Product Description

At last a book that champions the small investor, the growing bank of potential shareholders who have cash to spare but fear entering the jungle that is the City of London. Shares Made Simple, written by highly respected financial journalist Rodney Hobson, tears away the mystique and jargon that surrounds the stock market. It takes you step by step through the most basic concepts of stock market investing, carefully explaining issues such as: - What shares are and how they are bought and sold - Why share prices go up and down - Why some companies' shares look cheap while others appear to be expensive - The hidden traps for the unwary This book sets out to create a level playing field between the stock market professionals and the small investor. As rising living standards and inherited cash provide assets for investment, no-one needs to suffer pitiful bank interest rates when there is real money to be made in sharing the nation's wealth.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9915 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 211 pages

Review
There are lots of beginner guides to the stock market. Whilst they are all different, they are also very similar. This one goes through the main issues from what shares are, how the stock exchange works, how to invest and detail of how takeovers work. One of the more useful sections is on how to analyse the results. I think this is a good introduction to the subject for the absolute beginner but in its later chapters it also provides some useful tips for those who know a bit about the markets and want to know more or use it as a reference tool. --Adam Shaw, BBC Working Lunch

From the Author
My shares have dropped to a fifth of their value, wailed a bewildered shareholder as I picked up his call to the City desk of a national newspaper.
That's right, I assured him. They have been split into five. It was all explained in the document that the company sent out. Had he not read it?
I could have guessed the answer. No, he had thrown it into the bin because he did not understand it. He did the same with all the documents he received.
A friend with shares in Abbey National received Banco Santander shares in their place when Santander took over Abbey. She told me that she was going to sell her Santander shares because `I do not want a Spanish bank earning interest on my money'.
Wrong. She was astonished when I explained that she was the one gaining financially, not the bank. And if she felt so strongly about it, why had she ended up with Santander shares when she could so easily have avoided this situation?
Millions of new, unsophisticated investors have been lured into joining the great share owning democracy, first by the privatisation issues and then by the conversion of building societies into banks. They hope for their share of the elusive gold that paves the City of London, the nation's financial heart.
Yet they have only the vaguest notion of what shares are, what they are for or what to do with them.
This long overdue book sets out to put that right. It explains:
* What the stock market is and how it works.
* Why share prices go up and down.
* Why some companies look cheap while others appear to be expensive.
* How to make money and avoid heavy losses.
* The traps that snare the unwary.
By reading this book, you will find that the finance pages of your daily newspaper become a mine of information instead of a daunting mist of incomprehensible murkiness.
You can, if you wish, turn straight to section D and take a direct leap into the exciting and lucrative world of stock market investing. Or you can use the index to treat this book as a reference work.
However, I would urge all new investors and those with little experience to be patient. Learn to walk before you can run. Start at the beginning and be led logically, step by step, through an easy-to-follow guide to those gold-paved streets. All the baffling issues are dealt with clearly and simply.
I cannot pick your shares for you but I can tell you what to look for and how to look for it. Above all, I will endeavour to provide a level playing field in a world still dominated by professional players as you seek your share of the nation's wealth.

About the Author
Rodney Hobson is an experienced financial journalist who has held senior editorial positions with publications in the UK and Asia and is currently Editor of Ipreo, an international financial services group. Among posts he has held are News Editor for the Business section of The Times, Business Editor of the Singapore Monitor, Deputy Business Editor of the Far Eastern Economic Review, Head of News at Citywire and Editor of Shares magazine. He has also contributed to the Daily Mail, the Independent and Business Franchise Magazine. He is registered as a Representative with the Financial Services Authority. Rodney is married with one daughter.