The flexible investing playbook asset allocation strategies for long-term success. - Description based on print version record

How to make sensible investment decisions during these turbulent times2008 changed everything. Now, more than ever, investors need to be proactive in planning for their retirement. To do so, they must look beyond simply investing in stocks and bonds, while avoiding what may be overwhelming and even misleading investment advice. In The Flexible Investing Playbook: Asset Allocation for Long-Term Success, Robert Isbitts–mutual fund manager, investment strategist, newsletter writer, and author of Wall Street’s Bull and How to Bear It–shares the strategies he created and uses with his clients. This approach can potentially allow their portfolios to withstand the volatility of the stock market and subdue the emotional impact of investing, to increase the chances of reaching their investment goals. Along the way, the book: Reviews the events of the 2008 financial market debacle, and identifies key lessons investors should learn from that experience Discusses how traditional approaches to diversification are fraught with risks, and how they may endanger the pursuit of a secure retirement Details why he believes investors cannot live on stocks and bonds alone, while also describing how to properly diversify, without sacrificing precious liquidity The Flexible Investing Playbook, he presents a proactive approach to investing that’s based on the strategies Isbitts created, designed and currently manages. ROBERT A. ISBITTSis a Chief Investment Officer whose accomplishments and insights have been recognized at the national level. He started his career in 1986 and cofounded the South Florida investment firm Emerald Asset Advisors in 1998. He oversees investment strategy, the research process, and makes investment decisions for his firm's managed assets. He is also the editor of the GreenThought$newsletter, and an asset allocation mutual fund manager The Flexible Investing Playbook: Asset Allocation Strategies for Long-Term Success 3 Contents 7 Acknowledgments 9 INTRODUCTION: Replacing Your Old Investment Playbook 11 PART I: SETTING THE STAGE TO BE REEDUCATED 15 CHAPTER 1: Tired... but Not Retired 17 Bulls, Bears, and Pigs 22 CHAPTER 2: 2008: What the Hell Happened?! 25 Where’s ‘‘Voldo?’’—August 1, 2007 27 ‘‘Wimpy’’—September 19, 2007 28 Counting Backwards—February 1, 2008 30 Two Wild and Crazy Guys—August 8, 2008 32 It’s All About the U (-Shaped Recovery)—October 21, 2008 34 Hot ’N Cold—December 9, 2008 36 Not Suitable for All Ages?—March 17, 2009 39 CHAPTER 3: What Have We Learned? 41 Lessons from Stock Market History 42 ‘‘Renting’’ the Stock Market—the Ballad of Babe and Yogi 50 The 60/40 Approach to Investing—My Version 54 There Must Be 50 Ways to Invest Your Assets 57 Style Boxes: Out of Style? 58 Unwrapping the Box 60 ‘‘Rearview Mirror’’ Investing 61 Finding Bull Markets Wherever They Exist 63 PART II: GETTING OLD IDEAS OUT OF YOUR HEAD 67 CHAPTER 4: Identifying the Issues and the Enemy 69 What Makes Today Different from the 1980s and 1990s? 69 Where Does This Lead Us? 78 Do You Think You Can Be Effective in Market Forecasting? 80 Investment Football 81 More Bad Habits to Kick 85 An Obsession with Risk Avoidance 85 Performance Contests 87 Shooting the Weak Performer 87 ‘‘Rearview Mirror Investing’’ 89 The Other Enemy 90 CHAPTER 5: Wall Street’s Bull 91 Shortcuts and Overkill 92 Taking the Shortcut 93 Are You Being Advised or Sold To? 94 Conventional Wisdom: Not So Smart 95 A Shocking Fact 96 Overlap 97 10 Investment Ideas that Still Don’t Work 98 ‘‘Moderately Constructive’’ and Other Indecipherable Comments from ‘‘Talking Heads’’ 104 Congratulations! 105 PART III: INVESTING IN THE TWENTY FIRST CENTURY 107 CHAPTER 6: Keys to Successful Asset Allocation 109 An Investment Philosophy Is Born 110 The 10 Keys to Asset Allocation 113 Other Key Factors to Consider in Asset Allocation 120 Hedge Funds: A Limited Solution 123 What Holding Period/Time Horizon to Target? 126 The True Cost of Investing 129 Portfolio Turnover: Far More Irrelevant Than ‘‘Experts’’ Would Have You Believe 132 Diversification and ‘‘De-Worse-ification’’ 133 When to Say Bye to Your Buy (Sell Discipline) 133 Volatility: How To Make It Your Friend Instead of Your Enemy 136 Five Ways to Whip Inflation Now (or Whenever It Arrives) 141 Game Time! Meet the Portfolio Strategies 144 CHAPTER 7: Hybrid Investing 147 How Hybrid Came to Be 149 The Objective of the Hybrid Allocation Strategy 150 Hybrid Mutual Fund Styles 151 Constructing Hybrid Portfolios 155 The Hybrid Investment Process 155 Where Hybrid Investing Fits into Your Portfolio 157 Risk Management in the Hybrid Strategy 159 Hybrid Investing: A Flagship Strategy for Twenty-First-Century Asset Allocation 161 Why Not Just Pick One Alternative Mutual Fund and Call It a Day? 162 CHAPTER 8: Concentrated Equity Investing 165 My Favorite Article on Concentrated Mutual Fund Investing 165 When Does Diversification Lose Its Benefits? 167 Sell Discipline 173 CHAPTER 9: Global Cycle Investing 175 Types of Business Cycles 177 The Global Cycle Strategy in Action 184 PART IV: YOU’VE COME THIS FAR, NOW SCORE! (PUTTING THE STRATEGY TO WORK) 189 CHAPTER 10: Evaluating Your Performance—the Right Way 191 Capturing Investment Success 192 ‘‘Capture Ratio’’: What Is It, and How Does It Help You? 194 Capture Ratios—A Simple Example 195 Consistency Counts (If You’re Into That Sort of Thing) 196 Using Rolling Returns for Better Analysis 198 Don’t Let the Market Be Your Evil Twin (R-Squared) 201 CHAPTER 11: Putting It All Together 205 Mixing the Strategies—without Food Analogies 206 The Golden Ticket for the Next Decade and Beyond 208 Chasing Tails: How to Play Defense against a ‘‘Market Event’’ 210 ‘‘Gray Investing’’ Is Better Than ‘‘Black-and-White’’ Investing 211 Market History: Know It and Learn from It 212 From Boring to Number One in 20 Weeks! 