A Random Walk Down Wall Street - Hardcover

Burton G. Malkiel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393055000 ISBN 13: 9780393055009

Publisher: Norton, 1973

Synopsis

This is an investement guide for the 1990s. An entirely new chapter has been added, "A life cycle guide to personal investing", which shows how individuals can tailor their financial objectives to their particular incomes at any age and how a mix of saving and investment plans will provide funds when needed and for the years beyond retirement. Another new chapter takes up the techniques that turn the odds of success significantly in favour of the individual investor, while debunking premature claims of the death of the random walk theory. In addition, Burton Malkiel explains the new financial instruments that increase the options for either short-or long-run gains.

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Review

It's unlikely that you'll spot many dog-eared copies of A Random Walk floating amongst the Wall Street set (although bookshelves at home may prove otherwise). After all, a "random walk"--in market terms--suggests that a "blindfolded monkey" would have as much luck selecting a portfolio as a pro. But Burton Malkiel's classic investment book is anything but random. Since stock prices cannot be predicted in the short term, argues Malkiel, individual investors are better off buying and holding onto index funds than meddling with securities or actively managing mutual funds. Not only will a broad range of index funds outperform a professionally managed portfolio in the long run, but investors can avoid expense charges and trading costs, which decrease returns.

First published in 1973, this seventh printing of a A Random Walk looks forward and does so broadly, examining a new range of investment choices facing the turn-of-the-century investor: money-market accounts, tax-exempt funds, Roth IRAs, and equity REITs, as well as the potential benefits and pitfalls of the emerging global economy. In his updated "life-cycle guide to investing," Malkiel offers age-related investment strategies that consider one's capacity for risk. (A 30-year-old who can depend on wages to offset investment losses has a different risk capacity from a 60-year-old.) In his assessment of rocketing Internet stocks, Malkiel defends his "random" position well, explaining how "the market eventually corrects any irrationality--albeit in its own slow, inexorable fashion. Anomalies can crop up, markets can get irrationally optimistic, and often they attract unwary investors. But eventually, true value is recognized by the market, and this is the main lesson investors must heed." Written for the financial layperson but bolstered by 30 years of research, A Random Walk will help individual investors take charge of their financial future. Recommended. --Rob McDonald

About the Author

Burton G. Malkiel is the Chemical Bank Chairman's Professor of Economics Emeritus at Princeton University. He is a former member of the Council of Economic Advisers, dean of the Yale School of Management, and has served on the boards of several major corporations, including Vanguard and Prudential Financial. He is the chief investment officer of Wealthfront.

About this edition

• Publisher: Norton
• Publication date: 1973
• ISBN 10: 0393055000
• ISBN 13: 9780393055009
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 285