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David F. Swensen
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Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment Hardcover – August 9, 2005

by David F. Swensen (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 571 ratings
See all formats and editions
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The bestselling author of Pioneering Portfolio Management, the definitive template for institutional fund management, returns with a book that shows individual investors how to manage their financial assets.

In Unconventional Success, investment legend David F. Swensen offers incontrovertible evidence that the for-profit mutual fund industry consistently fails the average investor. From excessive management fees to the frequent "churning" of portfolios, the relentless pursuit of profits by mutual fund management companies harms individual clients. Perhaps most destructive of all are the hidden schemes that limit investor choice and reduce returns, including "pay-to-play" product-placement fees, stale-price trading scams, soft-dollar kickbacks, and 12b-1 distribution charges.

Even if investors manage to emerge unscathed from an encounter with the profit-seeking mutual fund industry, individuals face the likelihood of self-inflicted pain. The common practice of selling losers and buying winners (and doing both too often) damages portfolio returns and increases tax liabilities, delivering a one-two punch to investor aspirations.

In short: Nearly insurmountable hurdles confront ordinary investors.

Swensen's solution? A contrarian investment alternative that promotes well-diversified, equity-oriented, "market-mimicking" portfolios that reward investors who exhibit the courage to stay the course. Swensen suggests implementing his nonconformist proposal with investor-friendly, not-for-profit investment companies such as Vanguard and TIAA-CREF. By avoiding actively managed funds and employing client-oriented mutual fund managers, investors create the preconditions for investment success.

Bottom line? Unconventional Success provides the guidance and financial know-how for improving the personal investor's financial future.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    403 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Free Press
  4. Publication date
    August 9, 2005
  5. Dimensions
    6.13 x 1.2 x 9.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0743228383
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0743228381
  8. See all details
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  1. Capital markets provide three tools for investors to employ in generating investment returns: asset allocation, market timing, and security selection.
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  2. Sensible investors pursue diversification as a policy to reduce risk, not as a tactic to chase performance.
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  3. Market timing refers to deviations from the long-term asset-allocation targets. Active market timing represents a purposeful attempt to generate short-term, superior returns based on insights regarding relative asset class valuations.
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Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Swensen, CIO of Yale University and the author of Pioneering Portfolio Management, reveals why the mutual fund industry as a whole does a disservice to the individual investor. Soft money, 12b-1 fees, overtrading, market timing, and other management practices lower performance and virtually guarantee that most mutual fund returns will fall short of their benchmark, such as the S&P 500. Furthermore, for-profit mutual fund companies have a fiduciary obligation to their stockholders, not to their investors, and this relationship "inevitably resolves in favor of the bottom line." Swensen is also highly critical of the Morningstar rating system, which only causes investors to chase hot performing funds and managers. He advises considering alternatives to the for-profit mutual fund industry, including Exchange Traded Funds and not-for-profit financial institutions such as Vanguard and TIAA-CREF. He highly recommends that as an individual, you should play a more active role in your financial future. This includes periodic portfolio evaluation and rebalancing, to ensure that your asset allocation remains diversified and suits your investment time line. David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Mutual fund managers and marketers are not going to like David Swensen's thoughtful and intelligently opinionated analysis of their 'colossal failure' resulting from the fund industry's 'systemic exploitation of investors.' Coming from the mind and heart of one of America's most successful and integrity-laden money managers, this is a book that will change the way you think about mutual funds. It's high time for you to follow the elegantly simple advice he presents in this wonderful book."
-- John C. Bogle, founder and former CEO, The Vanguard Group

"Swensen is the best. Always a pioneer, his new book presents an approach to investing that is both brilliant and practical."
-- Barton Biggs, former Chief Global Strategist, Morgan Stanley

"A legendary institutional investor reveals the conflicts of interest that induce most financial services companies to provide inadequate products for the individual investor. Swensen's wise solution: Low cost, tax efficient, market-mimicking funds available either through Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) or from not-for-profit mutual fund companies. Unconventional Success does for the individual investor what Swensen's Pioneering Portfolio Management did for the institutional investor."
-- Burton G. Malkiel, author of A Random Walk Down Wall Street

