Lasting Wealth Is A Matter Of Timing [Hardcover]

John K. Sosnowy (Author), Richard J. Maturi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1996 | ISBN-10: 0960729836 | ISBN-13: 978-0960729838

Baby boomers and other investors risk losing a good part of their financial nest eggs unless they take sufficient precaution to avoid letting the next bear market devour their portfolios.

Investment manager John Sosnowy shows investors how to avoid the financial debacle that looms in the turbulent days ahead.

Inside this book, Sosnowy:

* exposes the fallacies inherent in "buy and hold" and "passive asset allocation" investment strategies.
* shows how to save boomers from bust.
* advises how retirees can avoid financial suicide.
* illustrates how you can make money in down markets.
* discusses why you must manage investment risk.
* teaches you how to achieve superior risk-adjusted returns.
* proves that market timing is a viable strategy that works in the hands of a professional.
* introduces several new and exciting investment products and tax savings strategies.
* rebukes the conventional wisdom of dollar-cost averaging.
* lays the foundation for the younger generation to accumulate and keep lasting wealth.

Editorial Reviews

Review

At last-a lucid and well-balanced book for the small investor about the benefits of market timing. -- Steve Shellans, Editor, MoniResearch Newsletter

Baby boomers can't afford not to read it, lest they become Baby Busteds. -- Joseph Ludwig, President, Tandem Financial Services, Inc.

I applaud your collective efforts in producing a well documented, well organized, and clearly illustrated presentation...This book is must reading for every serious investor seeking to secure his or her financial future. -- Walter J. Loick, Founder and Chairman, LBS Capital Management

I recommend it for anyone interested in learning how to maintain their purchasing power during bull and bear markets. -- Skip Viragh, Founder and President, Rydex Series Trust

In Lasting Wealth Is A Matter Of Timing, John Sosnowy exposes the fallacy of the buy-and-hold investment strategy and shows the value of market timing. The disciplined approach to risk management that John presents will enable investors to follow this advice through both bull and (the inevitable) bear markets. -- Robert R. Champion, President, Champion Securities Corporation

Lasting Wealth Is A Matter Of Timing is a must read for all mutual fund investors and every baby boomer looking for a well financed retirement. John's message dispels the myths of timing and gets to the truth of the matter. -- Marshall L. Schield, President, Schield Management Company

Recommended reading for investors of all ages. -- Bruce Katz, Director, Zweig/Avatar Capital Management

The buy and hold investor that ignores John Sosnowy's risk protection philosophy is holding a ticking bomb in his hands. -- Tom Basso, President, Trendstat Capital Mgt., Inc., Featured in The New Market Wizards

This book is so informative, so useful and so easy to read that I wish I was the one who wrote it. -- Peter Mauthe, President, Core Asset Management Co. and President, Society of Asset Allocators & Fund Timers, Inc.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Lasting Wealth Is A Matter Of Timing! What does this title really mean? The key word here is lasting. Ideally, I would bet that you would like to accumulate a financial nest egg that could guarantee you an income stream that you could never outlive...no matter how long you love, no matter how high inflation rises, no matter how high tax rates become, no matter how the economy performs, no matter if the stock market crashes, and no matter what unforeseen events occur. I know I would like that guarantee.

Unfortunately, accumulation wealth and retaining wealth (having lasting wealth) are two different matters. Look at the entertainers and athletes who earn millions and millions and have nothing to show for it after their careers have ended. I learned about retaining wealth firsthand in 1987 as some of my clients with a 60 percent allocation in equities suffered significant drawdowns from large nest eggs built during the late 1970s and 1980s. Fortunately, the setback proved only temporary. But what if there had not been a quick rebound? What if the market decline had only been the beginning of a prolonged bear market like that experienced during 1973-74 or 1929-33? Likewise, what if during that extended period of low stock prices, those investors were retired and making regular withdrawals to meet living expenses? While it would have been tough for these clients who were only partially allocated in stocks, it would have been an absolute disaster for millions of investors who were 100 percent invested in the stock market.

In my opinion, many well-known financial advisors are setting up their clients for a financial massacre by selling the notion that the longer you own stocks, the lower the risk. In plain terms, this is nothing but hogwash! The truth is, the longer you own equities, the higher the probability that you are going to own equities during the next great stock market debacle and lose your financial rear end in the process.

I believe we received a warning shot across the bow in 1987, one we should ignore only to the detriment of our financial well-being. That warning signal made me realize that simple asset allocation strategies and techniques will not save us from financial disaster during a full blown bear market. If asset allocation fails to provide adequate protection in the face of a bear market, where should you turn to safeguard your financial wealth? In Lasting Wealth Is A Matter Of Timing, you will discover how only a total commitment to a disciplined risk management strategy such as market timing or tactical asset allocation is likely to save our generation and future generations from irreparable financial damage.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: 21st Century Pub (November 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0960729836
• ISBN-13: 978-0960729838
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,796,457 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars To Win The Investing Game You Have To Both Hold And Fold!, February 6, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Rye Beach, NH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lasting Wealth Is A Matter Of Timing (Hardcover)

An insightful refute to the "buy and hold" theory, which contends that risk of loss diminishes with time. Mr. Sosnowy effectively presents the alternate view that longer holding periods also increase the probability of owning equities during a major stock market crash or series of crashes. During a crash stocks go down a lot faster than they went up. Many years worth of gains may disappear in a fews of days.

I recommend this book very highly. Mr. Sosnowy provides a convincing case that this time is not different, and that stocks have probably not reached a "permanently high plateau."

He suggests that investors use dynamic asset allocation/market timing to capture 80% of market gains and avoid 80% of market losses. He provides convincing evidence that this stragegy will provide investors with superior overall returns than buy and hold. Especially as 60-70% of investment returns are the result of overall stock market performance.

Sosnowy makes the case that many of the legendary great investors, such as, Warren Buffet, Peter Lynch, and John Cabot were also "closet market timers."

In summary you will have more money in the end if you can avoid bear markets. To succeed in the investment game, its just as important to preserve capital as to increase it. As Charlie Munger once said, " you have to spend as much time trying not to be stupid as you spend trying to be smart." You may miss the opportunity to buy at the very bottom, but you will also miss the financial pain of watching your stocks go down significantly in value.

"There is no investment for all times, however, there is a time for all investments." Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Dissapointing, December 10, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Lasting Wealth Is A Matter Of Timing (Hardcover)

Promised so much, delivered a flyer for the use of professional fund managers and the use of his proprietry indicators. If only he had divulged a little more about the indicators he uses and a little less of the obvious - such as the idea that if you can make sure you are not in the stockmarket during the worst performing periods you should do better than if you have a buy and hold strategy.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Like a bad movie, that you needed to finish, October 28, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Lasting Wealth Is A Matter Of Timing (Hardcover)

As a sole-proprietary trader, I found this too basic. He should retitle the book to "why you need to market-time (but not how to market-time)"

Geeze, what a disappointment! But, the good thing to come out of this was reading my own thoughts that I had come up from years of experience. He did a good job of summarizing my own unsubstantive knowledge. Maybe, I will find substance in the area of finance called "market timing" (not to be confused with asset allocation or technical analysis as it so often is) in some other book... Why did he get 2 stars? He is graded on a curve. I have read worse. If you are desperate for this book as I was, promise yourself to return it, if you don't like it.