This book highlights the issue of backdating of stock options and its ramifications. Employee stock options are contracts giving employees the right to buy the company's common stock at a specified exercise price, at a specified time or during a specified period, and after a specified vesting period. The value of the option when granted lies in the prospect that the market price of the company's stock will increase by the time the option is exercised (used to purchase stock). At the grant date for the options, rather than selecting an exercise price based on the lower market price; that is, they backdated stock options to an earlier grant date. If this backdating occurred without public disclosure, the recipient of the stock options received increased compensation in violation of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations, generally accepted accounting rules, and tax laws. Some backdating is said to involve "sloppiness", not fraud. The backdating of stock options has imposed costs on shareholders, employees, bondholders and taxpayers. This book consists of public documents which have been located, gathered, combined, reformatted, and enhanced with a subject index, selectively edited and bound to provide easy access.

This research explores the dynamic linkages that portray different facets of the joint probability distribution of stock market returns in the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) -- Canada, Mexico, and the US. Our examination of interactions of the NAFTA stock markets considers three issues. First, the authors examine the long-run relationship between the three markets, using cointegration techniques. Second, they evaluate the dynamic relationships between the three markets, using impulse-response analysis. Finally, they explore the volatility transmission process between the three markets, using a multivariate generalised auto-regressive conditional heteroskedasticity model. The results exhibit significant volatility transmission between the second moments of the NAFTA stock markets. The magnitude and trend of the conditional correlations indicate that in the last few years, Mexico's stock market exhibited a tendency toward increased integration with the US market. Finally, the authors discuss the evidence that exists on the Peso and Asian financial crises as well as the stock-market crash in the US which has affected the return and volatility time-series relationships.

"There are so many ways to use derivatives that I'm almost surprised when someone doesn't use them. Producers and consumers, investors and issuers, hedgers and speculators, governments and financial institutions: almost everyone can use them." - From the Foreword by Fischer Black, Cocreator of the Black-Scholes Model

Never before has there been so much interest in equity derivatives-or so much innovation in structuring these products. As new forms of instruments proliferate, their complexity has grown as well. Even equity derivatives professionals are unlikely to know all the details about every existing structure. With equity derivatives comprising one of the most important components of the capital markets, it's more crucial than ever for every financial professional, specialist and nonspecialist alike, to understand how derivative instruments behave, how they're structured, and how to use them profitably.

Edited by leading thinkers in the field, The Handbook of Equity Derivatives, Revised Edition, assembles dozens of experts from universities and Wall Street to help the reader gain a practical grasp of the growing variety of financial instruments and how they work. Contributions from such respected authorities as Gary Gastineau, Mark Rubinstein,

J. Gregg Whittaker, and Fischer Black outline the full range of the equity derivatives market, from classic warrants, options, and futures to the new and innovative PERCs, equity swaps, and equity-linked bonds.

In nonmathematical language, the book provides a clear introduction to equity derivatives, including the fundamentals and history of options, basic equity structures, and pricing determinants, along with a historical perspective on their evolution. You'll find thorough surveys of:
* The burgeoning field of synthetic structures-OTC options and exotics, equity swaps, SPINs, SIGNs, PENs, MITTs, and SuperShares
* U.S. and foreign derivatives traded on organized exchanges
* Issuer derivative structures, such as warrants, convertibles, PERCs, and unbundled stock units
* The unique tax, legal, accounting, and regulatory features of derivatives
* How to make the most profitable use of the many equity derivative products
* Why some financial instruments succeed-and others fail
* The future of the equity derivative market- place

Whether you're a finance student becoming familiar with the field or a practicing professional seeking better ways to exploit the tremendous potential of equity derivatives for profit, The Handbook of Equity Derivatives, Revised Edition belongs on your bookshelf.

"I heartily endorse The Handbook of Equity Derivatives . . . while the market is continuously inventing new instruments and discarding older ones, the clarity and straightforward nature of the handbook hints at a longevity that will make it useful for many years to come." - Stephen A. Ross Sterling Professor of Economics and Finance, MIT (on the first edition)

The most relied-upon resource on equity derivative instruments, their structure, and diverse global markets- now extensively revised and updated

Once, equity derivatives were exotic instruments relegated to the hands of specialists. Today, they are among the institutional investor's most popular tools for managing risk and uncovering new profit opportunities. Recognized for its authoritative contributors and its accessible, comprehensive coverage of the entire field, The Handbook of Equity Derivatives has become the standard reference on the subject for specialist and nonspecialist alike. Now, this essential resource has been carefully updated and revised to cover the most current innovations in these continually evolving investment vehicles, including:
* Comprehensive coverage of the all-important OTC market
* Basic equity structures and how they work
* Pricing determinants
* PERCs, SPIDERs, and WEBs
* The Black-Scholes model
* The best uses for and profit potential of new derivative products
* Key accounting, tax, and regulatory issues

