John Neff is one of the more famous investors and this book is the only one authored by him. As portfolio manager for the Windsor fund, he gave superior returns over about 3 decades. Often viewed as a value investor by others, his style can also be seen as contrarian. This book explains his methodology and examples of his record in the Windsor fund. It is divided into 3 portions: his life and how he got into investing, his style, and examples over the 3 decades. Neff has a focus on low P/E but there are also other factors he looks at, explained in his book.
The book is written very coherently and smoothly. It is almost dry but not quite as his examples somehow are quite interesting. For people without time, they can skip his life story. The examples he gives are very well explained. Neff elaborates on his holdings and his buy and sell decisions along with the external macro factors to give context. He also explains why he would deviate from his principles and also dissects failures after they occur. The examples start from 1970 to about 2000, which gives readers plenty to contemplate. The book is not too numbers-heavy and is just nice.
This is one of the better books I have come across which is surprisingly easy. This is probably due to Neff's clarity of thought which hints as to why his track record is so successful. Easily a recommendation to read for investors who want to see a contrarian style in action and the thought process behind it.
Recommend: Definitely
Found in NLB: Yes
