Kirkus Reviews QR Code
THE HOUSEHOLD ENDOWMENT MODEL by Vince Annable

THE HOUSEHOLD ENDOWMENT MODEL

by Vince Annable

Pub Date: Nov. 10th, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5445-0235-9
Publisher: Wealth Strategies Advisory Group

Arizona-based financial adviser Annable offers a debut guide to alternative investment strategies.

The author cites unpleasant memories of the dot-com bubble and the 2008 financial crisis as his reasons for pivoting to alternative methods of investment. While searching for ways to avoid rapid asset loss, Annable encountered the Endowment Model, designed by David F. Swensen, Yale University’s chief investment officer. After Congress passed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act in 2012 and expanded the legislation in 2017, Annable began to apply Swensen’s diversification model to counsel “affluent, high-net-worth families and individuals.” Specifically, he advises his clients to forego the “traditional 60/40 stocks/bonds portfolio” and increase their commitments to illiquid private investments, such as venture-capital endeavors, and stable assets, such as oil, natural gas, timber, and real estate. In each explanatory section, Annable keeps the tone casual and the content within reach of laypeople. Whenever the concepts become too complicated, he directs readers to seek out the advice of wealth-asset managers—such as those in Annable’s network; indeed, the book concludes with a soft pitch for his own firm, complete with contact information. The book is a bold promotion of an endowment investment model when rich people, and their wealth preservation strategies, are under intense scrutiny by the public. However, some readers who aren’t in Annable’s client class may look askance at substantial descriptions of how the affluent can avoid taxes, limit public awareness of their financial positions, and use charitable-giving strategies that preserve their total wealth. There are also several instances when the author feels the need to qualify the legality of his strategies: “this isn’t illegal. It’s perfectly legal and very smart.”

An elucidating take on alternative investing and wealth preservation.