The English language edition of the successful French publication.The Ichimoku Kinko Hyo trading indicator is an information-rich and extremely reliable tool that can be employed across all time frames. Once you have learned the subtleties of the method and understand its unique system of validating price movements, it will improve your trading.Trading with Ichimoku is a practical handbook explaining the different elements of the Ichimoku system of chart reading, from the description of each of its five lines to their interpretation within a wider process of trading analysis.You will rapidly conclude that even though there are only five lines to look at on Ichimoku charts, the information given is more than enough to achieve a detailed and broad view of market and what the price action reveals.Part 1 is devoted to the theoretical description of the various components making up Ichimoku.Part 2 explains how to trade with Ichimoku Kinko Hyo through several examples in various time frames.Part 3 introduces trading methods that combine classical trading tools with Ichimoku Kinko Hyo.Explanations and examples are illustrated throughout with detailed colour charts.Whether you are a beginner or an accomplished trader, you should add a knowledge of Ichimoku to your armoury to improve your analysis and your results. Reviews from French readers:"I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn to use Ichimoku."Clear explanations and especially great tips on how to trade."Very informative book with clear and precise examples."Good balance between the theory, analysis and trading."

If it's trading, then Steve Ruffley has seen it and done it! Steve Ruffley has been involved in the finance industry for 15 years and is currently chief market strategist and head of education at InterTrader. In his Ruff Guide to Trading, he shows you the markets through his eyes. He reveals how he sees trading as a whole, how he assesses and exploits trading opportunities, and how he thinks about risk. He also describes three of his winning strategies. The focus of the Ruff Guide is intraday trading; everything covered relates to finding and making money from short-term trading opportunities that arise as part of everyday market moves. At the heart of Steve Ruffley's approach is a very simple 80-20 rule for understanding market movement. This is that market moves are 80 per cent technical and 20 per cent fundamental. He explains the fundamental and technical aspects you need to use to get the right balance in your market analysis and shows how to put these into practice with examples from real-life market action. Steve also explains why success at trading first requires you to understand yourself and your fellow traders, and provides guidance to help you gain this understanding.The Ruff Guide is the result of Steve Ruffley's thousands of hours of trading, charting and teaching experience. Pick it up to follow the simple and accessible guidance of someone who has seen and done it all before.

Trading is a minefield of psychological and emotional challenges. Hypnotherapy and neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) techniques are commonly used by psychotherapists to help traders defeat these challenges and become more profitable.Now, for the first time, these approaches are made available to all in HypnoTrading - a brand new step-by-step practical guide on how to use the latest psychotherapeutic approaches in the trading environment. HypnoTrading teaches a number of self-help solutions to make your mindset more positive, control your emotions and enhance your ability to deal with the common psychological issues traders face.You will discover the power of hypnosis and how to use self-hypnosis with NLP and Havening, a cutting-edge psycho-sensory technique, to identify and master the issues that inhibit your trading performance. With these methods, you will make better trading decisions, perform in a more calm and consistent manner, and improve your trading results.A wide range of practical techniques and activities are provided throughout. These have been designed specifically to combat the psychological challenges faced by traders. Once you are accustomed to using these techniques, you will have your own toolkit that you can use as often as required to help you change your mindset and improve your psychological approach to trading. You will be amazed at the impact a positive mindset, freedom from stress, anxiety and fear, and an ability to move on from losing trades will have on your trading results. HypnoTrading is your guide to making these changes.

Practical and powerful improvements for value investorsBuying undervalued shares and selling when the price is many times greater has a natural appeal - and research shows it works. But not all value investors are successful. As Andrew Hunt shows in this must-read new book, many are guilty of common errors in their planning and execution and these critically undermine their success.Better Value Investing provides a straightforward framework to help all value investors improve, showing them what to focus on and what to cut out in order to be successful.Supported by the latest empirical research, 15 years of real investing experience, studies of what the top investors have said and done, and wide reading, Andrew Hunt reveals:- how financial strength is at the heart of value investing- why to invest like an owner- the importance of contrarianism- why you should buy only the very best bargains- the essentials of constructing and managing a portfolio- how checklists control the process and keep the value investor on track.This concise guide to honing the craft of value investing is essential reading for all value investors new and old.With its help you can concentrate on what is important, cut out errors and achieve what you set out to do, making you a better value investor.

