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Michael O'Higgins is worried. The ideas advanced in his 1989 classic, Beating the Dow, have been adopted by mutual-funds and market gurus alike as a proven formula for getting consistently high returns with a minimum of risk. In that book, O'Higgins introduced a system that become known as the Dogs of the Dow, which prescribed investing in out-of-favor Dow stocks--an approach that has produced annual returns that have handily beaten most all market averages. These days, however, O'Higgins is less concerned about beating the market than surviving it. In Beating the Dow with Bonds, O'Higgins considers the wild valuations of today's stock market and sees the specter of a sharp and steep decline. To face this inevitable selloff, O'Higgins offers a survival strategy that involves annually allocating assets among stocks (Dow Dogs), T-bills, and T-bonds. While most members of the baby-boom generation know how stocks work, they'd be hard-pressed to explain the arcane world of bonds. O'Higgins explains them admirably. Had you followed O'Higgins's new system for the last 30 years, which saw six bear markets, your portfolio would have enjoyed an average annual return of 23.77 percent versus 18.03 percent with his Dow Dogs portfolio and 11.77 percent with the DJIA. O'Higgins is no Chicken Little--rather, he's a market contrarian with a proven and profitable track record. If you think the stock market will go up forever, then look elsewhere for advice. But if you believe in gravity, then get this book and read it soon. Highly recommended. --Harry C. Edwards
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