Book Description
The bestselling 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. Swensen suggests implementing his nonconformist proposal with investor-friendly, not-for-profit investment companies such as Vanguard and TIAA-CREF. By avoiding actively managed funds and employing client-oriented mutual-fund managers, investors create the preconditions for investment success.
Bottom line? Unconventional Success provides the guidance and financial know-how for improving the personal investor's financial future.
Customer Reviews:
Investment to avoid-buying this book.......2007-09-02
While I have a lot of respect for Swensen's practical success with the endowment, his book has some great advice and some really poor advice. Swensen is to be commended for steering the investments from the '85 asset allocation to where it is today. It was visionary, courageous, very rewarding.
The author does a great job of advising investors to reduce exposure to US large cap equities, and the rationale behind it. He also makes a logical case for increasing exposure to various international equity and fixed income markets.
Where he goes astray, in my opinion, is by suggesting that investors look to index funds as a panacea for investing. While he and his team at Yale have found exceptional managers who bring value (above index returns, on a net of fee basis), he assumes that individual investors cannot. While few investors have the negotiating skill set he has (due to his Assets Under Management), individual investors who spend a few hours a month can find money managers via mutual funds that consistently outperform their peers and benchmarks.
Let me sum up his book for you: own a LOT more baskets to put your eggs in, than just the standard 5-6 you may have in your 401k, and invest in low cost index funds.
My suggestion: take the first bit of advice, and instead of low-cost index funds, find managers who consistently beat the indexes, and rebalance annually.
Oh, and borrow the book from the library instead of padding his wallet.
Its clear Mr. Swensen has never held the hand of an Individual Investor.......2007-07-21
I loved David Swensen's white paper about institutional portfolio construction; I liked his book on Pioneering Portfolio Management: An Unconventional Approach to Institutional Investment- with this book he stepped outside his area of expertise.
Among the rare few Investing Classics..........2007-04-26
This is a remarkably good book. Almost any investor will benefit from reading this book. Swensen distills a lot of wisdom into this volume touching on all aspects of Portfolio Policy. It would be rare for even very advanced investors to not gain a new insight or two from reading this book.
Having said that, I have a couple of issues with this book.
- Swensen's writing style is very labored. It was hard to read more than a few pages at a time. Not because the material was difficult, but because of his writing style.
- I am frankly puzzled by Swensen's glowing recommendation of Southeastern Asset Management (a Mutual Fund company that owns Longleaf Partners Funds). While Longleaf is a good fund outfit, I don't see how Longleaf is that much different from other, better Value style Mutual Fund companies out there. I don't see how Longleaf is any different from Dodge and Cox or Oakmark. I just don't see Longleaf being that special, so I am puzzled at Swensen's singling them out as exemplary. As I write this, Longleaf has one of the most expensive International Equity funds out there - with an Expense Ratio of 1.61%, compare that with an International Index Fund that you can buy at Vanguard for 25 basis points ! Charging almost 1.5%/year more in expenses will require some exceptional Active Management from Longleaf to generate returns, the odds are against investors in the active fund there.
A Standout Book!.......2007-03-29
This is an indispensable investment book in my opinion. Swensen clearly has an original and unique perspective on investing. There are plenty of books out there in favor of passive management, low costs, and asset-class investing. Here are some of the ideas and concepts he presents in this book that make him stand out from the crowd:
1. He believes treasuries are practically the only bonds worth considering for the individual investor. The chapter in which he discusses it is very interesting, and his arguments are compelling.
2. He is not a devout believer of efficient markets, and acknowledges that superior active performance can be attributed to skill. He explains that there are two games being played: short-term and long-term active management. Unfortunately, since most managers are pressured to have good annual, quarterly, or even monthly returns, they must think short-term, and are unable to invest for the longterm. The longterm game, consisting of far fewer players, is a completely different playing field.
3. He focuses an extraordinary amount of time on the profit-seeking behavior of mutual fund companies, and why they are detrimental to investors. Alignment of interests between shareholders and managers is a major theme in his book.
