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This web page is designed to support "Investment Philosophies", the second edition of which was printed in 2012. The publisher is John Wiley and Sons. You can navigate the site by either going to individual chapters and getting supporting material by chapter, or by going to the supporting material directly. The supporting material includes:

  1. Chapter Outlines and overheads: These are saved as pdf files, and you need Adobe Acrobat to read them. You can download Adobe Acrobat by going to the Adobe site. (www.adobe.com) The overheads are categorized by topic, rather than chapter. To go to overheads, click here.
  2. Readings: These are readings from business and academic publications that supplement the specific topic.
  3. Powerpoint Presentations: These are power point presentations that are designed for use by instructors. You can download them at this link.
  4. Spreadsheets: These are spreadsheets that supplement the topic. They are in Microsoft Excel format, and can be used on either a Mac or Windows system.
  5. Datasets: These are the datasets referenced in each chapter. They generally will include updated lists of firms that fit the specificed criteria - lowest PE, highest dividend yield etc.
  6. References: I am deeply indebted to the many people with far more patience than I possess who made my job easier by testing just about anything that can be tested. This reference list contains every (I hope) paper that I have borrowed from in writing this book.
  7. Some light reading: This is my must-read list... with a little editorial commentary.
  8. MOOC: With the help of Wiley and Symynd, I have created a series of webcasts (think of them as mini-classes) built around the material in the book. You can get the full version (which includes the digital version of the book) by clicking here or you can get a stripped down version (with just the webcasts) here.
You can read the preface to the book by clicking here. If you are an instructor using this book, please click here.

You can pick the chapter that you would like to go to, to see illustrations, solutions and other supporting material.
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6
Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12
Chapter 13 Chapter 14        

Or you can pick the material that you are interested in.
Spreadsheets Overheads Datasets
References Powerpoint Presentations Light Reading
Webcasts (Full package) Webcasts (Stripped down version)  

Chapter 1: Introduction
Topic Details
Overheads
Download as pdf file
Readings
  1. Introduction to Investing
  2. A venture capital fund's investment philosophy
  3. A growth newsletter's invstment philosophy

Chapter 2: Upside, Downside: Understanding Risk
Topic Details
Overheads Download as pdf file
Data Sets
  1. The Most and Least Volatile sectors
  2. Risk Breakdown (Proportion explained by market) by sector
  3. Betas by sector
  4. Implied Equity Risk Premium for the United States: 1960- Current
  5. Bond Ratings and Default Spreads
Spreadsheets risk.xls.Run a regression of stock returns against market returns and estimate risk parameters.
ratings.xls: This spreadsheet allows you to estimate the synthetic rating and cost of debt for any firm.
References Click here
Readings
  1. What is risk?
  2. A Measure of Risk Tolerance
  3. Operating Risk as a Measure of Risk
  4. Market Risk and Time Horizon
  5. Investors must recall risk
  6. New Definitions of Risk
  7. Diversification matters
  8. Can you diversify and pick stocks at the same time?
  9. What makes your stock price go up or down?
  10. A contrary view on betas
  11. Margin for Safety.. An alternative to beta?

Chapter 3: Numbers don't lie or do they?

Topic Details
Overheads Download as pdf file
Data Sets
  1. Profitability measures by sector: Margins and Accounting Returns
  2. Financial leverage measures by sector
Spreadsheets finratio.xls: Compute the profitability ratios for a firm, based upon financial statement data.
References Click here
Readings
  1. Measuring Earnings
  2. The Content of an Annual Report
  3. Low Points in Accounting History
  4. R& D's effects on earnings
  5. Smoothing Earnings
  6. Is this debt?
  7. One-time Write off?
  8. The Accounting Black Box
  9. The Practices of Five Companies: GE, Coke, AIG, Williams and IBM
  10. Warnings Signs in Earnings Reports

Chapter 4: Show me the money: The Basics of Valuation

Topic Details
Overheads Download as pdf file
Data Sets

Summary data for valuation

Valuations 1. Consolidated Edison
2. Procter and Gamble
3. Coca Cola
4. Relative valuation of oil companies
Spreadsheets

bondval.xls: This spreadsheet allows you to value a bond
divginzu.xls: This spreadsheet allows you to value a firm using the dividend discount model
fcfeginzu.xls: This spreadsheet allows you to value the equity in a firm using a free cashflow to equity model
fcffginzu.xls: This spreadsheet allows you to value the equity in a firm using a free cashflow to firm model
fcffsimpleginzu.xls: This spreadsheet is a simpler and more versatile model to value a firm (including money losing companies)

References Click here
Readings
  1. The Dividend Discount Model
  2. The dividend yield matters....
  3. Microsoft faces a call to pay dividends

