The Chief Investment Officer of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management explains why goals, not markets, should be the primary focus of your investment strategy—and offers a practical, innovative framework for making smarter choices about aligning your goals to your investment strategy. Today all of us bear the burden of investing wisely, but too many of us are preoccupied with the wrong priorities—increasing returns at all costs, finding the next star fund manager, or beating “the market.” Unfortunately conventional portfolio theory and the grand debates in finance have offered investors only incomplete solutions. What is needed, argues Ashvin B. Chhabra, is a framework that shifts the focus of investment strategy from portfolios and markets to individuals and the objectives that really matter: things like protecting against unexpected financial crises, paying for education or retirement, and financing philanthropy and entrepreneurship. The Aspirational Investor is a practical, innovative approach to managing wealth based on key goals and the careful allocation of risks rather than responding to the whims of the financial markets. Chhabra introduces his “Wealth Allocation Framework,” which accommodates the three seemingly incompatible objectives that must underpin every sound wealth management plan: the need for financial security in the face of known and unknowable risks; the need to maintain current living standards over time despite inflation; and the need to pursue aspirational goals for wealth creation. Chhabra reveals some surprising facts about wealth creation, reinterprets the success formulas of investing greats like Warren Buffett, and closes the gap between theory and practice by simplifying our understanding of key asset classes and laying out a concise roadmap for identifying, prioritizing, and quantifying financial goals. Raising the bar for what we should expect from our investment portfolios—and our financial advisors—The Aspirational Investor sets us on a path to more confident and fulfilling financial lives.

A practical guide to getting personal investing right Somewhere along the way, something has gone very wrong with the way individuals save and invest. Too often, households are drawn in by promotional suggestions masquerading as impartial investment advice. Consumers get saddled with more risk than they realize. Authors Zvi Bodie and Rachelle Taqqu understand the dilemma that today's investors face, and with Risk Less and Prosper they will help you find your financial footing. Written in an accessible style, this practical guide skillfully explains why personal investing is all about you—your goals, your values and your career path. It shows how to understand investment risk and choose the particular blend of risk and safety that is right for you. And it lays out several simple yet powerful ways for small investors to cast a reliable safety net to achieve their financial goals and truly prosper. Coauthors Bodie and Taqqu challenge the myth that all investments require risk, then highlight some important risks that families often disregard when deciding where to put their money. Later, they connect the dots between investment and investor, showing us all how to grasp our own investment risk profiles and how we may use these insights to make more fitting investment choices. Outlines a straightforward way to invest by aligning your investments with your goals and the risk levels you can bear Provides basic investment abc's for readers who are otherwise literate Lays out a simple, actionable plan for achieving your goals Explains the role of risk-free assets and investment insurance in assuring that you reach your most essential goals Contrary to popular belief, investing doesn't have to be complicated. You can build wealth without taking great risks. Risk Less and Prosper will show you how to make investment decisions that will make your financial life less stressful and more profitable.

A climate catastrophe can be avoided, but only with a rapid and sustained investment in companies and projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. To the surprise of many, this has already begun. Investors are abandoning fossil-fuel companies and other polluting industries and financing businesses offering climate solutions. Rising risks, evolving social norms, government policies, and technological innovation are all accelerating this movement of capital. Bruce Usher offers an indispensable guide to the risks and opportunities for investors as the world faces climate change. He explores the role that investment plays in reducing emissions to net zero by 2050, detailing how to finance the winners and avoid the losers in a transforming global economy. Usher argues that careful examination of climate solutions will offer investors a new and necessary lens on the future for their own financial benefit and for the greater good. Companies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions will create great wealth, and, more importantly, they will provide a lifeline for humanity. Grounded in academic and industry research, Usher’s insights bring clarity to a complex and controversial topic while illuminating the people behind the numbers. This book sets out a practical and actionable plan for investors that will alter the course of climate change.

The practical guide to investing in emerging markets Though potentially risky, investing in emerging markets can offer extremely attractive returns. Opportunities in Emerging Markets offers practical advice for investors based on the real life experiences—both positive and negative—of practitioners, pioneer investors, and local heroes with experience in frontier markets. Exploring how every developing market has its own unique regional cultures and social structures that change the way investors invest, and must be understood in order to make wise investments, the book combines standard approaches to investing with the exigencies of frontier markets to create an invaluable framework for success. A collection of useful ideas that investors—institutions, general partners, limited partners, or shareholders—can draw upon when investing money in emerging markets, the book includes essential information on one of the most attractive opportunities for beating traditional markets and investments. If access, downside, and predictability can be managed, there's a great deal of money to be made in emerging markets, and this book shows how. Both investors and investment managers need to understand fundamental success factors, real framework conditions, and hidden pitfall and in Opportunities in Emerging Markets, author Gordian Gaeta analyses these intricacies in depth. Gives investors of all kinds the information they need to succeed in emerging markets Incorporates real life experiences—both good and bad—to help readers avoid common mistakes and maximize their returns Includes interviews with Mark Mobius, Jim Rogers, Marc Faber, and other leading names in the emerging markets sector For those traders brave enough to engage in high-risk/high-return investing, Opportunities in Emerging Markets is an excellent overview of the world's toughest frontier markets and how to conquer them. Featuring interviews with some of the top investors in the field, this is the definitive guide to the perils and pitfalls of investing in these highly volatile markets.

