Rating: 
Summary: An excellent book for serious investors only.
Review: ... Being an investment advisor specializing in asset class strategies, I was immediately impressed with his grasp of the principles of modern portfolio theory, the efficient market hypothesis, and his incredible knowledge of statistics. What impresses me even more is that he has been able to take these fairly academic topics and communicate them very effectively to serious investors who wish to build and maintain wealth over the long-term. By the way, a serious investor to me has nothing to do with the size of their portfolio. It has everything to do with their desire to learn and apply sound, logical, fact-based principles while recognizing and ignoring the vast amount of Wall Street garbage touted by stockbrokers and other salesmen.There are other reasons to be impressed with Bill and the knowledge he has imparted through this book. For one, Bill is a practicing physician, a neurologist, in fact. And-trust me on this-physicians are the world's worst investors. They tend to change investment strategies and advisors more often than Liz Taylor changes husbands. Why? My theory is that physicians are the most "cold-called" group of investors in the world. They hear every story from every angle and are always in search of the highest promised return on their investments. As a result, they have a habit of buying high and selling low whether with individual securities, mutual funds, or investment advisors. Dr. Bernstein probably did that a few times himself and-recognizing a nervous system disorder when he sees one-decided to find the truth on his own. He found it. In other words, he's one of you, only he's been subjected to even more of the worthless Wall Street noise then you have. Investors who take the time to read this book all the way through and grasp some of the finer details, will be extremely well served. If they only read Chapter 5 on asset allocation, however, they will know more than 90% of investors and be well on their way to a successful, long-term strategy.
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Summary: The Intelligent Asset Allocator: How to Build Your Portfolio
Review: Bernstein has become a guru to a peculiarly '90s group: well-educated, Internet-powered people intent on investing well-and with minimal 'help' from professional Wall Street
Rating:
Summary: The Intelligent Asset Allocator: How to Build Your Portfolio
Review: Bernstein has become a guru to a peculiarly '90s group: well-educated, Internet-powered people intent on investing well-and with minimal `help' from professional Wall Street
Rating: 
Summary: An investment concept that works well but remains ignored
Review: Bernstein presents the asset allocation/rebalancing concept in the form of the mathematics of coin tosses. This works but he could have presented an exceptional approach much more simply with real market data. Why confuse the reader.
Real market data reveals that markets are comprised of various asset classes that tend to exhibit group behavior based upon the earnings patterns and investor sentiment associated with each unique asset class. The simple approach is to select a number of asset classes, set their percentage levels for your portfolio and rebalance in some periodic fashion back to the original percentages-thus taking gains from those that are up and adding more to those that are down. Real market data is readily available for a clearer explanation.
However, a better method for larger portfolios is to hire individual managers to fill the various portfolio asset classes chosen and to rebalance when the managers are 20%+/- from their original dollar allocation (each time rebalancing occurs all dollar positions are reset). The value to this approach is that asset classes can have non-correlated behavior that may hit the rebalancing target mid-year and you miss a valuable opportunity should you wait till year end. In addition, separate accounts permit the investor to instruct the manager to specifically sell the largest capital gains positions in the asset class in question. The net effect is to significantly reduce the risk in that asset class.
Successful investing is all about risk management. When you have the gains, take them out, reinvest them in under allocated positions. Successful investors follow this practice.
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Summary: Simply a must read
Review: Bill Bernstein is one of the best financial writers around. Not only is this book a must read, but anyone remotely interested in investing should make his efficient frontier newsletter a must read as well. He provides great and useful insights into how markets really work and how to make them work for you.
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Summary: Bernstein provides foundational investment advice
Review: Dr. Bernstein has provided a great description of fundamental investment principles best followed by 'working stiffs' who can't afford to lose our hard earned dollars and who must provide ourselves a comfortable retirement down the road. Come to think of it, that's most of us. This book will appeal most to the investment do-it-yourselfer who wants to be self-sufficient, hands-on, and free of professional investment services and the associated commissions and costs.
The book agues that the vast majority of investors, even the pros, can't beat the market averages over time, and the good ol' market will increase over time, so you might as well relax and join in by investing mostly in low cost index funds that stick to the market averages. There is nothing new really with Bernstein's ideas (e.g., think guru John Bogle or advisor Bob Brinker), but the book's real strength lies in its logical arguments that build upon themselves and are backed up by some statistics. The book's payoff is Bernstein's list of recommended investments (there are only a relative few) and allocation mixes. BTW, his explanation of stock and fund standard deviations, as used to measure risk, was very well done and much appreciated.
Bernstein's central thesis is summed up by his humorous statement that there are two kinds of investors, those who know they can't predict the market, and those who don't know that they can't predict the market. Here is a take on Bernstein: Respected Wall Street folks highly praise Legg Mason fund manager Bill Miller, whose fund has just beat the market for 14 straight years. After reading this book, I believe Bernstein would explain Miller's accomplishment away by saying that it was not so much a result of stock picking skill as it was statistically bound to happen with all the thousands of fund managers out there, someone was bound to accomplish this. Bernstein might also point out how few fund managers have beaten the market consistently. I side with Bernstein even though I sort of wish he was wrong. This is the book you hope that your kids read and follow.
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Summary: An Essential Tool For Serious Investors
Review: Dr. Bernstein's excellent presentation in this text of Modern Portfolio Theory (in particular, mean-variance analysis) and his three-step approach to asset allocation should not be overlooked by the serious investor or by investment advisors. While some background in statistics would be helpful to the reader, don't run away if you are not a mathmetician. Read the chapters slowly, one at a time, and you'll gain valuable insights into the all-important asset allocation decision. No other text I've read to date better explains Modern Portfolio Theory and the underlying theories of asset allocation to the lay investor. Dr. B effectively presents additional arguments for value investing and tax-efficient investing. The last chapter also contains a very useful reading list, providing a synopsis of books by Malkeil, Bogle, Haugen, and a host of web sites which can provide valuable data and reading. Investors should not overlook Dr. Bernstein's own web site, which is frequently updated with his newsletters. The very beginning investor should perhaps first explore Bogle's Common Sense on Mutual Funds, and then explore texts by Burton Malkeil, Larry Swedroe, and perhaps a few others. This text can then be dived into (patiently). Bruce Temkin's recent text, The Terrible Truth About Investing, should then follow, lest the individual investor believe that he or she knows it all. I highly recommend this text as an addition to every serious individual investor's library, and to investment advisors desiring to explore the fundamentals of Modern Portfolio Theory.
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Summary: This is a MUST READ.
Review: Exceptional book. Anyone serious about investing for the longterm should read it carefully.
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Summary: Addresses the Needs of All but the Affluent Asset Allocator
Review: I believe every investor should follow the tenets of Modern Portfolio Theory and I think the author, William Bernstein would agree with me on this crucial point. It is puzzling then to see that he leaves out entire segments of the investable universe; hedge funds (fund of funds), private equity, managed futures, even timber. Correctly structured alternative investments placed along side "traditional" portfolios offer tremendous opportunities to further mitigate risk and perhaps even achieve higher risk adjusted returns. The highly motivated individual should investigate "Pioneering Portfolio Management" by Swensen to get a more complete picture. I must say however, Bernstein proffers wise advice in this title, advice that one should only ignore at his financial peril.
Rating:
Summary: A great book.
Review: I don't know why anyone would complain about the math used in this book. Apparently it posed a problem for some readers. What is investing but an elaborate application of math combined with money? In any case, the math was kept to a minimum and it touched on vital issues like Standard Deviate.
I have fully applied the principles in this book.
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