Updated edition of the established classic on investing in bonds In Bonds: The Unbeaten Path to Secure Investment Growth, Second Edition, the fully revised and updated edition of the classic guide to demystifying the bonds market, veteran investor husband and wife team Hildy and Stan Richelson expose the myth of stocks' superior investment returns and propose an all-bond portfolio as a sure-footed strategy that will ensure positive returns. Designed to educate novice and sophisticated investors alike, as well as to serve as a tool for financial advisers, the book explains why and when bonds can be the right choice. Case studies, detailed bond strategies, and a financial planning overview bring home the value of bonds in achieving financial goals. Presenting a broad spectrum of bond-investment options, and describing how to purchase bonds at the best prices, the book shows how to make real money by investing in bonds. The strategies presented here are designed to help the reader determine how to use bonds to take control of their own financial destiny. New edition includes information on corporate bonds, emerging market bonds, municipal bonds, the new global ratings, and how to protect against municipal defaults Looks at how bond portfolios protected against market volatility in the 2007-2008 crash and how they can do the same in the future Includes information on how the bond market has changed The wealthiest investors and financial advisers use the bond strategies outlined in this book to maximize the return on their portfolios while providing security of principal With more bond options available than ever before, Bonds continues to be a must-have for anyone looking to understand the investment opportunities available to them.

Praise for Cost of Capital, Fourth Edition "This book is the most incisive and exhaustive treatment of this critical subject to date." —From the Foreword by Stephen P. Lamb, Esq., Partner, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, and former vice chancellor, Delaware Court of Chancery "Cost of Capital, Fourth Edition treats both the theory and the practical applications from the view of corporate management and investors. It contains in-depth guidance to assist corporate executives and their staffs in estimating cost of capital like no other book does. This book will serve corporate practitioners as a comprehensive reference book on this challenging topic in these most challenging economic times." —Robert L. Parkinson Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Office, Baxter International Inc., and former dean, School of Business Administration and Graduate School of Business, Loyola University of Chicago "Shannon Pratt and Roger Grabowski have consolidated information on both the theoretical framework and the practical applications needed by corporate executives and their staffs in estimating cost of capital in these ever-changing economic times. It provides guidance to assist corporate practitioners from the corporate management point of view. For example, the discussions on measuring debt capacity is especially timely in this changing credit market environment. The book serves corporate practitioners as a solid reference." —Franco Baseotto, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Treasurer, Foster Wheeler AG "When computing the cost of capital for a firm, it can be fairly said that for every rule, there are a hundred exceptions. Shannon Pratt and Roger Grabowski should be credited with not only defining the basic rules that govern the computation of the cost of capital, but also a road map to navigate through the hundreds of exceptions. This belongs in every practitioner's collection of must-have valuation books." —Aswath Damodaran, Professor, Stern School of Business, New York University "Pratt and Grabowski have done it again. Just when you thought they couldn't possibly do a better job, they did. Cost of Capital, Fourth Edition is a terrific resource. It is without a doubt the most comprehensive book on this subject today. What really distinguishes this book from other such texts is the fact that it is easy to read—no small feat given the exhaustive and detailed research and complicated subject matter. This book makes you think hard about all the alternative views out there and helps move the valuation profession forward." —James R. Hitchner, CPA/ABV/CFF, ASA, Managing Director, Financial Valuation Advisors; CEO, Valuation Products and Services; Editor in Chief, Financial Valuation and Litigation Expert; and President, Financial Consulting Group "The Fourth Edition of Cost of Capital continues to be a 'one-stop shop' for background and current thinking on the development and uses of rates of return on capital. While it will have an appeal for a wide variety of constituents, it should serve as required reading and as a reference volume for students of finance and practitioners of business valuation. Readers will continue to find the volume to be a solid foundation for continued debate and research on the topic for many years to come." —Anthony V. Aaron, Americas Leader, Quality and Risk Management, Ernst & Young Transaction Advisory Services

