The Aspirational Investor
Book

The Aspirational Investor

Taming the Markets to Achieve Your Life’s Goals

Ashvin B. Chhabra
HarperBusiness, 2015
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Recommendation

In this insightful investing advisory, Ashvin B. Chhabra, chief investment officer with Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, explains why the focus of your investing should be your personal objectives, not whether you beat the overall market’s performance. Chhabra advises placing your assets in three buckets representing your “safety,” “lifestyle” and “aspirational goals.” The assets in each bucket should provide a return and represent a risk that’s appropriate to its purpose. Chhabra provides a compelling perspective on navigating today’s market-oriented investment climate. While never giving investment advice, getAbstract recommends his useful planning guide to investment professionals, investors, and anyone interested in investments and markets.

Summary

How to Think of Money

Money is a means to an end – and that end is having more choices. Many people fail to handle investments in a way that moves them toward their goals and improves their quality of life. Lack of knowledge capsizes even smart investors. Those who are aware of their limitations may turn to financial advisers, but outsourcing isn’t foolproof. Facing a major market downturn, as in 2008, investors tend to fire their advisers and hire someone else whom they fire in the next down cycle. That kind of churn is a consequence of people not being clear about what they can achieve with investments.

The investing world hews to two philosophies. The “so-called efficient market camp” believes most investment managers cannot outperform the broader market, especially when factoring in taxes and fees. This group advocates investing in index funds. The “active management camp,” on the other hand, holds that individuals can achieve outsize returns. Super-successful investor Warren Buffett is exhibit A for this group. However, most individual investors do poorly. Often, this results from innate biases that warp people’s decisions and from the constant barrage...

About the Author

Ashvin B. Chhabra, chief investment officer with Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, holds a PhD in applied physics from Yale University.

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