Preface ........................................................ ix
Introduction: Excuse Me, Is This the "Real" World? .............. 1
Part I: How Much You Pay ........................................ 7
1 The Beardstown Ladies versus the Professionals ............... 9
2 The Extraordinarily High Cost of Investment Advice .......... 23
3 The Outer Limits: Hedge Fund Fees ........................... 39
4 Taxes Down the Drain ........................................ 51
5 Why Do We Give Golden Crumbs to Rich People? ................ 61
Part II: How Little You Get .................................... 71
6 Why Investment Professionals Can't Predict Markets .......... 73
7 The Abject Failure of Professional Advisors and Managers .... 87
8 The Market Can Turn on a Dime .............................. 105
9 The Claims of Money Managers: "Smoking Our Brand Prevents
Cancer" .................................................... 115
10 Idle, Greedy Hands and Too Much Data Do the Devil's Work ... 127
11 The Simple Rules of Nobel Prize Winners .................... 141
12 There's No Such Thing as a Free Lunch ...................... 149
13 Investment Genius or the Thousandth Coin? .................. 159
Part III: How You Are Sold .................................... 169
14 Effective Pitches to Sell the Big Lie ...................... 171
15 How Investors Delude Themselves ............................ 185
16 How Hedge Funds Operate and Are Sold ....................... 197
17 How Consultants and Money Managers Sell to Institutional
Investors .................................................. 213
18 Derivatives: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly ............... 225
19 The Modern Slippery Slope of Business Ethics ............... 239
Conclusion: The Ten New Commandments for Smart Investing ...... 253
Notes ......................................................... 263
Glossary ...................................................... 271
Bibliography .................................................. 283
Index ......................................................... 287
About the Author .............................................. 297
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