Reviews
I have read many, many books about economics and investments. What most investment advisors overlook is that, “One of the most important issues when investing is that it fits your personality and risk profile.” Andrew Abraham’s book contains many other gre at investment insights, which will help you
improve your investment returns. MF Marc Faber Marc Faber Limited
"Andrew explains you very clearly what the compounding is all about and why it is the 8th wonder of t he world did it Einstein. In order to fully e njoy it, you have to understand the inherent risk management that goes along. The CTA business is one of the best ways to compound money with a strict set of management rules. After reading this book, you have no excuses... You can build your own portfolio of CTA managers and ride the "bronco". This goes hand by hand with what Jesse Livermore used to say "It never was my thinking that made the big money for me. It always was my sitting, my sitt ing tight".
Jonathan Guillou Paris France Fund Manage Amilton Am
Andrew does it again. In this book he outlines time tested principles to be considered when investing in money managers, focusing on the importance of compounding – the key to true wealth generation in
any investment business. Numerous examples are presented, adding a real-life perspective which is often lacking on this topic. An insightful, timely and fun read ove rall
All the best Erico Matias Tavares Sinclair limited
I just finished reading (some sections twice) your book. I loved the Dentist story - it made the book and you real. I have found that most successful people have have a story like that, but don't don't let it out. I really liked the inclusion of yours. It made you real. Work + Passion = World Class Results, since reading this I've used it on my daughter. daughter. She is 11 and wants to play on the tennis team at her school. The story of your neighbor's son and soccer resonated big time. Be a patient investor with managed futures. I really enjoy this chapter. I've seen many investors chase program highs and sell drawdown lows. They are always losing money. Doing it in reverse would turn the tables for them. Warren Buffett - so many people forget his 50% drawdowns and and multi-year recovery times. I remember articles saying his strategy was all but dead. Of course those same articles are published published about trend followers too. He is now at a career high point, reminding your readers of what he went through is a great tool. I liked the introduction to each manager you selected and appreciate the attention given to me. The story behind the name sometimes gets lost and the advisor tends to turn into their track record. Providing the story keeps them human and real. I enjoyed the attention to risk. Return is great, but risk is where the game is made or lost. Great book, book, I thoroughly enjoyed reading reading it. I really needed to read it it now too. It was great timing.
Justin Vandergrift Principle Chadwick Investment Group Commodity Trading Advisor
The book is not an academic tone; it is a light read and largely revolves around investing in managed futures and the CTA arena. It sets out a number of investing guidelines in a readable fashion: not putting
more than 1% to 5% of investible capital with any one manager, the math’s of compounding and the dangers of inflation to name a few. The book contains write ups for a number of well -known trend following money managers and tables of results taken from IASG.com. There are sensible suggestions on how to conduct due diligence and to collate further information on CTAs from regulators and other sources. Andrew stresses the dangers and lack o f certainty in the investing world and is right to do so. Nonetheless, he conveys quite a big feel good factor – he suggests that if you can get it right and can pick tomorrow’s winners amongst today’s CTAs, the rewards could be substantial. He looks for a 10 year
track record and a 15% CAGR net of fees in his own investments and gives a number of examples of CTAs who have achieved such performance.
Easier said than done but no denying the reality of the historic performance figures provided
Anthony FJ Garner Tradersplace.net ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The various chapters are just great, when you start to go over the details, there's a lot of wisdom there not only for end investors but for any of us that are in the tr ading business. I love the parts when you use concrete examples what to look for in managers, what might go wrong, counterparty risk, Madoff, inflation (I'm from brazil and live hyperinflation so I know what that m eans) etc. Andre Veloso- Brazil Trader
Abu Dhabi 21/2/2013 I had a pleasant time reading your y our book, looking at those managers whom some I know very well as investor and others that dominate the industry for long time. Even as a coincidence yesterday we received a letter from Zweig Dimenna about Marty ‘s demise , the one who says “ don’t fight the Fed “,
although I argued with him that year Greenspan lowered the discount rates 13 times and the stock market didn’t registered new high! This Time is different, don’t doubt it
Last June 2012 we said the coming months will be either make or break for managed futures when trends were down across all sectors and and the rest of the risk- on crowd and we saw saw the asst classes with Trend Followers at risk-off losses should there be a “risk – on “ reversal.? Our friend Draghi announced by word of mouth that ECB would use every tools to defend the Euro and we saw that reversal was just what happened with 10% rally in S&P500 and ac ross other indices. However the summer was over and
managed futures were down the following fall to finished the year in another draw down for almost 23 months for Newedge CTAs index -2.13%, STTI -3.83% and BTOP50 index -1.90% for 2012 . Everyone was saying “Is trend following dead”?
Probably the space is getting too c rowded, or the market was dominant by the biggest players or others said the government intervention and the Fe d money printing machine are causes for that statement. Many investors, may be unconvinced by managed futures because of the reliance on “technical”
analysis, and the belief that trading constitutes a zero-sum game. This is true only when the benchmark used to define profit and loss is the same for buyers and sellers. Trend following strategies can be viewed as taking on risk that hedgers wish to avoid. Imbalances in demand between long short hedgers can create opportunity for speculative traders to earn a positive return by filling gaps in supply and demand from hedgers. Trends develop because information relevant to prices often evolves over time as market participants are not homogenously informed and the supply/demand from adverse hedgers does not necessarily balance. However when Short, medium and long term systems are synchronized the greatest returns ret urns and reversal related losses occurred. This is exactly what is happening in the trend following space .Markets are no longer are free to float up or down , it is the policy makers central banks, and governments that decide when to stop a trend or creates one . Trend followers are changing their strategies, Campbell , Cantab , Blue Trend,are moving moving to many short short term and mean reversion reversion strategies . In my opinion one should avoid a pure momentum only models, they are not working anymore. Your book is a good educational way to look at your past experience in investing with managed futures managers, however the past cannot repeat itself, or can repeat it , but with the difference , and this time is different . I am an opportunistic in my investment today, and I believe what you said in your book: Compounding is the only way to make you live comfortably in the future. I don’t know who says: Imagination is a poor
substitute for experience.
Andrew I am sorry for taking a long time to send you my c omments and hope you like them, and I wish you all the success in your life.
My best regards,
Raad Z. Head, CTAs Mandate
