The Intelligent Portfolio: Practical Wisdom on Personal Investing from Financial Engines
Wiley, June 2008
The key to good investment decisions is making informed choices. And while you cannot predict the future, it is possible to create investment strategies that can maximize your chances of success. In The Intelligent Portfolio, author Christopher Jones shows you how this can be accomplished.
Written with the thoughtful investor in mind, The Intelligent Portfolio
draws upon the extensive insights of Jones and Financial Engines -- a
leading provider of investment advisory and management services founded
by Nobel Prize-winning economist William F. Sharpe -- to reveal the
time-tested institutional investing techniques that individuals can use
to help improve their investment performance. Throughout these pages,
Financial Engines' Chief Investment Officer, Christopher Jones, uses
state-of-the-art simulation and optimization methods to demonstrate the
often-surprising results of applying modern financial economics to
personal investment decisions. By illustrating the realistic range of
possible investment outcomes, Jones skillfully reveals how the
decisions you make today can impact your financial future.
Challenging conventional wisdom that often leads both novice and experienced investors astray, The Intelligent Portfolio
builds from basic intuition on how financial markets function to
practical tips on evaluating investment trade-offs and real-world
advice on selecting investments to better reach your goals.
Along the way, you'll be introduced to the proven principles -- a mix
of common sense and counterintuitive concepts -- that will put you in a
better position to succeed, including:
- Recognizing the link between risk and reward
- Leveraging the wisdom of the market
- Minimizing losses due to investment fees
- Avoiding the risks of stock picking
- Selecting funds using relevant forward-looking criteria
- Understanding how to realistically fund financial goals
- Interesting tax-efficiently
- And much more . . .
Through simple explanations of powerful investment ideas and real-world examples that bring them to life, The Intelligent Portfolio reveals what you need to know when making personal investment decisions. With this book as your guide, you'll quickly discover how you can effectively implement the strategies that institutional investors have known for decades -- helping you achieve a brighter financial future.
hardcover | ISBN: 9780470228043 | Publication Date: June 2008
Reviews:
"This is one of those rare investment books that actually raises your
investment IQ. Christopher Jones's ten basic rules get investors
focused on what really matters. You may have heard some of these
investment truths before, but probably never in a way that is so
powerful and intuitive. Filled with practical and insightful examples,
this book is a real eye-opener for anyone serious about planning for a
bright financial future."
--Jane Bryant Quinn, columnist for Newsweek and Bloomberg.com and author of Smart and Simple Financial Strategies for Busy People
"Books on personal investing are a dime a dozen. But if we add them up,
all those dimes come to plenty of money. This books is worth all that
and lots more. With its strong foundation in theory, depth of its
insights, the power of its message, the clarity of its exposition, and
the value of its examples, The Intelligent Portfolio is worth many multiples of anything else in this overcrowded field."
--Peter L. Bernstein, author of Capital Ideas Evolving
"Christopher Jones gives investors a guided tour of the inner workings
of modern portfolio theory. If you prefer to look under the hood and
kick the tires of your retirement plan, this hands-on manual can help
you turbocharge your portfolio."
--Mary Beth Franklin, Senior Editor, Kiplinger's Personal Finance
"Jones provides his readers with a refreshing investment guide,
chock-full of pithy and pertinent advice. Can you ignore expenses if a
manager exhibits excess performance? His no-nonsense, 'the view that
you can ignore the impact of fees is just a bunch of hooey.' And for
those chasing yesterday's hot funds, he reminds us that 'good funds are
not defined by how well they have performed in the past, but how
well they are likely to perform in the future.' A quarter century of
experience tells me readers will be better investors if they heed his
easily digestible investment wisdom."
--Harold Evensky, CFP, President, Evensky & Katz
