The Bond King: Investment Secrets from PIMCO's Bill Gross [Hardcover]

Timothy Middleton (Author), Peter L. Bernstein (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 5, 2004

Praise For Investment Secrets From PIMCO's Bill Gross

"No investor is held in higher regard by his peers than Bill Gross. His understanding of the markets and his insights on how to profit from them are unparalleled. Now, Tim Middleton takes you into Gross's world for an insider's view on how the world of finance really works. If this book were a bond, it would be AAA rated with a double-digit yield."
-DON PHILLIPS, Managing Director, Morningstar, Inc.

"The secret to investment success is discipline. In bonds, nobody has displayed better discipline than Bill Gross. And nobody has done a better job of explaining Gross's methods, and instructing private investors how they can exploit his approach, than Tim Middleton."
-JON MARKMAN, Columnist, CNBC on MSN Money

"Warren Buffett, John Neff, Bill Miller, Peter Lynch-the stock market has always had dominant personalities whose long-term success becomes legend. In the bond market, that dominant personality is Gross."
-FORTUNE

"Bill Gross is the Emeril Lagasse of bond managers."
-FORBES

"If you want to get a stock mutual fund manager steamed, ask why his fund can't beat bond guru Bill Gross."
-USA TODAY

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Fixed-income management is a fascinatingly complex investment approach and one that has become essential to our economy. For those who understand how to actively manage fixed-income portfolios, it is a proven way of growing wealth. And no one better utilizes this strategy than PIMCO founder Bill Gross. Under Bill Gross’s astute leadership, PIMCO’s Total Return Fund has outperformed every other fund in its class, leaving Gross to manage the largest amount of fixed-income money on the planet.

It is no wonder that Gross has achieved near-mythic status among investors, with bond experts hanging on his every word to predict which way the credit markets will go, earning him the title of "Bond King."

The Bond King chronicles Gross’s life and career, from his interest in becoming a Navy pilot, to his affinity for gambling–which bears more than a passing similarity to investing. From there, the book covers his founding of the Pacific Investment ManagementCompany (PIMCO), a leading institutional money manager with over $356 billion in assets under management.

In clear-cut language, The Bond King reveals the proven techniques of Gross’s Total Return Method which has resulted in the largest actively managed fund in the United States. Filled with concept-clarifying examples, The Bond King explains:

• The ways a bond investor can actively manage a portfolio of fixed-income securities
• Why predicting secular (long-term) domestic and global changes is key to Gross’s stunning track record
• How the writings of "three wise men" forged his market knowledge
• Why capital preservation, aside from increasing total return, is the first and ultimate goal of bond investors
• Why foreign bonds offer outstanding opportunities to Total Return investors
• Why Gross regards Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) as the single best idea for bonds in the next five years

Whether you are an individual or institutional investor, The Bond King demonstrates how to successfully build and trade a bond portfolio the Bill Gross way.

From the Back Cover

Praise for The Bond King

"No investor is held in higher regard by his peers than Bill Gross. His understanding of the markets and his insights on how to profit from them are unparalleled. Now Tim Middleton takes you into Gross’s world for an insider ’s view on how the world of finance really works. If this book were a bond, it would be AAA rated with a double-digit yield."
—Don Phillips, Managing Director, Morningstar, Inc.

"The secret to investment success is discipline. In bonds, nobody has displayed better discipline than Bill Gross. And nobody has done a better job of explaining Gross’ methods, and instructing private investors how they can exploit his approach, than Tim Middleton."
—Jon Markman, Columnist, CNBC on MSN Money

"Warren Buffett, John Neff, Bill Miller, Peter Lynch–the stock market has always had dominant personalities whose long-term success becomes legend. In the bond market that dominant personality is Gross."
–Fortune

"Bill Gross is the Emeril Lagasse of bond managers."
–Forbes

"If you want to get a stock mutual fund manager steamed, ask why his fund can’t beat bond guru Bill Gross."
–USA Today

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1st edition (March 5, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471462543
• ISBN-13: 978-0471462545
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,055,312 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Solid introduction to the bond world that morphs into Pimco prospectus, August 2, 2005

By 

Fred G. Sanford "Fred G. Sanford" (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bond King: Investment Secrets from PIMCO's Bill Gross (Hardcover)

Bill Gross it the Peter Lynch of the bond world. The PIMCO money manager has consistently outperformed his benchmarks over the last 20 years. Middleton attempts to provide an bird's eye view of Gross's personal life and uses those perspectives to discuss how he makes money in the bond world. In summary, the answer is total returns, return from the yield on the coupon (think mortgage rate, interest) as well as the pricing on the issue.

The author starts down the path of constructing bond portfolios that span the risk and reward spectrum, but does not provide any perspectives. The book converts to a PIMCO prospectus in the middle of the book and could have been chopped at the editor's desk without losing any of main points and saving the paper in the world.

For those who really want to understand Bill's view on the world, he writes a wonderful thought piece every month that summarizes his views in a very practical and easily readable form. Well worthing reading.

In summary, worth reading if you are a bond neophyte and want to understand how people make money in the bond markets.

Your total return seeking reviewer,
Fred "Govvies" Sanford

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the King's Ransom, March 2, 2004

By 

Dpw "Brooklyn Guy" (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bond King: Investment Secrets from PIMCO's Bill Gross (Hardcover)

Tim Middleton's almost epic tale about Bond King Bill Gross is entertaining, enlightening and, dare I say it, engrossing! At the tail end of a 20-year bull market in bonds, it's worth noting that Gross is one of the few managers with the gumption to have issued a warning that the good old days may be about over. How many fund managers actually warn you NOT to buy their funds? That's honesty. I recommend you read this book to find out what makes this guy so honest, so rich, and so worth listening to.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Addition to Any Investor's Library, March 4, 2004

By 

Michael J. McDermott (Carmel, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bond King: Investment Secrets from PIMCO's Bill Gross (Hardcover)

I've been a Bill Gross fan for a long time, and this book really provides terrific insights into what makes the man tick and what makes his investing style so successful. I've caught glimpses of both those things in a handful of magazine articles over the years, but this book paints the whole picture. I have long believed that bonds should play an important role in any investor's portfolio, but I felt like I was howling into the wind through the late '90s. The stock market collapse was reality's slap in the face for a lot of "equity-heads." Now that investors are coming back to their senses and embracing the virtues of a truly balanced portfolio, this book should be an essential part of their investing library. Middleton does a good job not only of showing us what makes Bill Gross tick, but more importantly showing us what makes his bond investing strategies work so well.