How to read the financial pages
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1. What are the financial pages?
'Financial pages' are the pages in the printed press which provide news, commentary and statistics on companies and markets. For the UK stock markets, they include:
- Daily newspapers like The Financial Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Independent and The Guardian
- Sunday newspapers like The Sunday Telegraph, The Sunday Times, The Observer, The Independent on Sunday, The Mail on Sunday and Sunday Business
- Magazines like Investors Chronicle, Shares and Investor's Week
- Newsletters like Investing for Growth, Smallcap Shares and TechInvest
- Business magazines like The Economist, Forbes and Business Week
If you invest in the equity markets you should read at least some of these publications. How often depends on whether you invest directly or through a collective fund. The more direct your approach, the closer tabs you need to keep on the press.
Why bother? Why not just buy shares in good companies and sit on them for 20 years?
- Because to know what good companies to buy in the first place you need to understand why companies succeed and fail, and how their shares are valued.
- Because good companies now may not be good companies in 20, 10 or even 2 years time. Technology constantly moves the goal posts.
- Because the balance of your portfolio will change as some companies in it do well and others do badly. To stay properly diversified you need to monitor and rebalance your portfolio.
- Because if you take no interest in the stock markets, you might as well invest through a unit trust or OEIC where you will get the benefit of professional fund management.
Staying abreast of the latest developments needn't take long - perhaps 30 minutes per day for the daily newspaper, an hour for the Sunday newspaper, and an hour for one of the magazines. Do that, and you will be as well informed as any other private investor.
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