Subtitle: Why the Tried and the True Triumph Over the Bold and the New

Jeremy Siegel, one of the world’s top investing experts, has taken a long, hard, and in-depth look at the market and the stocks that investors should acquire to build long-term wealth.

His surprising finding is that the new technologies, expanding industries, and fast-growing countries that stockholders relentlessly seek in the market often lead to poor returns. In fact, growth itself can be an investment trap, luring investors into overpriced stocks and overly competitive industries.

The Future for Investors shatters conventional wisdom and provides a framework for picking stocks that will be long-term winners. While technological innovation spurs economic growth, it has not been kind to investors. Instead, companies that have marketed tried-and-true products for decades in slow-growth or even declining industries have superior returns to firms that develop “the bold and the new.” Industry sectors many regard as dinosaurs-railroads and oil companies, for example-have actually beat the market.

Professor Siegel presents these strategies within the context of the upcoming shift in global economic power and the demographic age wave that will sweep the United States, Europe, and Japan. Contrary to the popular belief hat these economic and demographic trends doom investors to poor returns, Professor Siegel explains the True New Economy and how to take advantage of the coming surge in invention, discovery, and economic growth.

The faster the world changes, the more important it is for investors to heed the lessons of the past and find the tried-and-true companies that can help you beat the market and prosper in the years ahead.

From Booklist

“The constant pursuit of growth–through buying hot stocks, seeking out the next big thing, or investing in the fastest growing countries–dooms investors to poor returns.” So states Siegel, an academic who, with optimism and extensive research, suggests that the future is bright for equity investors in old, reliable companies in slow-growth or even shrinking industries. He presents a framework for understanding world markets and offers strategies for protecting and enhancing long-term capital. Stocks will outperform bonds and other inflation hedges, and he recommends supplementing indexed portfolios using three directives–buy stocks that have sustainable cash flows and return these cash flows to the shareholders with dividends; recognize the economic power shifts from the West toward China, India, and the rest of the developing world; and accumulate shares in firms with reasonable valuations relative to their expected growth while avoiding trendy investments. Warren Buffet, the preeminent investor, suggests that those interested in investments should study Siegel’s new facts and ideas. Mary Whaley