I purchased this book at an airport while waiting for a flight. It was prominently displayed in the business section of the bookstore (perhaps that should have been a warning). The book includes endorsements from such august figures as Alan Greenspan, Seth Klarman and Michael Spence, yet I doubt if any of them actually read the book in its entirety. Moreover, Mr. Greenspan works as a consultant for PIMCO (also the employer of the author).

The book makes some decent macro-orientied observations but none of them are really new or unique. Moreover, the writing style is ponderous and prolix. The typical, individual investor can skip the first five chapters and go directly to chapter six, where you will find a recommended portfolio. However, there is nothing especially enlightening about the portfolio he recommends. (He also fails to mention the tax issues surrounding TIPS).

I was surprised at how he rather cavalierly addressed index funds vs. actively managed funds when discussing equity allocations. I understand that he didn't want to get into the active vs. passive debate, but I was expecting more from someone with his background and expertise. For example, he suggests that retail investors use Lipper and Morningstar (bottom of page 203) to gain "insights" into this process. However, he doesn't say how using these services will lead one to pick a superior actively managed fund.

In addition, although the book was published in 2008, it would have greatly benefited the reader if it had included more discussion and insight into the events and implications surrounding Bear Stearns, Fannie and Freddie. At times (and I realize that this is not directly the author's fault) the book sounded outdated. While hindsight is 20-20, both the author and the reader might have been better served if the book was released later to allow Mr. El-Erian to include more of his candor and insight on these important developments.

It's hard to imagine someone having more cred's than Mohamed El-Erian or having a better understanding of trends in the global economy, and as articulate. For those reasons alone, it's hard for investors, large or small, to justify NOT spending a little with with Mr. El-Erain. This book is a global financial compass, not a recommendation on specific companies to invest in or run from. When Markets Collide gives the reader a frank overview of the forces behind macro global financial trends (i.e, reality check), where those financial trends are almost certainly taking us in the next 5 to 10 years, and what those trends mean for investors that are in the market for the long-term.

Great perspective on the big picture of current global markets.

Insights into possible future direction of global economies.

Easy to read for someone without an economics background.

I think this is an excellent book that makes you think. Mr. El-Erian certainly has a very deep understanding of the current economic and financial environment and is able to convey much of this understanding to his readers. I enjoyed the book very much.

This book was awful. Part of the problem is that the author couldn't decide who his audience was and, as such, probably bored the pants off finance people and left regular folk scratching their heads at his absurdly opaque writing "style".

A couple quick points if you are considering buying this book:

1. It you read the newspaper most days, are reasonably intelligent and realize there is a big world with lotsa money beyond America's shores, this book will give you no new information on "when markets collide".

2. If you have some (I mean A MINIMAL AMOUNT) of investment knowledge, you will be painfully disappointed by the lame chapter on how to profit from future "collisions". Really, the author just lays out a pretty mundane asset allocation plan (which is available for free on any number of websites) and then fills a couple dozen pages with worthless blather. Seriously, that's it.

3. The writing really sucks. Others have commented on this so, rather than gives examples, I'll just reinforce what others have noted: the writing sucks. Whatever happened to editors?

4. If you really want some ideas about investing internationally, try The World is Your Oyster by Jeff Opdyke (2008). Heaven forbid, he writes in plain ole' English and gives a lot of worthwhile advice. If you really want to understand where the world is headed, read Billions of Entrepreneurs, How China and India are Reshaping Their Futures and Yours, by Tarun Khanna (2008).

5. If you really want some ideas about investing in general Peter Lynch's classics are still every bit as instructive (and humorous...and nicely written) and the biography of Warren Buffett, "Buffett", is incredibly instructive. Jeremy Siegel's "Stocks for the Long Run" is also pretty handy, although el-Erian makes some snide comments about it...but never quite gets around to justifying them...hmmm...some petty Harvard - Wharton rivalry?

6. el-Erian's shout-outs to colleagues here and there get more tedious as the book goes on, particularly as he never seems to articulate how the work of these experts is relevant to creating an investment portfolio. Gee, thanks.