He suggests investors to construct a portfolio of passive, capitalization-weighted index funds (or ETF's), combined with treasuries and TIPS. Unlike Bogle and other pro-indexing gurus, Swensen seems to focus more on avoiding shareholder-unfriendliness than he is on the other benefits of index funds (style-purity, low costs, etc.). He also ignores Fama-French size and value factor loading, which is fine. There are other great books on portfolio design (William Bernstein is pretty much all you need to read on that subject).
My only complaint about the book is that he seems to enjoy reemphasizing points. Swensen will summarize his thoughts throughout the chapter, and one more time at the end of each chapter, and then a whole final chapter devoted to more summarizing. I think this book could have been 2/3rds the length with essentially the same content. However, that is a minor complaint, compared to the vast amount of knowledge I gained from reading the book. Highly recommended!
Interesting book, but not quite what I expected/wanted.......2007-03-15
Based on the title, the author's background, and the little I'd read about the book, I expected this to be mainly a 'how to' manual - how to best manage one's funds for maximum returns.
While there was some of that in the book, in fact the focus seemed more on castigating much of the financial industry for their misdeeds and greed. If you've read John Bogle's writings, you've seen some of this before, but Unconventional Success is perhaps even a bit more detailed and clear on the misalignment of interests between investors and financial products providers, and how that leads to the investors being taken for a ride in various ways.
So, there's a lot of "don't do this, don't buy that product"-type information in the book. As far as what he DOES recommend, he's relatively brief, and, IMO, doesn't go into enough detail. He advocates splitting your money among 6 major asset classes, and staying with low cost funds, mainly those offered by non-profit companies (Vanguard and TIAA-CREF). But there's not enough support for his statements that asset class X should be 15% of your portfolio and asset class Y should be some other percentage. He briefly discusses historical returns for asset classes and touches on some reasons why returns may differ going forward, but again, there's not much detail there.
Yale's endowment (which Swensen manages, very well) is known for unconventional investments (thus, perhaps, the book's title). But if you want to read about timber or other natural resources, or see much detail on why Yale's endowment is so successful, you won't find it here. Admittedly, many of the options available to Yale are not available to the common investor, or if they are, are so watered down with extra fees as to be unsuitable. Still, I was little disappointed about the lack of reference to his own investment strategies at Yale, which are the reason most of us have heard of him and the reason I bought the book.
One thing that was interesting to me was his analysis of why some indexes aren't well suited for use as a mutual fund benchmark. I have a significant slice of my portfolio in a fund that uses the Russell 2000 value index as a benchmark, and the Russell indexes are called out for criticism in the book. I will keep the criticisms in mind in planning future allocations/re-allocations.
Overall, it was an interesting read - I blew through it in one night. But it was not quite what I expected...
Book Description
The tools and techniques needed to successfully launch and maintain a hedge fund
In The Fundamentals of Hedge Fund Management, both budding and established hedge fund managers will learn the fundamentals of building and maintaining a successful hedge fund business. Strachman presents the facts in an accessible and easy-to-use format that will empower readers to create a lasting fund that provides significant income for years to come. The Fundamentals of Hedge Fund Management provides information on everything from picking a lawyer to creating a fund's documents to determining what markets attract investors. Readers will glean valuable information from real-life experiences (both negative and positive) that have shaped and continue to guide many of today's leading and most respected funds.
Customer Reviews:
NY Hedge Fund.......2007-10-01
This book is fantastic for anyone thinking about launching a hedge fund. It provides a comprehensive blueprint of the formation and launch process; if you read it before meeting with service providers the process will be easier and you'll have a clearer understanding about where everyone fits into the larger picture.
What is more, DAS's comments on capital raising are spot on and should be read (multiple times) by every aspiring hedge fund manager so as to avoid being romanced by the "whiskey talk" of every prime broker's cap into team -- who will INcorrectly tell you that all you need is performance...hmmm, don't think so.
