The Pillars of Finance: The Misalignment of Finance Theory and Investment Practice

Guy Fraser-Sampson is a Senior Fellow at Cass Business School in the City of London, UK where he creates and teaches post-graduate investment modules as well as supervising various research projects. He is a longstanding senior-level investment professional, including a period working in the Middle East as Investment Controller with the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (reputedly the largest investor in the world), and subsequently running for several years the international operations of a leading fund manager. He is the author of several books on finance and economics including Multi Asset Class Investment Strategy and Alternative Assets: Investments for a Post-Crisis World. His best-selling Private Equity as an Asset Class has been translated into various languages and adopted as the standard text on the subject by business schools worldwide. In addition to his teaching, writing, and investment activities he has for some years also conducted consultancy and high level executive training sessions helping investors to set their activities within a strategic framework and to develop the necessary systems and processes to allow this to function properly. He is a frequent commentator on both television and radio and a well-known public speaker. Most recently his book The Mess We're In: Why Politicians Can't Fix Financial Crises has been widely covered in the media, discussed at university and think tank events, and nominated for the Orwell Prize. 1. Introductory Chapter 2. Do we Approach Finance Scientifically? 3. Logic and Emotion 4. Objectivity and Subjectivity in Finance 5. Problems with Thinking, Feeling and Perceiving Finance 6. Return 7. Risk 8. Value 9. The Need for a New Approach 10. Accepting Lack of Knowledge and Understanding 11. Modernist Finance 12. The Modernist Investor