Comprehensive study of investment factors (broad drivers of returns), risk management and diversification for investors. It is a call to change the traditional way of investment via diversification of assets into diversification of factors. As Ang states: Asset management is not really about the management of assets. It is all about factors.
5 stars. Hardcover Wealth of knowledge and very readable. Hardcover
Summary Ï PDF, eBook or Kindle ePUB ☆ Andrew Ang
In Asset Management: A Systematic Approach to Factor Investing, Professor Andrew Ang presents a comprehensive, new approach to the age-old problem of where to put your money. Years of experience as a finance professor and a consultant have led him to see that what matters aren't asset class labels, but instead the bundles of overlapping risks they represent. Factor risks must be the focus of our attention if we are to weather market turmoil and receive the rewards that come with doing so.
Clearly written yet full of the latest research and data, Asset Management is indispensable reading for trustees, professional money managers, smart private investors, and business students who want to understand the economics behind factor risk premiums, to harvest them efficiently in their portfolios, and to embark on the search for true alpha.
Asset Management: A Systematic Approach to Factor Investing
A very good, comprehensive reference text. I felt like I was getting a personal tour through the past couple decades of finance and asset management theory and I find the factor story to be very plausible. There is a quirky sense of humor throughout and a fresh, honest take on many issues in asset management such as whether managers (and we as an industry) really add value. He has plenty of opprobrium for CalPERS, hedge funds and private equity – all of which is grounded fairly well in facts rather than pure mud-slinging.
My main criticism might be that this really is more of a reference than a book to read cover-to-cover to learn about asset management. I know about factor investing now, but I'm dubious that I'd be able to actually implement a factor strategy or decomposition for my own investing. I think I'll come back to this book in the future more for its bibliography than for the content itself.
Chapter 1's overview of asset owners had some interesting snippets about sovereign wealth funds and pensions. Chapters 7 and 14 have the most detail on factors and thus were most interesting to me. Chapters 2-5 are a review of what you might have seen in a first year graduate course in economics or finance or maybe an advanced undergraduate course. Part III highlights some interesting agency issues for delegating your investing to others such as hedge funds or private equity. Hardcover Wow, what a behemoth of a book. With that said it was very readable for a financial tome - info was fantastic and very data centric. I would absolutely recommend, however, with the Texas-sized caveat that you'll require a MBA level understanding of financial arithmetic to grasp the depths of concepts communicated. If you don't, the read is still fantastic and concepts thoroughly explained. This will become a reference on my bookshelf. Hardcover This book is a monster, but it has some good stuff in it. If you are looking for an easy to read introduction to investing, keep moving, because this is not it. However, if you are interesting in a very comprehensive romp through the weeds of a whole medley of topics, Ang's book might be for you. While much of it felt like a huge literature review with some of his own research thrown in there, it had some great and very interesting tidbits, anecdotes, and perspectives. All things considered, I think it was relatively readable for what it is. Hardcover Solid examples and explanations of concepts. I skipped the math though. Hardcover Andrew Ang combines readability, sincerity, and rigor in this excellent book on factor investing. I found many of the themes familiar though refreshing all the same to see expanded and explained so clearly.
Focus on bad times, avoid mistakes such as neglecting survivorship bias, and don't assume asset classes such as hedge funds or private equity exist just because they are given names -- factors matter; focus on them as you focus on ingredients in food rather than labels on boxes. All in all, an excellent book worth reading. Hardcover