Portfolio Design – choosing the right mix of assets appropriate to a particular investor – is the key to successful investing. It can help you accumulate wealth over time, while cushioning the blow of possible economic downturns. But in order to successfully achieve this goal, you need to be familiar with all of the major asset classes that go into modern portfolios and learn how much they add to portfolio diversification. Thoughtful asset allocation provides discipline to the investment process and gives you the best chance of building and safeguarding wealth. Wharton Professor Richard C. Marston, 2014 recipient of the Investment Management Consultants Association’s prestigious Matthew R. McArthur Award, will guide you through the major decisions that need to be made when designing a portfolio and will put you in the best position to balance the risk-reward relationship that is part of this endeavor. Portfolio Design is to be read by investment advisors. The book is rich in information about individual asset classes, including both traditional assets like stocks and bonds as well as alternative assets such as hedge funds, private equity, real estate, and commodities. So it should appeal to all sophisticated advisors whether or not they are trying to qualify for one of the major investment designations. In fact, the book is designed to be read by any advisor who is as fascinated as Marston by the investment process.

Mainstay reference guide for wealth management, newly updated for today's investment landscape For over a decade, The New Wealth Management: The Financial Advisor's Guide to Managing and Investing Client Assets has provided financial planners with detailed, step-by-step guidance on developing an optimal asset allocation policy for their clients. And, it did so without resorting to simplistic model portfolios, such as lifecycle models or black box solutions. Today, while The New Wealth Management still provides a thorough background on investment theories, and includes many ready to use client presentations and questionnaires, the guide is newly updated to meet twenty-first century investment challenges. The book Includes expert updates from Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute, in addition to the core text of 1997's first edition endorsed by investment luminaries Charles Schwab and John Bogle Presents an approach that places achieving client objectives ahead of investment vehicles Applicable for self-study or classroom use Now, as in 1997, The New Wealth Management effectively blends investment theory and real world applications. And in today's new investment landscaped, this update to the classic reference is more important than ever.

The practical guide to finding value and opportunity in large-cap stocks using investor behavior Large-Cap is an abbreviation of the term "large market capitalization" and refers to the stock of publicly traded companies with market capitalization values of roughly more than $10 billion, like Walmart, Microsoft, and Ford. Because of their size, the conventional view is that these companies do not present investors with an ability to be opportunistic. The Large-Cap Portfolio + Website argues that, contrary to popular perceptions, significant opportunities exist in these stocks. Written with a fluency that both the savvy amateur and professional investor will understand, the book fills a void in the market by offering the practitioner a methodology to identify and approach the major assumptions that underlie valuation, with an emphasis on issues that are more relevant to the analysis of large-cap stocks. Full of useful information on how to reap the rewards of stocks that most investors avoid Presents essential insights into understanding stock valuation Includes an actionable chapter devoted to portfolio management Packed with timely instruction, Large-Cap Portfolio gives readers invaluable insights and examples of how to build portfolios that will out-perform broad market benchmarks.

The aim of this book is to document, on a solid and convincing foundation, two public policy mistakes of the United States Government that have been extremely costly. First, the failure to combine stocks with long-term government bonds in the Social Security Trust Fund, the way other nations do, has resulted not only in an investment shortfall well into the trillions of dollars, but has also reduced US and global economic growth and increased the national debt. Second, by employing the Unified Budget concept beginning in 1970, the US Government has since then understated its financial deficits by more than $4 trillion and in doing so it has shielded the increase in the debt owed to the public by roughly half.This study documents that the notion of Social Security as a minimal safety net is consistent with the views of both Adam Smith and Friedrich Hayek and that private social security accounts are inefficient and subject to moral hazard and huge productivity losses. It also introduces a novel approach to long-term investing suitable for perpetual funds consistent with the empirical phenomena of risk premia and mean reversion, including no asset sales and the use of short-term borrowing on a rollover basis to cover negative net inflows.The study also proposes that payroll taxes be re-labeled Social Security Contributions and that the Social Security System be made independent and professionally managed based on the Federal Reserve System model.