Investment primers

 Investment Made Easy

[Note: this book is currently unavailable, but a new edition is under consideration]

Investment Made Easy is in two parts. The first is for Safety-First investors who prefer to delegate the management of their portfolios to professional managers or to invest in unit or investment trusts. However, even Safety-First investors have a number of decisions to make. The second part is for active investors who like to manage their own funds. It is aimed at people who have already made preparations for their basic financial health and now want to make the rest of their money work extra hard by accepting the risks and seeking the rewards of investing directly in shares. They will be prepared to spend a few hours a week considering their investments and, with or without professional advice, prefer to make their own decisions. I hope to help them to acquire a much improved understanding of the financial news and to learn how to minimise their downside-risk and maximise their upside-potential.

Published by Orion Publishing Co
published in 1995

 How to Become a Millionaire

I wrote this book for people who have little or no experience of investing but who have the determination to build real wealth for themselves over the long term. The principle underlying the book is the eighth wonder of the world - the Power of Compounding. I show how, if you start early enough, you can create a significant tax-free sum out of small regular investments in shares, coupled with the purchase of your own house or flat. If you follow the ideas outlined in this book and you are patient, millionaire status is a realistic and attainable goal.

Published by Texere
New edition edition, published in 2002

 First Steps in Shares

Investing is not all that complicated. Common sense and patience will get you a long way. But even if you have got common sense and patience in spades, you need to understand the basic principles of share valuation and portfolio management. Peter Temple's book covers much of the essential ground: how share markets work, the relationship between stock and bond markets, simple ways to analyse company accounts and share price movements, the mechanics of share dealing and choice of a broker, the concept of risk and how you can structure a portfolio to your needs, and the relative merits of individual shares versus various types of fund. A 'does-what-it-says-on-the-tin' kind of book.

Published by FT Prentice Hall
1st edition, published in 2001

 How to Read the Financial Pages

A brand new edition of a book that belongs on every investor's shelf. Its scope is very wide: definitions, explanations and examples of every facet of the financial markets, with clear-eyed commentary on the techniques and strategies people use to try to make money in them. Far more in fact than you'd ever guess from the book's title. This book does not recommend how you should invest, but it is full of lots of useful tips and will serve as an excellent on-going source of reference.

Published by Random House
5th edition, published in 2003