Despite the challenges of the market meltdown of 2008, the “Yale model” remains one of the most powerful investment strategies around. And thanks to exchange-traded funds (ETFs), today you can duplicate this investment philosophy in your own personal investment portfolio. It is also an investment strategy I have implemented with terrific success through the “Ivy Plus” Investment Program for my clients at my investment firm Global Guru Capital.

For a period of more than 20 years, the investment strategies of top university endowments seemed blessed by fairy dust. The top three U.S. university endowments — Harvard, Yale and Stanford — consistently had returned more than 15% per year over the last decade. And even after the onset of the credit crunch in the summer of 2007, the Harvard endowment gained 8.6%, Stanford rose 6.2% and Yale climbed 4.5% through June 30, 2008. That compared with a drop of 15% in the S&P 500 over the same time period.

That all changed once the financial crisis hit in full force in 2008, and the top university endowments plummeted by 25%-30%. The joint losses for Harvard, Yale, Stanford and Princeton hit billion in the 12 months ending June 30, 2009.

Maybe those Harvard types weren’t so smart after all…

Since the dark days of 2008, top university endowments have staged a comeback. Primed by savvy investments in technology, Stanford’s endowment rose 14.4% in the year ended June 30, 2010, outshining returns at Harvard and Yale, which gained 11% and 8.9%, respectively.

Yale’s David Swensen: The “Babe Ruth of Investing”

You can trace the long-term investment success of top university endowments directly back to the efforts of a single man, Yale’s David Swensen.

As the Yale endowment’s chief investment officer for two decades, David Swensen has earned a reputation as the “Babe Ruth” of the endowment investment world

After taking over the Yale endowment in the mid 1980s, Swensen boasted 15.6% average annual returns through 2007 and no down years going back to 1987.

So, how did Swensen’s success single-handedly change the rules of institutional investing?

In 1985, around the time Swensen took over, Yale had more than 80% of its endowment invested in domestic stocks and bonds. But Swensen, an economics PhD, observed that no asset allocation model ever actually recommended that way. As long as their correlation with U.S. stocks and bonds was low, adding unconventional assets to your portfolio would both reduce your risk and increase your return. This led Yale to emphasize private equity and venture capital, real estate, hedge funds that offer long/short or absolute return strategies, raw materials, and even more esoteric investments like storage tanks, timber forests and farmland.

Until the fall of 2008, this approach worked almost like magic…

The “Yale Model”: Still the Best over the Long Run

But the relatively poor performance of the Yale endowment during the crash of 2008 put Swensen on the defensive. Critics pointed out that during the meltdown, a traditional portfolio of 60% stocks and 40% bonds would have lost only 13% of its value, rather than the 25% or more lost by the diversified portfolios of Harvard, Yale and Stanford.

But as Yale’s President Richard Levin pointed out in Newsweek magazine, that argument is astonishingly shortsighted. Over the past 10 years, including the crash, Yale’s endowment managed average annual returns of 11.7% to reach its current value of billion. A 60/40 portfolio over the same period would have earned 2.1%, producing an endowment of only .4 billion. Put another way, Swensen’s strategy had earned Yale an extra .6 billion over 10 years. That indirectly made Swensen one of the world’s largest philanthropists, on par with Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.

Throughout the crisis, Swensen remained adamant that the model was viable over the long run. He pointed out that the single worst thing that you can do is to avoid risky assets after a market crash. He knew that Yale had suffered from poor decisions on asset allocations in its past — one that had put Harvard-level wealth out of its reach forever.

You see, at the time of the market crash in 1929, the endowments of Harvard and Yale were roughly the same size. But Yale’s trustees got spooked and invested heavily into “safe” bonds for the next five decades, while Harvard tilted more toward stocks. The result? Over the next 50 years, in relative terms, Yale’s endowment shrunk to half the size of Harvard’s.

Since the crash of 2008, Harvard has implemented the lessons of 1929 well. Leaving its critics aghast, Harvard actually has increased its allocation to high-risk positions in alternatives, at the expense of its “safe,” fixed-income allocation.

