Tim Hale - Smarter Investing

Totton

Excellent book by Tim Hale but expect to get bogged down in places, I had to read it twice to be confident I understood parts. The suggested portfolios are very good although he could have nailed himself to the mast with a little more conviction with his list of chosen investment vehicles.

For me the most important part of the book was understanding the effect of fund charges on the long term growth of a portfolio. Nowadays my fund managers need to cut the mustard or they are history, I can't afford failures on my team for too long :-)

Seriously though, this is a good book that should prove useful to the majority of investors.

ruperts

The book is quite strong in advising you not to trust anyone who is offering you financial advice as they all have an ulterior motive. He then goes on to offer lots of financial advice. Hmm. At times it does read like a sales pitch for Vanguard, but I reckon it's probably still reasonable advice and a worthy addition to your personal finance library.

sabretoothtigger

(after making a big loss on the only share I've ever bought).

What share was that? Only need to buy a small amount to be involved, the problem is people dont take it serious on small amounts. Percentage wise its all the same

Better to buy unit trusts and study the portfolio as part of deciding. You arent at the reins exactly but are involved

I was looking at Rio earlier, its part of the asia pacific sector. Really just that one thing cant tell me if the fund is good but its at least part or a litmus test of possible value contained there
I quite liked Rio possibility to rise but thats only the graph 'looks', a tiny fragment of feasibility.
Private investors are always going to be suckers compared to people paid 40 hours a week to decide, you can improve the odds I reckon

gadgetmind

ruperts wrote: »

The book is quite strong in advising you not to trust anyone who is offering you financial advice as they all have an ulterior motive

Does it really? My recollection is of a section that suggestions questions you need to ask yourself to see whether to DIY or pay for advice.

Perhaps you'd care to reference/quote the parts that give strong advice not to trust said advice?

innovate

Tim Hale does the theory, monevator.com injects a huge dose of practical realism. The book is a nice read but it lacks the practical side of things - not least since the latest edition is now over 4 years old.

IronWolf

You could try reading some blogs, they sometimes have detailed analysis of companies you can follow through. And theyre free

Try

https://www.seekingalpha.com
https://www.whopperinvestments.com
https://www.investingsidekick.com

Linton

Blackdog wrote: »

I also recommend you read Smarter Investing before you make any investment decisions, it is a real eye opener about charges.

It very much in my view over-emphasises charges and fails to discuss adequately the importance of the various different sectors in which one can invest despite this being a far more significant factor in long term returns. It leads newbie investors to believe that putting all their money into a FTSE tracker is a good idea.

sibot74

If anyone reads the book and takes away the message that going 100% into a FTSE tracker is a good idea then they haven't actually read the book at all.

Indeed, he quite clearly states as the first conclusion that 'Getting the mix of investment building blocks right is the most critical factor'. There is a 26 page chapter on portfolio construction, and a 30 page chapter on key asset classes, compared to 9 pages on costs. Maybe that is still an overemphasis on cost, but when I read it myself I took the message that you had to remember to consider the cost of a particular asset in your portfolio, and that not all costs were immediately obvious - not that a low cost tracker was necessarily better just by virtue of the low cost.

gadgetmind

Linton wrote: »

It leads newbie investors to believe that putting all their money into a FTSE tracker is a good idea.

It says nothing of the sort. Either you haven't read it, or you read it and completely failed to understand it.

Glen_Clark

This is obviously a very highly rated book. (one might expect fee charging advisors to rubbish a book that draws attention to their track record and fees )
I haven't read it.. But I wonder how relevant a four year old book can be to the current situation where convential economics has been turned upside down by astronomical money printing. Without that, share prices would have fallen and we would have had deflation. Cash may have been the best place to be?