Incredible read. Succint and Informative.......2007-09-26
Dan Strachman has written THE blueprint for getting started in hedge funds. The guy who gave it one star doesn't know what he's missing. No one can TEACH running money. But if you know how, and you have drive, this book will lay the groundwork for getting started. Specifically, back office operations and how to garner assets are explained in detail, but not to the point where it bores the reader. Mr. Strachman specifically tells the readers that this is NOT a book on how to manage money. Or a book on strategy. He does however, give a look into the psyche of the people you want to grab for assets. Who they are, and more importantly, how they think. Once again, excellent read! Hats off. Two thumbs up, etc.
GREAT OVERVIEW.......2007-09-08
This book provides for an excellent overview of hedge fund industry. Does not cover specifics, but provides great list of sources where to find certain information.
Excellent Primer for Starting a Fund........2007-08-27
Daniel Strachman takes a difficult subject and makes it accessible. It is very clear his writing stems from real world experience and is not just an exercise in academics. If you want to have a fundamental understanding of the business side of the hedge fund industry, this is an excellent place to start. The asking price of the book is far offset by the value gained in the insights that Strachman shares. I believe Mr. Strachman's advice has helped to save me from some serious mistakes that would have doomed my fund.
What a waste of money.......2007-08-23
Save your money and get a better book on how to start up a business. This book is NOT about Hedge Funds in any depth. It is about the basics in starting a business. WOW, he should write a book on marketing. He got me to pay $57.00 for a "basic" how to start a business book!
Book Description
Fundamentals of Investments was written to: 1. Focus on students as investment managers, giving them information they can act on instead of concentrating on theories and research without the proper context. 2. Offer strong, consistent pedagogy, including a balanced, unified treatment of the main types of financial investments as mirrored in the investment world. 3. Organize topics in a way that makes them easy to apply--whether to a portfolio simulation or to real life--and support these topics with hands-on activities. The approach of this text reflects two central ideas. First, there is a consistent focus on the student as an individual investor or investments manager. Second, a consistent, unified treatment of the four basic types of financial instruments--stocks, bonds, options, and futures--focusing on their characteristics and features, their risks and returns, and the markets in which they trade.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent book.......2007-01-23
This is a great investments textbook. Very easy to read and arranged in a readable format.
Don't waste your money.......2006-11-27
I was forced to buy this book for a finance class. I look forward to throwing it away. The explanations in this book are poor, and as a financial reference, this book is useless. I had better luck with Google. There are a lot of finance books out there that do a much better job covering the same topics in this book. Don't waste your money on this one.
This seller sucks!!!.......2006-09-21
This seller took a month to get me my book, never responded to my e-mails, and then sent me the wrong edition! Order at your own risk!!!
The worst financial textbook I have EVER seen.......2006-03-19
This book is the biggest waste of money that I have been forced to suffer through. The examples in each chapter are poorly written and are so much simpler than the actual "test questions" at the end of each chapter so as to be useless. Additionally, the selected answers in the back of the book seem to be wrong as often as they are right. You couldn't pay me enough to recommend this book to anyone.
Book Description
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1: The Basics of Risk Management This chapter introduces how banks work. It describes how they make money, how they often lose money, and how they try to manage their losses. It includes thirteen short case studies showing how banks have lost money.
Chapter 2: Risk Measurement at the Corporate Level: Economic Capital and RAROC Chapter Two discusses the meaning of capital and how the risks that a bank faces are related to the amount of capital that the bank should hold. It then describes the two fundamental building blocks of integrated risk measurement: Economic Capital and Risk Adjusted Return on Capital (RAROC).
Chapter 3: Review of Statistics Chapter Three is useful for those readers who do not have a recent working knowledge of statistics. It reviews the statistical relationships that are commonly used in risk measurement and provides reference material for the rest of the book. Examples are provided using financial loss data.