Yes, You Can Replicate Harvard’s Success…

In 2005, Swensen published a book, “Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment,” which explains how you can apply Yale’s investment approach to your own portfolio. Swensen argues that Yale’s investment strategy is tough for you to duplicate. After all, Yale has 20 to 25 investment professionals (Harvard at one time had as many as 200) who devote their careers to looking for investment opportunities. Yale also has the deck stacked in its favor. Its sterling reputation allows it to invest in the very best private equity and hedge funds — asset classes that are not readily available to retail investors. As Mohamed El-Arien, a former head of the Harvard endowment put it, attempting to duplicate Harvard’s results “would be like telling my son to drop out of school and play basketball with the goal of becoming the next Michael Jordan.”

Of course, highly paid investment managers like El-Arien have every reason in the world to overstate the impact of their “skill.” But this does not dilute Swensen’s basic message: to focus on the “big-picture” asset allocation decisions and move your money out of U.S. stocks and bonds into global and other asset classes. Swensen himself recommends that you model Yale’s asset allocation through a portfolio consisting exclusively of index funds with low fees.

At my firm, Global Guru Capital, I have run an “Ivy Plus” Investment Program that replicates the investment strategy of the top university endowments using Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) for the past two years. So far, it has behaved exactly as advertised. In the 12 months between June 30, 2009 and June 30, 2010- dates for which Havard has released performance data – the performence of the fully invested “Ivy Plus” investment program has matched the Harvard endowment almost exactly.

Of course, two years isn’t a long time. But the “Ivy Plus” strategy has outperformed some of the top hedge funds in the world during some of the toughest times ever in financial markets, by sticking to a disciplined, highly diversified asset allocation strategy.

My biggest challenge? The “Ivy Plus” investment program is a hard strategy to “sell” to my potential clients. It just seems too unexciting and straightforward to believe…

The bottom line? You may not have access to the Michael Jordans of the investment world. But diversifying out of a standard U.S. stock and bond portfolio into asset classes like commodities, real estate, and global stocks and bonds can go a long way toward generating Harvard-style returns.

Maybe those guys and gals at Harvard, Yale and Stanford aren’t so dumb, after all…

In simple term, investments mean to invest amount to get exclusive cash from a designated purpose. Several options are there of investing money which can lead one to earn good profits. Stocks, mutual funds, bonds, real estate and many more options of investment are there which have been supporting individuals to get maximum profits all over.

One main objective of business investors is to get amount much more than the principal amount. Among investment instruments common these day, bond is the investment instrument which is defined as taking debts from investors with a fixed amount as interest. It may be any company or the government which take debts form investors and pay the amount later with specified interests.

Importance of investment lawyer

Real estate or property purchase is also some kind of investments which are very common and old. And as a result of investment made by individuals, several backfires come which lead one to take support of a professional Investment Lawyer. The lawyer acts as a defending source for investors who provide legal backup to depend on.

Companies which invest are needed to come with certain laws and guidelines and this is the place where an investment lawyer plays effective role. He assist company owner to invest as per the law and investment framework. Lawyers specialized in investment sector help clients in making investments and remain protected from any unlawful dealings and activities.

Functions of investment lawyer

Complexities of investment have been growing day by day and investment lawyer actively works for the betterment of his client. As such, these are several useful functions of such lawyers like:

1. Lawyers protect clients from market fluctuations ad loss which occur due to unlawful behaviour or misconduct. They work in the way to save them against any financial frauds.

2. Management of investment is another special function of investment lawyer towards the client. The lawyer also helps in simplifying matters of clients including prospectuses of mutual fund organizations. Drafting of important documents and contracts are other chief functions of the lawyer.

3. Drafting and finalizing contracts meant for investment services is another function which has been working for the betterment of investors.

4. Codes of ethics as well as compliance policies are developed by investment lawyer. Moreover, lawyers also take charge of finalizing trade restrictions, self-examinations as well as internal compliance audits.

5. Fund formation is another task or function of investment lawyers. And organized management structure is the base of fund formation carried out successfully by lawyers.

