Why am I passionate about this?
I’m a money manager for high-net-worth individuals. During my Wall Street years, I was ranked number one in my category in the Institutional Investor All America Research Survey for nine consecutive years. The CFA Society New York presented me its Ben Graham Award in 2017. I’ve served as a governor of the CFA Institute and consultant to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. My writings have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, the Financial Times, and various scholarly journals. I live in New York City with my wife, musicologist Elaine Sisman. We have two children and five grandchildren.
Martin's book list on investing from a money manager
Why did Martin love this book?
As head of the Yale University endowment fund, the late David Swensen was one of the foremost innovators and most successful practitioners of institutional investing. Remarkably, he also wrote one of the best books ever for individual investors. Unconventional Success shows why on average, mutual fund investors significantly underperform the funds they own: They trade excessively, buying at the highs and selling at the lows, creating tax inefficiencies in the process. Swensen also valuably details hazards to avoid in fund selection.
2 authors picked Unconventional Success as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
In UNCONVENTIONAL SUCCESS, investment legend David Swensen reveals why the for-profit mutual fund industry consistently fails the average investor, from its excessive management and incentive fees to the frequent 'churning' of portfolios that forces investors to pay higher taxes. Perhaps most destructive of all are flagrant schemes designed to thwart regulators and further erode portfolios, limiting investor choice and reducing returns. Swensen's solution? A 'contrarian' investment alternative that creates more diversified, equity-oriented, 'market-mimicking' portfolios that minimize loss and reward the investor with the courage to stay the course. Swensen backs up his unconventional proposal with well-documented evidence supporting not-for-profit investment…