"* Chasing Alpha is the definitive insider s history of Britain s financial services sector, from the early days of New Labour to the present day. At the heart of the action is the revival of the City s institutions in the mid-nineties. Augar uses his peerless connections with the people and firms that made it happen to give a compelling narrative of how the City s golden generation turned London round. Then, as so often happens in finance, the City got carried away with its own success, boasting of a new risk-free economic paradigm that would make the world a richer place. Northern Rock gave the lie to this claim. Far from heralding the eclipse of finance capital, Augar will show how the City stands poised to emerge from the credit crunch stronger than ever. As New Labour heads towards electoral meltdown, the industry it did so much to nurture will embrace the opportunities afforded by David Cameron s even more business-friendly Conservatives. The guiding principle of th"

Malia is once a Princess and now she is a slave. Malia has been an orphan since she was ten years old, due to the attack of the enemy pack that killed all their companions including her parents. Since she was the only one left in their clan, the enemy pack took her and she lived with them in the Shadow Pack. From then on, she was made a slave, enslaved and made their assistant. She was treated like garbage and treated like an animal. Unfortunately, the Moon Goddess gives her a mate which is the ruthless and heartless Alpha of that pack. Even though Alpha Fenris is attracted to her beauty, he prevents himself from fall in love with her because she is only a slave. He can't accept the fact this dirty slave is his mate, that's why he rejected her! What is she gonna do now? Is not enough that she feels misery and pain in life and the Moon Goddess even gave her the ruthless Alpha to be his mate? How will she escape from this hell prison? Will she still find her true love?

Max Remus couldn't care less about finding his mate-unlike the rest of his fate-obsessed pack. He totally prefers hanging with his bestie, eating his dad's steak sandwiches, and drawing in his trusty sketchbook. But all that is about to change at the Blue Moon Festival-a summer camp where Elite Pack wolves go to find their mates. The festival is a right of passage for every teen werewolf, and this year's festival will be one to howl home about. The alpha's son, Jasper Apollo, is attending for the first time. When Max finds himself inexplicably linked with the exceptionally handsome but totally jerk-faced heir, he's forced to grapple with the unexpected feelings clawing at his soul. If Max rejects his destiny, will fate's bite be worse than its bark? Netflix's Young Royals meets Teen Wolf meets Twilight--the first instalment in a thrilling new series, The Alpha's Son is a heart-wrenching Young Adult, Boys Love, wolf shifter romance; full of yearning, comedy, and adventure. Start reading now! And may the Moon Gods light the path between souls.

You knowwhathappened during the financial crisis … now it is time to understandwhythe financial system came so close to falling over the edge of the abyss andwhyit could happen again.Wall Street has been saved, but it hasn’t been reformed. What is the problem? Suzanne McGee provides a penetrating look at the forces that transformed Wall Street from its traditional role as a capital-generating and economy-boosting engine into a behemoth operating with only its own short-term interests in mind and with reckless disregard for the broader financial system and those who relied on that system for their well being and prosperity. Primary among these influences was “Goldman Sachs envy”: the self-delusion on the part of Richard Fuld of Lehman Brothers, Stanley O’Neil of Merrill Lynch, and other power brokers (egged on by their shareholders) that taking more risk would enable their companies to make evenmoremoney than Goldman Sachs. That hubris—and that narrow-minded focus on maximizing their short-term profits—led them to take extraordinary risks that they couldn’t manage and that later severely damaged, and in some cases destroyed, their businesses, wreaking havoc on the nation’s economy and millions of 401(k)s in the process. In a world that boasted more hedge funds than Taco Bell outlets, McGee demonstrates how it became ever harder for Wall Street to fulfill its function as the financial system’s version of a power grid, with capital, rather than electricity, flowing through it. But just as a power grid can be strained beyond its capacity, so too can a “financial grid” collapse if its functions are distorted, as happened with Wall Street as it became increasingly self-serving and motivated solely by short-term profits. Through probing analysis, meticulous research, and dozens of interviews with the bankers, traders, research analysts, and investment managers who have been on the front lines of financial booms and busts, McGee provides a practical understanding of our financial “utility,” and how it touches everyone directly as an investor and indirectly through the power—capital—that makes the economy work. Wall Street is as important to the economy and the overall functioning of our society as our electric and water utilities. But it doesn’t act that way. The financial system has been saved from destruction but as long as the mind-set of “chasing Goldman Sachs” lingers, it will not have been reformed. As banking undergoes its biggest transformation since the 1929 crash and the Great Depression, McGee shows where it stands today and points to where it needs to go next, examining the future of those financial institutions supposedly “too big to fail.” From the Hardcover edition.

