harvard endowment

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote: "Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me." He was right: The rich get better returns on investment. The Harvard endowment rose 21.4% to $32 billion in the university's fiscal year, which ended on June 30.

Yale University's endowment is the second largest in the United States and it took a major hit in the last year. The interesting thing is that for years, Yale's chief investment officer, David Swensen, was widely respected as an investment guru. Unfortunately, the trendy touchstones of his...