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Smarter Investing: Simpler Decisions for Better Results
Simple yet effective advice for anyone who wants their money to work harder than they do.
Most investment books offer a bewildering array of complex strategies for how best to invest your money. But often the chances of success are remote and the rules are impossible to follow in practice.
Smarter Investing introduces you to a simple and powerful set of rules for successful investing, helping you to build an investment portfolio that suits your needs, stays the course when markets get rough and quietly gets on with the job of generating better results.
In this updated and revised edition, Tim Hale gives you all the advice you’ll need and demonstrates that the key to successful investing is to do a few straightforward things exceptionally well. Smarter Investing will help you:
Establish what you want your money to do for you Work out how much money you need to achieve your goals Avoid the mistakes that generations of investors have made Build a balanced portfolio that’s right for you, using a simple set of understandable and accessible building blocks Select robust and transparent investment products easily and effectively
301 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
177 people are currently reading
1245 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
January 25, 2019
I was looking for something new to read about personal investing and came to this book because of good reviews on Amazon and in the press. Essentially, the author lays out a methodology which encourages the reader to *really* think about a number of factors before they invest. For example: What are they investing for ? Time-frame ? Returns required or planned for ? Risk tolerance ? etc. Asset allocation is really focussed upon and the importance of minimising costs (or 'losing-the-fewest points') is continually hammered home. The aim is to help the investor develop an investment framework they have confidence in and then stick to it and be consistent, even when the portfolio is not doing well. This may not seem particularly original but there is a clarity and authority about the writing which really helps make the case. The author is also consistent in always attempting to look at as much historical data as is possible (typically 100 years) which makes a change from so many books which only seem to go back as far as the 1970s or 1980s. This long-term viewpoint also has the benefit of really showing how much volatility there can be in different markets and how over- and under-performance can last for many many years. (This in itself is quite sobering.) In short, this is an excellent book and I am recommending it to friends as an essential read on personal finance.
June 5, 2017
Much like the author himself said, and his colleagues, it could have been a much shorter book. That said, his almost relentless data to back up his points was most refreshing and I'm glad I took the time to read it.
September 24, 2021
“This boundless drive for enrichment, this passionate chase after value, is common to the capitalist and the miser; but while the miser is merely a capitalist gone mad, the capitalist is a rational miser. The ceaseless augmentation of value, which the miser seeks to attain by saving his money from circulation, is achieved by the more acute capitalist by means of throwing his money again and again into circulation.”
— Marx, Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Vol 1
“The death of a social machine has never been heralded by a disharmony or a dysfunction; on the contrary, social machines make a habit of feeding on the contradictions they give rise to, on the crises they provoke, on the anxieties they engender, and on the infernal operations they regenerate. Capitalism has learned this, and has ceased doubting itself, while even socialists have abandoned belief in the possibility of capitalism's natural death by attrition. No one has ever died from contradictions. And the more it breaks down, the more it schizophrenizes, the better it works, the American way.”
— Deleuze and Guattari, Anti-Oedipus
“The obsolete psychological category of ‘greed’ privatizes and moralizes addiction, as if the profit-seeking tropism of a transnational capitalism propagating itself through epidemic consumerism were intelligible in terms of personal subjective traits. Wanting more is the index of interlock with cyberpositive machinic processes, and not the expression of private idiosyncrasy.”
— Nick Land, Fanged Noumena: Collected Writings, 1987-2007
The story goes that Thales of Miletus was accused by his detractors of ignoring worldly things because he could not get them. The lofty philospher, who treated the base, material world with disinterest, was really a creature of ressentiment—so his detractors claimed. One year, after a particularly good grape harvest, those who wanted to use the local grape presses to make wine found that they had all been hired out already, by nobody less than Thales the philosopher, who forced them to pay extortionate fees to use the presses and made a tidy profit. Point made, Thales returned to philosophy, and his critics were silenced.
The endurance of this story tells us something we should all know already: philosophers tell tall tales. In this regard, they are not so different from investors, who get by on luck and take themselves for skilled, until their luck runs out. This is not to say that gains in philosophy or in finance are not hard-won: they are. But nothing in this world is deserved, and recognising this is the first and last word on rational investing.
Tim Hale engages in the essentially Kantian project of giving limits to human epistemology. Here freedom is opposed to sentimental reaction: the achievement of ends according to the legislative faculty, whose primary object is to belittle and domesticate the animal in man. “Squeamishness does not befit a moralist. A certain harshness is necessary if one would prevent life from being delighted to death.”* Hale will remind you repeatedly that you do not know better than the market. Some will object that the market is an abstraction, as if that makes it any less real. Besides, we are not in the business of understanding the real: only in making profits.
