of your Perfect Portfolio Part II details how to "supercharge" your Perfect Portfolio's returns by adding a Target Market Segment consisting of five newly defined asset classes Part III illustrates how you can bring the Core and Target Market Segments together to form a Perfect Portfolio that meets your unique investing profile and current market conditions This is a book that financial advisers will not want you to read. Why? Because it takes them out of the loop by empowering you to make informed and profitable investing decisions on your own. The Perfect Portfolio places the power to control your wealth firmly in your hands, where it belongs. The Perfect Portfolio is more than just a book. It also includes a supplemental online component you can access via the Web at www.perfectportfoliobook.com. The use of this resource is not required to take full advantage of the book's content, but the information and tools presented in the online component can enhance your overall learning experience.