MARKET RISK SECTION
Chapter 4: Background on Traded Instruments This chapter gives an overview of the main types of traded instruments: bonds, equities and derivatives. It gives a qualitative description of the instrument, examples of calculating the instrument’s value and the basic risk metrics such as duration and the Greeks. This chapter is useful for those readers who are new to the finance industry.
Chapter 5: Market Risk Measurement This chapter describes the most common ways to measure market risks: Sensitivity analysis, Stress testing, Scenario testing, Sharpe Ratio and Value at Risk. It gives detailed examples of using each of the metrics.
Chapter 6: The Three Common Approaches for Calculating Value at Risk Value at Risk (VaR) has become the standard approach for measuring market risk. This chapter is devoted to explaining the details of the three common approaches to calculating VaR: Parametric VaR, Historical VaR and Monte Carlo VaR. We work though increasingly complex examples and compare the strengths of each approach. (Note: many readers will be particularly interested in this chapter because the name “VaR” is well known and has a certain mystery)
Chapter 7: Value at Risk Contribution The Value at Risk Contribution (VaRC) is a useful way of pinpointing the source of the portfolio’s risk. VaRC can break down the risk by instrument, trading desk or market risk factor. Examples are given for several types of VaRC.
Chapter 8: Testing VaR Results to Ensure Proper Risk Measurement This chapter discusses the procedures required by regulators to backtest VaR calculators to check that their predictions of losses are consistent with market events.
Chapter 9: Calculating Capital for Market Risk VaR is used as the basis for calculating both Regulatory Capital and Economic Capital for Market Risks. In this chapter VaR also extended to measure the risk of Asset Management operations.
Chapter 10: Overcoming VaR Limitations Although VaR is the best single metric for market risks, is has several limitations. The limitations and typical solutions are discussed in this chapter.
Chapter 11: The Management of Market Risk This chapter concludes the market risk section by describing how the results of risk measurement are used by management to identify the sources of risk. It also describes the process of setting VaR Limits. (Note: readers should be particularly interested in VaR Limits because it is difficult and an important element in controlling a bank’s risk).
ASSET/LIABILITY MANGEMENT SECTION
Chapter 12: Introduction to Asset Liability Management Asset Liability Management (ALM) is primarily concerned with the interest rate and liquidity risks that are created when commercial banks take in short term deposits from customers and give out long term loans. This chapter describes how those risks arise and the risk characteristics of different types of deposits and loans.
Chapter 13: Measurement of Interest Rate Risk for ALM This chapter discussed the primary techniques used to measure interest rate risk: Gap reports, Rate shift scenarios and Simulations
Chapter 14: Funding Liquidity Risk in ALM The measurement of liquidity risk is broken into three groups: expected, unusual and crisis events. Measurement techniques are given for each group.
Chapter 15: Funds Transfer Pricing and the Management of ALM Risks A key use of asset/liability measurement is the calculation of the fair price at which funds should be lent from one department to another within a bank. This is one of the keys to integrated risk measurement and is a critical component in measuring risk-adjusted profitability and setting prices to customers. A typical balance sheet is used to illustrate how transfer pricing works in detail.
CREDIT RISK SECTION
Chapter 16: Introduction to Credit Risk This chapter discusses the sources of credit risk and how measurement is used to manage the risks
Chapter 17: Types of Credit Structure For readers who are unfamiliar with lending operations, we discuss the ways that credit exposures are structured in commercial and retail lending. It also describes the calculation of credit exposure for derivatives trading operations and gives an overview of credit derivatives.
Chapter 18: Risk Measurement for a Single Facility This chapter shows how the Expected Loss and Unexpected Loss for a loan can be calculated from the Probability of Default, Loss In the Event of Default, Exposure at Default and the Grade Migration Matrix.
Chapter 19: Estimating Parameter Values for Single Facilities One of the main difficulties in credit risk measurement is the estimation of values for Probability of Default, Loss Given Default and Exposure at Default. This chapter discusses estimation techniques such as Discriminant Analysis and the Merton Model. It also gives parameter values that can be used as the basis for the reader’s own models. The parameter values are used in examples to demonstrate how the credit risk calculations are used.