Emerging markets in real estate investing have been an increasing focus for institutional real estate investors worldwide. Part of the Fabozzi series, this book is an insightful overview of international real estate focusing on three of the BRICs: China, India, and Brazil. The authors provide a framework for thinking about these dynamic markets characterized by youthful populations, extraordinary demand, capital inefficiency, and aspiration. Also discussed are the sociopolitical issues, policy, and entry/exit strategies. Notably, the book makes a sanguine assessment of the risks and opportunities of alternative strategies in each country.

Goal-based investing is a new paradigm that is expected to have a profound and long-lasting impact on the wealth management industry. This book presents the concept in detail and introduces a general operational framework that can be used by financial advisors to help individual investors optimally allocate their wealth by identifying performance-seeking assets and hedging assets. Grounded in the principles of asset pricing and portfolio optimisation, the goal-based investing approach leads to the design of investment solutions that truly respond to investors' problems, which can most often be summarized as follows: secure essential goals with the highest confidence level and maximize the chances to reach aspirational goals.A series of case studies guides the reader through the implementation of goal-based investing, illustrates the efficiency of this paradigm and explains how one can accommodate a variety of implementation features such as taxes, short-sales constraints, parameter estimation risk, as well as limited customisation.

How the leisure class has been replaced by a new elite, and how their consumer habits affect us all In today’s world, the leisure class has been replaced by a new elite. Highly educated and defined by cultural capital rather than income bracket, these individuals earnestly buy organic, carry NPR tote bags, and breast-feed their babies. They care about discreet, inconspicuous consumption—like eating free-range chicken and heirloom tomatoes, wearing organic cotton shirts and TOMS shoes, and listening to the Serial podcast. They use their purchasing power to hire nannies and housekeepers, to cultivate their children’s growth, and to practice yoga and Pilates. In The Sum of Small Things, Elizabeth Currid-Halkett dubs this segment of society “the aspirational class” and discusses how, through deft decisions about education, health, parenting, and retirement, the aspirational class reproduces wealth and upward mobility, deepening the ever-wider class divide. Exploring the rise of the aspirational class, Currid-Halkett considers how much has changed since the 1899 publication of Thorstein Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class. In that inflammatory classic, which coined the phrase “conspicuous consumption,” Veblen described upper-class frivolities: men who used walking sticks for show, and women who bought silver flatware despite the effectiveness of cheaper aluminum utensils. Now, Currid-Halkett argues, the power of material goods as symbols of social position has diminished due to their accessibility. As a result, the aspirational class has altered its consumer habits away from overt materialism to more subtle expenditures that reveal status and knowledge. And these transformations influence how we all make choices. With a rich narrative and extensive interviews and research, The Sum of Small Things illustrates how cultural capital leads to lifestyle shifts and what this forecasts, not just for the aspirational class but for everyone.

Adapted from Charlotte Beyer’s 2017 book, Wealth Management Unwrapped, Revised and Expanded, comes a new term—relationship alpha (α), a competitive advantage for firms serving private clients and more predictive and longer lasting than traditional measures like alpha or beta. While Beyer’s book is addressed to investors, the Appendix (reprinted here) is addressed to advisors. Each of the “10 Principles of Principal” Beyer presents for investors has a corollary that a firm can apply to its management processes, culture, marketing methods, and client service protocols. Expanding on these 10 best practices, the author explains how relationship a can be securely and successfully embedded into a firm’s everyday activities, earning the trust and loyalty of private clients.

Private film investors are playing a critical role in the dawn of a new golden age of independent cinema. This book is intended to help filmmakers better understand these investors, or "money people." Follow the writer's journey deep inside his own search for investment opportunities with first-hand accounts and real experiences. If you've ever struggled with finding real investors, THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU. If you've ever struggled with knowing how to effectively present yourself and your project, THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU. If you've ever struggled to secure financing for your film productions, THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU. Don't face the volatile world of film financing without reading this book.

What happens when a young Wall Street investment banker spends a small fortune to have lunch with Warren Buffett? He becomes a real value investor. In this fascinating inside story, Guy Spier details his career from Harvard MBA to hedge fund manager. But the path was not so straightforward. Spier reveals his transformation from a Gordon Gekko wannabe, driven by greed, to a sophisticated investor who enjoys success without selling his soul to the highest bidder. Spier's journey is similar to the thousands that flock to Wall Street every year with their shiny new diplomas, aiming to be King of Wall Street. Yet what Guy realized just in the nick of time was that the King really lived 1,500 miles away in Omaha, Nebraska. Spier determinedly set out to create a new career in his own way. Along the way he learned some powerful lessons which include: Spier also reveals some of his own winning investment strategies, detailing deals that were winners but also what he learned from deals that went south. Part memoir, part Wall Street advice, and part how-to, Guy Spier takes readers on a ride through Wall Street--but, more importantly, provides those that want to take a different path with the insight, guidance, and inspiration they need to carve out their own definition of success.