The Little Book of Alternative Investments: Reaping Rewards by Daring to be Different

The Little Book of Alternative Investments: Reaping Rewards by Daring to be Different

Released March 2011
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9780470920046

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Book description

Praise For THE LITTLE BOOK OF ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS

"Ben and Phil have done it again. Another lucid, insightful book, designed to enhance your wealth! In today's stock-addled cult of equities, there is a gaping hole in most investors' portfolios...the whole panoply of alternative investments that can simultaneously help us cut our risk, better hedge our inflation risk, and boost our return. This Little Book is filled with big ideas on how to make these markets and strategies a treasured part of our investing toolkit."

—Robert Arnott, Chairman, Research Affiliates

"I have been reading Ben Stein for thirty-five years and Phil DeMuth since he joined up with Ben ten years ago. They do solid work, and this latest is no exception."

—Jim Rogers, author of A Gift to My Children

"If anyone can make hedge funds sexy, Stein and DeMuth can, and they've done it with style in this engaging, instructive, and tasteful how-to guide for investing in alternatives. But you should read this Kama Sutra of investment manuals not just for the thrills, but also to learn how to avoid the hazards of promiscuous and unprotected investing."

—Andrew Lo, Professor and Director, MIT Laboratory for Financial Engineering

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Contents
  3. Title
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. Introduction
  7. Chapter 1 : Everything You Know Is Wrong
    1. Addicted to Stocks
    2. Bye Bye Miss Portfolio Pie
  8. Chapter 2 : Efficient Market Theory and Its Discontents
    1. Exploiting Market Anomalies for Fun and Profit
    2. Capture that Anomaly!
    3. Bonds
    4. A Risk-Balanced Bond Portfolio
    5. All Together Now
  9. Chapter 3 : Collectibles as Investments
    1. Love and Pleasure
    2. Buying and Selling
    3. How Not to Make Money
  10. Chapter 4 : More Alternatives We Don’t Love
    1. Private Equity
    2. “Buy/Write” Funds
    3. Structured Products
    4. 130/30 Funds
    5. Gold
  11. Chapter 5 : Conventional Alternatives I: Commodities
    1. Back to the Futures Market
    2. How Do Investors Use Futures Markets?
    3. So What?
    4. Do Commodities Add Value to a Portfolio?
    5. How Do We Invest in It?
  12. Chapter 6 : Conventional Alternatives II: Real Estate
    1. How Do Investors Use REITs?
    2. How Do REITs Work?
    3. Do REITs Add Value to a Portfolio?
    4. How Do We Invest in It?
  13. Chapter 7 : The Ultimate Alternative Investments
    1. Say Whaa . . . ?
    2. Exploiting Market Anomalies
    3. Illusion versus Reality
    4. It Gets Worse
  14. Chapter 8 : So Why Invest in Hedge Funds?
    1. Final Answer
    2. Hedge Funds Meet Mutual Funds
    3. Master Beta
  15. Chapter 9 : A Field Guide to Hedge Funds, Part One
    1. #1. Long/Short Equity
    2. #2. Market Neutral Equity Funds
    3. #3. Dedicated Short Bias
    4. #4. Global Macro
    5. #5. Managed Futures
  16. Chapter 10 : A Field Guide to Hedge Funds, Part Deux
    1. #6. Convertible Arbitrage
    2. #7. Fixed-Income Arbitrage
    3. #8. Event-Driven
    4. #9. Emerging Markets
    5. #10. Multi-Strategy
    6. How They Stack Up
  17. Chapter 11 : One-Fund Solutions
    1. Hedge Fund Replicants
    2. Fun, Fun, Funds ’til Her Daddy Takes the T-Bill Away
    3. Multi-Strategy
    4. Alternative: Roll Your Own Hedge Fund
  18. Chapter 12 : Hedge Funds Pigs in Mutual Fund Blankets
    1. Long/Short Funds
    2. Market Neutral Equity Funds
    3. Dedicated Short Bias Funds
    4. Global Macro
    5. Managed Futures
    6. Convertible Arbitrage
    7. Fixed-Income Arbitrage
    8. Event-Driven
    9. Emerging Markets
  19. Chapter 13 : Adding Alternative Investments to Your Portfolio
    1. Our Final Exam
    2. Conventional Alternatives
    3. The Hedge Fund Couch Potato Portfolio
    4. A Deeper Dive
    5. The Portfolio of the Future
  20. Conclusion : Quest into the Unknown
  21. Appendix : Fundamentals
  22. Acknowledgments
  23. About the Authors

Product information

  • Title: The Little Book of Alternative Investments: Reaping Rewards by Daring to be Different
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: March 2011
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9780470920046