Expected Returns: An Investor's Guide to Harvesting Market Rewards 1st Edition

The author Antti Ilmanen has completed a truly monumental task - compiling his knowledge about return expectations from years as a highly respected investment strategist on Wall Street with his expert knowledge of academic finance research. After starting at the Finnish Central Bank as a fixed income fund mamanger and asset allocation professional, he fulfilled his desire to pursue finance research full time with a PhD in Finance at the University Chicago's GSB. Having published his PhD thesis in the Journal of Finance, he joined Salomon Brothers as a global fixed income strategist at first in New York and subsequently in both London & Frankfurt. He is currently at a well-known major hedge fund in London. Despite his passion for the Chicago brand of finance, he has never lost sight of his conviction that asset returns vary through time, not the least because expected returns are changing when passing through the stages of business cycles - which makes them partially predictable. Therefore, rather than engaging in a windmill fight about efficient markets, he has strived to understand what economic forces are driving these changes, and with what kind of strategies that knowledge can be utilized to manage money. His brand new book is the result of that long and very succesful pursuit. The foreword by AQR's Cliff Asness will give you also some humorous aspects of Antti's passion to improve his and our knowledge as I could never convey it. And I agree with Cliff that it is your loss, if you don't take the time to read this book, especially if you are interested in a broad spectrum of asset classes to invest in: the author goes beyond global bonds and equities to include commodities, private equity, hedge funds and real estate. The book is now available in the US, and I am recommending it highly!

There really isn't anything like this book around which is why it is so remarkable. Ilmanen starts with a review yet very practicioner oriented review of credit risk, bond risk, and equity risk premia before delving into detailed yet readable analyses of return strategies, why they work, how their success is dependent upon states of the world (ie, carry trading has a great sharpe but doesn't help you in a leverage unwind when your equity book is blowing up to) and how blending these strategies and approaches can materially improve returns and more importantly, reduce risk. It is this overlay of styles, asset classes and risk factors creating a multidimensional approach to sources of returns and risk that makes it truly unique.I say all this as someone who does equities/credit/EM for a living and thus isn't a career systematic macro trader. For people like me this book is invaluable because it allows a more nuanced view of risk factors and sources of returns in an alpha oriented book that can easily become quite concentrated in ways that are not obvious at first. There is so much more to delve into with regards to integrating this into my work but suffice to say it is a small price to pay to learn some of the nuts and bolts of what allows Brevan Howard to manage risk so well.

This book is a phenomenal tour-de-force of academic research into the financial markets over the last several decades. It provides a highly readable, well researched, concise survey of the field. Beyond this, the author gives credence to academia by providing his own independent analysis to verify the existence of risk premia along the way. His methodology, data sources, and citations are heavily documented in the back of the book so you are free to reproduce his results yourself. Beyond this, he provides a few chapters that tie together the various conclusions made through the text in a way that is actionable for investors. Thankfully he is not *too* specific, so I am cautiously optimistic that the elbow grease necessary to "harvest" these alternative sources of beta will be a sufficient barrier so as to keep them from being burned into the market's memory for the time being.That said, another book recently published, "Jackass Investing", provides a more down-to-earth analysis of the risk premia laid out in Expected Returns, and also includes more specifics on how to harvest these premia. For those who have a hard time parsing this book and it's copious amount of analysis, and just want to "cut to the chase", Jackass Investing might be a suitable alternative if you are willing to make a few leaps of faith on the author's conclusions.

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This is by far the best book on investing that I've ever read. I would also say it is the best finance book I've ever read. It may sound insane, but I think that I learned as much as I did reading this book as I did taking six finance courses in college. This book is an absolute must read for any active investor and for many finance professionals as well. I have ordered three copies so far and am forcing my friends and coworkers to read it.

Ilmanen hits a home run with his book. I have owned it for a year now, and I still find myself going back to it every now and then. It gives a great overview on pretty much any topic related to the financial markets, as a combination of his own thoughts and the latest research. Even on topics where I consider myself "being an expert", I find it useful to remind oneself of the "basics" concerning that area through Ilmanen's thoughts.

Antti has delivered a one stop shop of any one wanting to understand the expected returns to an amazingly wide range of assets and strategies. Whilst Antti and I are often on opposite sides of the debate over approaches like risk parity, I can't recommend his book highly enough. It should be required reading for all those interested in investing. Bravo Antti.

One of the best investment books I've ever read. Probably too much info for beginners but for investors with experience, this book will bring a lot of ideas and concepts together. Even if you are a fundamental investors, this book will help you. Buy and read this book. It's a great investment.