Background
Swensen, David Frederick was born on January 26, 1954 in River Falls, Wisconsin, United States. Son of Richard David and Grace Marie (Hartman) Swensen.
(During his fourteen years as Yale's chief investment offi...)
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.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0684864436/?tag=2022091-20
(The bestselling author of Pioneering Portfolio Management...)
The bestselling author of Pioneering Portfolio Management, the definitive template for institutional fund management, returns with a book that shows individual investors how to manage their financial assets. In Unconventional Success, investment legend David F. Swensen offers incontrovertible evidence that the for-profit mutual-fund industry consistently fails the average investor. From excessive management fees to the frequent "churning" of portfolios, the relentless pursuit of profits by mutual-fund management companies harms individual clients. Perhaps most destructive of all are the hidden schemes that limit investor choice and reduce returns, including "pay-to-play" product-placement fees, stale-price trading scams, soft-dollar kickbacks, and 12b-1 distribution charges. Even if investors manage to emerge unscathed from an encounter with the profit-seeking mutual-fund industry, individuals face the likelihood of self-inflicted pain. The common practice of selling losers and buying winners (and doing both too often) damages portfolio returns and increases tax liabilities, delivering a one-two punch to investor aspirations. In short: Nearly insurmountable hurdles confront ordinary investors. Swensen's solution? A contrarian investment alternative that promotes well-diversified, equity-oriented, "market-mimicking" portfolios that reward investors who exhibit the courage to stay the course. Swensen suggests implementing his nonconformist proposal with investor-friendly, not-for-profit investment companies such as Vanguard and TIAA-CREF. By avoiding actively managed funds and employing client-oriented mutual-fund managers, investors create the preconditions for investment success. Bottom line? Unconventional Success provides the guidance and financial know-how for improving the personal investor's financial future.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743228383/?tag=2022091-20
(An indispensable roadmap for creating a successful invest...)
An indispensable roadmap for creating a successful investment program from Yale’s chief investment officer, David F. Swensen. In the years since the now-classic Pioneering Portfolio Management was first published, the global investment landscape has changed dramatically -- but the results of David Swensen's investment strategy for the Yale University endowment have remained as impressive as ever. Year after year, Yale's portfolio has trumped the marketplace by a wide margin, and, with over $20 billion added to the endowment under his twenty-three-year tenure, Swensen has contributed more to Yale's finances than anyone ever has to any university in the country. What may have seemed like one among many success stories in the era before the Internet bubble burst emerges now as a completely unprecedented institutional investment achievement. In this fully revised and updated edition, Swensen, author of the bestselling personal finance guide Unconventional Success, describes the investment process that underpins Yale's endowment. He provides lucid and penetrating insight into the world of institutional funds management, illuminating topics ranging from asset-allocation structures to active fund management. Swensen employs an array of vivid real-world examples, many drawn from his own formidable experience, to address critical concepts such as handling risk, selecting advisors, and weathering market pitfalls. Swensen offers clear and incisive advice, especially when describing a counterintuitive path. Conventional investing too often leads to buying high and selling low. Trust is more important than flash-in-the-pan success. Expertise, fortitude, and the long view produce positive results where gimmicks and trend following do not. The original Pioneering Portfolio Management outlined a commonsense template for structuring a well-diversified equity-oriented portfolio. This new edition provides fund managers and students of the market an up-to-date guide for actively managed investment portfolios.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1416544690/?tag=2022091-20
Swensen, David Frederick was born on January 26, 1954 in River Falls, Wisconsin, United States. Son of Richard David and Grace Marie (Hartman) Swensen.
Bachelor, Bachelor of Science, University Wisconsin, River Falls, 1975. Master of Arts, Yale University, 1976. Master in Philosophical, Yale University, 1978.
Doctor of Philosophy in Economics, Yale University, 1980.
Associate Salomon Brothers, New York City, 1979-1982. Senior vice president Lehman Brothers, 1982-1985. Chief investment officer Yale University, New Haven, since 1985.
Adjunct professor investment strategy, lecturer economics Yale College, Yale School Management, since 1985. Board directors Endowment Advisers Inc., Endowment Realty Investors Inc. Trustee Carnegie Institute Washington, since 1991.
Board member, treasurer Hopkins School Committee Trustees Inc., since 1998. Member investment committee Yale New Haven Hospital, since 2000, Courtauld Institute Art, since 2002. Trustee Brookings Institute, Washington, 2004.
Fellow Berkeley College, Yale University International Center Finance. Member President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, since 2009.
(The bestselling author of Pioneering Portfolio Management...)
(An indispensable roadmap for creating a successful invest...)
(During his fourteen years as Yale's chief investment offi...)
(Rev Upd edition)
Fellow: American Academy Arts & Sciences. Member: Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America (trustee since 2003), American Finance Association, American Economic Association, Yale University Elizabethan Club.
Married Susan Candler Foster, June 26, 1982 (divorced). Children: Tory, Alex, Tim.