DENVER, Colo. (PRWEB) April 17, 2014

The investment industry is on the cusp of a major shift, from Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) to Behavioral Finance, with Behavioral Portfolio Management (BPM) as the next step in this transition. A newly released book published by Harriman House Ltd and authored by C. Thomas Howard Ph.D. of AthenaInvest explains how investment professionals can harness price distortions driven by emotional crowds to create superior portfolios.

Mastering your emotions is critical to the process and insights provided by Dr. Howard and his new book, Behavioral Portfolio Management, will put you on the path to achieving this goal. Professor Howard notes: The primary conclusion of forty years of Behavioral Science research is that there are few signs of rational investment decisions among typical investors. Investors thus sabotage their own efforts in building long-horizon wealth. As a result, emotional investors leave hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars on the table during their investment lifetimes. A major goal of the book is to help investors avoid these cognitive errors and, in turn, allow investment professionals to build superior portfolios.

Howard also explores how industry practices and tools such as style grids, standard deviation, correlation, maximum drawdown and tracking error, have entrenched emotional biases into the investing landscape. The result is a plethora of underperforming, bubble-wrapped portfolios. So even if investors can master their emotions, investors and investment professionals still must challenge the emotionally-based conventional wisdom pervasive throughout the industry.

Once the transition to Behavioral Finance is made, traditional measures of MPT will fade away and be replaced with behavioral concepts that allow investors to successfully build long-term wealth. Dr. Howard provides practical guidance on ways to make this transition. Athenas Pure Valuation|Profitability portfolio is real world proof of these principles. The portfolio has been in existence for over a decade and has been widely recognized by PSN, Morningstar and Barrons as a top performing U.S. active equity portfolio.

For more information, visit http://www.AthenaInvest.com, http://www.harriman-house.com or http://www.Amazon.com. Early reviews by industry experts highlight the value of this newly published book.

Professional money managers and investment advisors alike will find Tom Howards thought-provoking exploration of the practical implications of investing in a world where emotional crowds dominate the determination of prices to be an interesting and engaging read. -Jim Peterson, Chief Investment Officer, Charles Schwab Investment Advisory, Inc.

Tom Howard masterfully bridges the gap between the insights of behavioral finance and the demands of portfolio management, and he explains behavioral data investing in a forthright and engaging style. Advisors and investors alike stand to benefit from this book. -Philip Lawton, Ph.D., CFA, Research Affiliates, LLC

About the author: C. Thomas Howard is co-founder of AthenaInvest, a Greenwood Village-based SEC Registered Investment Advisor. He led the research project that resulted in Behavioral Portfolio Management, the methodology which underlies AthenaInvests patented investment approach. Dr. Howard currently serves as CEO, Director of Research, and Chief Investment Officer at Athena. Dr. Howard is a Professor Emeritus at the Reiman School of Finance, Daniels College of Business, University of Denver, where for over 30 years he taught courses and published articles in the areas of investment management and international finance. For many years he presented stock analysis seminars throughout the U.S. for the American Association of Individual Investors, a national investment education organization headquartered in Chicago. Dr. Howard holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Idaho, an MS in Management Science from Oregon State University, and a Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Washington.

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Book Released by Harriman House - Author C. Thomas Howard Ph.D., Behavioral Portfolio Management