In Pursuit of the Perfect Portfolio: The Stories, Voices, and Key Insights of the Pioneers Who Shaped the Way We Invest

Description

How the greatest thinkers in finance changed the field and how their wisdom can help investors today. Is there an ideal portfolio of investment assets, one that perfectly balances risk and reward? In Pursuit of the Perfect Portfolio examines this question by profiling and interviewing ten of the most prominent figures in the finance world - Jack Bogle, Charley Ellis, Gene Fama, Marty Liebowitz, Harry Markowitz, Bob Merton, Myron Scholes, Bill Sharpe, Bob Shiller, and Jeremy Siegel. We learn about the personal and intellectual journeys of these luminaries - which include six Nobel Laureates and a trailblazer in mutual funds - and their most innovative contributions. In the process, we come to understand how the science of modern investing came to be. Each of these finance greats discusses their idea of a perfect portfolio, offering invaluable insights to today's investors. Inspiring such monikers as the Bond Guru, Wall Street's Wisest Man, and the Wizard of Wharton, these pioneers of investment management provide candid perspectives, both expected and surprising, on a vast array of investment topics - effective diversification, passive versus active investment, security selection and market timing, foreign versus domestic investments, derivative securities, nontraditional assets, irrational investing, and so much more. While the perfect portfolio is ultimately a moving target based on individual age and stage in life, market conditions, and short and long-term goals, the fundamental principles for success remain constant. Aimed at novice and professional investors alike, In Pursuit of the Perfect Portfolio is a compendium of financial wisdom that no market enthusiast will want to be without.

Andrew W. Lo is the Charles E. and Susan T. Harris Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, director of the MIT Laboratory for Financial Engineering, a principal investigator at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and an external faculty member at the Santa Fe Institute. His many books include Adaptive Markets and Hedge Funds (both Princeton). Twitter @AndrewWLo Stephen R. Foerster is professor of finance at Ivey Business School, Western University. He is the author of Financial Management: Concepts and Applications and Financial Management: A Primer. Twitter @ProfSFoerster

"Winner of the Silver Medal in Personal Finance / Retirement Planning / Investing, Axiom Business Book Awards" "What if you could get inside the minds of some of the greatest investors in history? It would be nice if you had a window straight into their heads, but in reality it would take years of hard work to learn to think the way they do. . . . Or, you could simply read. . . . In Pursuit of the Perfect Portfolio. "---Mark Reeth, Business Insider "A good look at the development of portfolio theory, starting with Markowitz."---Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution "An accessible and heady chronicle of how we build portfolios, how that's changed, and why we've done it the way we've done it over time. How did investors come to coalesce around the 60/40 portfolio allocation, and what role do alternatives play in asset allocation? This readable book takes on those questions and many more"---Jeff Ptak, Morningstar