In the spirit of such an enterprise, here are the main takeaways:
Tips for Smarter Investing:
1) "Have faith in capitalism." You might think faith has no business describing the mentality of a rational investor, but faith is a means by which the individual microcosmically tracks humanity's course "from the go-cart of instinct to the guidance of reason".* Kant declares that we ought to have faith in God, Freedom and Immortality because these ideas, despite having no metaphysical certainty, regulate our practical activities and make moral action possible. Action according to moral regulative principles is Kantian freedom, and the alternative is unhinged animality. Unregulated and unbound, the irrational investor chases market upturns and flees market downturns, buying high and selling low, enslaved to the libidinous thrill of the latest fad and broken, over and over, at the first sign of loss. As in all things, unreason manifests as the failure to hold. Short-termists by evolutionary compulsion, the human is at its most irrational when it is without faith.
2) “Diversify using funds or equivalent baskets of investments.” It is not enough to own stock in your favourite company, or even to own stock in thirty of your favourite companies. As William J. Bernstein says, the risks of stock ownership will be minimised only by owning the entire market. ("Wanting more is the index of interlock with cyberpositive machinic processes...") Betting your £1000 on one company or on one coin is the antithesis of faith in capitalism—rather an unjustifiable faith in yourself. Heresy: the market must be unleashed and allowed to administer instant punishment. Throw your money into an FTSE Global All Cap Index Fund, or move towards Global Small-Cap (of course small companies drive most of the growth in the market...). The average investor trying to beat the market loses to the market. Rational individual choice is subordinated to anonymous automatisms, as it should be. After all, humans were never all that great at being reasonable, when reason consists almost entirely in sitting back and making no sudden moves.
3) “Beat the taxman – legally of course.” Of course!
4) “Do not look at your portfolio too often.” Perhaps it is the case, as Hegel says, that "organic freedom knows how to exempt itself from the determinations of its forms, and everywhere necessarily offers exceptions to such laws or such rules, or whatever one wants to call them." But you, a pitiful thing with a brain hardwired for optimism and self-aggrandisement, likely have the average amount of savvy, the average amount of cunning, the average amount of investing nous, which is to say almost none at all. When it comes to investing, and probably everything else, your consciousness is an utterly contingent disarray, and the last thing your capital needs is your interference.
Oh, and yes, this book does get rather repetitive. The age-old Deleuzian tradition of enculage helps keep things interesting, as you may have noticed.
- - - -
NOTES:
1) Land, "Delighted to Death", Fanged Noumena: Collected Writings, 1987-2007
2) Kant, "Conjectural beginning of human history" Anthropology, History and Education
— Marx, Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Vol 1
“The death of a social machine has never been heralded by a disharmony or a dysfunction; on the contrary, social machines make a habit of feeding on the contradictions they give rise to, on the crises they provoke, on the anxieties they engender, and on the infernal operations they regenerate. Capitalism has learned this, and has ceased doubting itself, while even socialists have abandoned belief in the possibility of capitalism's natural death by attrition. No one has ever died from contradictions. And the more it breaks down, the more it schizophrenizes, the better it works, the American way.”
— Deleuze and Guattari, Anti-Oedipus
“The obsolete psychological category of ‘greed’ privatizes and moralizes addiction, as if the profit-seeking tropism of a transnational capitalism propagating itself through epidemic consumerism were intelligible in terms of personal subjective traits. Wanting more is the index of interlock with cyberpositive machinic processes, and not the expression of private idiosyncrasy.”
— Nick Land, Fanged Noumena: Collected Writings, 1987-2007
The story goes that Thales of Miletus was accused by his detractors of ignoring worldly things because he could not get them. The lofty philospher, who treated the base, material world with disinterest, was really a creature of ressentiment—so his detractors claimed. One year, after a particularly good grape harvest, those who wanted to use the local grape presses to make wine found that they had all been hired out already, by nobody less than Thales the philosopher, who forced them to pay extortionate fees to use the presses and made a tidy profit. Point made, Thales returned to philosophy, and his critics were silenced.
The endurance of this story tells us something we should all know already: philosophers tell tall tales. In this regard, they are not so different from investors, who get by on luck and take themselves for skilled, until their luck runs out. This is not to say that gains in philosophy or in finance are not hard-won: they are. But nothing in this world is deserved, and recognising this is the first and last word on rational investing.
