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The Intelligent Asset Allocator: How to Build Your Portfolio to Maximize Returns and Minimize Risk (Hardcover)

~ William Bernstein (Author) "Imagine that you work for your rich but eccentric Uncle Fred..." (more)
Key Phrases: international small stocks, math details, discounted dividend model, Uncle Fred, Pacific Rim, Dimensional Fund Advisors (more...)

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A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing (Revised and Updated) by Burton G. Malkiel
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Editorial Reviews

Review

A practicing neurologist in remote coastal Oregon, Bernstein comes to the problems of saving and investing not from a broker's perspective, but as someone who had to figure this out himself, from first principles up. (Business Week )

Product Description

Bernstein has become a guru to a peculiarly '90s group: well-educated, Internet-powered people intent on investing well--and with minimal ‘help' from professional Wall Street.--Robert Barker, BusinessWeek

William Bernstein is one of today's most unlikely financial heroes. A practicing neurologist, he used his self-taught investment knowledge and research to build a popular investor's website. Now, in the plain-spoken The Intelligent Asset Allocator, he shows independent investors how to build a diversified portfolio--without the help of a financial advisor.

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Product Details

Hardcover: 206 pages
Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (September 22, 2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0071362363
ISBN-13: 978-0071362368
Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (57 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #27,909 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
Popular in this category: (What's this?)
#55 in Books > Business & Investing > Personal Finance > Budgeting & Money Management

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Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
Imagine that you work for your rich but eccentric Uncle Fred. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
international small stocks, math details, discounted dividend model, precious metals stocks, uncorrelated assets, dynamic asset allocation, emerging markets stocks, asset allocation policy, annualized return, portfolio behavior, dividend growth rate, asset allocator, taxable accounts, index fund

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Uncle Fred, Pacific Rim, Dimensional Fund Advisors, Wall Street, Math Details, United States, Ben Graham, Standard Deviation Figure, Uncle Sam, Limited-Term Tax-Exempt Fund, Morgan Stanley Capital Indexes, Burton Malkiel, Dow Jones Industrial Average, Dow Jones Industrials, General Motors, Lake Wobegon, New York Stock Exchange

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 15 books:

Security Analysis: The Classic 1951 Edition by Benjamin Graham on 5 pages
A Random Walk Down Wall Street, Fourth Edition 1985 by Burton G. Malkiel on page 99, page 173, and Back Matter
A Random Walk Down Wall Street: Including a Life-Cycle Guide to Personal Investing by Burton G. Malkiel on page 99, page 173, and Back Matter
Stocks for the Long Run : The Definitive Guide to Financial Market Returns and Long-Term Investment Strategies by Jeremy J. Siegel on page 17, page 134, and Back Matter
The New Finance: The Case Against Efficient Markets (2nd Edition) by Robert A. Haugen on page 117, page 174, and Back Matter

See all 15 books this book cites

6 books cite this book:

Unofficial Guide to Getting a Divorce, Second Edition by Russell Wild in Back Matter
Agent-Based Simulation: From Modeling Methodologies to Real-World Applications: Post Proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Agent-Based Approaches ... Series on Agent Based Social Systems) by Takao Terano on page 156
The Handbook for Investment Committee Members: How to Make Prudent Investments for Your Organization (Wiley Finance) by Russell L. Olson in Back Matter
Your Client's Story by Scott West in Back Matter
The Informed Investor: A Hype-Free Guide to Constructing a Sound Financial Portfolio by Frank Armstrong in Back Matter

See all 6 books citing this book

Books on Related Topics (learn more)

The Intelligent Investor by Jason Zweig

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	10% buy The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio 4.5 out of 5 stars (92) $19.77
	6% buy All About Asset Allocation 4.7 out of 5 stars (31) $13.57
	5% buy The Investor's Manifesto: Preparing for Prosperity, Armageddon, and Everything in Between 4.9 out of 5 stars (7) $16.47

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Customer Reviews

57 Reviews

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

Average Customer Review

4.6 out of 5 stars (57 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

142 of 143 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How's Your 401(k)? Do It a Favor -- Read This Book, August 29, 2001

By	Scott Snyder (Northern California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I would have to agree with John Bogle's endorsement: "This is a great book!"
While Malkiel's Random Walk covers Modern Portfolio Theory, Bogle covers the virtues of index investing, and Graham, Lynch and Fisher cover individual stock selection, studies show that asset allocation alone is responsible for over 90% of a portfolio's performance in the long run. Yet asset allocation theory seems to me to be under-represented in the investment literature for non-professionals.
Bernstein's book goes a long way to correct this gap. He starts out almost too simply. Bernstein takes the reader step-by-step through a discussion of basic financial math and statistics (hitting variance and correlation coefficients in particular) as he builds the case and explanation behind asset diversification. He writes to an intelligent audience but does not assume a mathematical or financial background. I like that he encourages the reader to take a chapter at a time. He instructs the reader to finish the chapter, and then put the book down and get back to life. This adds to the methodical tone of the book: a step at a time.
In the final chapter "Odds and Ends" the author changes gears. Suddenly we are in the world of - well - odds and ends, the finer points of portfolio management. This was the most interesting part of the book for me. Here Bernstein reviews the case for index investing and - of special interest to me - value investing. What is the premium in returns for small vs. large caps, value vs. growth? Which MPT stat, P/E or P/B is the better predictor of future performance? Why is value averaging so important and yet so counter intuitive? This chapter alone was worth the price of the book.
Finally, Bernstein shares the wealth. The bibliography and recommending reading sections are terrific. This alone might be worth twice the price of the book.
In a time when we are all more intimately involved with the management of our retirement accounts, I cannot recommend this book highly enough to anyone and everyone. You cannot afford not to be familiar with the contents of this book. Highly recommended.

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241 of 255 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Word From Somebody in the Know, October 18, 2000

By	John Rekenthaler (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

I'm quoted on the back cover of Bill's book.

In my quote, I admit that Bill's smarter than me. True enough--but that doesn't really indicate that the book is any good. After all, a whole lot of bright people in financial services have written books, most of which are hazardous to your wealth.

Bill's book is different because Bill's personality is different. First, he's honest. He wants to be correct, not to get his hands on your money. Second, he has no apparent ego. If he believes something and you convince him otherwise, then he will happily change his belief. The first trait is uncommon among smart people who work in financial services. The second is rarer still.

This book isn't especially difficult to read but its concepts are profound. If you understand it, you will know more about the fundamental principles of investing than 99.9% of all MBAs and Chartered Financial Analysts. Eventually, I suspect, you'll end up richer for your troubles, as well.

Caveats. This book isn't for stock traders or anyone else who believes that they can get rich quickly. In addition, it's not beach reading. Although Bill writes very clearly and well, the book does take on serious material, so it demands serious attention. If you don't like to think, you won't enjoy the book.

If you're still with me, buy the darn thing!

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77 of 78 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Intelligent asset allocator, November 29, 2001

By	john a horstkamp (duluth, mn United States) - See all my reviews

This is a superb investment book. Bernstein first covers basic statistical topics and historical risk and return data for stocks, bonds and bills. He then presents a lucid discussion of portfolio theory and its applications for the small investor. The most important result of this theory is that the risk and return of a portfolio are very different from the risk and return of its constituent parts, so that adding a 'risky' asset to a portfolio can actually decrease the portfolio's overall volatility. This discussion requires only minimal mathematical background. Bernstein then takes on the controversial topic of market efficiency. He also describes stock valuation models, current valuation levels, growth and value investing, Fama and French's three factor model, the concept of the efficient frontier and numerous other important topics in finance. But the discussion throughout is very clear and understandable as well as practical. After making a compelling case for index investing with periodic rebalancing, Bernstein presents helpful Vanguard and DFA model portfolios. What the author has done is to take the most significant results from academic finance and translated them into English for the individual investor. He has done investors a great service.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but ...
This book of William Bernstein is really interesting, but...should be "addressed" to people that is much into number analysis, statistics and so on; I mean that the concepts are... Read more

Published 1 month ago by SILVIO CORRAO

5.0 out of 5 stars Expert Treatise On Asset Allocation
An excellent and scholarly work on asset allocation with pertinent historical data and simple understandable explanations of the mathematical concepts involved. Read more

Published 10 months ago by TAF

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read for Asset Allocation Planning
William Bernstein has written an excellent book on Asset Allocation. I was first introduced to the book at a local chapter of AAII. Read more

Published 15 months ago by John N. Dimling

2.0 out of 5 stars This book is not clear.
He tries to simplify the math. Result: Unclear explanations.
He mentions Markowitz allocation and says that the portfolio projected using historical parameters did poorly... Read more

Published 17 months ago by Flavio Cipparrone

2.0 out of 5 stars Does not meet expectation set in the title
From the title "How to Build Your Portfolio to Maximize Returns and Minimize Risk". The book fell short, by quite a large margin. Read more

Published 17 months ago by Michael P. Quinn

5.0 out of 5 stars The best "How To" book on Investing
This book is great from the perspective that it gives you a detailed look at historical returns using different investing methods and different asset classes. Read more

Published 18 months ago by E. Stroman

5.0 out of 5 stars Efficient Frontier Explained
My broker never told me what an "efficient frontier" was. Maybe he didn't know. Or maybe he thought I was too dull to know what it was. Read more

Published 20 months ago by David M. Patterson

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for the average investor
I maintain my own investments and am pretty familiar with different types of investments, but wanted a refresher on how to properly determine a good portfolio allocation for me... Read more

Published 23 months ago by Kevin Jacobson

4.0 out of 5 stars I know this stuff
This is hardly new stuff. Diversifying your assets so you don't have everything in one item is hardly new. It is dates back at least 2000 years ago in the Talmud. Read more

Published 23 months ago by BernardZ

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic book on investing
Anyone who is serious about investing in marketable securities should read this book and keep it handy as a reference guide. Read more

Published on July 7, 2007 by GORDON

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