All About Asset Allocation [Paperback]

Richard Ferri (Author)

Book Description

Series: All About | Publication Date: September 15, 2005

All About Asset Allocation goes beyond sound-bite financial columns and TV programs to explain asset allocation in terms that anyone can under- stand. Using a concise style, it features straight- forward explanations of asset allocation, a review of the asset allocation process, and guidelines for implementing strategies and programs.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Everything you need to know about asset allocation--What it is, how to make it work for you, and more

Praise for All About Asset Allocation:

"All About Asset Allocation offers advice that is both prudent and practical--keep it simple, diversify, and above all, keep your expenses low--from an author who both knows how vital asset allocation is to investment success and, most important, works with real people."
--John C. Bogle, Founder and former CEO, The Vanguard Group

"With All About Asset Allocation at your side, you'll be executing a sound investment plan, using the best materials, and wearing the best safety rope that money can buy."
--William Bernstein, Founder, EfficientFrontier.com, Author, The Intelligent Asset Allocator

"Rick Ferri has done it again.  All About Asset Allocation has the potential to become the classic bible on building investment portfolios the right way."
--Bill Schultheis, Author, The Coffeehouse Investor

"Of the many books on asset allocation, All About Asset Allocation is one of the few excellent ones. Ferri offers practical ways by which to implement and benefit from the strategy."
--Scott Simon, Attorney, Author, The Prudent Investor Act -- A Guide to Understanding

Whatever your level of investing expertise, from beginner to veteran, All About Asset Allocation will give you the information you need to know on:

• How asset allocation works
• Asset class selection
• Multi-class asset investing
• Life cycle investing
• Rebalancing a portfolio
• And more

About the Author

Richard A. Ferri, CFA, is president and senior portfolio manager of Portfolio Solutions, LLC, and an adjunct professor of finance at Walsh College in Michigan. He is the author of Protecting Your Wealth in Good Times and Bad, All About Index Funds, and Serious Money: Straight Talk About Investing for Retirement.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (September 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071429581
• ISBN-13: 978-0071429580
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #554,809 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

90 of 96 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Explanation & Concrete Examples of Asset Allocation, April 15, 2006

By 

Dale C. Maley "Index Fund Investor" (Fairbury, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: All About Asset Allocation (Paperback)

I was pretty impressed with this book. I give it an A+.

I have been a student of investing and financial planning since 1979. In 1978, when Venita VanCaspel's book The New Money Dynamics was published, the term "asset allocation" was not even listed in the index of financial terms. She doesn't really mention asset allocation between asset classes and any benefits of asset allocation.

Gary Brinson's 1986 famous study can be defined as the birth of asset allocation. He found that over 90% of a portfolio's return can be determined by the asset classes used, not what the individual investments were. Brinson's findings have been relatively slow to flow through the investment community and to individual investors. Dial the time clock ahead from 1986 to 2006, and one of Business Week's cover stories seeks to explain why the S&P 500's profits have increased dramatically over the last 5 years, yet the S&P 500 companies have had very little stock price appreciation. One explanation offered is that more and more investors practice asset allocation and choose other investments besides the S&P 500 for their portfolios. The increased demand for other asset classes like foreign stocks, commodities, and gold has subsequently less to a decrease in demand for large cap stocks in the S&P 500.

Ferri's book does an excellent job of explaining the concept of asset allocation and he uses real life portfolios to illustrate the advantages of asset allocation.

Ferri points out the ideal investments to add to one's portfolio would be negatively correlated to the investments in the existing portfolio. He also points out that the correlations between asset classes changes over time. If an investor keeps many different asset classes in his portfolio, the investor can take advantage of these changing correlations over time.

All-in-all, a great book for learning the concept of asset allocation. I would suggest companion books to supplement this book including The Richest Man in Babylon, Bogle on Mutual Funds, The Millionaire Next Door, The 4 Pillars of Investing, A Random Walk Down Wall Street, and the Coffeehouse Investor.

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All About Asset Allocation, March 23, 2006

By 

Paul Manka (Salem, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: All About Asset Allocation (Paperback)

My fee-only financial planner recommended that I read this book in preparation for my annual review of investments. He offered to buy back the book if I was dissatisfied. I found the book valuable and therefore did not take him up on his offer.

I appreciated Ferri's clear explanation of the concepts of asset allocation accompanied by plenty of data tables and graphs. I also found his technique of limiting each chapter to three or four topics and stating them both and the beginning and end of the chapter very helpful in reviewing what I had learned.

Although the topic is complex, Ferri kept his text at the layperson level. It definitely gave me a better understanding of the Modern Portfolio theory principles my financial planner was following in determing my personal asset allocation.

Although I have the services of a planner, the book provides enough information for the do-it-yourself type to set up their own plan based on the principles of the book. A particularly nice touch is a list of funds that meet specific asset allocation goals at the end of each chapter explaining that asset class.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Winner from Richard Ferri, December 17, 2005

By 

Mel Lindauer "Co-author The Bogleheads' Guide... (Daytona Beach Shores, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All About Asset Allocation (Paperback)

This latest book from Richard Ferri, CFA, has all the elements needed to help an investor develop and implement an asset allocation strategy. The book covers the nuts and bolts and provides lots of supporting graphics. In addition, the author provides recommended portfolios for those in various stages of the investment cycle, as well as for investors with varying degrees of risk tolerance (aggressive, moderate or conservative). This book has something for both novices and more sophisticated investors alike. It's a winner!