A Straightforward, In-depth Guide to Investing in Stocks

Personal finance experts agree: stock investing is virtually a requirement for anyone looking to build long-term financial security. Yet even in todays information-saturated environment, millions of potential investors dont knkow where to turn to ask the most basic questions. Most are either led into inappropriate investments or stay completely out of the markets.

Accessible and writtten in the easy-to-understand Q&A format of How Wall Street Works, How Stocks Work contains the information novice investors need to invest with confidence and safety. All essential topics are covered, including:
- What popular stock indexes say about the markets
- What mutual funds are and why they are important
- Risk versus reward in stock ownership
- Fundamental and technical analysis
- How to choose a broker and place a trade

80 must-read tips and techniques to get you started in trading Trading shares can make you rich - but it's not risk-free. You need years of experience to navigate the dangers and seize the best opportunities at the right time. Malcolm Stacey has done the hard work for you: he's learned how to be successful through years of his own experience and countless conversations with top traders. Now he's ready to share this knowledge and give you a head start. Probably Britain's best-known shares blogger, Malcolm has traded from his armchair for nearly 30 years. He's gone through it all, from frothy bull market bubbles to crunching crashes. As a BBC business reporter, he interviewed some of the most successful share traders in the world who revealed to him their top-secret strategies and tips. He's also spoken to countless business leaders to learn what makes a good company - the kind you want to be backing. In Share Attack, he distils all of this into 80 vital trading tips and techniques that you can put into practice right now.Filled with insight and experience, Share Attack is a trading book with teeth - a fascinating beginner's guide for those who want to start trading more actively. It's fast-moving and entertaining - and packed with years of techniques, tricks and red flags. You'll learn from Malcolm's early mistakes and benefit from his successes. Malcolm can't guarantee to make you rich by trading shares, but you can give yourself a much-needed edge by learning the top secrets of those who've done it all before. It's time for the Share Attack!

The rationale behind how people value and trade stocks is of unparalleled interest to governments, companies and other participants in stock markets. The book focuses on the way in which investors process information and form expectations about future gains. It argues that humans fall short of the perfect information processing required by theory, and that their expectations are based on more than just future company earnings. Karl-Erik Warneryd discusses the psychology of investing, providing detailed coverage of how financial expectations are formed, how complex decisions are made and how emotions and influence from others affect the financial decisions of individuals. Empirical studies featured in the book suggest that many, if not most, stockholders have long-term goals, believe in certain stocks, and make few transactions - behavior which, argues the author, may have a stabilizing influence upon stock prices. As a unique overview of how investors process information and build up expectations of future gains on stocks, this fascinating book will be welcomed by students of, and researchers in, economic psychology and behavioral finance. Stock-Market Psychology will also be invaluable to practitioners of finance who wish to learn more about the psychology behind financial transactions.

Traders have a tendency to over-complicate. Many search for the latest new indicator that will give them an edge, or a new trading strategy to deliver bigger wins. The message of The Trading Playbook is to forget all of this and concentrate on three solid foundations to improve your trading performance: Simplicity - focus on price action alone. Probabilities - take trades where the odds are in your favour. Hard work and screen time - put in the effort to build up your trading experience. Hard work and screen time is down to the individual, but The Trading Playbook will guide you towards simplifying your trading and thinking in terms of probabilities. Michael Gouvalaris describes two straight forward trading plans that eschew complicated indicators and focus on probable outcomes. The first of these two plans - the day trading playbook - is based around ten different daily situations that can occur in the futures market. Between these ten daily set-ups, every single scenario is accounted for. The reader is shown how to determine what day type is in progress by studying that day's open and gap, and then high probability and low probability price action for each day type are given.Alongside the ten day types, the simple technical analysis tools of support and resistance and measuring market volatility are employed. The second trading plan - the swing trading playbook - describes effective ways to identify the trend, how to find ideal spots to enter trades in the direction of the trend, and also how to identify signals that warn of potential trend failure or reversals. Readers will learn simple and highly effective tools for spotting high probability entries and exits for trades. Again, basic technical analysis tools are employed, including measured moves, box theory and A-B-C waves. The key benefits of the two day trading and swing trading playbooks are that they give traders a well-defined plan to follow. This alleviates many of the big mistakes traders make, such as over-trading and cutting winners too early, or sitting in losing trades too long. If you are on the lookout for some trading ideas to simplify your analysis and refine your approach, The Playbook is for you.

