Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 51-53 of 53
 insightful advice for investors July 3, 2008
N. Sundermann (Cincinnati, OH, USA)
6 out of 19 found this review helpful
El Erian pulls together information from several other sources, such as The World Is Flat, and gives suggestions as to how both individual and institutional investors need to react to our rapidly changing world.
Written in a relatively easy to read style.
 Volitile, yes. Immeasurable, no. July 1, 2008
Bill Gossett (Chicago)
29 out of 41 found this review helpful
I would highly recommend this book as a single source for a variety of key trends that, until El-Erian, no author seemed to be able to put together. However, the broad forecasts of this book should be combined with practical measurement and forecasting methods such as those described in How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of "Intangibles" in Business by Douglas Hubbard.
El-Erian takes a Modern Portfolio Theory approach to virtually any investment portfolio and he gives specific proposals for how to balance your investments given the inevitable trends he sees. Hubbard's quantitative methods applied to El-Erian's vision of the future should make a powerful forecasting tool.
When Markets Collide is more focused and clear than books like Megatrends 2010: The Rise of Conscious Capitalism, provides more practical instructions for the investor, and seems to lack some of the more embarrasing technical errors. I also like that the dynamics El-Erian sees are more persistent and will not be as quickly dated as many of the books that depend entirely on predictions for the next few years.
Timely Book on The Impact of Global Economic Change on Investing June 15, 2008
S. F. Woit (Lexington, MA USA)
115 out of 151 found this review helpful
If you find the present global economic situation to be confusing and filled with conflicting signals and noise, this excellent book by Mohamed El-Erian, the CEO of PIMCO and the former President of the Harvard Management Company where he managed Harvard's $35 billion endowment, should be on your reading list.
El-Erian brings a unique perspective to the task of separating the signal from the noise in today's volatile global markets. Having spent 15 years at the International Monetary Fund and the rest of his career in the trenches in emerging market research and investment at leading investment banks, he has a deep understanding of both the public policy side and the realities of global investing.
His premise could not be more timely: Global markets are undergoing profound changes and the present turmoil is neither the beginning nor the end of the transformation that is shaking up investors around the world. This bumpy process is nothing less than the collision of markets in which the markets of yesterday collide with those of tomorrow
The book offers analytical anchors for identifying the key elements of what, for some, have become key drivers in an unusually fluid environment. In addition to offering targeted, well written, explanations of some of the key sources of confusion and dislocation (U.S. national debt, new sovereign wealth funds and emerging, developing countries now funding the debt of the developed nations), El-Erian also provides some invaluable advice for personal investors.
Given his contention that most U.S. investors have not fully grasped the impact of the changes going on in global markets and the impact of higher commodity prices and shift to accelerating inflationary trends around the world, he provides a new sample asset allocation model for correcting some of the imbalances in most U.S. investors' portfolios.
His asset allocation table on pg. 198 provides an illustrative neutral asset mix for long term investors that is well worth the cover price of this book and was featured recently in an excellent article and interview in Barron's in the June 2, 2008 issue.
His writing style is fluid and command of the material impressive. Like most great authors and thinkers, he will have you challenging your present views and investment positions. This book is an outstanding companion to Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment by David Swensen on the personal investment front and The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World by Alan Greenspan on the public policy front.
In addition to raising the big issues, El-Erian provides a clear action plan for both investors and policy makers, a truly outstanding achievement in a field where leaders are too often focused on selling investment products rather than educating the investment public on the changes in global economic conditions.
Showing reviews 51-53 of 53
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