Getting Back to Business: Why Modern Portfolio Theory Fails Investors and How You Can Bring Common Sense to Your Portfolio

Preface

A number of years ago, I found myself in a somewhat awkward position at work. I had been employed as a stock analyst and portfolio manager for about 15 years, had passed the grueling, three-part CFA^® (Chartered Financial Analyst) exam, was part of a group managing a multibillion-dollar portfolio of client assets, and had already authored two books on investing. Yet something did not seem right. The traditional “rules” of investing struck me as arbitrary and often contributed to worse rather than better investor outcomes. And my team’s approach (focused on dividends) was at odds with how just about everyone else in the industry operated ...