John Mauldin - The Little Book of Bull’s Eye Investing: Finding Value, Generating Absolute Returns, and Controlling Risk in Turbulent Markets

Contents

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Copyright 2012 by John Mauldin. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Mauldin, John.

The little book of bulls eye investing : finding value, generating absolute returns, and controlling risk in turbulent markets / John Mauldin.

p. cm. (Little book big profits series)

ISBN 978-1-118-15913-2 (cloth); 978-1-118-22608-7 (ebk); 978-1-118-26406-5 (ebk);

978-1-118-23943-8 (ebk)

1. Investments. I. Title.

HG4521.M3667 2012

332.6dc23

2012008112

To Art Cashin Greatest of Raconteurs, Finest of Teachers, Best of Friends

Acknowledgments

From South Africa in the BA lounge. Always working for you guys .

In a book with as many sources as Bulls Eye Investing , it goes without saying that there are many people from whom I am constantly learning and who are great influences on my thinking. I am lucky in that so many people take the time to patiently help me understand the significance of various pieces of the puzzle and how they fit together. Bulls Eye in particular owes a great deal to Ed Easterling, James Montier, and Rob Arnott. The idea for taking a rather large tome like the original Bulls Eye Investing and making the best parts into a Little Book came from my extremely patient editor at John Wiley & Sons, Debra Englander. Deadlines come and go at least for me, but a good editor is hard to find.

And speaking of editors, I must gratefully acknowledge the masterful work of Terry Coxon, who took a very rough collection of material and turned it into a book and greatly improved upon the original writing while doing so, gently prodding me to be more clear in my prose. To have someone of his talent take the time under deadline pressures is most amazing, and I am grateful in the extreme.

And to those who said kind words about the original book and helped turn it into a best seller and a great career break for a little-known author, I will always be grateful. Without your acknowledgment, this Little Book would never have come about.

An Introduction to Bulls Eye Investing

Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?

That depends a good deal on where you want to get to, said the Cheshire Cat.

I dont much care where..., said Alice.

Then it doesnt matter which way you go, said the Cat.

... just so long as I get SOMEWHERE, Alice added as an explanation.

Oh, youre sure to do that, said the Cat, if you only walk long enough.

Lewis Carroll, Alices Adventures in Wonderland

EVERY HUNTER KNOWS YOU dont shoot where the duck is; you shoot where the duck is going to be. Youve got to lead the duck. If you aim where the duck is at the moment you shoot, youll miss it.

Bulls Eye Investing simply attempts to apply that same principle to the markets. In this book, I hope to give you an idea of the broad trends that I believe are at work now and will persist for the remainder of this decade. Then Ill help you target your investments to take advantage of those trends.

Through the Looking Glass

When I was invited to do this Little Book of Bulls Eye Investing , I wondered whether the original Bulls Eye Investing (written nine years ago and dense in data and research, and not little at all) could be shortened and still deliver what put the book on the best-seller lists and earned it the top spot on Forbes publisher Rich Karlgaards roll call of the decades most important books on investing. It has since been published in several foreign languages and is still in print.