"David Swensen is one of today's best endowment managers, if not the best. Unconventional Success is a perfect summary of what is wrong with a very important industry. This book should lead the reader to better investment decisions."
-- Michael F. Price, Managing Partner, MFP Investors

"Unfortunately, at the bottom of our industry -- money management -- there is a rather thick layer of muck, and Swensen's Unconventional Success rakes through this muck in spectacular fashion and great detail. It is the truth, the whole truth, and the very ugly truth. If you want to avoid the snares that lurk in money management, and save yourself lots of money, you must read it."
-- Jeremy Grantham, Chairman of GMO

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Free Press; Annotated edition (August 9, 2005)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 403 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0743228383
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0743228381
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.34 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.13 x 1.2 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 571 ratings

About the author

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David F. Swensen

David F. Swensen

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David F. Swensen is the chief investment officer of Yale University and the bestselling author of Pioneering Portfolio Management. He serves 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 teaches economics classes at Yale College and finance classes at Yale¹s School of Management. Mr. Swensen lives in New Haven, Connecticut.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
571 global ratings
The book came with a paper label glued over the ISBN
1 Star
The book came with a paper label glued over the ISBN
I didn't even read the book yet, but I don't recommend buying it here. It does not woth to send it back, but it's a lack of respect to do that and will give me much more work, because I cannot scan the correct bar code. Why to damage the book cover?
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Top reviews from the United States

BJ
5.0 out of 5 stars Very useful
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2024
Verified Purchase
I changed the way I invest, for the better, based upon the extremely useful information in this book, which was presented in a way that could be understood. Super valuable information from one of the best minds in the country.
4 people found this helpful
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BookwormX
5.0 out of 5 stars Insight From a Legendary Institutional Investor
Reviewed in the United States on January 10, 2007
Verified Purchase
David Swenson explains that, as the leader of a sophisticated team of full-time investment professionals, he produced an unparalleled 20-year annual return of 16.1% for Yale University's endowment fund. The high returns are achieved, in large part, because of the endowment's tax-exempt status which enables the investment team to engage in frequent trading necessary to conduct day-to-day real-time "portfolio rebalancing" while avoiding the adverse tax consequences associated with realization of capital gains. Few institutions and even fewer individuals have the resources necessary to conduct the trading activities which helped achieve these high returns over the long term, but now, ordinary investors have heretofore unavailable access to passively managed index funds and exchange-traded funds which provide them with opportunities to achieve reasonable returns. Index funds have been available to institutional investors for a long time (John Bogle's Vanguard 500 Index Fund was the first; Lee Kranefuss of iShares invented the etf in 1971), but not to most ordinary investors, who are blissfully unaware that nearly all of the actively managed mutual funds available for their defined-contribution retirement plans fail to keep up with benchmark indexes over the long term, ironically because of the funds' trading activities, and because of their tax disadvantages and wide range of parasitic fees, commissions, kickbacks and other assorted rakeoffs, including 401(k) pay-to-play bribes. Most investors don't know the difference between "actively managed" and "passively managed", and many of them are lulled into blissful ignorance by the cult of money-management personalities, brand-name attraction, and investment spin which misleads investors by distracting attention from meaningful details. Swenson recommends that ordinary investors should investigate the opportunities now available by investing in passively managed index funds and etfs, and he provides suggestions for setting up relatively simple, diversified portfolios without any actively managed funds. Investing in just one holding, an S&P500 index fund or etf, provides the equivalent of a 500-stock portfolio, diversified over many sectors. Actively managed fund real returns are, for the most part, pathetic, especially when considering the high compensation paid to the managers, the fund companies` profits, management failure to beat the benchmarks, and the investor's potential tax consequences. The book is easy to read and understand, and there are plenty of tables and charts which help to illustrate the concepts. Highly recommended, especially for those who want a realistic view of the mutual fund industry.
12 people found this helpful
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B. H.
4.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding book for the semi-sophisticated investor but not quite everything you need
Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2005
Verified Purchase
Written by one of the brightest and most successful money managers, the book has straightforward advice on what assets should makeup a portfolio and what assets (and providers) should be avoided. He definitely picks a few bones with the mutual fund industry which of course has been done before in such books as "The Intelligent Asset Allocator" by Bernstein and "A Random Walk Down Wall Street", corporate governance etc. As mentioned elsewhere he also goes into detail about the importance of rebalancing your portfolio.

