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Pioneering Portfolio Management: An Unconventional Approach to Institutional Investment | 
 enlarge | Author: David F. Swensen
Publisher: Free Press
Category: Book
List Price: $35.00
Buy Used: $5.00
You Save: $30.00 (86%)
New (36) Used (40) Collectible (1) from $5.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 11666
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 364
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.4
ISBN: 0684864436
Dewey Decimal Number: 332.6
EAN: 9780684864433
ASIN: 0684864436
Publication Date: May 15, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: usual wear, no dust jacket, creased on cover, clean pages
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Product Description
During his fourteen years as Yale's chief investment officer, David F. Swensen has transformed the management of the university's portfolio. Largely by focusing on nonconventional strategies, including a heavy allocation to private equity, Swensen has achieved an annualized return of 16.2 percent, which has propelled Yale's endowment into the top tier of institutional funds. Now, this acknowledged leader of fund managers draws on his experience and deep knowledge of the financial markets to provide a compendium of powerful investment strategies.Swensen presents an overview of the investment world populated by institutional fund managers, pension fund fiduciaries, investment managers, and trustees of universities, museums, hospitals, and foundations. He offers penetrating insights from his experience managing Yale's endowment, ranging from broad issues of goals and investment philosophy to the strategic and tactical aspects of portfolio management. Swensen's exceptionally readable book addresses critical concepts such as handling risk, selecting investment advisers, and negotiating the opportunities and pitfalls in individual asset classes. Fundamental investment ideas are illustrated by real-world concrete examples, and each chapter contains strategies that any manager can put into action. At a time when it is becoming increasingly difficult to cope with the relentless challenges provided by today's financial markets, Swensen's book is an indispensable roadmap for creating a successful investment program for every institutional fund manager. Any student of markets will benefit from Pioneering Portfolio Management.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 13 more reviews...
 Insightful and structured review of institutional money management July 19, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
David Swensen has written a commendable book. Perhaps most commendable is his focus on ethical money management with a focus on fiduciary responsibility to the investor--a Birkshirean theme worth reiterating over and over.
The principal value of this book derives from its discussion on the use of alternative investments--such as private equity, market neutral strategies, and venture capital. Indeed, in the first paragraph of the books cover it is noted that "Largely focusing on nonconventional strategies, including a heavy allocation to private equity, Swensen has achieved an annualized return of 17.4%." Ironically, however, within the book Swensen writes in detail how and why private equity investing provides inferior risk adjusted returns vs. investment in plain vanilla marketable securities (e.g. S and P 500 index). This information is especially interesting given the recent investment by the Chinese government (purported disciples of David Swensen) in the Blackstone group IPO!!!!
Swenson's discussion about inferior risk adjusted returns provided by venture capital funds, his discussion about market neutral strategy returns, and his discussion about the importance of long term treasuries vs. other bond alternatives are equally interesting.
Overall, this book is good and differentiated, but somewhat inferior to other classics (e.g. One up on wall street by Peter Lynch, A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Malkiel, etc.). I would suggest waiting for the new edition of Pioneering Portfolio Management to come out instead of buying this older edition (2000)
 As good as everyone else says. April 18, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I have recommended this book to numerous colleagues at work. We use it as a great summary of our investment philosophy and as a touchstone for investment values and sanity checks. We have purchased mutiple copies which we give to stakeholders to spread the word and bring them up to speed with these investment truths.
I've been a professional f.m. for 25 years and I wish I'd read this book closer to year 1 than year 25.
BTW we got far less incremental value out of Swensen's second book
Passionate yet level-headed December 21, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The marketing/techno-speak of the investment management industry sometimes gets to be overwhelming, this book can be an antidote. Swensen focuses on policy objectives, manager incentives, relative market (in)efficiencies and fundamental asset class characteristics to write a valuable resource for anyone considering the plethora of modern-day investment vehicles. Practically every concept is explained in language that is intelligible to someone with a basic understanding of the current investment markets. Absolutely worth the purchase.
 Good insights; Perhaps DS cannot see his own hubris though December 5, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is an excellent book about the workings of an institutional portfolio and the various influences pulling at investment decisions.
Lots of good anecdotal stories of mis-steps by *other* institutions. I would love to hear about some mistakes that DS has made during his tenure.
He deals implicitly w/ agency issues that exist in most money management situations. For a more detailed explication of agency conflicts, read, "Unconventional Success".
He attributes a lot of manager success to luck. However, how much of DS's and Yale's success is due to luck? He does not subject his own performance (that of managing the managers) to any sort of benchmark.
Finally, he gives very short shrift to the back-office and operational issues (1 page at the end of the book). This is the achilles heel of 80% of management firms. They cannot scale, control, and maintain quality as they grow. This is the same, "Its all in the front office" mentality that presages so many other stumbles into mediocrity (not blow ups - just a benign drift downwards in rankings). I hope this same fate does not befall DS and Yale.
A Great Investor Pulls Back the Veil on One of the Best Run Endowments January 16, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Swensen is certainly one of the brightest minds in institutional money management. In a world where there are ten million books on how to pick stocks, trade options, or some other get rich quick scheme, finally a great investor shows the methodology of how significant wealth should be managed. This book is a must read for anyone who manages or invests significant money, even if it isn't institutional assets.
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