The Investor's Guide to Active Asset Allocation: Using Technical Analysis and ETFs to Trade the Markets [Hardcover]

Martin J. Pring (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 24, 2006

The Investor's Guide to Active Asset Allocation offers you the background and analytical tools required to take full advantage of the opportunities found in asset allocation, sector rotation, ETFs, and the business cycle.

Written by renowned technical analyst and best-selling author Martin Pring, the book presents Mr. Pring's unique Six Business Cycle Stages, explaining why certain asset categories perform better or worse during different phases of the business cycle, and demonstrating how to use intermarket tools and technical analysis to recognize what business cycle stage the market is in.

Pring shows you how to apply active asset allocation, rotating among sectors and major markets (stocks, bonds, and futures) as the business cycle stage changes, to develop optimum allocation strategies. He focuses on exchange traded funds (ETFs) as the best vehicle for asset allocation rotation, since they are easily traded and have much more flexibility than mutual funds. He also offers specific guidelines for what sectors to be in, depending on the business cycle stage.

The Investor's Guide to Active Asset Allocation provides you with proven investing expertise on:

Basic Principles of Money Management

How the Business Cycle Drives the Prices of Bonds, Stocks, and Commodities

The Pring Six Business Cycle Stages

Technical Tools that Help to Identify Trend Reversals

Putting Things into a Long-Term Perspective

Recognizing Stages Using Easy-to-Follow Indicators as well as Models

How the Ten Market Sectors Fit into the Rotation Process

How Individual Sectors and Groups Performed in Each of the Six Stages

Asset Allocation for Specific Stages

This dynamic investing resource features a CD-ROM, which contains supplementary information that will help you execute the strategies described in the book. You'll find live links to useful web sites that contain a wide-ranging library of ETFs, database sources, historical data files in Excel format, and a collection of historical multi-colored PowerPoint charts.

An essential tool for improving your analytical skills, The Investor's Guide to Active Asset Allocation shows you how to move from a passive to an active allocation model and explains the link between business cycle and stock market cycle for more effective - and profitable - trading and investing.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

[BACK COVER]

[Category:] Financing and Investing

The Asset Allocation Tools You Need to Capitalize on Every Stage of the Business Cycle

In The Investor's Guide to Active Asset Allocation, Martin Pring, one of today's most respected technical analysts and top investment authors, shows you how to develop winning active asset allocation strategies by rotating among sectors and major markets as the stages of the business cycle change.

Pring starts by describing his unique concept of the Six Business Cycle Stages, explaining why certain assets and market sectors perform better or worse during different phases of the business cycle. He then shows how to use technical and intermarket analysis to recognize what business cycle stage the market is in, focusing on exchange traded funds (ETFs) as the best vehicle for asset allocation rotation.

Filled with step-by-step guidelines and easy-access charts, The Investor's Guide to Active Asset Allocation equips you with:

_

Pring's unique Six Stages of the Business Cycle, which will help you:

understand the market better and lead to more effective sector rotation

Specific investing recommendations for each stage of the business cycle

An explanation of the key intermarket relationships that drive the cycle

An understanding of the link between the business cycle and how it influences the performance of stocks, bonds, and commodities

Bond, stock, and commodities strategies that have proven profitable over the past fifty years

CD-ROM with historical data files and live web site links

[FLAP COPY]

Since the stock market fallout of the early 2000s, investors have come to understand that buy-and-hold may not always be the best strategy. Throughout the investment and finance community, there is now a greater appreciation of the importance of sector rotation within a business cycle.

The Investor's Guide to Active Asset Allocation offers you the background and analytical tools required to take full advantage of the opportunities found in asset allocation, sector rotation, ETFs, and the business cycle.

Written by renowned technical analyst and best-selling author Martin Pring, the book presents Mr. Pring's unique Six Business Cycle Stages, explaining why certain asset categories perform better or worse during different phases of the business cycle, and demonstrating how to use intermarket tools and technical analysis to recognize what business cycle stage the market is in.

Pring shows you how to apply active asset allocation_rotating among sectors and major markets (stocks, bonds, and futures) as the business cycle stage changes_to develop optimum allocation strategies. He focuses on exchange traded funds (ETFs) as the best vehicle for asset allocation rotation, since they are easily traded and have much more flexibility than mutual funds. He also offers specific guidelines for what sectors to be in, depending on the business cycle stage.

