Portfolio Design: A Modern Approach to Asset Allocation - Hardcover

Marston, Richard C.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 047093123X ISBN 13: 9780470931233

Publisher: Wiley, 2011

Synopsis

Portfolio Design – choosing the right mix of assets appropriate to a particular investor – is the key to successful investing. It can help you accumulate wealth over time, while cushioning the blow of possible economic downturns. But in order to successfully achieve this goal, you need to be familiar with all of the major asset classes that go into modern portfolios and learn how much they add to portfolio diversification. Thoughtful asset allocation provides discipline to the investment process and gives you the best chance of building and safeguarding wealth. Wharton Professor Richard C. Marston, 2014 recipient of the Investment Management Consultants Association’s  prestigious Matthew R. McArthur Award, will guide you through the major decisions that need to be made when designing a portfolio and will put you in the best position to balance the risk-reward relationship that is part of this endeavor. 

Portfolio Design is to be read by investment advisors. The book is rich in information about individual asset classes, including both traditional assets like stocks and bonds as well as alternative assets such as hedge funds, private equity, real estate, and commodities. So it should appeal to all sophisticated advisors whether or not they are trying to qualify for one of the major investment designations. In fact, the book is designed to be read by any advisor who is as fascinated as Marston by the investment process.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

Portfolio design--choosing the right mix of assets appropriate to a particular investor--is the key to successful investing. It can help you accumulate wealth over time, while cushioning the blow of possible economic downturns. But in order to successfully achieve this goal, you need to be familiar with all of the major asset classes that go into modern portfolios and learn how much they each add to portfolio diversification.

This book is about the individual assets in a portfolio, and how they perform together in a portfolio. For example, what does real estate or private equity add to a portfolio? And nobody understands this better than author Richard Marston--director of the Private Wealth Management program at Wharton--whose extensive academic and professional asset allocation experience gives him a comprehensive perspective of this dynamic discipline.

Based on sessions Marston developed for the Certified Investment Management AnalystSM (CIMA(R)) program at Wharton, Portfolio Design is written for financial advisors who want to provide diversified portfolios for their clients--whether the clients are high-net-worth individuals or institutional investors. Rich in information about individual asset classes, including traditional assets like stocks and bonds as well as "alternative investments" such as hedge funds, private equity, real estate, and commodities, this book offers a fresh look at asset allocation, and discusses its importance in today's investment environment. Page by page, this book:

• Outlines methods for estimating long-run returns for a diversified portfolio
• Examines the roles that value, growth, and small-cap stocks play in a portfolio
• Discusses the importance of investing in foreign equities and emerging stock markets
• Explores the modern fixed-income market in detail
• Assesses the effect alternative investments can have on a portfolio
• Details feasible spending rules for foundations as well as individuals facing retirement

Thoughtful asset allocation provides discipline to the investment process and gives you the best chance of building and safeguarding wealth. This book will guide you through the major decisions that need to be made when designing a portfolio and will put you in the best position to balance the risk-reward relationship that is a part of this difficult endeavor.

From the Back Cover:

Praise for

"Wharton professor Richard Marston has captivated investors and investment professionals for over thirty years, including the 600 ultra-high-net-worth investors who have completed Wharton's five-day Private Wealth Management program. Never boring, and always practical, Dick Marston knows both institutional investors and individual investors well―their concerns and challenges. Portfolio Design will no doubt become a timeless reference for any serious investor."
―CHARLOTTE BEYER, founder and CEO, Institute for Private Investors

"Richard Marston's tremendous insight into building well-diversified and successful investment portfolios has benefited a generation of financial advisors and individual and institutional investors. Marston offers a dynamic and cutting-edge understanding of the asset allocation process."
―PHIL C. SHAFFER, CIMA, Managing Director, Graystone Consulting, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney

"After taking a bruising the past couple of years, many advisors who only learned the basics of asset allocation have too quickly dismissed the science of effective portfolio design. Many of these advisors have turned their back on the essential knowledge, tools, and skills for a new age of sophisticated investors. For more than twenty-three years, the best and brightest financial advisors in the world have learned asset allocation and portfolio design strategies from Dr. Marston on their path to become Certified Investment Management AnalystSM (CIMA®) practitioners, the premier credential for investment consultants. Advisors who are serious about serving their clients' investment objectives will consume this book from cover to cover."
―SEAN R. WALTERS, CEO/Executive Director, Investment Management Consultants Association®, the credentialing body for CIMA® certification

"Dick has done it again! He has synthesized a vast body of knowledge into an incisive foundational tome for financial advisers. He uses the prism of historical returns to make sense of recent downturns and dispels common myths in various asset classes. For financial advisers seeking a solid foundation on which to base their advice, Portfolio Design is a must-read."
―STEPHEN M. HORAN, PHD, CFA, Head, Professional Education Content and Private Wealth, CFA Institute

About this edition

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 047093123X
• ISBN 13: 9780470931233
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368