Walden Forum Speaker to Address the Future of the Economy, Wall Street

The below is a press release submitted to Wayland Patch.

Join us for a discussion with Jim O’Shaughnessy – founder, chairman and CEO of O’Shaughnessy Investment Management – who has more $5 billion in his care. O’Shaughnessy will speak at the Walden Forum on Thursday, Nov. 15 at 7:30 p.m. The Walden Forum is held at the First Parish Meeting House, at the intersection of Routes 20 and 27.

O’Shaughnessy is the author of the national bestseller What Works on Wall Street as well as three other books on investing. Long recognized as one of America’s leading financial experts and a pioneer in quantitative equity analysis, he has been called a “world beater” and a “statistical guru” by Barron’s. In February 2009, Forbes.com included O’Shaughnessy in a series on “Legendary Investors” along with Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffet, and Peter Lynch.

In our discussion with O’Shaughnessy, he will discuss why the March 2009 lows for equity markets represented a generational buying opportunity and why he believes that stocks will provide the best returns for investors over the next ten years. He will specifically focus on the tools investors need to make good stock investment decisions, both on knowing which stocks to buy but equally important, which stocks to avoid. He will explain why most investors fail providing evidence from schools of thought called behavioral finance and neurofinance. He will also discuss a groundbreaking research paper that indicates 50 percent of our investment decisions are driven by our genetic makeup and cannot be influenced by education. He will then provide solutions that are aimed at making anyone a better investor.

O’Shaughnessy will also discuss the current economy and the likely outcomes that will result from the U.S. presidential elections, as well as the state of the global economy. This part of the discussion will focus on what both the U.S. and European nations must do to address the ongoing financial crisis.

O’Shaughnessy is the Chairman and CEO of O’Shaughnessy Asset Management (OSAM). He is the Chief Investment Officer of the firm; formulates the investment strategies; and directs the Senior Portfolio Manager, the Director of Research, and the Portfolio Management Team. He is also responsible for the development of OSAM’s existing strategies and directs the team on idea generation and specific initiatives to improve the models and develop new factors and products. Prior to founding OSAM, he was the Director of Systematic Equity at Bear Stearns Asset Management and a Senior Managing Director of the firm. Prior to Bear Stearns, he was the CEO and Chairman of O’Shaughnessy Capital Management (Netfolio).