For over three decades, both institutional and individual investors have increasingly accepted indexing. Index benchmarks and investment products that track them have been a driving force in the transformation of investment strategy from art to science. Yet investors understanding of the sophistication of this burgeoning field has lagged behind the growing use of index products. Active Index Investing aims to close that gap.
Active Index Investing is the definitive guide to how indexes are constructed, managed as portfolios, and used by investors. Filled with in-depth insight and practical advice, this book illustrates and analyzes every major asset class and covers the perspectives of index fund managers, index providers, institutional brokers, pension plan sponsors and other asset owners, financial advisors, and individual investors. It skillfully explains how the worlds most sophisticated investors use index-based strategies to enhance performance, reduce costs, and minimize the risks of global investing.
This comprehensive guide captures the views of over fifty leading practitioners from all spheres of the indexing worldwhile maintaining a holistic and balanced perspective of this complex subject. Besides pulling together the best minds in the investment business, editor and indexing expert Steven Schoenfeld also shares his considerable insights on this broad and important topic.
Active Index Investing is actually five books in one, with thirty-one chapters providing a comprehensive exploration of:
- The theories and practical experience that are the foundations for indexing
- The uses of indexes and best practices in benchmark construction
- The ever-expanding range of index-based investment products and vehicles
- Index portfolio management techniques for equity and fixed-income funds
- Choosing between various index products and the ways in which sophisticated investors harness the overall benefits of indexing
Fittingly, for a subject so broad, the books scope doesnt end with these topics, but continues in the books “E-ppendix”www.ActiveIndexInvesting.com, partnered with the IndexUniverse.com Web sitewhich expands and updates the information and data provided in the book, facilitating even more perspectives to chronicle the ongoing development of this fascinating and dynamic field.
Active Index Investing is a practical and detailed guide to the art and science of index-based investing. It will show you how index-based strategies can be actively used to both minimize portfolio risk and maximize long-term performance.
From the Back Cover
“Here is everything you ever wanted to know about index investing. Steven Schoenfeld has put together a superb set of chapters written by leading practitioners in the investment industry. Both index and active investors will find a wealth of useful information in these pages.”
Burton G. Malkiel
Professor of Economics, Princeton University
author of A Random Walk Down Wall Street
“There is a great fiction in many parts of the investment industry: that indexing is a passive strategy. This book clearly shows why that belief is wrong. Steven Schoenfeld and the broad group of contributors he has assembled lay out a compelling case for why both the management and use of index funds are very active processes.
“Steven is a thought leader in the investment management field, and now he has provided a book that makes his knowledge available to everyone. Anyone involved with money management will want to read this book. It will become a standard reference text for years to come as more investors understand the role of indexing as part of active portfolio management.”
Lee Kranefuss
CEO, Exchange Traded Funds
Barclays Global Investors
“Active Index Investing covers it all and is a must-read for theoreticians, practitioners, and students alike. Schoenfelds book provides a breadth of insight about benchmarks and index investing, ranging from the evolution of indexing and the theory of index construction to investment strategies and applications.”
William J. Brodsky
Chairman & CEO
Chicago Board Options Exchange
“The whole discipline of indexing and benchmarking is clearly moving into the next generation of its development and is at the cutting edge of investing practices. Steven Schoenfeld has added to the insights of a virtual whos who among indexing practitioners his own significant depth and breadth of experience to provide the definitive modern compendium of where indexing currently is and where it is going. As indexing and benchmarking should be a part of every investors thinking, Active Index Investing should become their must-have desk reference.”
Paul R. Aaronson
Executive Managing Director, Investment Services
Standard & Poors
About the Author
Steven A. Schoenfeld is the Chief Investment Strategist for the Quantitative Management area of Northern Trust Global Investments (NTGI), which encompasses more than $200 billion in index and enhanced index strategies committed to the world’s equity and fixed income markets. He is also a Senior Research Fellow with Duke University’s Global Capital Markets Center. He was the founder of IndexUniverse.com, and was a Managing Partner of Global Index Strategies LLC, a specialized consulting firm. Steven previously served as Chief Investment Officer of Active Index Advisors and as a Managing Director of Barclays Global Investors, responsible for $65 billion in global index funds and ETFs, He developed some of the first emerging market index products while at the International Finance Corporation/World Bank, and traded Japanese stock index futures as a member of the Singapore Exchange. Steven serves on key governance committees for most major benchmark indexes. He was a Fulbright Scholar in economics in Singapore and coauthored The Pacific Rim Futures and Options Markets.
Wow! eBook
