Christopher L. Jones 
The Intelligent Portfolio 
Practical Wisdom on Personal Investing from Financial Engines

The Intelligent Portfolio draws upon the extensive insights of Financial Engines–a leading provider of investment advisory and management services founded by Nobel Prize-winning economist William F. Sharpe–to reveal the time-tested institutional investing techniques that you can use to help improve your investment performance. Throughout these pages, Financial Engines’ CIO, Christopher Jones, uses state-of-the-art simulation and optimization methods to demonstrate the often-surprising results of applying modern financial economics to personal investment decisions.

Table of Content

Acknowledgments.

Introduction to Financial Engines.

Chapter 1. Making it Personal.

A Changing World.

The Grand Social Experiment: 401(k).

Knowledge Gap.

The Traditional Advice Model.

Institutional Tools of the Trade.

Chapter 2. No Free Lunch.

I’ll Take the One With the Highest Return…

A Little Bit of Latin: Ex-Ante and Ex-Post.

How are the Prices of Risky Assets Set?

The Link between Risk and Return.

When High Risk Does Not Mean High Return.

Hidden Risks and the Peso Problem.

How Much Risk am I Taking?

The Risks and Returns of Different Assets.

Does it Pass the Blush Test?

Chapter 3. History is Bunk.

History and Expected Returns.

The Past is Not the Future.

History is Sometimes Not What it Seems.

Investing with Perfect Hindsight.

The Lucky and the Skillful.

Evaluating Fund Performance.

Chapter 4. The Wisdom of the Market.

The Efficient Market?

What is the Market Portfolio?

What Does the Market Portfolio Look Like?

There’s No Place Like Home.

History of the Market Portfolio.

Betting Against the Market.

Avoiding Unintentional Bets.

Risk and the Market Portfolio.

The Market’s View of Future Returns.

Market Portfolio Simulations.

Final Thoughts

Chapter 5. Getting the Risk Right.

How to Measure Risk.

Asset Mix and Short-Term Loss.

Risk and Portfolio Outcomes

Risk and Time Horizon.

Factors to Consider in Selecting a Risk Level.

Examples of Informed Investor Behavior.

Chapter 6. An Unnecessary Gamble.

A Different Sort of Beast.

The Risk of Individual Stocks.

The Implications of Individual Stock Risk.

Expected Growth Rates.

The Biggest Mistake in 401(k).

What about More than One?

Do You Feel Lucky?

How to Do It Safely.

Hidden Costs.

Dealing with Unwanted Stock Risk.

Chapter 7. How Fees Eat Your Lunch.

It’s Basic Arithmetic.

Big Business.

For Every Winner There Has to Be a Loser.

It Still Adds Up to Dollars.

A Wide, Wide World.

How Fees Eat Your Lunch.

It’s a Heavy Load to Bear.

Fees and the Bigger Picture.

Practical Considerations.

Chapter 8. Smart Diversification.

The Goals of Diversification.

The Big Picture.

Why Hierarchy Is Bad for Portfolios.

The Value of Asset Class Diversification.

Diversification Ain’t What It Used to Be.

Diversification and Investment Choices.

The Big Picture: Part II.

The Search for Better Diversification.

Chapter 9. Picking the Good Ones.

The Stuff That Matters.

It’s About the Future.

Risk Tolerance and Fund Choice.

Investment Style.

Fund Expenses.

Predicting Mutual Fund Performance.

Rating Funds.

Putting the Pieces Together.

What it Takes to Rank Among the Best.

Chapter 10. Funding the Future.

The Benefits of Being Flexible.

Taxable and Tax-deferred Savings.

How Much Do You Need?

From Wealth to Income.

The Myth of Absolutes.

Risk, Time, and Savings.

What it Takes to Get There.

Chapter 11. Investing and Uncle Sam.

Why You Don’t Want to Minimize Taxes.

How Taxes Impact Investment Returns.

The Impact of Personal Tax Rates.

Tax-Efficiency of Asset Classes.

Asset Placement.

Mutual Fund Tax-Efficiency.

Municipal Bonds.

Capital Gains and Losses.

Putting It All Together.

Chapter 12. Wrapping It Up.

Appendix. Getting Started with the Personal Online Advisor Service.

Notes.

Glossary.

About the Author.

Index.

About the author

CHRISTOPHER L. JONES is Chief Investment Officer and Executive Vice President of Investment Management for Financial Engines. Working closely with founder William F. Sharpe, Jones built and led the team of experts in finance, economics, and mathematics that developed the financial methodology for Financial Engines’ personalized investment advice and management services. Jones has led the investment management function at Financial Engines for more than a decade. He holds an MS in business technology, an MS in engineering-economic systems, and a BA in quantitative economics, all from Stanford University.

FINANCIAL ENGINES, INC., is a leading provider of personalized investment advisory and management services to investors in workplace retirement plans. The company provides advisory services to more than 6.8 million employees, including workers at 109 Fortune 500 companies. In addition, Financial Engines manages more than $16 billion in defined contribution assets for individual employees as of year-end 2007. All advisory services are provided by Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C., an independent registered investment advisor and subsidiary of Financial Engines, Inc. Financial Engines does not receive compensation based on the investments it recommends.