213 Replacing Your Old Investment Playbook (Reprise) 216 The Last Word(s) 218 About the Author 220 Index 222 0470636165,9780470636169,9780470875544,0470875542 How to make sensible investment decisions during these turbulent times 2008 changed everything. Now, more than ever, investors need to be proactive in planning for their retirement. To do so, they must look beyond simply investing in stocks and bonds, while avoiding what may be overwhelming and even misleading investment advice. In The Flexible Investing Playbook: Asset Allocation for Long-Term Success, Robert Isbitts–mutual fund manager, investment strategist, newsletter writer, and author of Wall Street's Bull and How to Bear It–shares the strategies he created and uses with his clients. This approach can potentially allow their portfolios to withstand the volatility of the stock market and subdue the emotional impact of investing, to increase the chances of reaching their investment goals. Along the way, the book: • Reviews the events of the 2008 financial market debacle, and identifies key lessons investors should learn from that experience • Discusses how traditional approaches to diversification are fraught with risks, and how they may endanger the pursuit of a secure retirement • Details why he believes investors cannot live on stocks and bonds alone, while also describing how to properly diversify, without sacrificing precious liquidity The Flexible Investing Playbook, he presents a proactive approach to investing that's based on the strategies Isbitts created, designed and currently manages. How to make sensible investment decisions during these turbulent times 2008 changed everything. Now, more than ever, investors need to be proactive in planning for their retirement. To do so, they must look beyond simply investing in stocks and bonds, while avoiding what may be overwhelming and even misleading investment advice. In The Flexible Investing Playbook: Asset Allocation for Long-Term Success , Robert Isbitts--mutual fund manager, investment strategist, newsletter writer, and author of Wall Street's Bull and How to Bear It --shares the strategies he created and uses with his clients. This approach can potentially allow their portfolios to withstand the volatility of the stock market and subdue the emotional impact of investing, to increase the chances of reaching their investment goals. Along the way, the book: Reviews the events of the 2008 financial market debacle, and identifies key lessons investors should learn from that experience Discusses how traditional approaches to diversification are fraught with risks, and how they may endanger the pursuit of a secure retirement Details why he believes investors cannot live on stocks and bonds alone, while also describing how to properly diversify, without sacrificing precious liquidity The Flexible Investing Playbook , he presents a proactive approach to investing that's based on the strategies Isbitts created, designed and currently manages This isn't your grandfather's market. It isn't your father's market. It isn't even your market, at least not the one you remember prior to the global financial crisis. And none of those markets is likely to return anytime soon, if ever. Still, if you're willing to change, a new market is simply a new opportunity. However, you can't capitalize on the opportunities of a new market if you're basing your investment decisions on either misleading investment advice or outdated asset allocation strategies from markets long gone by Tired but not retired 2008 : what the hell happened?! What have we learned? Identifying the issues and the enemy Wall Street's bull Keys to successful asset allocation : the "new normal" Hybrid investing : the rationale for hybrid investing Concentrated equity investing Global cycle investing market cycles : a key to understanding your odds as a long-term investor Evaluating your performance the right way Putting it all together : Chinese food and asset allocation : perfect together!. Tired-- But Not Retired -- 2008 : What The Hell Happened?! -- What Have We Learned? -- Identifying The Issues And The Enemy -- Wall Street's Bull -- Keys To Successful Asset Allocation -- Hybrid Investing -- Concentrated Equity Investing -- Global Cycle Investing -- Evaluating Your Performance-- The Right Way -- Putting It All Together. Robert A. Isbitts. Description Based On Print Version Record. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. In The Flexible Investing Playbook: Asset Allocation Strategies for Long-Term Success, Robert Isbittsùmutual fund manager, investment strategist, editor of the GreenThought$ newsletter, and author of Wall Street's Bull and How to Bear Itùhelps investors to prepare their portfolios, sharing with readers the same strategies he created and uses to help his clients manage money in today's turbulent times. Along the way, he details Everything, that is, except how most people invest. In today's unstable financial markets, investors need to replace their old investment playbooks, and look beyond just stocks and bonds. They also need to tune out overwhelming and, sometimes, even misleading investment advice. And they need to take a truly proactive approach to planning for their retirement. Change is only good if you're prepared for it Today, it's more important than ever to make sensible investment decisions. The Flexible Investing Playbook helps you to reeducate yourself as an investor; build a portfolio that has a higher likelihood of withstanding the volatility of today's stock market; subdue the emotional impact of investing; and increase your chances of reaching your long-term investment goals. --Book Jacket The Flexible Investing Playbook helps you reeducate yourself for investing in the post-market meltdown economy. Robert Isbitts details what was learned in the largest financial crisis since the Great Depression, describes what's changed since 2008, and shows you how true diversification requires looking beyond traditional stocks and bonds Markets change. Secure your financial future even through these turbulent timesùand those to comeùby changing with them