Originally published in the winter 1999 issue of Global Custody Review magazine
Passport To Profits: A Guide To Global Investing
by Mark Mobius (with Stephen Fenichell)
Orion Business books
Wellington House 125 Strand, London WC2R OBB
Tel: +44 20 7420 5555. Fax: +44 20 7836 3422
Pp422; £20.00 (in UK only)
ISBN 0-75281-016-2
Launched in London in the autumn with a personal appearance by investment guru Mark Mobius, Passport To Profits is an excellent read. Informative and entertaining both, it just about lives about to the writer's billing by the book's publicists as the Indiana Jones of the investment world.
Mobius, oft described as one of the most successful corporate investors, shares at least some of the secrets of his success in international investing in this unique insight into emerging markets. (Mobius has managed the high performance Templeton Emerging Markets Growth Fund since 1987; his returns have averaged 20% annually).
"This isn't a text book", says Mobius. "I hope it is an interesting guide to global investing which should not only give people an insight into what is going on but give them some serious tips and advice on investing in the global marketplace, especially in emerging markets."
Mobius says that the recent creation of stock market infrastructures in emerging economies in particular, has opened up possibilities for returns far in excess of domestic returns. Even casual investors are becoming educated about the wisdom of holding international funds and stocks as a hedge against local stock market reversals. The rules for investing abroad are inevitably different from those that apply domestically.
Mobius believes that Passport to Profits could be the rule book for both private and professional investors seeking profits from overseas investments. It shows the average person how best to view investment abroad; how to devise a global investment strategy; and the pros and cons of buying individual stocks or mutual funds.
Complementing the common sense advice and guidance is a wide range of amusing and always relevant anecdotes and stories of Mobius's adventures in far-flung places.
Mobius warns of course that investments can go down as well as up, but he describes why at certain times it is worth taking the risk, the rewards that can result, the deals that have worked and those that have not.
Who would argue with a man who looks 63 years young, routinely travels from place to place in a $20 million Gulfstream private jet with a team that is constantly looking for new opportunities and works for fun?
This reader is no investment expert, but the book is worth reading for the Mobius Rules alone.
