Professor
Translates Decade of Teaching Mutual
Fund Analysis into Invaluable Guide
for Investors
John Haslem's book is endorsed
by financial execs and finance academics
In
his new book, Mutual Funds: Risk and
Performance Analysis for Decision Making
(Blackwell Publishers: Oxford, 2003),
Smith School Emeritus Professor John A.
Haslem teaches the rest of us how to
evaluate and select mutual funds. Its
knowledge that comes none too soon.
According to the Investment Company
Institute, by the end of the 20th
century, more than 400 different
companies were offering some 8,000
mutual funds, and 49 percent of American
households were investing in them.
In the preface to Mutual Funds,
Haslem acknowledges the contribution of
students in his mutual funds analysis
course at the Smith School. At the time
the course was created, it was the first
security analysis course (in a
collegiate school of business) dedicated
to mutual funds, Haslem writes. Over the
years, several thousand (Smith School)
students have provided research reports
that improved our knowledge and
approaches to the topic.
The book is organized in such a way
as to make it both an informative
textbook and a detailed guide for
investors. The 12 chapters cover a broad
range of topics, including understanding
the advantages and disadvantages of
mutual funds, evaluating stock/bond
allocations within fund portfolios,
measuring fund returns and risk, and the
future of the mutual funds industry. In
addition to its comprehensiveness,
what's unique about the book is its
formatted approach to mutual fund
investing. More than 80 templates
provide a step-by-step decision
checklist for investors.
Leaders in the mutual fund industry
and finance scholars have praised the
scope and usefulness of Mutual Funds.
This marvelous compendium of mutual fund
information is the answer to the prayers
of serious investors who want to dig
beneath the superficial to reach the
fundamental, states John C. Bogle,
founder and former CEO of The Vanguard
Group. Haslem's realistic, thoroughly
researched perspective on mutual funds
is must reading for both investors and
fund managers, states Robert O. Edmister,
professor of finance and Frank R.
Day/MBA Chair of Banking at the
University of Mississippi. This is one
of those solid books that results from a
strong academic background in
investments and a balanced view of the
financial markets.
Notes Don Phillips, managing director
of Morningstar, Inc.: If you're seeking
order out of the chaos of competing
lists of 10 Funds to Buy Now, then this
is the book for you.
John Haslem's research on banking and
mutual funds has been published in
academic and practitioner journals, and
he is the author of five books. He has
been a consultant to NASA, the U.S.
Department of Justice, and various
banks, law firms, and other
organizations. He also advises on mutual
fund selection and portfolio allocation.
For further information on Mutual
Funds: Risk and Performance Analysis for
Decision Making, visit the
publishers Web site,
www.blackwellpublishing.com.
