Dennison Tariq. Invest Outside the Box: Understanding Different Asset Classes and Strategies

Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. — 313 p.This book aims to be one of the most concise introductory guides to investing across many different markets. Many of these investment categories or styles may be outside the comfort zone of non-professionals, or of investment professionals specializing in one of the other “boxes” looking for a refreshing view on another investment “box”. Each chapter is meant to be a modular guide to many widely siloed “boxes” of investments, whether boxed by asset class (stocks vs bonds), style (active vs passive, growth vs value), instrument (direct shares vs fund vs ETF vs blockchain), or region (United States vs China), explaining for each of these boxes:
What each “investment box” is
Why invest in or avoid investing in that “box”
Concepts and techniques for understanding and evaluating each “box”How to better profit from investing in that box by challenging the conventional wisdom often written on it and by breaking behavioral boxes
There are many books in the field of investing, but this one seemed timely as the post-2009 bull market in stocks and bonds, sometimes termed the “bubble in everything”, has been explained by acronyms like “TINA” for “there is no alternative”. Not knowing where else to put money is one of the poorest reasons to buy stocks or a piece of real estate and is one of the main reasons many often overlook foreign markets or alternative assets. Investors able to proficiently navigate outside the traditional boxes can expect higher investment returns by buying assets that few competitors are buying at the same time.