Book on investments

Can anyone recommend some good books to read about investing and investment strategies?  This is so far my weak knowledge area.  Because of this I'm kind of minded to put all or most of my money into high equity tracker funds when I stop working (as a couple we have a pretty good underpin of guaranteed DB and SP income).

However I think it would still be useful for me to have more knowledge about investments generally - I know what equities, bonds etc means generally, but I see a lot of things talked about on forums like this that I am clueless about like "wealth protection fund" and "investment ladders" and so on.  This could be useful background for me once I am winding down my working.

The most obvious first one that comes up is "investing for dummies" - of course there is literally that book, but I don't know if it would be too simple for my needs.


«1

Comments

  • coastline
    coastline Posts: 1,662 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 21 January 2023 at 6:22PM
    Not a book but a decent read .

    Home (occaminvesting.co.uk)

    Again good content

    Bond ladder.

    Creating A Bond Ladder For Passive Income - YouTube

    PensionCraft - YouTube

    PensionCraft

    Wealth preservation IT's and UK inflation . Most posters will point to CGT and PNL 

    Chart Tool | Trustnet

    Capital Gearing Trust

    Home - Personal Assets Trust (patplc.co.uk)
  • Most people recommend Smarter Investing by Tim Hale. 

    A number of good YouTube channels including:
    Meaningful Money
    Damien Talks Money
    James Shack

    Also use the MSE Savings and Investments forum. Some great advice and advisors on there.
  • Audaxer
    Audaxer Posts: 3,547 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Pat38493 said:
    Can anyone recommend some good books to read about investing and investment strategies?  This is so far my weak knowledge area.  Because of this I'm kind of minded to put all or most of my money into high equity tracker funds when I stop working (as a couple we have a pretty good underpin of guaranteed DB and SP income).

    However I think it would still be useful for me to have more knowledge about investments generally - I know what equities, bonds etc means generally, but I see a lot of things talked about on forums like this that I am clueless about like "wealth protection fund" and "investment ladders" and so on.  This could be useful background for me once I am winding down my working.

    The most obvious first one that comes up is "investing for dummies" - of course there is literally that book, but I don't know if it would be too simple for my needs.


    Smarter Investing by Tim Hale is a very good starter book. However you may already have most of the level of knowledge it covers, as I can't recall that it has much on Wealth Preservation Funds or bond ladders.
  • gm0
    gm0 Posts: 1,136 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    After Tim Hale and some in introductory video content.  Here are a few more to consider.

    Rational Expectations (Bernstein) - for asset allocation discussion

    Random Walk down Wallstreet (Malkiel) - more general introduction

    Living off your money (McClung) - very drawdown deaccumulation methods focused but inevitably covers a lot of similar ground.  Very detailed and backtesting and market simulation focused.

    I think it is generally helpful to read up from a range of different perspectives around the major ideas. One of the merits of this forum is the contrasting investment philosophies and perspectives of regular posters.

    Passive investing (Bogleheads, Monevator low cost index investing picks, Lars Kroijer on youtube)

    Golden butterfly/permanent portfolio articles (nothing specific springs to mind)

    Haven't read much on wealth preservation funds other than debates here about RIT, PNL, CGT etc.

    Bond ladders of individual bonds are a bit more of a faff than routine fund and ETF investment.
    And yet for the "hold to term" purpose they are proposed there is no easy fund based alternative that actually behaves the same.
    It is (somewhat) a minority interest for DIY drawdown coverage so resources about it do seem to be quite limited.
    For bonds more generally there is a fair amount of content around on interest rate sensitivity and yield to maturity and how bonds are described. 
  • JohnWinder
    JohnWinder Posts: 1,862 Forumite
    Fifth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper

    I put up a list of books, most of which have also turned up as free online versions, all decent which you can scan, browse or read for free as needed. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79637394#Comment_79637394

    However, my experience is that you won’t find much about wealth preservation funds and laddering assets in any book; but you’re probably clued up enough to evaluate and manage those things yourself.

    Marven Appel wrote a chapter for a book, on bond laddering which is not rocket science if know your way around a spreadsheet. Images of his spreadsheets you can see online. The bogleheads wiki has bond laddering.

  • Meaningful Money - podcasts and you tube videos. I really recommend 
  • Malthusian
    Malthusian Posts: 11,055 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Pat38493 said:
    However I think it would still be useful for me to have more knowledge about investments generally - I know what equities, bonds etc means generally, but I see a lot of things talked about on forums like this that I am clueless about like "wealth protection fund" and "investment ladders" and so on.  This could be useful background for me once I am winding down my working.
    "Wealth protection fund" is a marketing label for certain actively managed multi-asset funds. Buying a book just to find out what it means would be a waste of time and money. By the time you finished reading it, the active fund management industry will have invented another meaningless label.
    The quickest and best way to find out what it means is probably to ask the MSE forum. I won't say "just Google it" because for a question like "what is a wealth preservation fund", Google is likely to return a load of marketing guff that will leave you with more questions than answers, much of it irrelevant (and often US-based).
  • ader42
    ader42 Posts: 327 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    I’ve read many. Top of the list for me in terms of sensible advice for most people is Money : Master the game by Tony Robbins
  • Loads of good content on blogs particularly Monevator.

    Books wise there's already been plenty of good ones mentioned above. I'd add to those:

    Lars Kroijer - Investing Demystified

    Morgan Housel - The psychology of money (not strictly an investing book)
  • amcc1
    amcc1 Posts: 13 Forumite
    10 Posts First Anniversary Name Dropper
    I second @NightOwl’s recommendation for the Meaningful Money podcasts, audio book and website. Great practical advice on lifetime finances. There’s a large back catalogue of seasons, some more focused and some more chatty, Two IFAs (Pete and Roger), generously giving insights and encouraging us to take control ourselves where possible.
    Very much of the passive persuasion.

    This week’s FT ‘money clinic’ podcast by Claer Barrett with Jonathan Hollow and Robin Powell (new book) is well worth a listen too.

    I also quite liked the audiobook version of the Morgan Housel book - mentioned above by Anon.

    Another interesting website not much mentioned here is occaminvesting.co.uk - some very deep dive stuff but also covers the basics. Again, mostly passive in general and vanguard in particular.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 349.9K Banking & Borrowing
  • 252.6K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 453K Spending & Discounts
  • 242.8K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 619.6K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 176.4K Life & Family
  • 255.7K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.