There are several more functions of investment lawyers which have been helping investors in making investments properly and performing well in the investment sector. Thus, investors are required to take support of specified investment lawyers to carry out the investment task smoothly.

A fraud investment can lead to face tough financial situation. Because most of investors invest money collected as his/her IRA savings, retirement money, children fund or even any pension plan. Moreover, under such circumstances, investors are required to work as per the investment guidelines to get rid of any kind of fraud in future. And for this, Investment Lawyer is needed to hire to work as per the suggestion and guidelines offered by him.

Investment fraud can be suffered by anyone and anytime. In case, one has been suffering from the loss made by fraud investment, fraud investment lawyers help investors by two ways including Lawsuit or arbitration and Criminal prosecution. Both the methods are useful in getting money back of investors which they find losing due to investment fraud.

Actually, lawyers who work for investment frauds are called fraud investment lawyers. They come with deep knowledge about general guidelines, principals, code and ethics of the government regarding investments. Skills which a fraud investment lawyer comes with include:

1.In one or more way, lawyers for fraud investment should be professional, talented and aggressive to work for the money recovery of client properly.
2.The investment lawyer should also come with the skill of strong legal capabilities. He / she should come with deep knowledge on business transactions, litigations and financing, diversified securities and business matters. High level of competence is also required for lawyers to handle the issue strongly.
3.He should come with qualities to present the case before the court of justice and deal all formalities of courtrooms effectively.
4.The lawyer should be courteous, deal the matter with personal attention and capable to settle settlement negotiations skilfully. He should take the pain and loss of client personally to work with more attention and he should appreciate the client in any way to make him strong enough to face the tough courtroom situations.
5.Investment lawyer should also come with one or more years of work experience such that courtroom litigations become simple and easier for him. Experienced lawyers help the client to get rid of fraudulent investment schemes etc. quickly and effectively.
6.The lawyer should also offer professional stewardship, finances consideration and also satisfy clients with security of investment. It has been observed that mismanagement, misconduct and mishandling of case destroy clients’ trust.
7.He should be aware of rules and regulations of the government for fraud investment. Thus, investment lawyer is needed to make clients understand the legal considerations regarding the investment fraud at each and every step.

Thus, an investment lawyer is needed to come with different talents and skills to guide the client at every step of investment to save him against any small or large investment loss.

Investment lawyer lets you know of the scope disclosure under the proposed proxy voting right and can also introduce you to the knowledge needed by the practitioner to be ready for the wave of fund acquisition.

Investment lawyer monitors all the key regulators namely SEL, CFTL, DOL and IRS, as well as state regulators and the congress to keep its readers aware of the latest and fluctuating regulatory development and concerns. Industries of diverse variety invite Investment lawyer to handle their security cases .these are industries related with mutual fund, ETFs. Bond fund leveraged financial instrument and structured securities.

There are some full service law firm which specialize in litigating the arbitrate action arising from unsuitable investment strategies, fraud, corporate malfunction, security related employment disputes and supervisory violation. The firm maintains a robust and extensive database of significant securities, law brief and extends research roots that enhance practitioner’s wealth of knowledge. Investment lawyer must have current information about the financial market and security laws. Investment lawyers finalize and draft contracts involved in investment service and also prepare statement of registration. They also deal with compliance issues for investment advisors. An investment lawyer is also responsible for developing codes of ethics and they finalize on trading restrictions and self examination. Investment lawyer perform the task of representing their clients before investment regulators which are both state and central. It is their duty to advice their client of litigation. They deal with legal methods involved in real estate investments.

If someone has been a victim of investment fraud then the Investor Rights Network can provide you with a facility of financial fraud Investment Lawyer and if you have difficulty in finding the right financial fraud investment lawyer then Investor Rights Network hold together highly qualified lawyers and offer financial fraud investment lawyer service throughout the United States with a free consultation. Free consultation makes one sure whether he or she has been a victim of investor fraud and if yes, then it will let them know about the method to file the claim against the broker, brokerage firm or a financial planner.