Chapter 20: Risk Measurement For A Credit Portfolio: Part One To estimate the overall risk for a portfolio many credit instruments, we must examine the correlation between losses. This chapter describes the Covariance Credit Portfolio Model and the different approaches available for estimating default correlations. It also describes how the correlations can be used to estimate the Unexpected Loss Contribution and the Economic Capital for a single facility within a portfolio.
Chapter 21: Risk Measurement For A Credit Portfolio: Part Two This chapter describes the four other widely used approaches for estimating the risk of credit portfolios: the actuarial model, the Merton-based simulation model, the macro economic default model and the macro economic cashflow model used for structured and project finance. It concludes with a section describing how the models can be combined in a unified framework to create an integrated simulation of all the bank’s risks
Chapter 22: Risk Adjusted Performance and Pricing for Loans Knowing the economic capital for a loan, this chapter shows how to calculate the minimum price that should be charged to a loan customer. The analysis shows how to include multi-year effects such as grade migration. Illustrative examples are included. (Note: this chapter should be of interest to readers because loan pricing is another difficult and important subject that is rarely discussed in other books)
Chapter 23: Regulatory Capital for Credit Risk The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (often called the BIS) is planning fundamental changes to the way that banks must calculate the capital that they hold. The new calculations will be very similar to the calculations described in the rest of this book for economic capital. This chapter summarizes the history of the Capital Accords then compares the different approaches that the BIS will allow. It also gives a standard plan for implementing the new Accords. (Note: this should be of interest to readers because the shift to BIS measurement is of major importance, it will be difficult for most banks, and it must be completed by 2005)
OPERATING RISK SECTION
Chapter 24: Operating risk The quantification of Operating Risks is on the frontier of the industry’s understanding of risk measurement. The risk estimation approaches can be categorized as either qualitative, structural or actuarial. These approaches are described including Key Risk Indicators and the BIS approaches.
INTEGRATED RISK SECTION
Chapter 25: Inter-risk Diversification and Bank-Level RAROC This chapter describes how all the models are linked to calculate Economic Capital and Risk Adjusted Profitability for the Bank as a whole. It concludes with of the steps normally required to implement the bank-wide measurement of Economic Capital and RAROC.pital and RAROC.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent overview of bank risk management.......2005-10-21
I really can't say enough about this book. From the perspective of a banker who wants to understand the fundamentals it is comprehensive, well organized and presented in a style that makes understanding the materials easy (or as easy as can be expected given the topic).
I recently took a copy to an Fx class I presented to the central bank staff in Azerbaijan. They liked the book so much that I was forced (not literally - maybe 'encouraged' would be a better word) to leave my copy behind. I promptly ordered another on my return.
While there are certainly more advanced texts on this same topic, I have yet to see one that does a better job of communicating the core concepts.
Great job!
Nice Overview.......2004-08-30
It was a nice overview of some existing models but it lacked the drill down needed for the next step. I did not find that it allowed you to handle actual data.
Fantastic book.......2003-05-23
Moving from academia to the real world is made much smoother with this great text by Dr. Marrison. This book integrates interest rate, liquidity and credit risk with bank management perfectly. Anyone interested in gaining a strong economic background with a quantitative degree like myself will find this book extremely useful.
One of the Best Books for Risk Management.......2002-10-23
Marrison has written an outstanding book on risk management. What is attractive about the treatment is the fact that it covers all aspects of risk management for financial institutions. Lots of books focus only on "new" techniques (VaR, portfolio credit risk models) or only on "traditional" techniques (credit analysis, ALM). Marrison treats them all, and uses capital allocation as a unifying theme.
