Investment-decisions

This book proved to be a very valuable resource to our company as we evaluated 401k plans. I would recommend this book to everyone who is interested in knowing all there is about retirement plans and the many options.

Setting the Table is a short, well organized primer for sponsors of defined contribution plans. Written by an investment consultant with years of experience counseling organizations on the design and structure of their employee directed retirement programs, the book is a practitioners guide filled with tips, insights and pointers. It is a common sense reminder for experienced pension fund and benefits executives, and a starting point for those new to the field, sorely needed in what is now the third decade since America discovered section 401(k) of the tax code.
The author likens the sponsor to the host of a banquet whose job is to provide the guests with all the makings of a feast that will leave them satisfied-hence the title. A well designed defined contribution plan will deliver to employees the makings of a program each can use to serve themselves the helping of retirement plan-and the particular choices-each one wants.
Specific topics are dealt with in logical sequence. After a brief chapter introducing the concept and history behind employee directed plans (a little chatty and pedantic for my taste), the book stresses the importance of an investment policy. The author offers a clear and detailed description of a process for creating one, and an appendix with a sample of what it should look like. Structuring investment options is broken into two chapters-the first provides a down-to-earth conceptual framework for thinking about the topic, and the second a hands-on guide for performing the task. Actually selecting options is divided into three chapters. After a review of investment basics, the author explains how to choose investments in an unbundled structure facing no practical constraints. He then wisely addresses the issue a second time in the context of a bundled-service that typically creates real world trade-offs. It is this approach that converts this section from a helpful theoretical exercise into a very usable practical guide. A section on monitoring investments follows, as well as a section to help people think about when to hire a consultant and how to structure an engagement to insure a satisfying outcome.
A two chapter sequence on investment education and investment advice is particularly well done. It lays out clearly the importance of providing participants with the materials and tools to help them make smart decisions, and in practical terms discusses the gray area for fiduciaries along the continuum between education and advice. The author goes on to offer sound suggestions for "folks caught in that awkward squeeze between participants and their law department," most importantly a check list of questions to ask when choosing providers for these services. The work concludes with a review of a variety of issues such as the challenges sponsors of non-ERISA 403(b) plans face, special considerations for Taft-Hartley Plans, the implications of self-directed brokerage accounts and mutual fund windows, and the perils of company stock locked-up until participants reach 50 years old, so much in the news since the Enron debacle began.
The strength of the book is its practical bent. Employee directed retirement plans are very complex and to date there has not been an easily accessible guide for the people who have to run them. The analytically disposed may find the work disappoints their desire for academic proof of the many assertions offered on the basis of experience, but for those with hungry retirement plan participants to satisfy, Setting the Table is not a bad cook book to rely on.

Chris McNickle

Mutual funds offer beginners the best entry point into the investment world. But with thousands of funds available and fund managers competing aggressively for your money, how can an educated and sensible decision be made? This book is a key educational tool. Written in an organized and easy to understand format, all pertinent information is included. Readers will learn about the difference between load and no load funds, specialized funds, purchasing and cashing out shares and various tax implications, among many other topics. This should be required reading before making any investment in mutual funds.

Top Mutual & Hedge Funds pay Woody's firm Market Semionics thousands for his analysis of the market. This book gives an insider's view of that anaylsis.

The firt half of the book makes the case to refute the random walk and efficient market hypothesis. The second half gives insight into understanding the mood, body & mind of the market.

Triunity Theory

For me the most insightful thing in the book was the discussion on not viewing sentiment in a vaccum. My experience in the markets has often been that high or low sentiment can not be taken without looking at the fundamentals.

I found the discussion on Trend Duration also very insightful. Woody Dorsey is an original and an indipendent thinker.

I also respect that he has applied his theories and anlysis to statistical testing and has started a hedge fund to manage money based on his theories of behavioral study.

Be suspicious of any "market guru" who just writes books, offers no statistical backing of their market edge and doesn't manage money.

