Safety Net: The Strategy for De-Risking Your Investments in a Time of Turbulence Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Safety Net: The Strategy for De-Risking Your Investments in a Time of Turbulence? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Safety Net: The Strategy for De-Risking Your Investments in a Time of Turbulence. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Safety Net: The Strategy for De-Risking Your Investments in a Time of Turbulence ReviewThis is the 45th review I've written, and it represents just the first time I've awarded only two stars. I'm usually an easy grader, but everything has its limits, as I hope to make clear in a moment. First, however, I suggest that to get a feeling for author James Glassman's previous insight regarding investment timing and risk control--and for a sense of the effects Glassman has had on his earlier readers--read the customer reviews of his 1999 book, "Dow 36,000." As you'll see, it's not a very pretty sight. That book, written near the height of the tech-stock mania in the late 1990s, didn't encourage investors to be cautious. Rather, after years of far above-normal stock market returns (really, amidst a stock market bubble), it painted an extremely lofty, aggressive target of Dow 36,000--if only investors would see risks as minimized as Glassman did. Now, in 2011, after about 10 years of miserable stock market returns, Glassman has turned conservative. Whereas Glassman's 1999 book might have served you well if he had written it 10 years earlier (in 1989), his 2011 book, "Safety Net," might have helped investors if he had written it 10 years ago. But he didn't. Regarding Glassman's latest book, the jury will be out for a number of years, but investors rightfully should ask themselves whether he has again managed to close the proverbial barn door well after all the horses have left.
I'm no pessimist. Over the long term stocks perform pretty well, but if you start from a point of above-average stock prices (like the late 1990s), chances are you'll earn worse than typical (historical) stock returns. That was Glassman's 1999 mistake, which he (sort of) acknowledges in his latest book. He claims that his 1999 book was "meticulously documented" and "in the mainstream." (Not everyone would agree with those characterizations.) Further, in what may be a curious mixture of apology and denial, he says he believes that his reading of the facts (in 1999) was accurate, but the facts changed. Nevertheless, if you invest after years of above-average returns, your future returns may well be below average. I think that's a fair characterization of investment history. Conversely, when you start from a point following years of below-average returns (like early 2009), the odds may be more in your favor. (There are no guarantees, your mileage may vary, etc.) But now, in 2011, Glassman has turned much more conservative. Perhaps he'll be proven right, and perhaps not. Let's consider his current recommendations.
Glassman calls his new strategy a "Margin of Safety" strategy, using a term first coined by Benjamin Graham and later popularized by Graham's star student, Warren Buffett. Graham's strategy is summarized for the lay reader best in his book, "The Intelligent Investor," which is still in print and which Buffett has characterized as one of the best investment books ever written. Although the last edition of "The Intelligent Investor" is over 30 years old, I'm convinced that it remains the best description of "margin of safety" investing. Check it out for more details. Anyway, I think it's fair to say that the best proponents of Graham and Buffett's strategies are Graham and Buffett. (Buffett hasn't written any books, but you can find years' worth of his highly informative Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letters on the internet.)
Glassman's margin-of-safety dictums include: (1) putting much less of your portfolio in stocks, (2) diversifying internationally, especially in "BRIC" (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries, (3) making "substantial" investment in bonds, especially TIPS (Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities), and (4) hedging. By "hedging," Glassman means buying a "bear" fund (which should do well in down markets, but will probably do poorly in up markets) and, yes, derivatives. For what it's worth, Warren Buffett once characterized derivatives as "financial weapons of mass destruction," so I'm not sure they're for average investors--and this book won't make you a derivatives expert. Regarding bonds, one of the best times to buy them is when interest rates are (1) high, and (2) destined to go lower. Conversely, one of the worst times to buy bonds is when rates are (1) low, and (2) destined to move higher. As I write this, interest rates are historically very low. You can be your own judge of which way they're headed--and how safe or risky that makes bonds today.
In conclusion, this is not a worthless book (if it were, I'd have given it one star), and many readers could take some useful pointers from some of its pages. However, the author's track record leaves something to be desired, and it's possible that some readers will load up on bonds, for example (let alone derivatives), without appreciating their real risks. Kind of like people who bought high-tech stocks 10 years ago. By all means, read this book if you'd like, but be careful.Safety Net: The Strategy for De-Risking Your Investments in a Time of Turbulence Overview

Want to learn more information about Safety Net: The Strategy for De-Risking Your Investments in a Time of Turbulence?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now