In Figuring It Out: Answers to the Most Difficult Investment Questions, world-renowned investing and finance guru Charles D. Ellis delivers a robust collection of incisive essays on an array of perennial and contemporary investing issues, from the rise and fall of performance investing to a compilation of essential investing guidelines.
In the book, you’ll also find eye-opening discussions of: - Whether bonds are an appropriate investment vehicle for long-term investors - The costs of excessive liquidity in the typical portfolio - The characteristics of successful investment firms, and how to spot them
A can’t-miss resource for the everyday retail investor, author Charles Ellis draws on a lifetime of distinguished client service in the financial markets to reward readers with common-sense and accessible advice that deserves to be followed by anyone with an interest in maximizing their investment returns over the long haul.
Table of Contents
Foreword ix
Note on the Text xi
Introduction xiii
1 The Changing Game 1
2 The Loser’s Game 35
3 The Winners’ Game 47
4 The Winner’s Game II 61
5 The Rise and Fall of Performance Investing 73
6 Seven Rules for More Innovative Portfolio Management in an Age of Discontinuity 89
7 Will Success Spoil Performance Investing? 93
8 To Get Performance, You Have to Be Organized for It 99
9 Investing Success in Two Easy Lessons 107
10 The End of Active Investing? 111
11 In Defense of Active Investing 119
12 Murder on the Orient Express: The Mystery of Underperformance 127
13 Best Practice Investment Committees 141
14 Levels of the Game 157
15 An Invitation to Winning 163
16 Small Slam! 167
17 A Lesson from Seaside Cemetery 171
18 Tommy Armour on Investing 173
19 Ted Williams’ Great Lessons for Investors 177
20 Symptoms and Signs 181
21 Lessons from the Warwick and Château Chambord 191
22 Investment Management Fees Are Higher Than We Think 199
23 Computer People May Be Planning a Revolution 203
24 Characteristics of Successful Investment Firms 207
25 A New Paradigm of Investment Management 215
26 Lessons on Grand Strategy 221
27 Pension Funds Need MORE Management MANAGEMENT 227
28 The Significance of 65 233
29 Where Were We? 237
30 Hard Choices: Where Are We Now? 243
31 Bonds for Long-Term Investors? 251
32 What Role Should Bonds Play? 261
33 Too Much Liquidity Will Cost You 265
34 Letter to My Grandkids: 12 Essential Investing Guidelines 269
35 Miss Sally’s Attic 277
36 Ben Graham: Ideas as Mementos 281
37 The Corporate Tax Cut 291
38 Repurchase Stock to Revitalize Equity 295
39 Anti-Trust, Bank Mergers, and the PNB Decision 315
Index 325
