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Capital
Book

Capital

The Story of Long-Term Investment Excellence

Charles D. Ellis
Wiley, 2004
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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Innovative

Recommendation

This is an excellent book about an extraordinary organization. Founded by a brilliant but self-effacing contrarian from Alabama, The Capital Group has prospered by doing things differently. Most investment firms are ego-driven and focus on the short term. The Capital Group discourages egotism and looks to the long term. Its "multiple counselor" system assigns each of several investment managers a component part of a big fund, but in such a way that while performance can be measured, no one manager can take full credit for the fund’s successes or blame for its failures. At times, the narrative loses itself in a thicket of anecdotal detail, but that is a small flaw in a generally well-written book. Capital is an anomaly in its business, and getAbstract.com finds that author Charles Ellis does an admirable job of sketching its chronology and important developments in its evolution.

Summary

The Capital GroupCapital may be the most successful secret in the investing world, accompanying its low profile with a sterling long-term performance record. But Capital, a leading U.S. mutual fund manager, is not just about high performance. The company’s unique corporate culture combines a firm, unyielding allegiance to core values with a remarkable degree of flexibility. Privately held, it does not advertise and has never sought the limelight, unlike other investment firms with touted names and slogans. What is The Capital Group? It is:One of the leading mutual fund managers in the U.S., with more than 20 million accounts and four of the ten biggest funds.An institutional money manager used by 65% of the big institutional funds (more than $10 billion in assets) and 35% of U.S. institutional investors.Arguably the best independent investment analysis group in the world.Among the most esteemed money managers in America, Japan, the U.K., Australia, Canada and the European continent (in each and every market).The world leader in international investing, and the biggest emerging market investor. A firm with a track record in the top quartile for the past five, ten, twenty and fifty...

About the Author

Charles D. Ellis is the author of ten books including Winning the Loser’s Game. For 30 years, he was the managing director of Greenwich Associates, a strategy-consulting firm. He has taught at Yale and Harvard, and is a Director of Vanguard.

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