Tim Hale engages in the essentially Kantian project of giving limits to human epistemology. Here freedom is opposed to sentimental reaction: the achievement of ends according to the legislative faculty, whose primary object is to belittle and domesticate the animal in man. “Squeamishness does not befit a moralist. A certain harshness is necessary if one would prevent life from being delighted to death.”* Hale will remind you repeatedly that you do not know better than the market. Some will object that the market is an abstraction, as if that makes it any less real. Besides, we are not in the business of understanding the real: only in making profits.
In the spirit of such an enterprise, here are the main takeaways:
Tips for Smarter Investing:
1) "Have faith in capitalism." You might think faith has no business describing the mentality of a rational investor, but faith is a means by which the individual microcosmically tracks humanity's course "from the go-cart of instinct to the guidance of reason".* Kant declares that we ought to have faith in God, Freedom and Immortality because these ideas, despite having no metaphysical certainty, regulate our practical activities and make moral action possible. Action according to moral regulative principles is Kantian freedom, and the alternative is unhinged animality. Unregulated and unbound, the irrational investor chases market upturns and flees market downturns, buying high and selling low, enslaved to the libidinous thrill of the latest fad and broken, over and over, at the first sign of loss. As in all things, unreason manifests as the failure to hold. Short-termists by evolutionary compulsion, the human is at its most irrational when it is without faith.
2) “Diversify using funds or equivalent baskets of investments.” It is not enough to own stock in your favourite company, or even to own stock in thirty of your favourite companies. As William J. Bernstein says, the risks of stock ownership will be minimised only by owning the entire market. ("Wanting more is the index of interlock with cyberpositive machinic processes...") Betting your £1000 on one company or on one coin is the antithesis of faith in capitalism—rather an unjustifiable faith in yourself. Heresy: the market must be unleashed and allowed to administer instant punishment. Throw your money into an FTSE Global All Cap Index Fund, or move towards Global Small-Cap (of course small companies drive most of the growth in the market...). The average investor trying to beat the market loses to the market. Rational individual choice is subordinated to anonymous automatisms, as it should be. After all, humans were never all that great at being reasonable, when reason consists almost entirely in sitting back and making no sudden moves.
3) “Beat the taxman – legally of course.” Of course!
4) “Do not look at your portfolio too often.” Perhaps it is the case, as Hegel says, that "organic freedom knows how to exempt itself from the determinations of its forms, and everywhere necessarily offers exceptions to such laws or such rules, or whatever one wants to call them." But you, a pitiful thing with a brain hardwired for optimism and self-aggrandisement, likely have the average amount of savvy, the average amount of cunning, the average amount of investing nous, which is to say almost none at all. When it comes to investing, and probably everything else, your consciousness is an utterly contingent disarray, and the last thing your capital needs is your interference.
Oh, and yes, this book does get rather repetitive. The age-old Deleuzian tradition of enculage helps keep things interesting, as you may have noticed.
- - - -
NOTES:
1) Land, "Delighted to Death", Fanged Noumena: Collected Writings, 1987-2007
2) Kant, "Conjectural beginning of human history" Anthropology, History and Education
June 4, 2019
There is some usful information on here but it is overly wordy and fluffy. The first 96 pages can be basically summed up as 'favour tracker funds, keep costs down, and don't try to time the market.'
A lot of the book is repetitive and states the obvious, but multiple times in sightly different ways.
Also strange is that the appendices have arguably some more useful (practical) content than the rest of the book, with short steps and tables to help you actually implement a strategy.
If I was going to read this again, I'd skip straight to at least part 3, possibly even chapter 7 starting on page 117. As long as you are on the same page that index funds are the backbone of a 'smarter' strategy, there's really not much in the opening chapters other than trying to convince you what you probably already know. A few interesting quotes and things are dotted around the place though.
The author mentions how his friends jokingly said he should make sure it's only a pamphlet size when he said he was going to write it... To be honest I don't see why it couldn't have been, into something about 1/5 of the size and still having the same value.
A lot of the book is repetitive and states the obvious, but multiple times in sightly different ways.
Also strange is that the appendices have arguably some more useful (practical) content than the rest of the book, with short steps and tables to help you actually implement a strategy.