Two previous reviews that suggest Marrison is too basic or merely repeats other authors are, in my humble opinion, dishonest. Marrison is a sophisticated book for sophisticated readers who are new to risk management. This includes MBA students taking courses on the capital markets or risk management. It also includes professionals working in their first risk management position. Marrison did not invent VaR or ALM, but authors of other books did not invent these concepts either. An author's task is to describe established concepts in a manner that is accessible to and useful for his audience. In this respect, Marrison's book is a dramatic step forward. His choice of topics, organization and writing are superb.
One of those previous reviews recommended that you read books by certain other authors instead of Marrison. Of those books, the only one that Marrison competes with is Jorion's Value-at-Risk. Marrison is an order of magnitude better than that book. The other books cover unrelated topics or are more advanced treatises on specific topics. You might graduate to such books from Marrison, but they are not alternatives to Marrison.
Finally, you can't beat the price on this book. Marrison simultaneously offers a bargain AND one of the best books available on risk management.
A great primer.......2002-09-11
Chris Marrison's book is something I have been seeking for a very long time. It is well organized and easy to read. I have spent several years in strategic financial services consulting, wherein a strong foundation in risk measurement concepts and tools is essential for consultants across experience levels. Though having studied undergraduate finance and statistics, I ended up developing my rudimentary (and incomplete) knowledge of risk measurement in a very ad-hoc, context-specific and inefficent fashion. Now an MBA student at Harvard, I come across peers also seeking to understand the business, technical and practical aspects of risk measurement, as conceptually, 'risk management' is a common idea but an abstract practice for many professionals. There is no other textbook I've come across that addresses the essentials of risk measurement in as tangible a manner. I will not hesitate to recommend this book as a great primer to fellow students. The only caveat I offer is that this book is for those truly interested in jumping into the practical applications of risk measurement - for more of an overview of risk management theory, or esoterica for that matter, you're better off looking elsewhere.
Book Description
Fundamentals of Investment Management 8/e by Hirt and Block establishes the appropriate theoretical base of investments, while at the same time applying this theory to real-world examples. Students will be able to translate what they have learned in the course to actual participation in the financial markets. The textbook provides students with a survey of the important areas of investments: valuation, the marketplace, fixed income instruments and markets, equity instruments and markets, derivative instruments, and a cross-section of special topics, such as international markets and mutual funds.
Customer Reviews:
Fundamentals of Investment Management.......2007-05-25
The book was delivered in a quick manner, and the condition of it is stellar. What a value and bargain for this purchase!!
Excellent service.......2005-09-30
I received the book sooner than expected and it was in the condition that they said it would be in. I couldn't have been happier. Thanks!
Book Description
For almost five decades, Fundamentals of Private Pensions has been the most authoritative text and reference book on private pensions in the US in the world. The revised and updated eighth edition adds to past knowledge while providing exciting new perspectives on the provision of retirement income. This new edition is organized into six main sections dealing with a variety of separable pension issues. Section I provides an introductory discussion on the historical evolution of the pension movement and how pensions fit into the patchwork of the whole retirement income security system in the United States. It includes a discussion about the economics of the tax incentives that have played a role in stimulating pension offerings and in the structure of the benefits provided. Section 2 lays out the regulatory environment in which private pension plans operate. Section 3 investigates the various forms of retirement plans that are available to workers to determine how they are structured in practical terms. Section 4 focuses on the economics of pensions. Several of the chapters in this section update and refine material from the prior. New chapters in this volume describe the conversion of some traditional pensions to new hybrid forms, including cash balance and pension equity plans, and the growing phenomenon of phased retirement and the issues raised for employer-sponsored pensions. Section 5 explores the funding and accounting environments in which private employer-sponsored retirement plans operate. The concluding section investigates the handling of assets in employer-sponsored plans and their valuation as well as the insurance provision behind the benefit promises implied by the plans. This latest edition of Fundamentals of Private Pensions will prove invaluable reading for both academics and professionals working in the area of pensions and pension management.
