Investing Skill, Strategy, and Temperament

• Welcome to a boot camp on investing! Discover the influences that led Professor Longo to a career in finance. Then meet some of the major figures you will study in the course. Survey the key principles and strategies that built their fortunes.

Benjamin Graham and Value Investing

• Many of the most successful investors of the 20th and early 21st centuries were hugely influenced by the work of Ben Graham, the pioneer of value investing. Study the underpinnings of his proven philosophy, including the contrasting strategies of the enterprising investor and the defensive investor.

Warren Buffett: Investing Forever

• Explore the celebrated career of Warren Buffett, one of the world’s richest people thanks to his disciplined approach to buying and selling companies. Learn how Buffett modified the strategy of his mentor, Ben Graham, by searching out high-quality companies with a competitive advantage, or moat.

Fisher and Price: The Growth-Stock Investors

• Turn to the fathers of growth investing, Philip Fisher and T. Rowe Price, Jr.. Discover how to tell growth stocks from value stocks. Then learn to spot signs that a stock is worth holding over the very long term, which is the goal of this influential school of portfolio analysis.

Harry Markowitz’s Modern Portfolio Theory

• Study what two Nobel Prize-winning economists have to say about risk. Harry Markowitz put risk on an equal footing with return. Delve into his Modern Portfolio Theory and its implications for investors. Also investigate the insights of William Sharpe’s Capital Asset Pricing Model.

John Bogle, Index Mutual Fund Pioneer

• See the index fund phenomenon from the inside through the career of John Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Group. Consider evidence for and against the Efficient Market Hypothesis, on which index investing is based. Also look into pitfalls to avoid when buying index funds.

Small-Cap Stocks: More Risk, More Reward

• Explore the world of small-cap investing, which targets companies with a market capitalization (outstanding shares times price/share) generally less than a billion dollars. Learn how legendary investors Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch, and Michael Burry flourished in this market. Survey your own options for getting involved.

John Templeton, Global Treasure Hunter

• Go stock hunting with John Templeton, who changed the world of finance by focusing on the global market and on a socially responsible portfolio. Review Templeton’s checklist of the qualities that make a nation an attractive investing opportunity-for example, a low tax rate and high savings rate.

David Dreman, Contrarian Money Manager

• You are likely to be your own worst enemy when it comes to investing. Find out if you make the common mistakes on market psychologist David Dreman’s list. Known as a contrarian-an investor who goes against the crowd-Dreman made a fortune by bucking trends.