If I was going to read this again, I'd skip straight to at least part 3, possibly even chapter 7 starting on page 117. As long as you are on the same page that index funds are the backbone of a 'smarter' strategy, there's really not much in the opening chapters other than trying to convince you what you probably already know. A few interesting quotes and things are dotted around the place though.
The author mentions how his friends jokingly said he should make sure it's only a pamphlet size when he said he was going to write it... To be honest I don't see why it couldn't have been, into something about 1/5 of the size and still having the same value.
August 30, 2019
Eye-opening. A passive approach towards investing no matter the market. A simple read on how to invest.
February 24, 2021
A practical introduction to passive investing, albeit slightly repetitive.
June 18, 2023
This is basically all that you need to know to build a retirement savings plan. It does become a little technical in places, but only a little. And even though it's a few years old, all of it is still current, indeed much that it predicts has come to pass.....its best message is that there is probably no advantage following share tips , and stick to trackers....
May 20, 2021
This book really connected with me. It probably isn't for everyone because it definitely takes a UK perspective and it goes into a lot of detail around data. It's also not a book for total novices as many of the words and concepts are not thoroughly explained, however, it is a straightforward read if you have at least a little knowledge around the subject.
The book makes some excellent arguments for passive investing and backs these up with a lot of data. There's a great dig into the psychology behind investment and the author strongly advocates that you should develop a long-term plan with a solid process and stick to it. The book also gives a lot of information on portfolio construction with a lot of evidence and analysis to back it up.
I really loved how much thought and research went into making this book and it mirrors how I like to think about important choices like investment. I feel like I have a much deeper understanding of the subject now so for me this was a very worthwhile read.
The book makes some excellent arguments for passive investing and backs these up with a lot of data. There's a great dig into the psychology behind investment and the author strongly advocates that you should develop a long-term plan with a solid process and stick to it. The book also gives a lot of information on portfolio construction with a lot of evidence and analysis to back it up.
I really loved how much thought and research went into making this book and it mirrors how I like to think about important choices like investment. I feel like I have a much deeper understanding of the subject now so for me this was a very worthwhile read.
December 1, 2019
I’m torn between giving this book 3 and 4 stars. It certainly could have been at least 100 pages shorter as in the initial chapters it seems to just repeat itself over and over:
Passive good, active bad!
Mix equities with bonds!
Don’t get emotional!
Which is fine, but repetitive. It’s also not that accessible to learners. I found myself googling some terms, but then having very basic ideas explained to me. I feel that this would’ve benefited from being proof read by someone who has never learnt about investing before like I was at the start of this book.
However, to give it some credit, I’ve learnt quite a lot and have had some ideas reaffirmed which is reassuring. I’ll be looking to put some of this into practice soon!
Passive good, active bad!
Mix equities with bonds!
Don’t get emotional!
Which is fine, but repetitive. It’s also not that accessible to learners. I found myself googling some terms, but then having very basic ideas explained to me. I feel that this would’ve benefited from being proof read by someone who has never learnt about investing before like I was at the start of this book.
However, to give it some credit, I’ve learnt quite a lot and have had some ideas reaffirmed which is reassuring. I’ll be looking to put some of this into practice soon!
April 18, 2015
Definitely the go-to book with regards to passive investing. Hard to imagine coming to the book as completely new to passive investing but I can't imagine this would miss much from the ground up if that was the case. I don't think the book purchase is necessary however, it just solidifies things from numerous sources if you read the likes of monevator etc. This book didn't change anything for me unfortunately but I'm glad I read it to ensure I knew what I was getting into.
Bottom-line, if you're considering passive investing, read this book to ensure you're ready or if completely new to the subject, it should take you to the point where you can sensibly invest your money.
Bottom-line, if you're considering passive investing, read this book to ensure you're ready or if completely new to the subject, it should take you to the point where you can sensibly invest your money.
March 17, 2021
Read this in one day. Having read lots of similar books on the topic already, the more technical aspects of this book weren’t too taxing, and it contained lots of useful psychological insights to help with the long term aspect of investing. There are lots of good quotes and my book is already full of highlights which I shall return to over the years. It deserves its regular references on Reddit, and is very useful to any UK or global investor.
September 19, 2017
Totally understandable for a newbie investor
January 30, 2021
After doing some research online, this book has helped put me at ease about the conclusions I’ve been making so far when it comes to investing. It encourages cutting through the noise and taking a passive approach, while avoiding emotional decisions that can be detrimental to your long term goals.
