Investment Philosophies: Successful Strategies and the Investors Who Made Them Work

(10 customer reviews)

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PDF

Pages

609

Published Date

2012

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Description

The guide for investors who want a better understanding of investment strategies that have stood the test of time. This thoroughly revised and updated edition of Investment Philosophies covers different investment philosophies and reveal the beliefs that underlie each one, the evidence on whether the strategies that arise from the philosophy actually produce results, and what an investor needs to bring to the table to make the philosophy work. The book covers a wealth of strategies including indexing, passive and activist value investing, growth investing, chart/technical analysis, market timing, arbitrage, and many more investment philosophies.

Why Do You Need An Investment Philosophy?

Most investors have no investment philosophy, and the same can be said about many money managers and professional investment advisers. They adopt investment strategies that seem to work (for other investors) and abandon them when they do not. Why, you might ask, if this is possible, do you need an investment philosophy? The answer is simple. In the absence of an investment philosophy, you will tend to shift from strategy to strategy simply based on a strong sales pitch from a proponent or perceived recent success. There are three negative consequences for your portfolio:

  1. Lacking a rudder or a core set of beliefs, you will be easy prey for charlatans and pretenders, with each one claiming to have found the magic strategy that beats the market.
  2. As you switch from strategy to strategy, you will have to change your portfolio, resulting in high transaction costs, and you will pay more in taxes.
  3. While there may be strategies that do work for some investors, they may not be appropriate for you, given your objectives, risk aversion, and personal characteristics. In addition to having a portfolio that underperforms the market, you are likely to find yourself with an ulcer or worse.

With a strong sense of core beliefs, you will have far more control over your destiny. Not only will you be able to reject strategies that do not fit your core beliefs about markets, but you will also be able to tailor investment strategies to your needs. In addition, you will be able to get much more of a big picture view of both what it is that is truly different across strategies and what they have in common.

Contents:

  • Upside, Downside: Understanding Risk
  • Numbers Don’t Lie—Or Do They?
  • Show Me the Money: The Basics of Valuation
  • Many a Slip: Trading, Execution, and Taxes
  • Too Good to Be True? Testing Investment Strategies
  • Smoke and Mirrors? Price Patterns, Volume Charts, and Technical Analysis
  • Graham’s Disciples: Value Investing
  • The Allure of Growth: Small Cap and Growth Investing
  • Information Pays: Trading on News
  • A Sure Profit: The Essence of Arbitrage
  • The Impossible Dream? Timing the Market
  • Ready to Give Up? The Allure of Indexing
  • A Road Map to Choosing an Investment Philosophy
Investment Philosophies: Successful Strategies and the Investors Who Made Them Work By Aswath Damodaran pdf
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10 reviews for Investment Philosophies: Successful Strategies and the Investors Who Made Them Work

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  1. Michael Fleming (verified owner)

    Damodaran has again well articulated and broken the world of investing down into simple and easily understood terms without getting everything overly complex. The books itself points out the multitude of investment strategies and philiosophies which will help a reader understand why many things happen and why their or such differing views on investing in general.

    I especially liked the way he broke down Risk in the beginning of the book, though I feel the book doesn’t get into the issues surrounding such things as that the statistical view of risk is slightly flawed in its current form considering that the distribution of returns cannot be continuous. However, he interestingly get readers to understand some of the basics of the different ways to view Risk like the symmetrical returns assumption and the idea of semi- and co- variance.

    This book is for anyone who will be in the field of Finance, investing, portfolio management, consulting or anyone who is interested in how people currently view and have valued businesses or investments in general should definately read this book. Few people have put together this complete and easy to understand volume on the topic. Damodaran does it again!

  2. Ellie Morrison (verified owner)

    There are many different styles of investment, such as value investment, day trading, and more. Each style is driven by an underlying philosophy, and this book is a great comparison of the most popular ones.

  3. Karsyn Arellano (verified owner)

    A balanced and thoughtful book describing current investment philosophies, accompanying the reader in analyzing the pros and cons of each one. It’s not an easy-to-read book for a beginner, although most of the terminology is explained clearly and simply.

    It highlights in all its parts the exhaustive knowledge of Professor Damodaran, his ability to explain complex concepts in a clear way, and every argument is supported by research publications in the field.

    It’s not a book that provides advice or magic formulas, particularly difficult undertaking considering we all have prejudices, especially in the field of investment. Piutosto provides a rich and complete picture, and suggests which philosophy is best suited to one’s personality, because in the end (even if he did not write directly in these terms) we are our worst enemies if we invest with a philosophy diametrically opposed to our character.

    Personally it opened my eyes to arguments that I had not previously considered, to favourable points and not of philosophies that I knew, and to philosophies that I had never taken into consideration, even after almost 10 years of investing and readings on the subject. It’s definitely a book I’ll reread, and that I’ll always hold by hand as a reference book.

  4. Melvin Huff (verified owner)

    For next level Investment and Financial education

  5. Silas Salazar (verified owner)

    Was expecting to see the investment philosophies of several successful investors and how it contributed to their investing success.

    This was not that!

    Pretty boring and not useful for me.

  6. Payton Castro (verified owner)

    great book

  7. Jasper Gordon (verified owner)

    Excellent

  8. Alena Lopez (verified owner)

    Great book for developing your investment style and refinement.

  9. Fatima Jimenez (verified owner)

    Very very good

  10. Freya Knapp (verified owner)

    This is an incredibly detailed and thorough review of investment strategies, like investing in index funds, timing the market, IPO investing, and others. Aswath presents the evidence supporting and not supporting the returns from the different investment strategies which allows you to make an informed decision on which investment strategy is best for your personality, financial profile, and risk tolerance.

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