A Book That Everyone Should Read, 20 Sep 2007
In years gone by many people worked for the same firm for most of their lives, and the firm automatically provided them with a good pension when they retired. Times are changing and now everyone, even the relatively young, needs a basic knowledge of pensions so that they can plan for their own retirement.
This excellent book is a very readable introduction to pensions. You can read it from cover to cover, as I did, or just select topics you are particularly interested in. You don't need any prior knowledge.

A Book That Everyone Should Read, 20 Sep 2007
In years gone by many people worked for the same firm for most of their lives, and the firm automatically provided them with a good pension when they retired. Times are changing and now everyone, even the relatively young, needs a basic knowledge of pensions so that they can plan for their own retirement.
This excellent book is a very readable introduction to pensions. You can read it from cover to cover, as I did, or just select topics you are particularly interested in. You don't need any prior knowledge.


The tools available to you, not "how to get rich quick", 24 Apr 2008
I read this book several years ago when I was fairly new to trading and investment. What I liked about it back then is that it's not the kind of book that tells you how to get rich quick. Rather, it tells you about the range of tools that are available to you as a private investor or trader:

* The different tradable instruments such as equities, options, spread bets etc.
* The stockbroker order types that help you implement your trading strategy. For example, STOP orders that sell you out automatically if an investment turns sour.

As an analogy, it tells you what the various controls and dashboard indicators in your car do. It doesn't try to make you a better driver.

Tony Loton -- author, "Financial Trading Patterns" and "DON'T LOSE MONEY! (in the Stock Markets)"


Excellent guide to investing but title is misleading, 29 Feb 2004
Firstly, the correct title of this book is "The New Investor's Toolbox: Using the right tools to fine tune your financial future" which is much clearer.

Having invested the traditional way for the past year, I had recently started to become curious about some of the jargon being banded around on various bulletin boards (i.e. short selling, CFDs, options, futures, spread betting, etc.) Like most people, I found much of the aforemetioned a little intimidating, especially given the allusions to "betting", etc.

This super little book demolishes all the myths and demonstrates that the alternatives to traditional investing are not complex or necessarily lead to potential financial suicide. The authors explain clearly and succinctly all of the above and more, identifying potential pitfalls and how to avoid them, opening up a whole new exciting world of sensible investing possibilities.

The authors provide ample information to get started but also point readers in the right direction for any additional information that they might need. All in all, an excellent buy for new and experienced investors.

A Book That Everyone Should Read, 20 Sep 2007
In years gone by many people worked for the same firm for most of their lives, and the firm automatically provided them with a good pension when they retired. Times are changing and now everyone, even the relatively young, needs a basic knowledge of pensions so that they can plan for their own retirement.
This excellent book is a very readable introduction to pensions. You can read it from cover to cover, as I did, or just select topics you are particularly interested in. You don't need any prior knowledge.


The tools available to you, not "how to get rich quick", 24 Apr 2008
I read this book several years ago when I was fairly new to trading and investment. What I liked about it back then is that it's not the kind of book that tells you how to get rich quick. Rather, it tells you about the range of tools that are available to you as a private investor or trader:

* The different tradable instruments such as equities, options, spread bets etc.
* The stockbroker order types that help you implement your trading strategy. For example, STOP orders that sell you out automatically if an investment turns sour.

As an analogy, it tells you what the various controls and dashboard indicators in your car do. It doesn't try to make you a better driver.

Tony Loton -- author, "Financial Trading Patterns" and "DON'T LOSE MONEY! (in the Stock Markets)"


Excellent guide to investing but title is misleading, 29 Feb 2004
Firstly, the correct title of this book is "The New Investor's Toolbox: Using the right tools to fine tune your financial future" which is much clearer.

Having invested the traditional way for the past year, I had recently started to become curious about some of the jargon being banded around on various bulletin boards (i.e. short selling, CFDs, options, futures, spread betting, etc.) Like most people, I found much of the aforemetioned a little intimidating, especially given the allusions to "betting", etc.

This super little book demolishes all the myths and demonstrates that the alternatives to traditional investing are not complex or necessarily lead to potential financial suicide. The authors explain clearly and succinctly all of the above and more, identifying potential pitfalls and how to avoid them, opening up a whole new exciting world of sensible investing possibilities.

The authors provide ample information to get started but also point readers in the right direction for any additional information that they might need. All in all, an excellent buy for new and experienced investors.

Disappointing ..., 27 Apr 2008
I like this book for its honesty. Pensions meetings can be dreary; trustees can't hope individually to be experts (or even very knowledgeable) on every matter of pensions practice; and paid advisers will usually hedge their bets, and often kowtow to the employer, when giving their advice. I also like the book for what it says about the changing views of actuaries (since the early 1990s) on the best sorts of assets to invest in. The author frequently uses quotes from the late, great John Shuttleworth, a mathematician so keen to become an actuary that he took many of the profession's exams while still an undergraduate at Oxford.

