The Gone Fishin' Portfolio: Get Wise, Get Wealthy...and Get on With Your Life (Agora Series) (Hardcover)

by Alexander Green (Author), Steve Sjuggerud (Foreword)
Key Phrases: index fund, single most important investment decision, rebalance your portfolio, Wall Street, Portfolio Unveiled, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"… business leaders in charge of company 401(k) plans might want to look at The Gone Fishin' Portfolio…without non-correlated investments, workers will never be able to protect themselves from the craziness we call 'Wall Street.'" (The Wall Street Journal, September 26, 2008)

Product Description
Outperform the vast majority of investment professionals while paying nothing in sales charges, brokerage fees, or commissions by modifying your investment strategy. Learn how to make your investment dreams come true with the advice in The Gone Fishin' Portfolio: Get Wise, Get Wealthy...and Get on With Your Life, a guide that’s based on a Nobel Prize-winning investment strategy yet takes just 20 minutes to implement. Gain an understanding of the fundamental relationship between risk and reward in the financial markets and get an insider's view of how the investment industry really works.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (September 9, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470112670
• ISBN-13: 978-0470112670
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (76 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #21,156 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

89 of 95 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars There are no magic bullets..., September 12, 2008

By	W. A. McKnight "WAM" (Duluth, GA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I just finished reading this book and thought it was pretty good overall. However, as an experienced investor, I know that there are no magic bullets in investing. The book shows performance of the portfolio over the past seven or so years. In those years, the S&P 500 (domestic stocks) performed rather poorly while gold, other commodities, real estate and foreign investments did exceedingly well. This portfolio stays invested at all times in all of these asset classes.

I took the liberty of backtesting the same portfolio for the ten years preceeding the 2000's, and the S&P 500 way outperformed this portfolio. This did not surprise me given the fact that we were in a full blown bull market. Those other asset classes underperformed, some badly.

I think that the Gone Fishin Portfolio will perform relatively well in more uncertain markets. However, I am not convinced that will happen when the domestic markets rally strongly.

My point here is that the oversimplification will lure rookie investors into a false sense of security.

I am sorry, but even if you are using a broadly diversified portfolio of mutual funds or ETF's, you must pay attention and understand the weakness of such a simplified approach. You will have to spend more time on your portfolio than 20 minutes a year.

55 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Gone Fishin' Portfolio down 32.51% - no silver bullet, October 2, 2008

By	Talmadge O'neill - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Like so many business books, this book could be condensed into a single page. Here are some of the key bullet points:
* Save more money. i.e. stop drinking starbucks coffee everyday.
* Expect to be able to withdraw 4% of your assets annually after you retire i.e. you need $1 million to generate $40,000 a year in pre-tax income. Some people would say withdrawing 3% would be more conservative.
* Perform asset allocation across 10 Vanguard (index) funds (low cost)
* 70% stock, 30% bond portfolio with heavy international slant
* Re-balance every 12-18 months
* Don't use brokers/investment advisors with their 1%+ annual fee
* Don't try to time the market

Good advice. Now how is the portfolio doing? From January 2, 2008 to November 4, 2008, it is down 32.51%. How is that doing relative to the market? S&P 500 is down 32.29% but that is U.S. stock only. VTSMX (Vanguard's total stock index fund) is down 33.92%. My only point is that the going fishin' portfolio is roughly going to give you the basic market return. Nothing fancy. We're not talking endowment fund returns.

[...]

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best way to beat the market without trying, hands down..., September 8, 2008

By	J. Swan (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews

Mr. Green has boiled profitable long-term investing down to a 20-minute annual exercise. And his recommended portfolio beats the market in good AND bad times. (The proof is all there.) The portfolio will not only diversify you into stocks and bonds, it will diversify you among all the major asset classes - gold, U.S. stocks, Treasuries, foreign stocks, etc. - which, as he explains, is where the magic is. He'll show you how much (in percentage terms) of your nest egg to put in each asset... as well as the specific investment to buy to get exposure to each one. (You'll also cut your investment costs by a wide margin, which really adds up.)

I've read Graham's Intelligent Investor and Security Analysis - both classics, and incredible guides on managing risk. But The Gone Fishin' Portfolio, which also, incredibly, minimizes your risk and increases your total return, tells you specifically what to buy - something you just can't get out of the classics. (Green's investments will still work 40 years from now - a true "set and forget" portfolio.) I've ordered a copy for my God daughter AND my parents... and I'm recommending it to all of my friends who still think they can beat the market willy nilly. A must read, for sure.