The Discerning Investor (ePub)

"Jason's presentation is intellectually rigorous-instead of self-help-style nostrums, she furnishes concrete, actionable advice substantiated with empirical data. Moreover, despite necessary excursions into technicality, this is a thoroughly readable book that will be entirely accessible to those with a limited understanding of investment strategy. Another of its virtues is that it never dispenses hyperbolic promises and unflinchingly confronts the reality of risk: 'In my experience, the most satisfied investors are those who embrace the investor's dilemma, understanding that risk (uncertainty) and reward (high returns) are forever and always intertwined.' Overall, this is an impressively informative book that attests to the author's 30-plus years of experience in the financial industry. . . The book concludes with self-assessment tools to build a synopsis of one's financial health and future aspirations, and it's a lucid, concise questionnaire that, in itself, makes this volume a worthwhile resource."
-Kirkus Reviews

The goal of The Discerning Investor is to give you the tools to prepare for retirement on your own terms. Part I lays out a conceptual framework for managing a retirement portfolio, with an emphasis on anticipating and thus avoiding mistakes such as misjudging risk. It sets out the basics of personal portfolio management and walks you through how to parse some common metrics and types of market data. Part II focuses on the "personal" part of personal portfolio management and provides a framework for developing an investment strategy to fit your particular situation.

Part III covers the pros and cons of two different approaches to portfolio management: 1) retaining a firm to manage everything, or 2) managing your portfolio yourself and using a brokerage firm to execute trades. Part IV comes back to personalization and offers self-assessment tools to help you flesh out your investment strategy and move from planning to action.

This is a book for investors who happen to be lawyers, written by a lawyer who happens to be investment counsel. The author's unique perspective and expertise are particularly apparent in her detailed overview of Form CRS, a disclosure document mandated by the SEC which was first rolled out in June 2020. Whether you are managing your portfolio yourself or retaining a firm to manage it for you, Form CRS can help you to quickly grasp what your client experience might be like with a given brokerage or investment firm based on its service offerings and the conflicts embedded in the way it does business. This book gives you all the information you will need to use this new and valuable tool to ensure that your investment portfolio is in good hands.

Table of Contents:

1. Introducing Personal Portfolio Management


2. Avoiding Mistakes: A Historical Perspective on the Stock Market


3. Uncertainty: The Investor's Dilemma


4. Measures for The Risk-Averse Investor


5. Turning Inward: Preparing for the Future


6. Creating Investment Objectives


7. Setting Strategy Based on Three Goals


8. Reports and Reviewing Progress


9. Financial Firms: Who's Who and What to Expect as a Client


10. Do Standards of Care Matter? Should They?


11. Expect to Experience Conflicts of Interest: But Choose Not To


12. Form CRS is Key


13. Let's Talk: The SEC's "Conversation Starters" and More


14. Introducing the "Know Your Representative Rule"


15. The Future is Yours: What Will You Do Next?