The Either/Or Investor

Summary

People today are inundated with advice, opinions, and information about how to invest. The more data you accumulate, the thinking goes, the better decisions you'll make. In The Either/Or Investor, global investment strategist Clark Winter shows that the opposite is the case, introducing a revelatory way of thinking about the markets based on finding and assessing just enough of the right information and using your common sense.



According to Winter, investing comes down to making choices. All great investors employ an "either/or" filter for evaluating and simplifying the many investment opportunities available to them. The Either/Or Investor reveals how you can emulate this thought process while remaining realistic about your own goals and needs, and gives you the tools to choose among the options that modern investors face, such as:



—Fear versus greed: In an anxious post-9/11 world, discover when it's smart to make an aggressive financial move.



—Developed world versus developing world: Find out if you should stick with opportunities in the United States or risk those available in the emerging economies of China, Russia, India, Mexico, and Turkey.



—Anti-immigration versus migration of talent: Learn to evaluate the products that immigrants introduce to the rest of the world in order to assess the value in investing in American companies that cater to new immigrant groups.



—Too much information versus too little information: Use the Internet, newspapers, and TV to your advantage. (For example, get the pros and cons about China's growing economic power so you can become informed enough to act.)



—Rising interest rates versus falling interest rates: Understand how changing interest rates are a good barometer for how to spend your money.



Winter shows how anyone can learn to make sound decisions in a changing world by discerning trends early in an investment cycle, and then taking advantage of these trends or steering clear. Winter also explains how to choose a money manager and how to determine what the next investment opportunities might be.



Armed with Winter's methods, any investor can improve his or her own investment prowess. The Either/Or Investor is a way—both judicious and daring—for choosing a better future.