Unconventional Success
by David F. Swensen · first published 2005
89% recommend11% neutral
Why HN recommends it
A practical, well-argued guide to personal investing by a long-time endowment manager. Readers value its clear reasoning on asset allocation and its skepticism of active fund management, for individual investors.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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I strongly recommend "Unconventional Success" by David Swensen (http://www.amazon.com/Unconventional-Success-Fundamental-App...). The book reads a lot like a text book, but everything he sais just seems to make sense. The man is CIO at Yale university.…
on “Sold my dipshit company for $5m, where to invest?” ↗If you're not actively managing your portfolio, the biggest thing you can make sure to do is asset allocation a la David F. Swensen. I'd recommend Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment.
on “Ask HN: Just cashed out for 2M. What now?” ↗For anyone interested, I highly recommend David Swensen's book "Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment." Swensen is the highly successful manager of Yale's endowment. While no book on investing is without flaws, I have found it to be some of the most understandable,…
on “A Mutual Fund Master, Too Worried to Rest” ↗Buy her a copy of David Swensen's book for individual investors, "Unconventional Success." Anyone who still believes in market timing after reading that just can't be helped.
on “Investing Returns on the S&P500” ↗…a decent amount of investment capital. I think what you need to focus on is not so much the equity selection (i.e. short/buy Twilio), but on asset class allocation. You should pick up David Swensen's Unconventional Success to understand the details of why asset allocation is by far the most effective method to maximize returns in the long run. So, instead of shorting Twilio, you should be thinking about the expected return…
on “Ask HN: I own a VC fund that bought Twilio in the early rounds. Now what?” ↗I like "Unconventional Success" by David Swensen, who was Yale's endowment manager for a while (and his apprentices now run several Ivy endowments). Very Bogle-esque
on “Ask HN: Best resources to learn about stock trading and investing?” ↗Economics is supply/demand. I would focus on investing, particularly defensive investing. 1. 'The Intelligent Investor' By Benjamin Graham 2. 'David F. Swensen' Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment If you want the easiest allocation possible put some portion of your paycheck in an S&P500 fund and in 40 years you should have enough for retirement. Good…
on “Demystifying financial leverage” ↗…Buffett. https://www.amazon.com/Common-Stocks-Uncommon-Profits-Writin... The Intelligent Investor: A Book of Practical Counsel by Benjamin Graham. Classic introduction to value investing https://www.amazon.com/The-Intelligent-Investor-Practical-Co... Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment by David F. Swensen. Asset allocation, and the perils of mutual funds...leading endowment investor of our time (Yale) gives his advice for individuals https://www.amazon.com/Unconventional-Success-Fundamental-Ap...…
on “Ask HN: What are the must-read books about economics/finance?” ↗he also has a book for individual investors, 'Unconventional Success', which is very good, and also skewers active fund managers. the opportunities in the context of an endowment are somewhat different from those facing individual investors, ie alternative investments…
on “The Truth About Mutual Funds: Fees vs. Returns” ↗Good data for the performance of hedge funds as an asset class that account for survivorship bias is somewhat hard to find. Off hand, Swensen in "Unconventional Success" recounts that for a single decade period that he was looking at, third quartile managers matched the market before fees. So after the standard hedge fund fees investors in those funds underperformed…
on “Visual proof that investors are bad at timing the market” ↗