The Idle Investor

Professional Reviews

"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....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 De Vooght-Johnson, Trade2Win contributor

"The author has an easy writing style and tells a good story, giving his personal background and how it has led to the investment strategies outlined in the book. The strategies themselves are well explained and well justified, with a number of simple recipes to follow depending on how actively you wish to manage your funds - though even the most active involves only monthly management. As a relative novice investor, I found the book very easy to read, yet learned a lot from it. I'm looking forward to trying out the author's strategies, and testing my own discipline in sticking with them!" - Iain Barclay, Amazon reviewer

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 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.

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 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!

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 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.

"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 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 heâ??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

"A fascinating book" - Dan Coatsworth, Editor, Shares magazine

"As someone naturally curious about financial markets and investing, I read The Idle Investor with interest. Shing has done an excellent job of translating bold, theoretical approaches to portfolio construction into strategies easily understood by the personal investor." - Cameron Ho, Fidelity Personal Investing