As lawyers, we don’t recommend investments, which is probably a very wise decision. But we find it interesting to see what others are saying. One of the most successful investors in the US is certainly David Swensen, who manages the endowment of Yale University. In a recent article in the New York Times, on February 17, 2008, Mr. Swensen cautioned against individual investors trying to duplicate the investments he makes with an endowment in excess of $20 billion. In his book, “Unconventional Success: A Fuindamental Approach to Personal Investing”, Mr. Swensen sets forth his recommendation for individual investors, which consists of 30% domestic stocks, 15% foreign stocks, 5% emerging market stocks, 20% in real estate and 15% each in US Treasury bonds and Treasury inflation-protected securities. He cautions against individual investors trying to pick stocks on their own or engaging in timing the markets, suggesting instead index funds and other low cost instruments.

This is not unlike the advice that John Bogle offered at a meeting of the Philadelphia Bar Association Probate Section. At the end of a talk on investing issues, he summed up his suggestion for individual investors: buy no-load index funds with low turnover and low internal expense ratios.

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