The Investor's Guide to Active Asset Allocation provides you with proven investing expertise on:

_

Basic Principles of Money Management _ How the Business Cycle Drives the Prices of Bonds, Stocks, and Commodities

The Pring Six Business Cycle Stages

Technical Tools that Help to Identify Trend Reversals

Putting Things into a Long-Term Perspective

Recognizing Stages Using Easy-to-Follow Indicators as well as Models

How the Ten Market Sectors Fit into the Rotation Process

How Individual Sectors and Groups Performed in Each of the Six Stages

Asset Allocation for Specific Stages

This dynamic investing resource features a CD-ROM, which contains supplementary information that will help you execute the strategies described in the book. You'll find live links to useful web sites that contain a wide-ranging library of ETFs, database sources, historical data files in Excel format, and a collection of historical multi-colored PowerPoint charts.

An essential tool for improving your analytical skills, The Investor's Guide to Active Asset Allocation shows you how to move from a passive to an active allocation model and explains the link between business cycle and stock market cycle for more effective - and profitable - trading and investing.

About the Author

Martin Pring, one of today's most distinguished technical analysts, is president of Pring.com, a financial educational website. He is also editor of the esteemed newsletter, The Intermarket Review, which covers the stock and bond markets, futures, and commodities. Mr. Pring is the author of numerous highly acclaimed books, including Technical Analysis Explained, and has contributed to leading financial publications, such as Barron's, Futures, and Investment Vision.

About the Author

Martin J. Pring is president of the International Institute for Economic Research and editor of two newsletters including The Intermarket Review. He has written for a number of financial publications, including Barron's and Futures, and is a sought-after speaker for conferences around the world.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (May 24, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071466851
• ISBN-13: 978-0071466851
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #480,722 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Business Cycle Approach to ETF Asset Allocation, August 30, 2006

By 

L. Masonson (Monroe, New York USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Investor's Guide to Active Asset Allocation: Using Technical Analysis and ETFs to Trade the Markets (Hardcover)

Asset allocation is one of the most critical aspects of investing. Unfortunately, too many investors do not pay as much attention to asset allocation as they should, typically resulting in inferior investment performance. After reading Pring's book, investors will have a clear-cut methodology on which factors are important to a well-adjusted portfolio, as well as how to use ETFs to build the portfolio.

Based upon the author's extensive knowledge of technical analysis, his numerous educational seminars, his newsletter, and previous books, Pring provides investors with a detailed step-by-step guide to asset allocation. In addition, the book comes with a very useful CD-ROM and workbook reference to provide additional insights and further clarification of his key points.

After reviewing the basics of diversification and wonders of compounding, Pring focuses on the typical business cycle covering the rate of change, chronological sequence of events, and using indicators to determine the sequence. In a later chapter he depicts the six business cycle stages and how to recognize each one using specific indicators. He also covers trend lines, moving averages, overbought/oversold, relative strength (not RSI), divergences, and his unique KST indicators.

Pring explains long-term cycles and ways to determine the direction of the secular trend, and then how the business cycle drives prices of stocks, bonds and commodities. He illustrates how the ten market sectors move in a rotational process through the six stages.

Pring believes that ETFs are a good way to diversify a portfolio and provides and introductory chapter on ETF families and their make-up. He shows how to use ETFs in a sector rotation approach.

In summary, Pring provides investors and traders with a well thought out methodology combining the business cycle changes, sector rotation, and ETF portfolio. This 370-page book and accompanying CD-ROM require many hours of study to get the most from it, but the impact on an investor's portfolio performance can be substantial.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best, January 17, 2008

By 

Husam Abu-Haimed (California, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Investor's Guide to Active Asset Allocation: Using Technical Analysis and ETFs to Trade the Markets (Hardcover)

This is the best book I have seen on business cycles for investors. It describes business cycles, what causes them, and how they develop through the different stages. It does an excellent job at that.

The book also shows how to recognise the 6 different stages of the business cycle using 3 main approaches: (1) market action, (2) economic indicators, and (3) economic models. I have not seen a better presentation anywhere else.

Finally, the book describes how the 10 main industry sectors of the economy behave in the different stages of the business cycle. Then, it shows how the investor can use ETFs (one chapter is devoted to introducing ETFs) for the sector rotation process. The book also suggests portfolios for each stage of the business cycle.

This is one of the best finance/economics books I have read. I strongly recommend it to every investor.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An interesting Subject, April 6, 2007

By 

N. Demir Kupeli (Ankara, Turkey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Investor's Guide to Active Asset Allocation: Using Technical Analysis and ETFs to Trade the Markets (Hardcover)

This book covers the subject of how to invest regarding business cycles. This is an interesting subject and this is a well organized book, yet not well written/composed, that is, it is hard to comprehend the matter because of the way it is written with too many unnecessary details. There is another book of this kind, John Murphy's "Intermarket Analysis". But this time, although the Murphy's book is well written/composed, it is not well organized that much of the Pring's book. In fact, Pring's book is a derivation from his book "Technical Analysis Explained". Perhaps reading Pring's book on technical analysis together with Murphy's book could be better to comprehend the subject.