In 2007, each investment lawyer came across an issue related to recent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proceeding with significant repercussions for the bank mutual fund industry. One can also see another topics in this issue namely board consideration of mutual fund investment advisor agreement and the effect of the Employee Retirement Income Security (ERISA) on investment holding “plan assets”.
Asset management is highly regulated and steadily growing industry in America and an investment lawyer is a sole devoted legal publication to look into the matters of investment management and also clear the distractions or frauds met by investors.

An investment lawyer has an answer to entire rainbow of problems, an investor can ever encounter such as problems associated with bank affiliated funds and knowledge needed to be ready for the wave of fund acquisition. With all this management, an investment lawyer also monitor all the key regulators such as SEC, CFTC, DOL and IRS as well as state regulators such as state regulators and the congress so that its reader is well aware of the latest regulatory development and concerns. If someone has been a victim of investment fraud, then the Investor Rights Network can provide you with a facility of financial fraud investment lawyer service and the investment fraud claim procedure.

Few security fraud Investment Lawyer looks into matters of broken fraud and misconduct claims while there are others which deal with broken misconduct, unsuitability, churning and investment claim. There are websites which learn from you about your requirements and issues and from their list of attorney advice you of the best investment lawyer as per your need.

In Dominican Republic, each investment lawyer deal with foreign investments and technology transfers which have a contribution in the economic growth and the social development of the country because there was a considerable increase in the generation of jobs and foreign currency. It promotes capitalization and gives viable production, marketing and management method. Although it will be profitable only if foreign and national investors have same rights and obligations in investment field investment lawyers understand various forms of investments to oblige the law on foreign investments such as direct foreign investments, foreign reinvestments, new foreign investment, foreign investor, national investment etc.

There are some full law firms which specialize in litigating the arbitrate action arising from unsuitable investment strategies, fraud, corporate malfunction, securities related employment disputes and supervisory violation. The firm maintained an extensive database of securities, law briefs and it extends research roots that enhance practitioner’s wealth of knowledge. Investment lawyers of several firms have represented institution and high worth individuals in mediation, arbitration and litigation all across the country as well as outside United States, for losses suffered because of the wrong doings of brokers and broker’s fund.

If you are an investor and have any query regarding terms of investments or if you have been a victim of investment fraud then you always have a right to consult an investment lawyer.

The first investment option that springs to mind for pro investors is stocks and shares. First of all, this is a troublesome environment and so as to see serious returns you will be needed to do a lot of work. Read the markets, understand your stock, buy low and sell high ; all on a daily basis.
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These days, many do not like to hear the word investment simply because it encompasses risks. Evidently, to invest is to incur risk; although we ought to not because of the risk keep away from investing. It shall be much better for one to learn the way to handle dangers associated with investment rather than staying away from making investments altogether. A good investor should learn the way to handle the numerous chances related to every investment. It’ll not be prudent for one to keep away from making investments merely due to the dangers related to investment.

A potential investor ought to in addition understand that the risks related to every single investment is varied. For example the risk factor associated with Stock Investment or Stock Trading is not the identical with that related to forex trading. Likewise, the danger associated with real estate investment in addition alters from the risk related to the transportation business. Each business we do, irrespective of how tiny has its own particular risk.

What’s the main worry an investor confronts? The foremost worry investors are confronted with is the worry of losing money. Every time you give investment a second thought, the next thing that can surface in your conscience is that you could be losing your money. Additionally, if the assets you invest in are held in another foreign currency there is a risk that currency movements on their own can have an effect on the worth. This is named currency risk. To venture is to incur risk and it’s very troublesome for 1 to perform with no possibility of risk in living, since every thing in life are all about risk… even life alone is fairly considerably risky as well.

What Is The Best Way To Invest Money?: Final words

Finally, to speculate is to take risks, look for a good monetary adviser prior to starting out on any investment of money, or read more on how to avoid some errors in the investments. One thing is for sure however to make no investment as well carries a possibility of risk as inflation destroys the true value of your funds. Consequently discover all you are able to regarding the many types of investment and find the particular one that is suited to you to discover the best way to invest money.