I am an avid reader of newsletters and the national press on investment matters and noticed a couple of writers recently mentioned very positively the book “The Art of Execution” by Lee Freeman-Shor. I have now read it myself and it’s definitely a book every stock market investor should read. Here’s why:
There are thousands of books available on investment, aimed at both neophyte and experienced investors. They tend to fall into two main groups: those teaching you how to pick out good investments and those explaining how successful past investors have operated. Incidentally reading the latter ones simply tells you that there are many different styles that can be successfully used. But the main problem with the former approach alone, as the author points out, is that even with the most expert fund managers (and the most highly paid), only 49% of their “best ideas” made money when he analysed their performance.
Mr Freeman-Shor managed investors in his role as a fund manager at Old Mutual Global Investors and studied all the deals they did over seven years. Some investors made money for him overall but others did not, and the main differentiator was how they reacted to various circumstances, not their skills in initial stock selection.
Every investor faces decisions. When your favourite stock, where you have a big holding, drops 20% do you cut your losses and sell, or buy more? When another stock rises by 20%, 30% or more do you sell it to realise profits in fear of it falling back? Or do you buy more? Or perhaps you sell some and keep the rest (“top slicing” as it is called)? Do you worry when your portfolio ends up with 40% or 50% in one or two holdings?
Many investment gurus tell you to use a “stop-loss” to avoid big mistakes, but Freeman-Shor explains that many successful managers actually bought more if they believed in the fundamentals of a company. Clearly there is more to this subject of successful execution than the simple rules advocated by many. What really differentiated the successful investors is not how good they were at picking out winners, but how they managed their holdings later. He identifies a few distinct styles which differentiate the winners from the losers.
One of the handicaps of professional investors the author identifies is their unwillingness to take risks in case they get fired for short term underperformance. So they tend to over-diversify and take profits too early. These are bad habits that private investors can avoid.
There is much in this book that I have learned myself from 30 years of investing. But the author identifies the key habits and investment styles than can be successful. Essential reading for any new investor and highly recommended. And also interesting for those already experienced.
Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://twitter.com/RogerWLawson )
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