7. Let me say it one more time: When Markets Collide is a worthless read.

This book got my attention after I saw Alan Greenspan had commented on it on the back cover. Surprised at first as he rarely recommends books publicly, I decided to check into it. Sadly, the book was terrible. It is very convoluted and difficult to understand and didn't not present any non-elementary insight. Mohamed's book reminds me of a prof I had in college who would love to use big words but say absolutely nothing. Nothing is new here.

Basically Mohamed El-Erian is a Oxford graduate turned PhD who late in his career entered the Investment Management game(he freely admits that). He managed the Harvard University's endowment fund and then recently quit and moved to the bonds management company PIMCO as a Co-CEO (seriously, who still thinks Co-CEO is a good idea). I suspect all of those people on the Back Cover who reviewed his book are his buddies from Harvard or PIMCO and probably everywhere else he works, knows, or pays. Even Alan Greenspan who now consults for PIMCO. I am willing to wager Mr Greenspan never even read his book but got paid a lot of money for "consulting" with PIMCO and now recommends the book of they guy who is paying his salary. Boy, Alan was a good economist. His book was excellent...

This book should really be titled "When I wrote a book to impress my Harvard colleagues: Nothing new but noone will know because noone can understand it, sucka"

This booke seemed to be a mosthy a discussion of emerging China and its interaction with the ecomonies in the developed countries. I believe that the book has increased my understanding on this subject a lot.

I do not believe that this book is worth buying or reading
because of three factors:

1. It contains minimal advice for investors wishing to
change their investment strategies.

2. It is written for an audience for professional economists
with advanced degrees.

3. The editing of the text is very poor. Each chapter contained
multiple references to something "that I will deal with in
the next chapter" or "that I covered in previous chapter."
A few of these references is understandable, but the text
is so poorly written and edited that these references quickly
became a distraction and a nuisance.

I would strongly advise prospective readers to avoid this book.

Mr. El-Erian's book reflects his high-level knowledge and understanding of economic issues. It is perhaps suitable for people at his level, policy makers etc. However for individual investors it is not worth the money, nor the time reading it. His writing style is exasperating as it sounds much like some Harvard publications. His long, complex sentences are time-consuming to understand. He loves to use all the most recent jargon to impress his readers. His ultimate recommendation for investing for the future is banal, buy a bit of everything! After finally finishing the reading of this book (it was painfully boring) I was left with the feeling that I didn't learn anything worthwile for my purposes.

El-Erian's strength is in identifying and explaining the "major fundamental transformation" that is going on. After discussing the transformation and emphasizing the investment needs for internationalization, foreign currencies, and inflation hedges, he discusses asset allocatrion. His asset allocation table and discussion are fine, except for one glaring ommission. He never mentions managed futures.

In an investment environment that appears to be negative for both debt instruments and equities, managed futures could be the most appropriate investment.

George Soros is a very interesting thinker.
It is true (as he more or less admits in his book)
that his philosophical ideas are somewhat "inexact"
by the analytic standards of that profession,
but the insights are real. He gives market equilibrium
theorists a run for their money.

The style is very similar to El Erian's monthly articles, but there is nothing really new or original. If you are familiar with Bretton Woods II, have some training in economics and/or have worked in structured finance you will find this book slow at times, but if you are new to the structured finance world or you are trying to find out what went wrong with financial system this should be an excellent overview.

I used some new software to have this book read to me via TAL, while I lifted weights in my basement. All this technology is disscused in Don't Like to Read, Then Don't, Listen!: How to Turn Any Type of Text Into Audio Files That Can Be Read to You!.
Little to no emphasis is place on the role of the fiat money system, changes in money supply on inflation and investments. Look at the DOW in Gold, this does my talking for me. This author thinks he is an elitetist. He must really think his audience is foolish. If you are holding US dollars or equities, you have been getting destroyed. It is not a random walk, look at the charts is there a trend?

