Pioneering Portfolio Management: An Unconventional Approach to Institutional Investment

David F. Swensen

Book cover for Pioneering Portfolio Management: An Unconventional Approach to Institutional Investment
Book cover for Pioneering Portfolio Management: An Unconventional Approach to Institutional Investment

Pioneering Portfolio Management: An Unconventional Approach to Institutional Investment

Pioneering Portfolio Management: An Unconventional Approach to Institutional Investment

David F. Swensen

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Description
An indispensable roadmap for creating a successful investment program from Yale's chief investment officer, David F. Swensen.

In the years since the now-classic Pioneering Portfolio Management was first published, the global investment landscape has changed dramatically -- but the results of David Swensen's investment strategy for the Yale University endowment have remained as impressive as ever. Year after year, Yale's portfolio has trumped the marketplace by a wide margin, and, with over $20 billion added to the endowment under his twenty-three-year tenure, Swensen has contributed more to Yale's finances than anyone ever has to any university in the country. What may have seemed like one among many success stories in the era before the Internet bubble burst emerges now as a completely unprecedented institutional investment achievement.

In this fully revised and updated edition, Swensen, author of the bestselling personal finance guide Unconventional Success, describes the investment process that underpins Yale's endowment. He provides lucid and penetrating insight into the world of institutional funds management, illuminating topics ranging from asset-allocation structures to active fund management. Swensen employs an array of vivid real-world examples, many drawn from his own formidable experience, to address critical concepts such as handling risk, selecting advisors, and weathering market pitfalls.

Swensen offers clear and incisive advice, especially when describing a counterintuitive path. Conventional investing too often leads to buying high and selling low. Trust is more important than flash-in-the-pan success. Expertise, fortitude, and the long view produce positive results where gimmicks and trend following do not.

The original Pioneering Portfolio Management outlined a commonsense template for structuring a well-diversified equity-oriented portfolio. This new edition provides fund managers and students of the market an up-to-date guide for actively managed investment portfolios.

About the Author

David F. Swensen (1954-2021) was the chief investment officer of Yale University and the bestselling author of Pioneering Portfolio Management. He served on the boards of TIAA, The Brookings Institution, Carnegie Institution, and Hopkins School. At Yale, where he produced an unparalleled two-decade investment record of 16.1 percent-per-annum returns, he taught economics classes at Yale College and finance classes at Yale's School of Management.

Critical Reviews

Peter L. Bernstein, President Peter L. Bernstein, Inc. This book will be a classic: it is essential reading for all investors, great and small. David Swensen is a leader and pioneer whose words reveal a rare combination of courage, integrity, and intelligence. No one can fail to find value here.

Jack R. Meyer, President and CEO,

Harvard Management Company, Inc.

A masterful work by the master himself. We at Harvard wish that David Swensen would find a new job.

Barton M. Biggs, Chairman,

Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Investment Management

David Swensen is one of the best and most original fiduciaries of modern times. His thinking has survived the battlefields and it has worked for big money.

Burton G. Malkiel, Chemical Bank

Chairman's Professor of Economics, Princeton University

One of the world's most successful institutional fund managers presents powerful insights to help us become better investors. A must-read for both institutional and serious individual investors.

Peter L. Bernstein, President

Peter L. Bernstein, Inc.

This book will be a classic: it is essential reading for all investors, great and small. David Swensen is a leader and pioneer whose words reveal a rare combination of courage, integrity, and intelligence. No one can fail to find value here.

Richard C. Levin

F.W. Beinecke Professor of Economics and President, Yale University

David Swensen's creative and disciplined approach to investment has given Yale the resources it needs to augment its capacity for excellence in scholarship and teaching. Those who absorb the wisdom in this book will likewise strengthen the institutions they serve.

Jack R. Meyer, President and CEO, Harvard Management Company, Inc. A masterful work by the master himself. We at Harvard wish that David Swensen would find a new job.

Burton G. Malkiel, Chemical Bank Chairman's Professor of Economics, Princeton University One of the world's most successful institutional fund managers presents powerful insights to help us become better investors. A must-read for both institutional and serious individual investors.

Barton M. Biggs, Chairman, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Investment Management David Swensen is one of the best and most original fiduciaries of modern times. His thinking has survived the battlefields and it has worked for big money.

Richard C. Levin F.W. Beinecke Professor of Economics and President, Yale University David Swensen's creative and disciplined approach to investment has given Yale the resources it needs to augment its capacity for excellence in scholarship and teaching. Those who absorb the wisdom in this book will likewise strengthen the institutions they serve.

Publishing Information

Publisher: Free Press
Pub date: 2009-01-06
Length: 432 pages

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