Investing in Closed-end Funds


Book Description

This book is the only up-to-date comprehensive book on the subject written for investors as well as stock brokers and financial planners.




Swing Pricing and Fragility in Open-end Mutual Funds


Book Description

How to prevent runs on open-end mutual funds? In recent years, markets have observed an innovation that changed the way open-end funds are priced. Alternative pricing rules (known as swing pricing) adjust funds’ net asset values to pass on funds’ trading costs to transacting shareholders. Using unique data on investor transactions in U.K. corporate bond funds, we show that swing pricing eliminates the first-mover advantage arising from the traditional pricing rule and significantly reduces redemptions during stress periods. The positive impact of alternative pricing rules on fund flows reverses in calm periods when costs associated with higher tracking error dominate the pricing effect.




Herzfeld's Guide to Closed-end Funds


Book Description

Closed-end funds continue to gain prominence as one of today's most popular vehicles for buying stocks and bonds. This text aims to provide individual investors and professionals with access to information on these funds.




Closed-End Funds, Exchange-Traded Funds, and Hedge Funds


Book Description

"Closed-End Funds, Exchange-Traded Funds, and Hedge Funds: Origins, Functions, and Literature is a concise and valuable book that will be of interest to individual investors, financial professionals, and academic researchers, alike. It provides a brief history and institutional discussion of these investment companies and also presents a summary of the research on these funds. Investment practitioners will find the book useful as a reference and as a quick refresher on the current state of knowledge regarding each fund type. Equally important, it provides academic researchers with an accurate institutional framework within which to cast their theoretical models, and a point of departure for expanding the empirical analysis for improving our understanding of these funds. All-in-all, this is a very valuable book; I highly recommend it." (John J. Jackson, Professor of Economics, Auburn University) "Professors Anderson, Born, and Schnusenberg provide a valuable service in this monograph. The practical significance of closed-end funds, exchange-traded funds, and hedge funds has increased dramatically in recent years, but all too many academics and investors know little about them. This text presents a carefully-focused and understandable description of these investment vehicles, highlighting the big, unresolved questions, while also including careful and fair accounts of the state of the literature. Nothing extraneous clutters the presentation, but, more importantly, nothing necessary is left out. Highly recommended." (T. Randolph Beard, Professor of Economics and Public Policy, Auburn University) "This book is both useful as a reference book and as an additive, educational overview of ETFs and hedge funds, as well as CEFs. In today’s tumultuous markets, much reference is made to these subjects without a clear understanding of the vehicles, their structure and their history. This is a very timely publication and should be viewed as an important read. The book contains definitive explanations and also includes an excellent summary of past works in this area. Readable, informative and highly useful as a reference source." (Kathleen A. Wayner, President and CEO, Bowling Portfolio Management)







The Income Factory: An Investor’s Guide to Consistent Lifetime Returns


Book Description

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.




Investment Philosophies


Book Description

The guide for investors who want a better understanding of investment strategies that have stood the test of time This thoroughly revised and updated edition of Investment Philosophies covers different investment philosophies and reveal the beliefs that underlie each one, the evidence on whether the strategies that arise from the philosophy actually produce results, and what an investor needs to bring to the table to make the philosophy work. The book covers a wealth of strategies including indexing, passive and activist value investing, growth investing, chart/technical analysis, market timing, arbitrage, and many more investment philosophies. Presents the tools needed to understand portfolio management and the variety of strategies available to achieve investment success Explores the process of creating and managing a portfolio Shows readers how to profit like successful value growth index investors Aswath Damodaran is a well-known academic and practitioner in finance who is an expert on different approaches to valuation and investment This vital resource examines various investing philosophies and provides you with helpful online resources and tools to fully investigate each investment philosophy and assess whether it is a philosophy that is appropriate for you.




Closed-End Fund Pricing


Book Description

Closed-End Investment Companies (CEICs) have experienced a significant revival of interest, both as investment vehicles and as the subject of academic research, over the past decade. This academic research has focused on the nature of closed-end funds' discounts and premiums and on the share price behavior of these firms. The first book by the authors, "Closed-End Investment Companies: Issues and Answers," addresses closed-end fund academic articles published prior to 1991. This second book addresses those articles that have appeared since that time. Closed-End Fund Pricing: Theories and Evidence is designed for the academic researcher interested in CEICs and the practitioner interested in using CEICs as an investment vehicle. The authors summarize the evolution of CEICs, present the factors thought to cause CEIC shares to trade at different levels from their net asset values, provide a complete survey of the recent academic literature on this topic, and summarize the current state of research on CEICs.




Franchise Value


Book Description

A modern approach to equity valuation Understanding the key ingredients that combine to affect price/earnings (P/Es) is of crucial importance to the investment process. In Franchise Value, Martin Leibowitz tackles the imposing task of determining what really has an impact on P/Es. The author shows why he subscribes to the conventional logic that the P/E gauges the market's assessment of the firm's future. He then introduce readers to the franchise-value approach to analyzing the prospective cash flows that determine a company's P/E. The franchise-value approach to valuation enables the analyst or investor to break the firm into two key component parts and to value those components. The franchise value approach is original and insightful, and with this book, readers can begin to implement this approach to perform better equity valuations. Martin L. Leibowitz, PhD (Stamford, CT), is Vice Chair and Chief Investment Officer at TIAA-CREF, where he is responsible for the overall management of all TIAA-CREF investments. He has authored several books and more than 130 articles, nine of which have received a Financial Analysts Journal Graham and Dodd Award of Excellence.