Top 10 Investing Books Executives and Portfolio Managers Suggest

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National Book Lovers Day on Saturday inspired Covestor’s portfolio managers and members of Covestor’s senior management team to share their recommendations for their favorite investing books (readers will likely be familiar with most of these books, although they may find some new names). Via PRWeb

Here are the top 10 investing books:

Investing Books #1: The Art of Asset Allocation

The Art of Asset Allocation: Principles and Investment Strategies for Any Market by David Darst. Selected by Charles Sizemore – CFA, RIA, and manager of Strategic Growth Allocation portfolio

A global leader and preeminent expert in asset allocation, David Darst delivers his masterwork on the topic. In a fully updated and expanded second edition of The Art of Asset Allocation, Morgan Stanley’s Chief Investment Strategist covers the historic market events, instruments, asset classes, and economic forces that investors need to be aware of as they create asset-building portfolios. He then explains how to use modern asset allocation concepts and tools to augment returns and control risks in a wide range of financial market environments. This completely revised edition shows how to achieve asset balance with the author’s proven methods, decades of expertise, relevant charts, practical tools, and astute analyses.

Investing Books #2: Active Portfolio Management

Active Portfolio Management: A Quantitative Approach for Producing Superior Returns and Controlling Risk by Richard Grinold and Ronald Kahn. Selected by Jane Edmondson – MBA, RIA CEO, and manager of Mid Cap Quant portfolio

“This new edition of Active Portfolio Management continues the standard of excellence established in the first edition, with new and clear insights to help investment professionals.”

-William E. Jacques, Partner and Chief Investment Officer, Martingale Asset Management.

Active Portfolio Management offers investors an opportunity to better understand the balance between manager skill and portfolio risk. Both fundamental and quantitative investment managers will benefit from studying this updated edition by Grinold and Kahn.”

Investing Books #3: Wall Street

Wall Street: How It Works and for Whom by Doug Henwood. Selected by Asheesh Advani – Oxford doctorate, and CEO at Covestor

A scathing dissection of the wheeling and dealing in the world’s greatest financial center. Spot rates, zero coupons, blue chips, futures, options on futures, indexes, options on indexes. The vocabulary of a financial market can seem arcane, even impenetrable. Yet despite its opacity, financial news and comment is ubiquitous. Major national newspapers devote pages of newsprint to the financial sector and television news invariably features a visit to the market for the latest prices. Does this prodigious flow of information have significance for anyone except the tiny percentage of people who have significant holdings of stocks or bonds? And if it does, can non-specialists ever hope to understand what the markets are up to? To these questions Wall Street answers an emphatic yes. Its author Doug Henwood is a notorious scourge of the stock exchange in the pages of his acerbic publication Left Business Observer. The Newsletter has received wide acclamation from J.K. Galbraith, among others, and occasional less favorable comment.

Investing Books #4: The Intelligent Investor

The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing by Benjamin Graham. Selected by Aaron Pring – commercial construction VP, and manager of Buy and Hold portfolio

The greatest investment advisor of the twentieth century, Benjamin Graham, taught and inspired people worldwide. Graham’s philosophy of “value investing” — which shields investors from substantial error and teaches them to develop long-term strategies — has made The Intelligent Investor the stock market bible ever since its original publication in 1949.

Investing Books #5: One Up On Wall Street

One Up On Wall Street: How To Use What You Already Know To Make Money In The Market by Peter Lynch. Selected by Drew Steinman – CPA, and manager of Leveraged Value portfolio

More than one million copies have been sold of this seminal book on investing in which legendary mutual-fund manager Peter Lynch explains the advantages that average investors have over professionals and how they can use these advantages to achieve financial success.

America’s most successful money manager tells how average investors can beat the pros by using what they know. According to Lynch, investment opportunities are everywhere. From the supermarket to the workplace, we encounter products and services all day long. By paying attention to the best ones, we can find companies in which to invest before the professional analysts discover them. When investors get in early, they can find the “tenbaggers,” the stocks that appreciate tenfold from the initial investment. A few tenbaggers will turn an average stock portfolio into a star performer.