This book offers 7 strategies with historic annual returns of up to 37 per cent. The long-term benefits of investing in the stock market are clear. For periods of ten years upwards, equities have delivered higher returns than any other non-physical UK asset class. Those investing for the long term should put their money to work in the stock market. In this easy-to-follow practical guide, Glenn Martin introduces seven strategies for index investment in the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250. These strategies can be followed by anyone willing to adopt a systematic approach and accept short-term risk in exchange for long-term rewards. Incredibly, even the most advanced strategy requires no more than an hour per week of your time. The seven strategies involve varying levels of risk. For those who want to commit the minimum time and take on less risk, there are two passive buy-and-hold strategies. Those wanting to commit a little more effort and take on higher risk - with the potential for higher rewards - can use a proven system to time when to invest in the stock market and when to hold funds as cash.The most advanced strategies, which carry higher short-term risk with the potential to achieve spectacular long-term returns, make use of the gearing offered by spread trading. Each strategy has a set of clear and simple instructions, plus there are historic performance tables and the expectations for future returns. Unique features of this innovative book include: how to construct a spreadsheet to produce a valuation of the FTSE 100 and the expected returns from a five-year investment in the index. These valuations constitute buy/sell signals which have delivered a profit for every historic period in the market. How to extend the spreadsheet to calculate post-tax returns tailored to your own tax circumstances. A Market Momentum System that uses simple moving averages to signal when you should exit the market to minimise the impact of major market crashes. It provides 30-year track records for all the investment strategies. It offers a system for creating a synthetic tax-free FTSE 100 tracker using FTSE 100 spread trades. A FTSE 100 spread trading simulator that enables you to test the historic returns you would have achieved according to your appetite for short-term risk.At the highest level of short-term risk, GBP1,000 would have grown to more than GBP12,300,000 over 30 years, with all of the gains being tax-free.Leaving your cash in a deposit account could see its real value whittled away by poor interest rates and inflation. If you are looking for a way to grow your money significantly over time by following a straightforward investment plan, then this book shows you how.

Advancing Point and Figure in the 21st Century Point and Figure has been around for over 130 years and the method is just as essential for chart analysis today as it always has been. While the basic principles of the technique have remained unchanged, those working with Point and Figure must still push the boundaries of how it is used, looking to make it even more insightful and powerful. This is exactly what Jeremy du Plessis has achieved with 21st Century Point and Figure. Previously, it was thought that the lack of time on Point and Figure charts meant that time-based tools and indicators could not be used, and lack of volume meant that the importance of individual columns could not be determined. Jeremy du Plessis shows definitively that neither is the case and that with the use of lateral thinking there are also a host of other new techniques that can be added to Point and Figure charts and analysis.In this advanced practical guide, du Plessis explains: how to use moving averages, Bollinger bands, Donchian channels and parabolic stop and reverse with Point and Figure charts; how time-based indicators such as overbought/oversold, RSI, directional movement and MACD can be used with Point and Figure charts; how column volume can be used to assess a column's strength and how volume at box level can be used to assess support and resistance areas; how traditional accumulation distribution lines, such as on-balance volume and volume-price trend, can be used to enhance the reading of the chart; how the analysis of relative strength and spreads can be enhanced using these new techniques; and, two new Point and Figure based market breadth indicators. Finally, he introduces a new Point and Figure based oscillator that can also be used on time-based charts. All topics are illustrated with numerous high-quality, full colour charts and observations from years of trading experience. The techniques described here open up a whole world of new and advanced analysis tools.You will see that there is more to Point and Figure than you ever imagined, and that it is more flexible than has ever been realised before. If you employ Point and Figure analysis, ensure you don't miss out on these powerful new techniques - be sure to bring your analysis into the 21st century.

This is a practical guide to the straightforward and winning strategies of successful traders. Trading is best kept simple and focused - that is the way to win. The most successful traders will tell you that they use only a small number of strategies, applying them time after time. A common mistake of losing traders, however, is to overly complicate what they do, using many different strategies at one time, or leading a never-ending search for new strategies. In 7 Simple Strategies of Highly Effective Traders, Alpesh Patel and Paresh Kiri provide a practical guide to seven technical analysis trading approaches that are simple, effective and easy to put into practice. These are the kind of strategies professional traders use to manage their trading. Throughout, readers will benefit from the trading insight and expert chart commentary of two vastly experienced traders. Included are strategies for breakout with volume, event trading, mean reversion, moving averages, short-term day trading, and more. The strategies can be used on a wide range of instruments, from equities to forex, bonds and commodities.Most of the approaches can also be used equally on UK, US or international markets.Don't waste money cycling through strategies, pursuing the Holy Grail - follow the winning approach of the pros and keep things simple.

