Category Archives: Books

HBCU Money™ Business Book Feature – Risk Budgeting: A New Approach to Investing

41584WWPP5L._SL500_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-big,TopRight,35,-73_OU02_AA300_

This is a practical and authoritative introduction to the concept of risk unit allocation as an alternative and more effective decision-making process for long-term investors. It sets out to help investors make an informed decision about how to implement and execute a “risk unit allocation” investment policy, and analyzes techniques to assess how risk might impact long-term investment returns. The book also introduces methods to allocate assets based on the “risk unit” exposures – in individual asset classes and on a portfolio basis, to meet long-term pension obligations and investment return objectives. There are contributions from leading experts drawn from consultancies; large institutional investors; pension plans; investment banks and academia.

HBCU Money™ Business Book Feature – In the Black: A History of African Americans on Wall Street

in-black-history-african-americans-on-wall-street-gregory-s-bell-hardcover-cover-art

The never-before-told story of five decades of African Americans on Wall Street

Here, for the first time, is the fascinating history of the African American experience on Wall Street as told by Gregory Bell, the son of the man who founded the first black-owned member firm of the New York Stock Exchange. A successful finance professional in his own right with close ties to leading figures in both the black financial and civil rights communities, Bell tells the stories of the pioneers who broke down the ancient social and political barriers to African American participation in the nation s financial industry. With the help of profiles of many important black leaders of the past fifty years including everyone from Jesse Jackson and Maynard Jackson, former mayor of Atlanta, to E. Stanley O Neal, COO and President of Merrill Lynch, and Russell Goings, founder of First Harlem Securities and cofounder of First Harlem Securities he shows how in the years following World War II the growing social, political, and financial powers of African Americans converged on Wall Street. Set to publish during Black History Month, In the Black will be warmly received by African American business readers and general readers alike.

HBCU Money™ Business Book Feature – The New Tycoons: Inside the Trillion Dollar Private Equity Industry That Owns Everything

9781118205464_cover.indd

What do Dunkin’ Donuts, J. Crew, Toys “R” Us, and Burger King have in common? They are all currently or just recently were owned, operated, and controlled by private equity firms. The New Tycoons: Inside the Trillion Dollar Private Equity Industry That Owns Everything takes the reader behind the scenes of these firms: their famous billionaire founders, the overlapping stories of their creation and evolution, and the outsized ambitions that led a group of clever bankers from small shops operating in a corner of Wall Street into powerhouse titans of capital. This is the story of the money and the men who handle it.

Go inside the private worlds of founders Henry Kravis, Steve Schwarzman, David Bonderman, and more in The New Tycoons, and discover how these men have transformed the industry and built the some of the most powerful and most secretive houses of money in the world.

  • With numerous private equity firms going public for the first time, learn how these firms operate, where their money comes from and where it goes, and how every day millions of customers, employees, and retirees play a role in that complex tangle of money
  • Author Jason Kelly tells the story of how thirty some years ago a group of colleagues with $120,000 of their own savings founded what would become one of the largest private equity shops in the world, completing the biggest buyout the world has ever seen, and making them all billionaires in the process
  • Presents a never-before-seen look inside a secretive and powerful world on the verge of complete transformation as the industry and its leaders gain public profiles, scrutiny, and political positions

Analyzing the founders and the firms at a crucial moment, when they’ve elevated themselves beyond their already lofty ambitions into the world of public opinion and valuation, New Tycoons looks at one of the most important, yet least examined, trillion-dollar corners of the global economy and what it portends for these new tycoons.

HBCU Money™ Business Book Feature – Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Reminiscences_of_a_Stock_Operator

Stock investing is a relatively recent phenomenon and the inventory of true classics is somewhat slim. When asked, people in the know will always list books by Benjamin Graham, Burton G. Malkiel’s A Random Walk Down Wall Street, and Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings by Philip A. Fisher. You’ll know you’re getting really good advice if they also mention Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefèvre.

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator is the thinly disguised biography of Jesse Livermore, a remarkable character who first started speculating in New England bucket shops at the turn of the century. Livermore, who was banned from these shady operations because of his winning ways, soon moved to Wall Street where he made and lost his fortune several times over. What makes this book so valuable are the observations that Lefèvre records about investing, speculating, and the nature of the market itself. For example:

“It never was my thinking that made the big money for me. It always was my sitting. Got that? My sitting tight! It is no trick at all to be right on the market. You always find lots of early bulls in bull markets and early bears in bear markets. I’ve known many men who were right at exactly the right time, and began buying or selling stocks when prices were at the very level which should show the greatest profit. And their experience invariably matched mine–that is, they made no real money out of it. Men who can both be right and sit tight are uncommon.”

If you’ve ever spent weekends and nights puzzling over whether to buy, sell, or hold a position in whatever investment–be it stock, bonds, or pork bellies, you’ll be glad that you read this book. Reminiscences of a Stock Operator is full of lessons that are as relevant today as they were in 1923 when the book was first published. Highly recommended. –Harry C. Edwards

HBCU Money™ Business Book Feature – The End of the Free Market: Who Wins the War Between States and Corporations?

The-End-of-the-Free-Market-9781591843016

A number of authoritarian governments, drawn to the economic power of capitalism but wary of uncontrolled free markets, have invented something new: state capitalism. In this system, governments use markets to create wealth that can be directed as political officials see fit.

As an expert on the intersection between economics and politics, Ian Bremmer is uniquely qualified to illustrate the rise of state capitalism and its long-term threat to the global economy. The main characters in this story are the men who rule China, Russia, and the Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf, but their successes are attracting imitators across much of the developing world.

This guide to the next big trend includes useful insights for investors, business leaders, policymakers, and anyone else who wants to understand major emerging changes in international politics and the global economy.