Investing Books #6: When Genius Failed

When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management by Roger Lowenstein. Selected by Sanjoy Ghosh – Wharton Ph.D., and Covestor Chief Investment Officer

In this business classic—now with a new Afterword in which the author draws parallels to the recent financial crisis—Roger Lowenstein captures the gripping roller-coaster ride of Long-Term Capital Management. Drawing on confidential internal memos and interviews with dozens of key players, Lowenstein explains not just how the fund made and lost its money but also how the personalities of Long-Term’s partners, the arrogance of their mathematical certainties, and the culture of Wall Street itself contributed to both their rise and their fall.

Investing Books #7: The 100 Best Stocks to Own in America

The 100 Best Stocks to Own in America (7th Edition) by Gene Walden. Selected by Robert Freedland – MD, optical surgeon, and manager of Healthcare portfolio

Savvy investors realize that blue chip investments are companies that are better capitalized and positioned to succeed in the changing marketplace where “bricks and clicks” alike are required. Among the best of the best, companies chosen by Walden for the previous edition have led the market indicators: the average return of his top five picks was 30.4% compared to -7.2% for the Dow Jones Industrial Average over the same one-year period.

The 100 Best Stocks to Own in America goes far beyond impressive figures for one year. Since its first edition in 1989, Walden’s guide to stocks poised for superior long-term growth has not let investors down. In fact, hundreds of thousands of investors have used this information to create powerful portfolios. Many buy each edition of the book to see how the lists of companies have changed over time. What hasn’t changed are the rigorous criteria for inclusion: only the strongest companies make the grade. Companies are selected on the basis of: earnings growth, stock growth, dividend growth, dividend yield, consistency, shareholder perks.

Investing Books #8: The Big Short

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis. Selected by Bhargav Shivarthy, Covestor Director of Client Relations

The real story of the crash began in bizarre feeder markets where the sun doesn’t shine and the SEC doesn’t dare, or bother, to tread: the bond and real estate derivative markets where geeks invent impenetrable securities to profit from the misery of lower–and middle–class Americans who can’t pay their debts. The smart people who understood what was or might be happening were paralyzed by hope and fear; in any case, they weren’t talking.

Investing Books #9: I Am Right You Are Wrong

I am Right You are Wrong: From This to the New Renaissance: From Rock Logic to Water Logic by Edward de Bono. Selected by Bimal Shah, Covestor Chief Technology Officer

In this book, Dr Edward de Bono, who is well-known worldwide for his origination of lateral thinking, puts forward a direct challenge to what he calls the ‘rock logic’ of Western thought. Rock logic is based on rigid categories, absolutes, argument and adversarial point scoring. Edward de Bono believes that this thinking cannot solve our problems. Instead of rock logic, he proposes the water logic of perception. Drawing on our understanding of the brain as a self-organizing information system, Dr de Bono shows that perception is the key to more constructive thinking and creativity. Here, in this brilliantly argued assault on outmoded thought patterns, he calls for nothing less than a New Renaissance.

Investing Books #10: The Little Book of Behavioral Investing

The Little Book of Behavioral Investing: How not to be your own worst enemy by James Montier. Selected by John Spence – MarketWatch reporting alum, and Covestor Head of Content

Bias, emotion, and overconfidence are just three of the many behavioral traits that can lead investors to lose money or achieve lower returns. Behavioral finance, which recognizes that there is a psychological element to all investor decision-making, can help you overcome this obstacle.

In The Little Book of Behavioral Investing, expert James Montier takes you through some of the most important behavioral challenges faced by investors. Montier reveals the most common psychological barriers, clearly showing how emotion, overconfidence, and a multitude of other behavioral traits, can affect investment decision-making.

 

 

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