First Steps in Shares

by Peter Temple

Published 4 April 2001
To the amateur investor, buying and selling shares can be a baffling, terrifying, and sometimes, expensive game. It can also be exciting, fun, and very profitable. All you need is some practical guidance, a sensible strategy, and a little confidence. In First Steps in Shares, Peter Temple gives you the practical tools to start investing successfully. Starting with an explanation of how share markets work, and some simple ways of analysing company accounts and share price movements, the book also goes on to cover the mechanics of share dealing. He looks at whether share investing is right for you and at the best methods of combining different shares so that you only run the risks you want to. Peter explains how to decide whether a share price is cheap or not, and how to assess the relative merits of different shares. He also investigates other forms of investing such as bonds, options, tracker funds, and investment trusts, as well as how to invest online. Peter worked as a city analyst for 18 years, and has been a financial journalist for thirteen. He has also been an active, and successful private trader for the past 15 years. He shares his own dealing experiences with readers, including both successes and failures, and the lessons to be learnt from them. By cutting through all the jargon used by the professionals, he explains simply how investment choices and market influences fit together, enabling you to invest with confidence and make your money work for you. First Steps in Shares Take your first steps with confidence.

Economic Indicators are anything but "just numbers" - they are the keys to unlocking invaluable information about market behaviour. Covering all the major indicators reported by private and government statistical agencies - including the pricing index, employment figures, retail sales, housing - this comprehensive resource provides full descriptions of indicators and what they represent, their impact on the direction of interest rates, exchange rates, and the stock market, and how and why the market reacts as it does. The book also offers brief guidelines for gearing your investment strategies to these ever-changing economic statistics. Written in a clear non-technical terms and clearly organized by sectors of the economy, this accessible guide:

takes a closer look at GDP, with an overview of the macro-economic framework using the standard national income computing methodology
compares and contrasts consumer sector indicators to distinguish which series are more reliable and consistent
differentiates between all measures of inflation, and makes the key distinction between inflation in the goods market and inflation in the services market
explores foreign market indicators, including the monthly and quarterly indicators for the foreign exchange, domestic bond and equity markets
features revealing "did you know?" titbits and cautionary tales, as well as special factors unique to specific indicators.