Unconventional Success
author of Pioneering Portfolio Management, the definitive template for institutional fund management, returns with a book that shows individual investors how to manage their financial assets. In Unconventional Success, investment legend David F. Swensen offers incontrovertible evidence that the for-profit mutual fund industry consistently fails the average investor. From excessive management fees to the frequent "churning" of portfolios, the relentless pursuit of profits by mutual fund management companies harms individual clients. Perhaps most destructive of all are the hidden schemes that limit investor choice and reduce returns, including "pay-to-play" product-placement fees, stale-price trading scams, soft-dollar kickbacks, and 12b-1 distribution charges. Even if investors manage to emerge unscathed from an encounter with the profit-seeking mutual fund industry, individuals face the likelihood of self-inflicted pain. The common practice of selling losers and buying winners (and doing both too often) damages portfolio returns and increases tax liabilities, delivering a one-two punch to investor aspirations. In short: Nearly insurmountable hurdles confront ordinary investors. Swensen's solution? A contrarian investment alternative that promotes well-diversified, equity-oriented, "market-mimicking" portfolios that reward investors who exhibit the courage to stay the course.
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8recommend
10mentions
9people
2009–2022years
90% recommend10% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Economics is supply/demand.
I would focus on investing, particularly defensive investing.
1. 'The Intelligent Investor' By Benjamin Graham 2. 'David F. Swensen' Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment
If you want the easiest allocation possible put some portion of your paycheck in an S&P500 fund and in 40 years you should have enough for retirement.
Good luck!
- I like "Unconventional Success" by David Swensen, who was Yale's endowment manager for a while (and his apprentices now run several Ivy endowments). Very Bogle-esque
- FWIW this would be my list of books every investor should read, which is different from what you should read to work in finance but anyway ...
Capital Ideas: The Improbable Origins of Modern Wall Street by Peter L. Bernstein. A lively introduction to the theoretical foundations of modern finance and their history, Markowitz, Sharpe, etc. https://www.amazon.com/Capital-Ideas-Improbable-Origins-Mode...
The Essays of Warren Buffett : Lessons for Corporate America by Warren E. Buffett. In his own words...you can also find many if not all online, on Berkshire website https://www.amazon.com/The-Essays-Warren-Buffett-Corporate/d...
Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist by Roger Lowenstein. Insightful biography...The Snowball was written more recently with Buffett's approval, but would read this one first https://www.amazon.com/Buffett-American-Capitalist-Roger-Low...
Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings by Philip A. Fisher. It's not widely appreciated, but Warren Buffett's method is 50% Ben Graham and 50% Phil Fisher. If you can find value stocks that are also great franchises, and hold onto them for dear life, you will be rich... if you also bet big, operate companies well, don't screw up, live in a bull market era and survive long enough, maybe as rich as Buffett. https://www.amazon.com/Common-Stocks-Uncommon-Profits-Writin...
The Intelligent Investor: A Book of Practical Counsel by Benjamin Graham. Classic introduction to value investing https://www.amazon.com/The-Intelligent-Investor-Practical-Co...
Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment by David F. Swensen. Asset allocation, and the perils of mutual funds...leading endowment investor of our time (Yale) gives his advice for individuals https://www.amazon.com/Unconventional-Success-Fundamental-Ap...
The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor by Howard Marks. Lessons in investing... at any time, any one of them can be 'the most important thing' and so they all are jointly and severally 'the most important thing'. https://www.amazon.com/The-Most-Important-Thing-Thoughtful/d...
The Investor's Anthology: Original Ideas from the Industry's Greatest Minds (Vols 1 and 2) by Charles D. Ellis (Editor), James R. Vertin (Editor). Essays from a broad selection of writers https://www.amazon.com/The-Investors-Anthology-Industrys-Inv... https://www.amazon.com/Classics-II-Another-Investors-Antholo...
The Money Masters; The New Money Masters; Money Masters of Our Time, by John Train. Methodologies of all-time great money managers, in their own words https://www.amazon.com/The-Money-Masters-John-Train/dp/08873... https://www.amazon.com/Money-Masters-Time-John-Train/dp/0887... https://www.amazon.com/New-Money-Masters-John-Train/dp/08873...
Market Wizards; The New Market Wizards; Hedge Fund Market Wizards, by Jack D. Schwager. Interviews of successful traders https://www.amazon.com/Market-Wizards-Jack-D-Schwager/dp/088... https://www.amazon.com/The-New-Market-Wizards-Conversations/... https://www.amazon.com/Hedge-Fund-Market-Wizards-Winning/dp/...
Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises by Charles P. Kindleberger. Why good markets go bad https://www.amazon.com/Manias-Panics-Crashes-Financial-Inves...
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefevre. Fictionalized biography of a famed early-20th century trader https://www.amazon.com/Reminiscences-Stock-Operator-Edwin-Le...
A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Best and Latest Investment Advice Money Can Buy by Burton G. Malkiel. Reality check from an efficient market theorist https://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/03933...
This is a rollicking good read on links between Shannon, Kelly, Thorpe, who wrote 'Beat the Dealer' and was maybe the first hedge fund legend https://www.amazon.com/Fortunes-Formula-Scientific-Betting-C...
And maybe something on technical analysis, but not really sure what to recommend...a lot of people view it kind as mumbo jumbo, but I kind of think fundamentals are like playing your poker hand, technicals are like playing the opponents' tells...the chart gives you an idea of who owns it at what price, what levels might make people rethink positions. Maybe this one as an easy intro, dumb title notwithstanding https://www.amazon.com/Stan-Weinsteins-Secrets-Profiting-Mar...
- If you are in the VC scene, presumably you have a decent amount of investment capital. I think what you need to focus on is not so much the equity selection (i.e. short/buy Twilio), but on asset class allocation. You should pick up David Swensen's Unconventional Success to understand the details of why asset allocation is by far the most effective method to maximize returns in the long run.
So, instead of shorting Twilio, you should be thinking about the expected return from the VC fund, and how to re-allocate your investments. I'd assume that the VC funds are giving you outsized returns in the recent years, so you should try to balance your portolio by making investments in the real estate, natural resources, mutual funds space, etc.
- Buy her a copy of David Swensen's book for individual investors, "Unconventional Success." Anyone who still believes in market timing after reading that just can't be helped.
- For anyone interested, I highly recommend David Swensen's book "Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment." Swensen is the highly successful manager of Yale's endowment. While no book on investing is without flaws, I have found it to be some of the most understandable, well-argued and supported advice around.
Short answer: he recommends a portfolio of low-cost index funds/ETFs covering several asset classes and regular rebalancing to target allocation weights. I have generally followed his advice to good effect using Vanguard index funds.
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