Guide to Investment Strategy: How to Understand Markets, Risk, Rewards And Behavior (Economist (Hardcover)) [Hardcover]

Peter Stanyer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2006

With detailed analysis supported by data and anecdotes drawn from investment experiences, this practical guide emphasizes the importance of basing recommendations for investment strategy on the principles of traditional finance.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Advance praise for this book has been quite enthusiastic, both from professionals in finance and from academia.

"Peter Stanyer has laid out potentially very complex issues in a practical and investor-friendly fashion." - Christopher Hyzy, Chief Investment Stragegist, U.S. Trust

"Many investors have substantial business expertise and experience in specific capital markets. But such knowledge is not enough. Success requires an integrated view of the investment problem and of the full range of investment products. Peter Stanyer's excellent guide to strategy provides exactly this, summarizing the latest thinking in a concise, readable format." - John Y. Campbell, Department of Economics, Harvard University

"This book provides a thoughtful and incisive appraisl of the optimal approach to long-term investment, drawing on historical data, the latest academic studes, and best practices among institutional investors. It will be essential reading for investment advisors and private bankers as well as individual investors seeking to preserve and grow wealth." - John P. Calverley, Chief Economist and Strategist, American Express Bank

"Peter Stanyer uses both his practical investment experience and recent developments in financial economics to tackle many of the more important and compex decisions faced by investors. Don't expect to fine easy answers; do expect to be stimulated." - Richard Brealey, Emeritus Professor of Finance, London Business School

About the Author

Stanyer, painter who has exhibited his work in numerous shows, is a dedicated teacher who conducts highly regarded art courses in London for students at all levels.

Shanta Acharya is Associate Director of the Initiative on Foundation and Endowment Asset Management at London Business School. Previously, she worked as an investment professional in Morgan Stanley Asset Management, Swiss Bank Corporation Portfolio Management International, Baring Asset Management
and Bank of Ireland Asset Management. She holds a D.Phil from Oxford and was a Visiting Scholar at Harvard. Elroy Dimson is BGI Professor of Investment Management at London Business School, where he has served as Governor, chaired the Finance and Accounting groups, and been Dean of the MBA and
Executive MBA programmes. His visiting positions have included the Bank of England and the Universities of Chicago and California (Berkeley). Formerly President of the European Finance Association, Dr Dimson has published widely on investment management. He has advised foundations and endowments
across Europe and the United States.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 250 pages
• Publisher: Bloomberg Press; 1 edition (September 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576602370
• ISBN-13: 978-1576602379
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #920,270 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars like drinking from a fire-hose, June 13, 2007

By 

KaGe (nashville, TN) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Guide to Investment Strategy: How to Understand Markets, Risk, Rewards And Behavior (Economist (Hardcover)) (Hardcover)

The main thrust of this book is that disastrous outcomes are far more likely than people would like to think, esp if they feel they "know" a certain market. it spends a lot of time justifying the need for diversification and how people respond to risk and adverse outcomes (behavioral economics).

definitely directed at the deep pocketed and (would-be?) financial managers who invest large sums of money (for themselves or others). it does not give you a strategy to follow (any good book CANNOT).

it also tries to show both sides: it says equities can have more risk than people imagine and also says that given past performance long term investors may be bullish on equities (esp when compared with "safe haven" treasuries). it suggests that the investors value their appetite for risk and reward and invest accordingly.

though it frequently resorts to tables and graphs, it is not super technical but does try to cover a lot of jargon and work by current economic research.

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost perfect, September 13, 2009

By 

V. Jivov (Russia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Guide to Investment Strategy: How to Understand Markets, Risk, Rewards And Behavior (Economist (Hardcover)) (Hardcover)

Despite the fact that I have an experience of over 20 years I found this book interesting. I would make language a bit easier, otherwise it is perfect

4.0 out of 5 stars wise and a bit dense, August 22, 2008

By 

drollere (Sebastopol, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Guide to Investment Strategy: How to Understand Markets, Risk, Rewards And Behavior (Economist (Hardcover)) (Hardcover)

i bought this among a half dozen or so investment guides as schooling for choosing new portfolio advisors. the advice here is well informed by industry contacts and professional experience and illustrated by incisive graphs. the benefit here is the bracingly conservative perspective: cash (or the market equivalent, such as t bills) is the benchmark investor standard, and forays into anything other than cash need to be evaluated with a sober eye to the downside risks, as the past two bull/bear cycles have schooled us all. investments in bonds or equities or exotics need to fit both the investor psychology (nervous or serene) and portfolio time horizons (which defines the investor's "natural habitat"); this is a process constrained by substantial uncertainties, and by risks that the capital asset pricing model underestimates. my complaint is that the insights pass by rather quickly in a discursive, passive voice presentation (also my complaint with the economist magazine/newspaper, publisher of this book): one must read some sections twice to glean the message. the tone is also interpretive rather than descriptive, so the discussion can plunge into specific technical issues (such as "good and bad beta") without laying out, for example, what beta is, how it is used, and how it has fared as a metric of investment risk. but the value of this book is to have the full range of investment opportunites, from cash to hedge funds, cdo's, currencies and real estate, laid out as a synoptic and judicious narrative for informed readers and, especially, readers who have bit once bit by market volatility or day trading the chinese market.