There is quite an emphasis on the perils of active investing which I was already convinced by, so it felt like those sections were not as relevant to me. There were also, inevitably, technical parts of the book where my eyes glazed over. But overall I feel a lot better for having read this.
There is quite an emphasis on the perils of active investing which I was already convinced by, so it felt like those sections were not as relevant to me. There were also, inevitably, technical parts of the book where my eyes glazed over. But overall I feel a lot better for having read this.
June 28, 2021
Excellent overview for UK investors. Slightly outdated with the third edition I read from 2013, but the lessons here are timeless. I agree wholeheartedly with the author's approach and I love the idea that 'simple investing is smarter investing.' Investing is sadly misunderstood by many laypeople but this book helps set that right.
It has given me confidence in the DIY investing journey and I understand why this is referred to as the UK Passive Investor Bible. For someone interested in learning more about how to invest smarter in the stock market, you can not go wrong here.
It has given me confidence in the DIY investing journey and I understand why this is referred to as the UK Passive Investor Bible. For someone interested in learning more about how to invest smarter in the stock market, you can not go wrong here.
May 24, 2020
Well written and approachable book, using facts and figures to demystify the world of stock markets and finance, to reveal that nobody really has a clue what's going on, and then poses several easily-implementable plans to just 'go with the flow' and to just ignore it entirely.
Its no wonder why this book keeps getting recommended.
Its no wonder why this book keeps getting recommended.
March 17, 2021
A solid primer for anyone baffled by the concepts/lingo surrounding investing, presented in a buzzword-free graspable way, one which does not assume you already know too much about the topic. It won't replace a financial adviser, but will likely leave a novice feeling equipped to make some decisions based on advice, also dispelling much of the murk and myth.
March 19, 2019
There's a lot of information in this book. It's enough to bury yourself in and still only know the tip of the iceberg. Such is the nature of the investment game. Tim did his best to provide enough rope, now its up to us to hang ourselves. Good luck!
October 7, 2019
A guide to investing in shares / funds/ etc.
I found this book interesting and it made me think about my own plans for retirement, but it could have been structured better and shorter / simpler explanations would have been useful.
Reading time around three hours.
I found this book interesting and it made me think about my own plans for retirement, but it could have been structured better and shorter / simpler explanations would have been useful.
Reading time around three hours.
June 17, 2020
Tim Hale approach to investment consists of minimising the losses through passive investing. He suggests a diversification avoiding home bias ("buy the capitalised world"), using low-cost ETFs, and long time-frame investments.
July 5, 2020
Worthwhile to read for beginners guide to investing, although quite a lot of time Tim Hale is focusing on particular strategy it has useful advice and wealth of research done after each chapter with recommendations on books and websites at the end in the appendix.
September 2, 2020
Being a dummy in the world of finance, it took me a while to understand some of the concepts, but once I did, I found this book quite educating. It is focused only on safe, long-term investments, known as "passive". I'll probably refer back to it sometime in the future.
December 17, 2020
Highly recommended investment book
Very smart and practical introduction about investment.
A lot of examples and plans for individual investment. I couldnt wait to change my pension investment accordingly.
Very smart and practical introduction about investment.
A lot of examples and plans for individual investment. I couldnt wait to change my pension investment accordingly.
April 18, 2021
Very clear explanation of the basics of investing, including the day-to-day creation and maintenance of a healthy portfolio. The advice around avoiding active strategies and portfolio discipline (check your portfolio once a year) felt at times like I was receiving therapy for a gambling addiction.
April 20, 2024
Excellent foundation for a timeless but basic understanding of personal investment. Teachings and examples scale well. Could prehaps benefit from an 'absolute laws' section, a la 'The Richest Man in Babylon'.
April 18, 2020
This book is the instruction manual for Vanguard and I’m really confident the advice it gives me is going to pay for itself in 30 years when I retire.
May 10, 2020
Great for the UK stock market investor - it's very comprehensive. Book often drones on about the same points but definitely one to refer back to in future.
June 30, 2020
Basically: Trackers>active management and investing
April 5, 2022
Not suitable for beginners and hard to follow
April 24, 2022
Satisfactory book.
Pro points:
If has good points about ETF alocation and explain the assets in detail.
Cons:
Can be repetitive.
It does not go into detail about individual stocks.
There are better books on it.
Pro points:
If has good points about ETF alocation and explain the assets in detail.
Cons:
Can be repetitive.
It does not go into detail about individual stocks.
There are better books on it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews