"The Idle Investor is well pitched for the intended audience, and the clarity of the first 3 chapters in particular gets that message across. I would have no hesitation in recommending the book to anyone I know who is not a full time financial services professional. In addition, I'd go as far as to say that I can think of many people I've worked with over the years in financial services, who'd benefit from reading it as well!;The strategies themselves are well laid out, and providing a 1 page summary at the end of each strategy is a big help for readers starting out in the business of DIY investing. Considering the complexity of the subject matter for non financial people (am under no illusions that it's almost a foreign language for many), Edmund does a pretty good job of making the points in a straightforward manner. Also, by highlighting potential problems with the strategies, I think this gives the book a greater degree of credibility. Any reader looking to find a 'perfect' solution for investment has missed the point by this stage anyway.;The final part of the book is also very helpful, with the references section alone being worth the price of admission. To have a concise summary of the best resources for DIY investment work will save readers an enormous amount of time, and I would imagine that for many readers, this will provide a framework to make starting their investment journey considerably easier.;Overall, very impressed. If investment was actually taught in schools at all, can see that this would be a perfect investment primer for teenagers after being taught the basics. Not the aim of the book obviously, but a point worth making.";-- Matt Patterson, private investor;"The Idle Investor is a fantastic self-help guide for readers who would like to invest successfully in financial markets, which can often be very perplexing for both professionals and amateurs. Using concise language, Dr. Shing began by going through the key investment concepts that everyone should know. He then looked at the main risk and return characteristics in each of the major asset classes (equities, bonds, cash and property) and how you can use that knowledge to build your own winning strategies. What I enjoyed most about the book is its clarity. Dr. Shing explained everything in simple, everyday English and highlighted the most important investing truths along the way. Towards the end of the book, he spelt out how Joe Bloggs can outperform the market in the current low interest-rate, volatile environment, only by following some simple rules of thumb. It was a real pleasure to read this book; I actually managed to read it from cover to cover within 2 days! I believe the book is suited to both professionals and amateurs who are keen on following disciplined but effective investment strategies!" Daniel Ung, CFA, CAIA, FRM| Research & Product Design, S&P DOW JONES INDICES;"What should be praised about this book is that Edmund has the ability to express very difficult concepts to the layman in plain and simple English. For someone steeped in academia and quant finance this is an exceptional skill to have developed, and a credit to the years he's spent getting his message across through writing and broadcasting.;"The Idle Investor" could act as a refresher for seasoned investors, or a working template to novice passive investors. It's a brief and easily read addition to any stock market or ETF investor's library and comes highly recommended." - Ed Page-Croft, CEO, Stockopedia; "The Idle Investor is aimed at investors with around GBP10,000 or more to invest, and want to make good returns but don't have much time.;The author has plenty of work experience in the financial industry, so it is refreshing to hear him advise you away from fund managers and more towards ETFs with their lower fees and better performance. The lack of stamp duty on them is another plus.;There are three strategies outlined in the book depending on your degree of idleness. All of them are easy to understand and implement, and are based around ETFs for shares and bonds.;The most idle involves buying two ETFs, selling one of them for a couple of months a year, then buying it back. The final step is an annual rebalancing.;The next strategy is similar, but involves diversifying by time rather than allocation. You use 3 pairs of bond and share ETFs - UK, US and Euro and either hold all bonds or all shares at any one time. It's basically a sell in May strategy.;The final strategy involves a mechanical indicator to be used (nothing too complicated, just a moving average) to determine whether to hold stock or bond ETFs. It uses the same ETFs as above, but adds an emerging markets pair. The returns are a lot better on this one at 27.6% compound annual growth rate from 1990-2012. It needs input once a month.;Although the strategies sound convincing and easy, I would bet that most people would actually have trouble being as idle as this book recommends. Even once a month may be too little for some people, and the urge to "tinker" with the system might end up in lower returns.;I felt that two things were missing from the book. Firstly, smart beta ETFs are mentioned in a positive light at the beginning of the book, but aren't actually used in any of the three strategies or mentioned again. This was a bit disappointing as the author made them sound quite useful.;Secondly, I would imagine that most investors are likely to want to build up their pot over time with monthly contributions. There wasn't any mention of regular investing and how this could fit in with the strategies.;However, despite these minor qualms, I enjoyed the book and was convinced that the strategies would at least offer better returns than cash over time. In fact, I am going to try it with a portion of my SIPP." -- Ryan Devooght-Johnson, Trade2Win contributor;
