Active Index Investing: Maximizing Portfolio Performance and Minimizing Risk Through Global Index Strategies

Active Index Investing is the definitive guide to how indexes are constructed, how index-based portfolios are managed, and how the world’s most sophisticated investors use index-based strategies to enhance performance, reduce costs and minimize the risks of investing.

Active Index Investing provides a comprehensive overview of (1) the investment theories that are the foundation of index based investing, (2) best practices in benchmark construction, (3) the growing world of index-based investment vehicles, (4) cutting-edge index portfolio management techniq ues and (5) the myriad ways investors can and do capture the benefits of indexing.

Active Index Investing has a unique format that captures the views and perspectives of over 40 of the investment industry’s leading experts and practitioners, while maintaining a holistic view of this complex subject matter.

Steven A. Schoenfeld is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of IndexUniverse.com, the definitive online resource on index investing. He is also a Senior Research Fellow with Duke University’s Global Capital Markets Center, and Managing Partner of Global Index Strategies LLC, which provides consulting services to the financial industry. Steven was Chief Investment Officer of Active Index Advisors, focusing on enhanced index portfolios and was a Managing Director of Barclays Global Investors (BGI), where he served in a variety of portfolio management and investment strategy roles. Before joining BGI, he was an Investment Officer at the International Finance Corporation/World Bank, and a stock index futures trader in Singapore. Steven was a Fulbright Scholar in Economics, and co-authored The Pacific Rim Futures and Options Markets.

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

solid and well formed chapters, 2008-08-21
I found this book to be informative and relevant to my investing style. I liked the format and the specific chapter headings...It's a good sized book but there is a lot to cover.


8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

Good basic concepts, but do not try this at home, 2006-10-15
Indexing is definitely the most cost effective way to invest and to control how your assets are allocated. At the end of the day, what ultimately drives return, is an intelligent asset allocation strategy and minimizing costs. A good financial planner who believes in this strategy should help you implement the asset allocation and monitoring processes. If the proper investment tools are used you can have the investments and the investment advice for less than the cost of the average mutual fund.


22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

Why indexing is the starting point for your asset allocation, 2004-10-11
An important disclaimer: I am a specialist index portfolio manager a major index fund manager

This is an excellent book that contains all the important reasons why your asset allocation should start with indexing and then think about active managers (not the other way around - pick the market haystack, not the active manager needle). The important points have not changed over the years, including during the bear market of 2000-2001. The bottom line is that costs matter.

I was most impressed with chapter 19, which well describes the index portfolio management process and demonstrates how much more difficult it is to deliver benchmark returns than what people think. Every person who glibly retorts 'a trained monkey could manage an index fund' and 'what do you guys do all day anyway?' should read this. Index portfolio management is a unique challenge and we're always on a hiding to nothing to achieve this outcome.

The chapters are well researched and there are plenty of references for the interested reader.

It is a large book, but all the chapters are self contained and there is no loss of continuity by reading chapters individually.

I ended up giving it four stars however as the low quality paper on which it was printed makes the book feel a little cheap. For a $90 book the publishers could do better.


22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

A must-read for those interested in index funds/ETFs, 2004-09-27
This book is quite simply contains the best information on the subject of indexing.

It tracks the beginnings of index products and pays respects to the pioneers that developed this type of investing. Mr. Shoenfeld thoroughly decribes the myriad of vehicles that are available for investors today (this list grows every day it seems).

But what really makes this book shine is the real-life examples and guest writers. Books about investment theory often lack concrete illustrations of the theories they espouse. Mr. Shoenfeld descibes in detail how and why individual investors, pension plans, and hedge funds use index products. In many cases, fund managers write the chapters. Getting this information "from the horse's mouth" allows insight into thought processes of those responsible for investing millions of dollars.

The scope of the book is amazing, and even more is available on the e-ppendix on the Web. Congratulations to the author on putting together a massive reference book on the subject of indexing.


17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

Outstanding textbook, 2004-09-09
Steve Schoenfeld's edited volume, "Active Index Investing," is a welcome addition to the literature on financial management. Although rigorous in content, its clear-to-follow chapters and illustrative sidebars combine to make this book extraordinarily useful as a primary textbook on MBA or executive education courses on financial analysis, financial instruments, fixed income asset pricing, and portfolio management. In addition, several chapters, including those dealing with enhanced indexing and benchmarks, will be of particular interest to scholars who are interested in the theoretical literature on portfolio management. Overall, "Active Index Investing" is a winner and gets my highest recommendation due to its clarity and breadth.

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