Fortune Strategy Book

Britons have had an uncertain relationship with the stock market. Novices 20 years ago, many of us were introduced to shares by the privatisation of the utilities in the 1980s, and demutualisation of the building societies in the 1990s. Today, half the 12 million Britons who hold shares hold them in a single company, frightened of a volatile market where a profit-free dotcom newcomer can force a centuries-old blue chip company such as Whitbread out of the FTSE-100, and where economic crisis in Asia can threaten global market meltdown.But never has the potential for wealth creation through the markets been so great. We can now invest in world-wide markets and investment vehicles previously only open to City professionals. And the growth of Internet trading means information has never been so accessible, nor dealing prices so low for independent investors. Of course, if you are going to play the markets you will need a plan, and preferably not one based on tips from that bloke down the pub. Fortune Strategy will give you the arithmetical tools to evaluate risk, plan the spread of your portfolio and target the levels of return that will see you affluently into retirement. And, short of a crystal ball, you will not find many better ways to remove the uncertainty from your financial planning.Many investment books offer excitement and hype, but no real tools to construct a portfolio. The more serious, meanwhile, can quickly blind amateurs with complex economics. Fortune Strategy achieves the impressive feat of clearly explaining essential but complicated concepts such as dividend yield, risk-adjusted returns, real value and the rest, while still managing to be an enjoyable read.This is a serious, authoritative and complete introduction to the tools of investment. It includes a fascinating history lesson on the creation of wealth, which not only charts our move from an agrarian, through an industrial, to an information economy, but also offers some salutary reminders to those who would buy any share as long as it ends with .com. The essential handbook for anyone taking responsibility for their own portfolio. --John Rennie Read More