Pros:

1. Gives advice on companies which can be trusted and provide products and investments where the investors objectives are aligned with the products (stocks, etfs, government bonds etc).

2. Lists specific indecies and providers he favors over others. There are tons of etfs out there so it's helpful to see a list he likes. He goes into detail about why some are more efficient then others.

3. Straightforward writing and sections. Easy to skip things you may already know (e.g. most mutual funds should be avoided).

4. Written by someone whe has done this with great success himself.

Cons:

1. Spends long sections in the book going into perhaps too much detail on specific examples of assets to avoid.

2. Regarding #1, I would have preferred more detail on specific allocations and products he likes and how we should use them best.

3. His own asset allocation at Yale includes a substantially different asset mix but he never gives detail on why Yale buys these things (e.g. Hard Assets) but individuals can or should not.

4. No advice on any sample portfolio.

5. Some mention of DFA would be nice.

In the end, I still prefer William Bernsteins "The Intelligent Asset Allocator" but this book is right up there and is one of the best I have read in years (and I have read most all of them).
112 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Oswaldo
5.0 out of 5 stars Buen libro
Reviewed in Mexico on August 31, 2022
Verified Purchase
La calidad es buena, la edición también, lo único malo es que la portada no está integrada al lomo, es decir, es como una caratula que se quita y pone.
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luca
5.0 out of 5 stars Pietra miliare
Reviewed in Italy on January 24, 2021
Verified Purchase
Dovrebbe essere un testo obbligatorio per chiunque abbia un patrimonio da amministrare non importa se pochi euro o milioni.
One person found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
Reviewed in Canada on February 12, 2018
Verified Purchase
This is an indepth and insightful book on the benefits of passive investing. While it is not a light read, it is worth pushing through.
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arup guha
5.0 out of 5 stars Hats off to David Swanson
Reviewed in India on January 6, 2019
Verified Purchase
It takes a lot to impress me now with a book on investing. Both the number of books I have read and portfolio size have grown substantially. But this possibly is the best book on practical investing I have read so far. Every page has some insight, no part of the book is just coasting. Anyone who wants to invest his hard earned cash should read this book if its the only book on investing he reads. If he reads another one he should read Guy Pearse’s autobiography. But this should be the first. What a valuable contribution David swanson has made, deeply grateful to him
2 people found this helpful
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Felger
5.0 out of 5 stars Many great and wise advices
Reviewed in France on February 20, 2018
Verified Purchase
I enjoyed this book from David Swenson from the Yale Endowment.
His advice to the individual investor is really good, backed by plenty of academic research:

-90% of the variability of returns stems from asset allocation, leaving 10% to security selection and market timing
o long-term investors build portfolios with a pronounced equity bias. Equity ownership drives long term returns.
o careful investors fashion portfolios with substantial diversification
o sensible investors create portfolios with concern of tax considerations
-invest in hihly diversified low cost index funds
-diversify across asset classes, regions and currencies
-invest in REITS ETFs rather than private partnerships
-A well-diversified, equity-oriented portfolio: 30% US equity, 15% foreign developed equity, 5% emerging market equity, 20% real estate, 15% US treasury bonds, 15% US treasury inflation-protected securities
-Avoid hedge funds, private equity, venture capital, buy-out funds : non-core asset classes provide investors with a broad range of superficially appealing but performance damaging investment alternatives.
-In the absence of truly superior fund selection skills (or extraordinary luck), investors should stay far, far away from private equity investments. (Cambridge Associates PE funds average returns: 11.5%, while 12.2% over the same 20 year period ending in 2003 for the S&P500).
-prefer Gov Bonds rather than private debt for the fixed income part of your portfolio : sensible investors avoid corporate debt, because credit risk and callability undermine the ability of fixed-income holdings to provide portfolio protection in times of financial or economic disruption.
One person found this helpful
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