Strategies? Yes, please.

Last week, Mohamed El-Erian was given the 2008 Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award for When Markets Collide: Investment Strategies for the Age of Global Economic Change. The subtitle certainly has its appeal, both for those who have fled the market and the masses who are dangling off the cliff face, clutching an exposed 401(k) root and hoping stock prices will eventually rise up again from the ravine (if this were a roll call, I would now say, ?Here.?). We?d all like to have a look at some investment strategies. And speaking only for myself, I?ll give floor time to gambits, tactics, trick plays, convoluted schemes and spooky financial voodoo, as long as they?re compellingly presented.

It follows, then, that El-Erian made No. 1 on The New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. He argues in the book that the infrastructure of our financial system is outdated. The global economy was once driven by a handful of obvious superpowers and otherwise populated by a field of debtor nations whose behavior could be either predicted or heavily influenced. In recent years, however, the differences between the superpowers and the debtors have been, if not evened out, winnowed down - and the new risks and opportunities have not always been properly recognized.

El-Erian?s credentials are indisputable. He is co-CEO and co-CIO of PIMCO, a giant investment management company responsible for the world?s largest bond fund. Prior that that, he was the CEO of Harvard Management Company, handling the school?s multi-billion-dollar endowment. He is also a 15-year veteran with the International Money Fund. Seems he might have an idea or two on how to construct and protect your portfolio.

Oh, and it caught my eye that the award included a cash prize of £30,000. I?d love to know where he put that, even if it?s just stuffed in his mattress. Like I said, all strategies are welcome.

--Posted by Brandon Wilkerson