Results by "William Bernstein" in All categories

Retired neurologist and master investor William J. Bernstein has seen it all throughout his career. Buying investments with borrowed money. Chasing past performance. Overestimating one's own risk tolerance. Listening to cable news. These are just a few of the many mistakes he has witnessed smart, serious investors make, to the peril of their portfolios. Add to these behavioral errors such economic factors as deflation, sudden stock declines, and soaring inflation—and investing can seem like something to be avoided at all costs. 

In A Splendid Exchange, William J. Bernstein tells the extraordinary story of global commerce from its prehistoric origins to the myriad controversies surrounding it today. He transports listeners from ancient sailing ships that brought the silk trade from China to Rome in the second century to the rise and fall of the Portuguese monopoly in spices in the 16th.

William Bernstein's commonsense approach to portfolio construction has served investors well during the past turbulent decade - and it's what made The Four Pillars of Investing an instant classic when it was first published nearly a decade ago. This down-to-earth book lays out in easy-to-understand prose the four essential topics that every investor must master: the relationship of risk and reward, the history of the market, the psychology of the investor and the market, and the folly of taking financial advice from investment salespeople. 

As recently as a generation or two ago, the lack of financial ability wasn't a handicap for the average person. But in today's world - where most of us have been forced to manage our own investment and retirement portfolios - it has become essential to understand the finer points of our financial life.While the meltdown of 2008 - 2009 has compounded the complexity of the investment landscape, timeless investment principles can help you navigate even the toughest investment terrain.

Inspired by Charles Mackay's 19th-century classic Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, Bernstein engages with mass delusion with the same curiosity and passion, but armed with the latest scientific research that explains the biological, evolutionary, and psychosocial roots of human irrationality.  

Super Cheap Alaska is a travel guide for people seeking cold-hard facts to enjoy the biggest Alaska adventure on the smallest budget. Choose from Anchorage or Juneau adventures and mix it up with our fantastic natural wonder suggestions. Either way, our plans and Alaska’s fascinating history and jaw-dropping fjords, waterfalls and sheer wilderness will blow your mind, not your budget. Instantly discover everything you need for a luxurious trip to Alaska on a backpackers budget.

Just as grownups do not believe in the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, or Santa Claus, "Investing adults" know that there is no such creature as the Stock-picking Fairy or the Market-timing Fairy. Further, there is no Risk Fairy who will write you cheap options that will protect your stock holdings against loss. Investing adults are familiar with Gene Fama, Zvi Bodie, Jack Bogle, and Burton Malkiel, and understand that a mean variance optimizer does not blend vegetables. In other words, this series is not for beginners.

'The definitive retirement handbook of our age.' –Barry Ritholtz To save enough to retire comfortably and then make your money last is challenging. The good news is that it can be done and this book shows you how. It won’t be enough to put a small chunk of each paycheck into your retirement...

The birth of liberation movements in the C19th saw a rise in fighting for the rights of workers. William Morris believed decries the belief “not that Commerce was made for man, but that man was made for Commerce”, with the profit motive that renders all work miserable when “It is right and necessary that all men should have work to do which shall be worth doing, and be of itself pleasant to do; and which should be done under such conditions as would make it neither over-wearisome nor over-anxious.”

Knowing Enough combines the penetrating insights into investing and life of John C. Bogle, the founder of Vanguard and the pioneer of index investing, and the priceless practical advice of William J. Bernstein, bestselling author of The Four Pillars of Investing and market historian. Their conversations were the centerpiece of Boglehead meetings until Bogle's passing on January 19, 2019.