Product Description

Smarter Investing cuts through the noise of conflicting investment advice to show you how to translate your investment goals into a personal portfolio that plays the probabilities in your favour with every investment decision you make.  It’s easier than you think to help yourself to higher returns.

 

“What should I do with my money?” It’s a simple question, you’d think, but one that has generated a bewildering array of complex and costly answers. Answers which take the average investor ever more time and effort to understand and apply, and which deliver distinctly average results.

Most investors spend a lot of time trying, and failing, to beat the average. Many more pay other people – the professionals – to try, and fail, to beat the market for them. There is a smarter way, and it’s a simpler way.  Instead of working hard, or paying more, to achieve average results, why not make your money work harder on your behalf?  

Smarter Investing will introduce you to a simple and powerful approach to investing, helping you to build an investment portfolio that suits your needs and quietly gets on with the job of generating higher returns and greater wealth.  At its heart is a set of rules that cut through the noise of the investment world and put you back in control. It’s all about focusing on a few key things and making decisions that improve your chances.

Mixing clear principles, simple techniques and a wealth of uncommon sense, Smarter Investing  will show you how to translate your personal investment goals into an investment portfolio and play the probabilities in your favour with every investment decision you make.

Smarter investors know that, sometimes, less really does mean more.

 

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #209223 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 371 pages

Review

As featured in The Sunday Times: 'How to keep your head - and stay ahead. Most investors act irrationally and erratically. Are you among them? Ask yourself these searching questions from investment guru Tim Hale's new book. and find out.'

'... an informative new book on investment planning.' Financial Times

"Tim Hale has written a book of investment wisdom and common sense for the ages.  Investors who follow his simple advice will be richly rewarded" John C. Bogle, Founder, Vanguard.

"gives readers a solid grounding in investment markets, a structured approach to portfolio building and useful practical advice...a thought-provoking text that both inexperienced and informed investors could find useful." James Teasdale, Fund Strategy magazine

"Delightfully clear thinking and direct advice on how investors can get better results with simpler decisions." Charles D. Ellis, Author of "Winning the Loser's Game" and Founder of Greenwich Associates.

Amazon reviews

Brilliant, 12 Jan 2007

Reviewer: Voracious reader (Hong Kong, Asia) - See all my reviews

I am a senior executive who has worked in the investment industry for over 25 years and have read thousands of personal investment books in that time. I have three degrees including degrees in finance and economics and an MBA.

 

I speak regularly on retirement saving strategies and am frequently asked to recommend books for investors, and this is my choice. Although it quotes UK examples, its advice is relevant for any investor.

 

This book clearly summarises a huge amount of financial expertise from the most trusted academic sources in terms which can be understood by the layman. It does not 'talk down' to the reader but offers an excellent and comprehensive overview of personal investment strategy. This book offers you the best advice for building your wealth, period. It includes sound advice on how to build and execute your plan.

 

It is well illustrated and comes with good summaries. The bibliography is excellent.

 

I took the time to search on the internet for Mr. Hales address and personally congratulate him on this book - I have never done that before - the book is that good. Please read it, we need more people like Mr Hale to share their knowledge with the public.

 If you only read one book on investing make it this one, 13 Jan 2007

Reviewer: Peter Shield "editor-naturalchoices.co.uk" - See all my reviews

     "Smarter Investing- simple decisions for better results " by Tim Hale is the clearest, best written introduction to intelligent investing published in 2006. Hale reiterates the simple truth that the individual investor cannot beat the market over the medium term, nor should they try….…What makes Hale's book so persuasive is the fact that the author spent so much of his professional life working in active fund management companies, sort of poacher turned gamekeeper. The book is well written, draws the reader step by step into quite complex arguments without resorting to jargon and technique short cuts. At the end of book both the novice and the hardened investment specialist will come away better informed and armed with the tools necessary to make your money work harder for your future.

 If you only ever read one book on investing this should be the one.

 

James Teasdale, Fund Strategy Magazine, September 2006
...a thought-provoking text that both inexperienced and informed investors could find useful.

John C. Bogle, Founder, Vanguard.
... a book of investment wisdom and common sense ... Investors who
follow [Hale's] simple advice will be richly rewarded.

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Customer Reviews

Superb advice on how to preserve your wealth with less risk and less cost.
I'm a fee based financial planner and I can tell you that Tim Hale's unique book is full of wisdom.

I like the way that he comprehensively exposes the "Dark Secret" which most stock brokers and fund managers hope you'll never discover. I regularly see new clients whose investment portfolios and retirement accounts have been drained of hundreds of thousands of pounds without adding any long term value.

The "Dark Secret" is that managers don't beat markets. Markets outperform most managers by substantial margins over long periods of time.

Buy this book and you'll see how you can capture those returns and avoid making another common error which I call "The Big Mistake".

PS All our clients now get a copy of this book to help them to understand what it is that we actually do for them.

Trustworthy advice will be welcomed by UK investors
A timely and very useful overview of practical recommendations, backed up by clear explanations and references to original research, on a wide range of personal investment and financial planning topics. The book should prove particularly valuable to UK investors who have only recently gained access to the competitively priced index and exchange traded funds which can form the basis of any investment portfolio. The book draws heavily on the writings of several US authors, notably Bernstein, Bogle, Ellis, and Swensen who have brought an understanding of the benefits of careful asset allocation, passive investment, and relentless focus on minimising taxes and transaction costs, to countless US investors. Based on personal experience as an insider in the fund management industry, the author does not pull his punches in describing the inadequacies of most retail investment products available in the UK market. In addition, his analysis of alternative investments including hedge funds brings an open-minded but healthy scepticism to bear on some current favourites. The only minor complaint is that the book stops short of recommending specific service providers or sample portfolios, although this is perhaps understandable given the rate at which new products are appearing in the market. Overall, a welcome addition to the bookshelf of any serious investor.

Why didn't somebody write this book 10 years ago?
At last - a book that helps me to feel less like a financial novice. When somebody takes the trouble to tackle subjects that most 'experts' over complicate and explains them in clear and simple English - they earn my undying gratitude. Thank you for a great contribution to the investment arena.