But what annoys me is the title: "All you need to know ...". This is plainly not the case, as the book says nothing about most of the subcommittee work that pensions trusts do. As many trustees will know, they can spend as much time on subcommittee work -- e.g. deciding on ill-health early retirement cases, awarding life assurance pay-outs, settling escalated disputes with individual members and the Ombudsman, examining governance issues, and setting up MND trustee elections -- as they do on main board work. This book has little or nothing to say about any of these issues. But then, nor do many of the NAPF's training courses.

However I'm glad this book exists and, until a better, more comprehensive one comes along, it's right that many pension funds should hand this out to all new trustees.

A Book That Everyone Should Read, 20 Sep 2007
In years gone by many people worked for the same firm for most of their lives, and the firm automatically provided them with a good pension when they retired. Times are changing and now everyone, even the relatively young, needs a basic knowledge of pensions so that they can plan for their own retirement.
This excellent book is a very readable introduction to pensions. You can read it from cover to cover, as I did, or just select topics you are particularly interested in. You don't need any prior knowledge.


The tools available to you, not "how to get rich quick", 24 Apr 2008
I read this book several years ago when I was fairly new to trading and investment. What I liked about it back then is that it's not the kind of book that tells you how to get rich quick. Rather, it tells you about the range of tools that are available to you as a private investor or trader:

* The different tradable instruments such as equities, options, spread bets etc.
* The stockbroker order types that help you implement your trading strategy. For example, STOP orders that sell you out automatically if an investment turns sour.

As an analogy, it tells you what the various controls and dashboard indicators in your car do. It doesn't try to make you a better driver.

Tony Loton -- author, "Financial Trading Patterns" and "DON'T LOSE MONEY! (in the Stock Markets)"


Excellent guide to investing but title is misleading, 29 Feb 2004
Firstly, the correct title of this book is "The New Investor's Toolbox: Using the right tools to fine tune your financial future" which is much clearer.

Having invested the traditional way for the past year, I had recently started to become curious about some of the jargon being banded around on various bulletin boards (i.e. short selling, CFDs, options, futures, spread betting, etc.) Like most people, I found much of the aforemetioned a little intimidating, especially given the allusions to "betting", etc.

This super little book demolishes all the myths and demonstrates that the alternatives to traditional investing are not complex or necessarily lead to potential financial suicide. The authors explain clearly and succinctly all of the above and more, identifying potential pitfalls and how to avoid them, opening up a whole new exciting world of sensible investing possibilities.

The authors provide ample information to get started but also point readers in the right direction for any additional information that they might need. All in all, an excellent buy for new and experienced investors.

Disappointing ..., 27 Apr 2008
I like this book for its honesty. Pensions meetings can be dreary; trustees can't hope individually to be experts (or even very knowledgeable) on every matter of pensions practice; and paid advisers will usually hedge their bets, and often kowtow to the employer, when giving their advice. I also like the book for what it says about the changing views of actuaries (since the early 1990s) on the best sorts of assets to invest in. The author frequently uses quotes from the late, great John Shuttleworth, a mathematician so keen to become an actuary that he took many of the profession's exams while still an undergraduate at Oxford.

But what annoys me is the title: "All you need to know ...". This is plainly not the case, as the book says nothing about most of the subcommittee work that pensions trusts do. As many trustees will know, they can spend as much time on subcommittee work -- e.g. deciding on ill-health early retirement cases, awarding life assurance pay-outs, settling escalated disputes with individual members and the Ombudsman, examining governance issues, and setting up MND trustee elections -- as they do on main board work. This book has little or nothing to say about any of these issues. But then, nor do many of the NAPF's training courses.

However I'm glad this book exists and, until a better, more comprehensive one comes along, it's right that many pension funds should hand this out to all new trustees.

Disappointing and too general, 01 Apr 2007
I bought this book as it was recommended on a reading list for the PMI exams.

The first thing to say is this book is full of advertisements for pension lawyers, administrators, actuaries etc. There are over 100 pages of ads which breaks up the flow of the book and makes you think you are getting a lot more for your money than you actually are. It possibly keeps the price of the book down but I for one could have done without them.

As a pension trustee myself, I also found the advice annoyingly general - the tone seems to be 'your advisors are there to do this for you' but regulations these days require you to be much more knowledgeable in order to ask the right questions of your advisors. An example would be the actuarial review process, where the advice is 'to ask the actuary what assumptions they are using' whereas in reality you would need to spend time discussing and agreeing assumptions with the actuary.

Overall, a purchase I regret. I've barely used it since buying it and will probably give it away.