Making Sense of Markets: An Investor's Guide to Profiting Amidst the Gloom

by Kevin Gardiner

Overview

Since the financial crisis, there have been numerous reports, articles and books highlighting the gloomy future ahead. Making Sense of Markets makes the case that received wisdom is still far too pessimistic, and that the future may be brighter than feared. A plain-speaking guide to keeping an open mind (and how to profit from it).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781137471383
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	07/22/2015
Edition description:	2015
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Kevin Gardiner is former Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer, Europe at Barclays Wealth, where he was involved in the design and implementation of the investment process, taking tactical and strategic views on returns on a portfolio of over 200bn. Prior to joining Barclays, Kevin was Global Head of Equity Strategy at HSBC's investment banking unit in London, which he joined in 2003. He has worked at several other investment banks and the Bank of England in a financial market career covering more than thirty years. In 1994, while working as an economist at Morgan Stanley, he wrote the 'Celtic Tiger' report on the Irish economy.

He is a member of the board of Governors and Chair of the Finance Committee, Atlantic College and Distinguished Guest Lecturer for the Summer MBA programme, run by St Peter's College, Oxford. He is also on the retained speaker programme at the CFA.

Kevin was educated at Glan Ely Comprehensive (Cardiff), and was awarded an LEA scholarship to UWC Atlantic College (Llantwit Major), where he took the International Baccalaureate. He studied economics at the London School of Economics (BSc Econ, first class honours and university prizes) and Cambridge University (MPhil).

Table of Contents

Introduction: What We Talk About When We Talk About Markets

PART I: THE GLASS IS HALF-FULL

1: Why Is Everybody So Gloomy?

The Conventional Account Of What's Gone Wrong

2: An Alternative Account – A Richness Of Embarrassments

Money Didn't Make The World Go Round

3: Five Big Things To Worry Less About – Or Why It Still Pays To Invest In The West

3.I: Debt – There Is Life After It

3.II: Demography – The Timebomb Defused

3.III. Decadence – The West Can Compete

3.IV: Depletion – The Sustainability Challenge

3.V: Danger – Geopolitical Tensions In Context

4: Sources Of Perspective – And A Tiger's Tale

Taking A Wider View

Raising The Signal-To-Noise Ratio

Avoid Clichés Like The Plague

Anchoring Downwards: Why Gloom Gets A Grip

PART II: WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT

5: Know The Game, Know Yourself

Be Satisficed: What Investment Is Not About, And The Importance Of Showing Up

Know Your Pundits; The Only Theme Worth Investing In

A Personal Investment Policy

6: Back To Basics: What You Need To Own – It's About Time

Here For The Duration: The Key Investment Characteristics

The Usual Suspects: The Main Asset Classes And The 'Must Haves'

7: Putting It All Together – Weighting In Vain?

Reasonable Expectations And Fair Values

Weighting In Vain

8: Conclusion – Postmodern Portfolio Theory

Editorial Reviews

'There has never been a time in history when it wouldn't have been easy to find excuses not to invest. At last, an honest antidote, grounded on solid economic thinking, to combat our costly human tendency to pervasive pessimism when it comes to investing. This book punctures the too-easy consensus that the glass is half empty and provides a guide to how investors should really think about the world.'

Greg B Davies, PhD: Head of Behavioural-Quantitative Finance, Barclays Wealth and Investment Management

"A refreshingly clear, practical and provocative guide to investing that should appeal to individual savers and finance professionals alike. Gardiner combines a deep understanding of macroeconomic and finance theory (and its limits) with a wealth of investment experience. His conclusion: be humble, keep it simple, be optimistic!"

Joachim Fels, Global Economic Advisor, PIMCO

"Too many financial journalists and practitioners try to make the investment process more exciting than it should be and more esoteric than it needs to be. Kevin Gardiner, a credentialed, experienced practitioner and engaging writer, eschews over-dramatization and self-aggrandizement to offer a common sense approach to investing. Take his advice."

Aaron Gurwitz PhD, Former Chief Investment Officer at Barclays Wealth and Investment Management, and Adjunct Instructor in Economics, New York University

'A book full of common sense and wisdom which punctures several myths about economic performance, financial markets and the links between the two, Making Sense of Markets is a refreshing and insightful counter to the view that economic outcomes for decades to come will be weaker than in the past'

Professor David Miles, The Monetary Policy Committee, The Bank of England

From the Publisher