Customer Reviews:
A good reference.......2002-09-14
A good reference book for anyone connected with a pension or profit sharing arrangement. It is not a guide to IRAs, Keogh plans, SEPs, rather it focuses on traditional defined contribution and defined benefit plans. While this book seems written for more for budding actuaries, those wishing to study design alternatives or asset management will find this book provides a good background. I find two flaws with the book.
First is the lack of examples. While the book discusses full funding limitations, it does not show you an example calculation. While it tells you how to calculate the minimum liability, it does not show you an example of how to present it in the financial statements. This book is not a text book, but it would be very helpful to see some real examples in practice rather than only discussions about the rationale behind the method.
Second, the single chapter on pension accounting is weak. Issues not mentioned include accounting for minimum liability, disclosures under FAS 132, understanding the relationship between funding and expense, curtailments and other plan amendments, the interrelationships between the conflicting limitations of ERISA/IRC/GAAP, the effect of pension assumptions on the financial statements and the impact of FAS 87 for an over funded plan on the financial statements of the sponsor. The perspective focuses more on the reasons the accounting standards exist, not the strategy or day-to-day issues of how the pension affects the financial statements of the sponsor. If accounting is what you need, buy a current intermediate accounting book.
Very complete yet sometimes boring: serious stuff !.......2000-11-07
Very coplete study, covering almost all imaginable subjects, from actuarial maths to investment management to organisation and HR aspects of pension provision. This is not a manual, though. Get a simpler and less in detail book to get a general view of the topic, and then use "Fundamentals..." as reference.
Book Description
Written in highly readable layman's language, Fundamentals of Venture Capital is a concise introduction to the key issues facing both investors and entrepreneurs as they embark on the journey of turning a good idea into a profitable reality.
Customer Reviews:
Synopsis of VC Legal Issues.......2005-08-05
This book outlines the organizational and funding aspects of venture capital from a legal viewpoint for investors and company management. It does a good job of pointing out the basic legal issues for a non-lawyer. It is not useful for assessing a business venture's fundamentals or valuing a company. The author's website VC Experts is useful.
Difficult to use.......2005-04-21
I'm an attorney with many years' experience in the venture capital area. The content of the book tends to reflect East Coast practice more than West Coast (Silicon Valley) practice. That's not necessarily a flaw, but you should be aware that the styles can differ in some respects.
The style of writing though, is my major complaint about this book. In a word, it's pompous. Too many sentences have very complex, passive or impersonal constructions. Paragraphs are long and dense, without any concern for the reader's fatigue level.
Also, some quantitative concepts could have been much more clearly expressed with a simple formula (high school-level math). The discussion of weighted average antidilution protection at pp. 90-91 is a case in point. I found this impossible to understand when I first read it. The more I read it, the more obscure it became to me. It could have been described much more accurately, and in many fewer lines, with a simple fraction.
Clear communication didn't seem to be a priority for this author.
Basics to Venture Capital - The Legal Side of Things.......2003-10-11
Bartlett writes an informative book to those unfamiliar to the details to deal structuring, particularly with the documentation side. This book is truly for the novice who is unfamiliar with business and legal concepts. Those with a business or corporate law background may see this book as a "nice" reference source. If purchased, it's likely to be unused.
Individuals who wish to know the legal side of basic business structures, term sheets, business plans, and such would find the book resourceful. Though it's only 157 pages, it provides a foundation to the non-business professional.
This Book Needs to be Rewritten.......2002-03-06
Most of the other reviewers have said this book is NOT easy to read. I am another one of those readers. I want to be more specific WHY this book is so difficult to read. This book is supposed to be for layman. However the author uses terminology that would go over the layman's head. At the same time he skims and glosses over the details. So it sounds technical but it's not! What's worse, the readability of this book suffers from the use of tedious sentence structure and from unnecessarily high-caliber word selection like: atavistic, quixotic and salubrious.