Chapter 5: Many a Slip: Trading, Execution and Taxes

Topic Details
Overheads Download as pdf file
Data Sets
  1. Liquidity measures by sector
  2. Historical stock returns: Pre and post tax
  3. Mutual fund tax efficiency
  4. Mutual fund cost and expense measures
Spreadsheets  
References Click here
Readings
  1. The Effect of Online Trading
  2. Turnover Ratios and Trading Costs
  3. Mutual Fund Expenses
  4. The Tax Efficiency of Funds
  5. Minimizing the Tax Effects of Fund Distributions
  6. The Cost of Trading
  7. Bid-Ask Spreads in the OTC Market

Chapter 6: Too Good to be True: Testing Investment Strategies

Topic Details
Overheads Download as pdf file
Data Sets
  1. Risk Measures: Mutual funds
  2. Excess Return Measures: Mutual funds
Spreadsheets  
References Click here
Readings
  1. Biases in testing performance at mutual funds
  2. Survivor Bias in Mutual funds
  3. Return Measurement at Hedge funds

Chapter 7: Smoke and Mirrors: Charting and Technical Analysis

Topic Details
Overheads Download as pdf file
Data Sets
  1. Price Momentum by sector
  2. Relative Strength by sector
Spreadsheets  
References Click here
Readings
  1. Basics of Technical Analysis
  2. Elliott Wave and Fibonacci Numbers
  3. The Language of Charts

Chapter 8: Graham's Disciples: Value Investing

Topic Details
Overheads Download as pdf file
Data Sets
  1. Stocks that pass the Graham screens
  2. Price to book ratios by sector
  3. PE ratios by sector
  4. Dividend yields by sector
  5. Financial leverage by sector
  6. Cash holdings by sector
Spreadsheets  
References Click here
Readings
  1. The Effects of Hostile Takeovers
  2. The Effects of Spinoffs
  3. The Restructuring of Chase
  4. GM: A Restructuring Candidate
  5. Activist Investing

Chapter 9: The Allure of Growth: Small Cap and Growth Investing

Topic Details
Overheads Download as pdf file
Data Sets
  1. Historical Earnings growth by sector
  2. Expected Earnings growth by sector
  3. PEG ratios by sector
Spreadsheets  
References Click here
Readings
  1. Myths about valuing technology stocks
  2. Peter Lynch on growth stocks
  3. Venture Capital Secrets
  4. Cashing out from a venture capital investment

Chapter 10: Information Pays: Trading on News

Topic Details
Overheads Download as pdf file
Data Sets
  1. Insider holdings by sector
  2. Analyst following by sector
Spreadsheets  
References Click here
Readings
  1. The Effect of Information: The Case of Insider Trades

 

Chapter 11: A Sure Profit: The Essence of Arbitrage

Topic Details
Overheads Download as pdf file
Data Sets
  1. Price Limits and Contract specifications
  2. Most widely traded ADRs
  3. Most discounted closed end funds
Spreadsheets  
References Click here
Readings
  1. Measuring the Performance of Hedge Funds
  2. The Philosophy of Hedge Funds
  3. Measuring the returns at Hedge Funds
  4. Have hedge fund managers become risk averse?

Chapter 12: The Impossible Dream? Timing the Market

Topic Details
Overheads Download as pdf file
Data Sets
  1. Historical returns for US stocks: 1871-Current
  2. VIX by quarter
  3. PE Ratio for S&P 500
  4. Macroeconomic variables: US
  5. Intrinsic valuation of S&P 500: Current
  6. Relative valuation of S&P 500: Current
Spreadsheets  
References Click here
Readings
  1. The Importance of Asset Allocation
  2. The Cost of Being Out of the Market
  3. Mutual Fund Cash Positions
  4. Greenspan on Market Timing
  5. A Poll of Money Managers
  6. Market Neutral Mutual Funds
  7. A Warning on the Market
  8. A Technical Warning on the Market
  9. Is the market's PE too high?
  10. Why investors are active

Chapter 13: Ready to Give Up? The Allure of Indexing

Topic Details
Overheads

Download as pdf file

Data Sets
  1. Best performing mutual funds
  2. Funds with highest trading costs
Spreadsheets  
References Click here
Readings
  1. Survival bias in mutual fund performance
  2. Bogle on picking mutual funds
  3. A Test of Market Rationality
  4. The Appeal of Indexing
  5. A Warning on Indexing
  6. The Effect of Indexing

Chapter 14: A Road Map to Choosing an Investment Philosophy

Topic Details
Overheads Download as pdf file

Overheads
Topic Chapters
The Big Picture of Investing Chapter 1
The Basics of Risk Chapter 2
Financial Statements Chapter 3
The Basics of Valuation Chapter 4
Trading Costs and Taxes Chapter 5
Market Efficiency Chapter 6
Charting and Technical Analysis Chapter 7
Value Investing Chapter 8
Small Cap and Growth Investing Chapter 9
Information Trading Chapter 10
Arbitrage: Real, Near and Pseudo Chapter 11
Market Timing Chapter 12
The Allure of Indexing Chapter 13
Choosing a Philosophy

Chapter 14