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There is a profound linkage between the quality of a university and its financial resources. The universities of Oxford and Cambridge rank among the world's finest educational institutions, and are able to draw on invested assets that are large by any standards. This book explores how the colleges that comprise these two universities make their investment decisions. Oxford and Cambridge are collegiate institutions, each consisting of a federal university and over thirty constituent colleges. While the colleges may have ostensibly similar missions, they are governed independently. Since they interpret their investment objectives differently, this gives rise to some remarkably dissimilar approaches to investment, which the book explores. It analyses the objectives, investment philosophy, asset management, and governance of over sixty college and university endowment funds. Drawing on research and discussions with Oxford and Cambridge investment bursars, the book investigate issues such as asset allocation and spending policy, which have a major influence on the institutions' financial health. This study reveals the colleges' individualism and diversity, and carefully analyses their strategies, which range from the traditional to cutting edge.

After four decades spent ascending to the top of the investment management profession, the author of this book is today sought out by the world's leading value investors, and his client memos brim with insightful commentary and a time-tested, fundamental philosophy. Informed by the author's experience and study, this book explains the keys to successful investment and the pitfalls that can destroy capital or ruin a career. Utilizing passages from his memos to illustrate his ideas, the author teaches by example, detailing the development of an investment philosophy that fully acknowledges the complexities of investing and the perils of the financial world. Brilliantly applying insight to today's volatile markets, the book offers a volume that is part memoir, part creed, with a number of broad takeaways. It expounds on such concepts as “second-level thinking,” the price/value relationship, patient opportunism, and defensive investing. The book provides valuable lessons for critical thinking, risk assessment, and investment strategy. Encouraging investors to be “contrarian,” it wisely judges market cycles and achieves returns through aggressive yet measured action. Which element is the most essential? Successful investing requires thoughtful attention to many separate aspects, and each of the book's subjects proves to be the most important thing.