I was disappointed in this book for more reasons than the readability problem. Chapters 3 through 7 cover the basics of starting a business. First of all these chapters don't belong in this book. As it is chapters 3 through 7 skim over topics that each belong in their own separate and adequately detailed book. Even if this book had been titled, "The Complete Guide to Starting a Business" it would have failed miserably because the level of detail is so totally inadequate.
This book is supposed to be about Venture Capital and that's all it should have discussed from beginning to end. This book is 160 pages long and yet the author only starts to get into venture capital at page 80. Again readability suffers, the detail isn't there, the line of thought is disjointed and the layman would be lost in the technical terms.
I think this book needs to be completely rewritten and revised. I have no doubt the author knows what he's talking about and that he has valuable knowledge to share. However, in it's current form, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. There's little in this book for either the layman or the seasoned professional.
A book that I would recommend to advanced readers is "Structuring Venture Capital, Private Equity, and Entrepreneurial Transactions : 2001" -- by Jack S. Levin. It covers tax and accounting issues in great detail and the readability is superb.
Quick Read.......2001-07-15
Given the overall complexity of the topic, I thought that this was an especially quick read. At the same time, it touched upon enough sub-topics and did so with sufficient detail to get a good overview of how VC approach new businesses. I did not think that this was the authoritative statement on any given point, but a solid primer. To the extent you need to know more about a topic, you should be well armed to research it further.
I encounted the book through a senior capstone course at a local MBA program. I was lecturing on a topic and saw the book on the syllabus.
Book Description
PROFITS ARE AN OPINION, BUT CASH IS A FACT.
Understanding CASH FLOW
If the term "cash flow" has always remained uncomfortably vague in your mind, Understanding Cash Flow will give you, quickly and simply, a firm grasp of this crucial index of a company's health and direction. It covers, in detail, the process, the terminology, and the internal and external players in the flow of cash through a company. You'll learn:
- The fundamentals of cash management and how it affects the quality of a company's earnings
- How to read cash flow statements
- How cash balances are analyzed and monitored—including internal controls over cash receipts and disbursements, plus bank account reconciliation and activity analysis
- How to avoid the pitfalls of granting credit—evaluating customer credit, sources of credit information, and overall credit policy
- How to prevent fraud and waste
- And much more!
Understanding Cash Flow is a part of the new Wiley series, Finance Fundamentals for Nonfinancial Managers—designed to serve managers, owners, investors, students and others by explaining clearly and concisely what they need to know about important areas of cash flow management. Other titles in the series will cover income statements, return on investment, budgeting, and balance sheets.
Customer Reviews:
Pay attention to your cash flow!.......2007-04-04
We sure know how to spend, don't we? But how many of you focus on where your money goes and how best to manage it? To excel at money management you must understand the fundamentals of cash flow. This book makes it easy to learn the business of cash flow. Large print. Plenty of pictures and diagrams. You'll feel like a genius after reading this book. Buy it now.
Book Description
This book fills a gap in the lack of books that cover the administration and operations functions related to funds. With the growth of hedge funds globally there is more and more requirement for fund administration services, and the success of the fund administration is crucial to the success of the funds themselves in a highly competitive market. As the focus on operational risk, cost effective support and administration of trading and investment and the ability to design, develop and deliver added-value services for clients grows there is a need for a comprehensive analysis of what happens from trade to settlement and beyond and the exact role that the fund administrator may be required to provide. The book helps those responsible for managing and supervising fund administration services by examining the decisions, actions and problems at the various stages as well as explaining the products and infrastructure that services support.
*Concise, easy to read format explains extensive and complicated procedures with lively, easy to follow road maps
*Comprehensive reference work with extensive glossary of terms, useful website addresses and further reading recommendations
*Covers all the major stages with detailed explanations of what is required for effective completion and regulatory compliance
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General
| Popular Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Pioneering Portfolio Management: An Unconventional Approach to Institutional Investment
Hedgehogging
The Little Book That Beats the Market
The Intelligent Asset Allocator: How to Build Your Portfolio to Maximize Returns and Minimize Risk
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