Woody has made some great market calls and this book is very insightful.

An excellent easy-to-follow book with concise instructions. You don't have to know anything about I Ching to use it to your advantage. Use the wise counsel of this book when the money markets are leading others down the wrong alley!

Bierman and Smidt's work is generally considered to be a classic in its field. Anyone seriously interested in a cogent, well structured, and logically developed textbook on the economic analysis of investment projects MUST study Bierman and Smidt. This book is not "just another finance text" because capital budgeting straddles two disciplines: finance and operations. This book does justice to both fields remarkably well.

The Essentials of Stochastic Finance: Facts, Models, Theory by Albert N. Shiriaev, et al offers a clear treatment of both theoretical and emperical Finance. Shiryaev presents not only the essentials of probability as it is applied to finance,but he also covers recent develpoments in Mathematical Finance. It is very well written and it can be covered in one year (depending on the audience). Each topic moves from the specific to the general, beginning with one or more examples to lead into the theoretical results. This is the most comprehensive book out there. It covers Mathematical Finance, Martingale, Markov Thoery... to Econometric ARCH GARCH FGARCH ...to theory of Finance CAPM APT... PART II of the book requires a good knowledge of Stochastic Calculus at Karatzas and Shreve level...
Outstanding...

A professional book written for the layman. Timely, readable, educational. Well-established investment principles that hold water in up and down stock markets. A practical Baedeker through the investment maze.

James M. Sherman, C.F.A.

'Professor Jones' network modeling of financial analysis
is likely to attract strong adherents.'
Harry Markowitz
1990 Nobel Prize in Economics

The book derives the theory of portfolio networks from first
principles and presents for the first time the revolutionary new
Digital Portfolio Theory model.

Use the methodology detailed in this unique, new book and you'll
be equipped to dissect and solve most of the practical investment
problems you encounter in today's complex and uncertain
environment...

The network representation of financial decisions and the use of
digital signal processing to describe uncertainty combine to make
the PSS software package and this book Portfolio Management
essential tools for every investment professional.

'Digital Portfolio Theory is derived by applying digital
technology to Modern Portfolio Theory.'
C. Kenneth Jones
AMOCO Professor of Management

'The application of network models to portfolio planning is an
area with exciting possibilities and this book fills a current
void.'
Mark Broadie
Columbia University
Journal of Finance

As a real estate investor I often refer to this book when I am in need help making a decision. It is the next best thing to having a seasoned partner who has been through many market cycles. As a Licensed Commercial Real Estate Appraiser and Broker I am impressed with the material as well as how it is presented. While lifetime of practical knoweledge is somehow reduced to a single 900 page plus book, it is not "dumbed down" for mass appeal purposes. Although I was introduced to this book through a course at Boston University I found it's format more interesting than academic.When investing your money in real estate it is better to read a book like this and learn than, to "just do it" and learn the hard way, believe me. This book is a keeper for your professional library.

This is an excellent text on Real Options Analysis. There is a definitive very well maintained balance between theory and practice. Dr. Mun will take you through a random walk, which is so natural and so powerfully pragmatic you will appreciate by the time you'll reach the final pages of the book. The powerful intuition Dr. Mun develops behind stochastic calculus and Ito's lemma makes it accessible and useful to the businessman who has to learn how to mitigate downside risks while optimizing growth opportunities in an uncertain economy. The book in itself is a real option - The mathematics is nicely explained only when needed for clarity of the subject. The abundant amount of reference is there for you to find out if interested. It is up to you to decide when you wish to exercise your options. If you can identify your real options, Dr. Mun will show you how to value those complex opportunities.

This book gives a nice build up from discounted cash flows to Monte Carlo techniques. Jonathan Mun follows the cash and shows how to find value. His description of real options is clear and practical. I also recommend Mun's "Applied Risk Analysis."

Mun's book is an excellent guide for those who have basic knowledge about asset valuation and want to study real options.