Making sense of markets : an investor's guide to profiting amidst the gloom / Kevin Gardiner.

Machine generated contents note: -- Introduction: What We Talk About When We Talk About Markets -- PART I: THE GLASS IS HALF-FULL -- 1: Why Is Everybody So Gloomy? -- The Conventional Account Of What's Gone Wrong -- 2: An Alternative Account - A Richness Of Embarrassments -- Money Didn't Make The World Go Round -- 3: Five Big Things To Worry Less About - Or Why It Still Pays To Invest In The West -- 3.I: Debt - There Is Life After It -- 3.II: Demography - The Timebomb Defused -- 3.III. Decadence - The West Can Compete -- 3.IV: Depletion - The Sustainability Challenge -- 3.V: Danger - Geopolitical Tensions In Context -- 4: Sources Of Perspective - And A Tiger's Tale -- Taking A Wider View -- Raising The Signal-To-Noise Ratio -- Avoid Cliche;s Like The Plague -- Anchoring Downwards: Why Gloom Gets A Grip -- PART II: WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT -- 5: Know The Game, Know Yourself -- Be Satisficed: What Investment Is Not About, And The Importance Of Showing Up -- Know Your Pundits; The Only Theme Worth Investing In -- A Personal Investment Policy -- 6: Back To Basics: What You Need To Own - It's About Time -- Here For The Duration: The Key Investment Characteristics -- The Usual Suspects: The Main Asset Classes And The 'Must Haves' -- 7: Putting It All Together - Weighting In Vain? -- Reasonable Expectations And Fair Values -- Weighting In Vain -- 8: Conclusion - Postmodern Portfolio Theory.

"In March 2012, the Financial Times carried a front page story headlined 'Years of struggle for a jinxed generation'. It stated that 'For the first time in half a century, young Britons embarking on their careers cannot expect to be any better off than their parents...' Before and since, there have been numerous reports, articles and books all highlighting the gloomy future ahead, and most, like the article above, with little qualification or equivocation. In fact, the prevailing consensus since 2007 has been that the economic world is in a dire state, and been hit by 'one damned thing after another'. But are things really as bad as all that, or is investor and media sentiment, focused on short term disappointing growth and volatile markets masking some more positive economic indicators - for it is true to say that living standards have on whole, continued to improve ... Making Sense of Markets makes the case that received wisdom is still far too pessimistic, and that investment opportunities have been missed as a result. It will suggest that the great panic of 2008 had its roots in finance, not a flawed global economy, and it will tackle some popular concerns - debt, demography, Western decadence for example - head-on, and show succinctly why they have been overdone, and show us the reality of our economic situation. The book will then explain how investors can take advantage of these insights in building a long-term investment portfolio, with particular reference and consideration given to behavioral influences such as the interaction of media and market sentiment. It will focus on the practical aspects of valuing securities, and will argue that it may be conventional financial analysis, not investors' living standards, that are the long-term casualty of the latest seizure in capital markets. The recent gloom is understandable, but mistaken. Our children will likely be better off than we are and it's still worth investing. The long-term casualty of the latest crisis may not be the global economy, but conventional financial analysis. Collectively, we know less about the economy and markets than we think - but there may be less to be known. This book will provide a new infinitely more positive outlook on the economic landscape and awaken investors to the opportunities inherent in these markets. Keep investing, and keep an open mind! "-- Provided by publisher.

Includes bibliographical references.

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