Active managers persistently lag the returns of benchmarks and index funds that track them, with the excuses for underperformance recycled every year. This comprehensive book is the antidote for the active managers’ siren song. If you understand the benefits of indexing, or systematic investing, it will reinforce your commitment while increasing your knowledge. If you don’t yet believe, Swedroe and Berkin provide a compelling case that you’re playing the loser’s game of active management. Alpha, or outperformance against appropriate risk-adjusted benchmarks, is shrinking as it gets converted into beta, or factor exposures. They demonstrate that even for the most talented managers, their ability to add value is waning because: the amount of alpha available is declining; it must be split among an increasing amount of investment dollars; and the competition is getting tougher. In this greatly expanded second edition, Swedroe and Berkin show you how to develop an investment plan that focuses on what risks to take, and how much of them, as well as how to build a diversified portfolio. They present a list of vehicles to consider when implementing your plan and provide guidance on the care and maintenance of your portfolio. As a bonus they add appendices that will make you a more informed and, therefore, better investor. This makes The Incredible Shrinking Alpha a complete guide to successful investment strategy.

The proven, all-weather investing strategy that delivers long-term, consistent returns The most common investing approach today—one that values “growth” over all else—can be ineffective and counterproductive for many investors, not to mention needlessly stressful. Now, one of Seeking Alpha’s most popular writers, Steven Bavaria, provides a groundbreaking alternative that will see you through all markets—up, down, and sideways. The Income Factory shows how to build an income stream that increases solidly and consistently—a result of re-investing and compounding the dividends. And the best part? This income stream actually grows faster during market downturns than during flat or rising market periods. The Income Factory sheds light on: • Why “high-yield” doesn’t have to mean “high-risk” • How credit investments perform more predictably than equity investments • Why “junk” is a misnomer—and why high-yield debt is safer than most of the stocks investors own • How to grow your wealth steadily without following the markets obsessively Through Bavaria’s strategy, cash income increases year after year at a predictable rate. For example, a 9% yielding portfolio doubles and re-doubles every 8 years. If you’re in for the long haul, an Income Factory lets you achieve your goals and still sleep well at night. Investing does not have to be about picking specific horses and hoping they win the race. An Income Factory achieves its goals by essentially betting on horses to make it around the track and finish the race. Those are easier bets to win, and they don’t require us to be glued to the financial news 24/7.

Corporate governance, the internal policies and leadership that guide the actions of corporations, played a major part in the recent global financial crisis. While much blame has been targeted at compensation arrangements that rewarded extreme risk-taking but did not punish failure, the performance of large, supposedly sophisticated institutional investors in this crisis has gone for the most part unexamined. Shareholding organizations, such as pension funds and mutual funds, hold considerable sway over the financial industry from Wall Street to the City of London. Corporate Governance Failures: The Role of Institutional Investors in the Global Financial Crisis exposes the misdeeds and lapses of these institutional investors leading up to the recent economic meltdown. In this collection of original essays, edited by pioneers in the field of fiduciary capitalism, top legal and financial practitioners and researchers discuss detrimental actions and inaction of institutional investors. Corporate Governance Failures reveals how these organizations exposed themselves and their clientele to extremely complex financial instruments, such as credit default swaps, through investments in hedge and private equity funds as well as more traditional equity investments in large financial institutions. The book's contributors critique fund executives for tolerating the "pursuit of alpha" culture that led managers to pursue risky financial strategies in hopes of outperforming the market. The volume also points out how and why institutional investors failed to effectively monitor such volatile investments, ignoring relatively well-established corporate governance principles and best practices. Along with detailed investigations of institutional investor missteps, Corporate Governance Failures offers nuanced and realistic proposals to mitigate future financial pitfalls. This volume provides fresh perspectives on ways institutional investors can best act as gatekeepers and promote responsible investment.