A very interesting read with great references that send you off to other geat reads.

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R2EOOI374G4HBV

This book was very disappointing. It is one thing to explain current events with an insiders perspective, but quite another to interpret that information into specific investment direction, conclusions, and advice. It is interesting to know how the Harvard endowment operates, but that does not help me as an individual investor on any level and is not worth the price of a book.
D. Miller

There is no better authority on the modern world of investing than Mohamed El-Erian. El-Erian shares his learned perspective drawn from a career at premier firms including the Harvard Management Company and PIMCO. If you read one book this year on investing, read this one.

This book presents some interesting ideas regarding the changing global marketplace. The author emphasizes the importance of emerging markets, currency alterations and commodities. However, it is a slog to get through. It seems written for someone with a finance degree. There is very little here for your average investor.

When Markets Collide reads much like a newspaper. Interesting, but nothing you would read a second time. I generally agree with Mohamed El-Erian's thinking, but there was not a book's worth of ideas here.

El Erian pulls together information from several other sources, such as The World Is Flat, and gives suggestions as to how both individual and institutional investors need to react to our rapidly changing world.
Written in a relatively easy to read style.

I would highly recommend this book as a single source for a variety of key trends that, until El-Erian, no author seemed to be able to put together. However, the broad forecasts of this book should be combined with practical measurement and forecasting methods such as those described in How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of "Intangibles" in Business by Douglas Hubbard.

El-Erian takes a Modern Portfolio Theory approach to virtually any investment portfolio and he gives specific proposals for how to balance your investments given the inevitable trends he sees. Hubbard's quantitative methods applied to El-Erian's vision of the future should make a powerful forecasting tool.

When Markets Collide is more focused and clear than books like Megatrends 2010: The Rise of Conscious Capitalism, provides more practical instructions for the investor, and seems to lack some of the more embarrasing technical errors. I also like that the dynamics El-Erian sees are more persistent and will not be as quickly dated as many of the books that depend entirely on predictions for the next few years.

If you find the present global economic situation to be confusing and filled with conflicting signals and noise, this excellent book by Mohamed El-Erian, the CEO of PIMCO and the former President of the Harvard Management Company where he managed Harvard's $35 billion endowment, should be on your reading list.

El-Erian brings a unique perspective to the task of separating the signal from the noise in today's volatile global markets. Having spent 15 years at the International Monetary Fund and the rest of his career in the trenches in emerging market research and investment at leading investment banks, he has a deep understanding of both the public policy side and the realities of global investing.

His premise could not be more timely: Global markets are undergoing profound changes and the present turmoil is neither the beginning nor the end of the transformation that is shaking up investors around the world. This bumpy process is nothing less than the collision of markets in which the markets of yesterday collide with those of tomorrow

The book offers analytical anchors for identifying the key elements of what, for some, have become key drivers in an unusually fluid environment. In addition to offering targeted, well written, explanations of some of the key sources of confusion and dislocation (U.S. national debt, new sovereign wealth funds and emerging, developing countries now funding the debt of the developed nations), El-Erian also provides some invaluable advice for personal investors.

Given his contention that most U.S. investors have not fully grasped the impact of the changes going on in global markets and the impact of higher commodity prices and shift to accelerating inflationary trends around the world, he provides a new sample asset allocation model for correcting some of the imbalances in most U.S. investors' portfolios.

His asset allocation table on pg. 198 provides an illustrative neutral asset mix for long term investors that is well worth the cover price of this book and was featured recently in an excellent article and interview in Barron's in the June 2, 2008 issue.

His writing style is fluid and command of the material impressive. Like most great authors and thinkers, he will have you challenging your present views and investment positions. This book is an outstanding companion to Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment by David Swensen on the personal investment front and The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World by Alan Greenspan on the public policy front.

In addition to raising the big issues, El-Erian provides a clear action plan for both investors and policy makers, a truly outstanding achievement in a field where leaders are too often focused on selling investment products rather than educating the investment public on the changes in global economic conditions.