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Book: The Investor's Dilemma: How Mutual Funds Are Betraying Your Trust And What To Do About It :: Book
Date: Thursday, 04 December, 2008 :: 00:08
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The Investor's Dilemma: How Mutual Funds Are Betraying Your Trust And What To Do About It
List Price: USD $29.95
from USD $15.40
Product Group: book
Manufacturer: Wiley
Studio: Wiley
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Editorial Review: Product Description
Based on cutting-edge research by leading corporate critic Louis Lowenstein, The Investor?s Dilemma: How Mutual Funds Are Betraying Your Trust and What to Do About It reveals how highly overpaid fund sponsors really operate and walks you through the conflicts of interest found throughout the industry. Page by page, you?ll discover the real problems within the world of mutual funds and learn how to overcome them through a value-oriented approach to this market.
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Reviews:
Average Customer Review: 
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Summary: A Must Read For All Individual Investors
Date: 2008-09-06 - 
Comment: As a financial professional, I would urgently advise individual investors who have entrusted their hard earned money to the mutual fund industry to read this book. I know all too well, as an insider who works for a large investment firm, of the conflicts of interest that exist between the house and the retail investor. You will do yourself a big favor by incorporating some of the basic guidlines in selecting mutual funds whose management team have also a vested interest in the funds they manage. There are few funds currently operating that adhere to such principles. The Goldgarb 10 is a good starting point as these managers have incorporated Graham and Dodd into their investing framework and process.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Summary: There Is No Alpha Here.
Date: 2008-08-19 - 
Comment: Active portfolio managers read at your own risk! T Rowe Price Funds shareholders read at your own risk! 401K participants in target date funds read at your own risk! "Financial advisors" read at your own risk! You are NOT going to like what Lowenstein has to say. And his critiques of the industry as a whole often hit the sweet spot (sore spot if you're one of the above). Lowenstein also appears to have an axe to grind against T Rowe Price funds in general and the Science Technology Fund in particular. Not clear if he got burned in Sci-Tech. But Lowenstein's view of what's good in the market and how to get there is limited to what his son has tried to pull off-- a "What would Warren do?" strategy with cherry picked Graham-Dodd adages for tactics. Lowenstein critizes the whole field of mutual funds, but targets only mega cap value funds as the universe to select from. Ignore bonds, ignore small caps, ignore growth companies, ignore international markets. Buy the big stuff Warren would buy, or buy managers who only buy big stuff they think Warren would buy. His critique on asset allocation, for example, is really directed to "sector rotation" equity managers, not at allocating amongst stocks, bonds, cash, et.al.. Bogle did the classic critque on fees years ago. So if you're a big value stock kind of investor without the resources to mimic Warren as Roger wants you to (and, just how many new Warrens has that created?!) then you can follow his dad, Louis, and look for big value manager type mutual funds. Otherwise, look elswhere. But use the industry critques to beat your broker over his/her head with their 3600+ fund offerings loaded with commission $ for their yachts, not your dinghy. and recommend this book to your HR department so they can browbeat your 401K provider too.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Summary: Lowenstein is a tout
Date: 2008-07-23 -
Comment: This could be the most expensive book I've ever bought. I started managing my retirement account more actively last year when I changed jobs and rolled my 401k to an IRA. And I've done a good job with etfs and individual stocks. But after reading this drivel I picked a couple of the mutual funds he touts which got absolutely decimated in the current (2008) downturn. I took a bigger loss than I otherwise should have allowed based on his advice to let it ride out the bad times since value fund managers will protect you. And I even kept a relatively small amount in one of the recommended funds after it dropped more than 30%. Now I am entirely convinced that mutual funds as a whole are completely obsolete and buy and hold is for fools. Managers are mostly incompetent and there is no reason to tolerate the high fees and lack of transparancy these vehicles impose. His arguments against the mutual fund industry are valid and the take away should be don't trust any of these crooks in the mutual industry, there are no good ones.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Summary: Where was this book 25 years ago?
Date: 2008-06-05 -
Comment: I wish upon wish that this book had been around when I first dove into the mutual fund world. This book blows the cover off of an entire industry and tells the reader things that he/she will never hear from anyone in the business. During the course of my investing "career", I have seen things in annual reports that didn't make sense, but being the uninformed, trusting individual I was, I assumed things didn't make sense because I wasn't smart enough to make sense of them. Now I know. They didn't make sense because...they didn't make sense. Everyone and anyone who invests in mutuals should read this book.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Summary: Dilemma Diffused
Date: 2008-06-03 -
Comment: In THE INVESTOR'S DILEMMA the writing is so clear and the case so well laid out and logically built that I feel I've had the most enlightening new look at investing...at how to participate in the growth of the world economy with but a few funds.
The book's concrete examples, naming names and showing specifics...rather than simply expounding theory...is compelling.
As a longtime (26 years) investor in Sequoia...my only fund for years, I was extremely interested to read about Fairholme and Wintergreen and am now a shareholder in those, too.
In the face of so many niche funds, sector funds and "style boxes", Prof. Lowenstein's pointing out that these three great managers are now free to invest all over the world in any size company they like is an extremely important point...one that can greatly simplify an investor's job.
THE INVESTOR'S DILEMMA is a beautifully written lesson.
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