This is a simple, quick and effective approach to quantitative fundamental analysis. The Lazy Fundamental Analyst presents a collection of strategies based on the application of quantitative analysis to fundamentals-based investing. It will appeal to anyone looking for simple, effective and low-risk investing strategies. The strategies are organised by ten business sectors: Consumer Discretionary, Consumer Staples, Energy, Financials, Health Care, Industrials, Information Technology, Materials, Telecommunication Service and Utilities. For each sector a strategy is proposed for large capitalisations (companies in the S&P 500 Index) and another is given for small capitalisations (companies in the Russell 2000 index). For each sector, and each strategy, Fred Piard explains how to follow his 'lazy' approach to choose stocks by using only a couple of financial ratios. The strategies eschew detailed due diligence of companies and markets - instead they rely on applying quantitative techniques to filter out the best investments in each sector.These strategies can be managed in just a few minutes per month, making them suitable for those who only have limited time to devote to investing but still wish to have a winning return. Portfolio protection through the use of market timing and hedging is also presented and this can be used with any of the strategies. If you don't have the inclination for in-depth fundamental analysis, or only have a few spare minutes per month for your investing, try Fred Piard's lazy approach to quantitative analysis.

This is an inspirational journey from footballer to trader. Goals To Gold tells the fascinating and unexpected story of one man's journey from top-flight football to the cut-and-thrust world of the financial markets. This book also explores the relationship between sports and trading success - making it the perfect book for any sports fan who's ever wondered whether they could make a go of it in the markets. Lee Sandford spent 17 years as a professional footballer, playing for Portsmouth, Stoke City, Sheffield United and Reading. But when his career was over, he didn't retire to a pundit's sofa or the golf course. He entered another fiercely competitive world: the stock market. Goals to Gold tells the story of his days as a footballer and subsequent time as a trader, laying bare the sobering facts of a life scattered with huge achievements, near misses and big disappointments. Part exploration of the unseen side of football and part introduction to financial trading, it shows how the important qualities in football and trading alike are hard work, determination, patience and sticking to your strategy even when the studs-up tackles are flying.Packed with real-life, behind-the-scenes stories involving promotion, relegation and trophies in football and trading through booms and busts in the markets, Goals to Gold is a gripping and revealing read - perfect for football fan and trader alike.

How do we know where we are in the current stock market cycle? Are we in the midst of a new long term bull market or a market rally within an ongoing bear market? The answers to the above questions are critical to forming an appropriate investment strategy to plan for the future. The difference between anticipating the end of a secular (or cyclical) bull market and reacting to the significant crash that follows will have a big impact on anyone's investment returns and retirement plans. This book is concerned with cycles. A cycle is a sequence of events that repeat over time. The outcome won't necessarily be the same each time, but the underlying characteristics are the same. A good example is the seasonal cycle. Each year we have spring, summer, autumn and winter, and after winter we have spring again. But the weather can, and does, vary a great deal from one year to another. And so it is with the stock market. Kerry Balenthiran has studied stock market data going back 100 years and discovered a regular 17.6 year stock market cycle consisting of increments of 2.2 years. He has also extrapolated the cycle forwards to provide investors with a market roadmap stretching out to 2053.He describes this in detail and outlines the changing character of the stock market through the different phases of the 17. 6 year stock market cycle. Whether you are an investment professional or private investor, this book provides a fascinating insight into the cyclical nature of the stock market and enables you to ensure that you have the right strategy for the prevailing stock market conditions.

The unputdownable insider's guide! Clem Chambers is one of the world's leading authorities on market performance. His website is hugely successful with investors in the UK and around the world, particularly in South America. In order to maintain his own business at the peak of its performance, Clem trades in stocks in his own personal account. "If I can't do it myself," he says with characteristic frankness, "then how am I supposed to help other people?" That he does so regularly and profitably demonstrates both his skill and his knowledge. Now he's prepared to share his secrets of stock market success. Writing with first-hand knowledge, he provides 101 pithy and personally researched tips which help day traders, investors and stock pickers of every kind to focus in on what characterises a potentially successful stock. Incisive, brutally honest and occasionally very funny, 101 Ways to Pick Stock Market Winners is an invaluable manual for anyone wanting to make money out of the markets.

The price-earnings ratio, or P/E, is the most commonly quoted investment statistic, but have you ever considered what it actually means? For most people it's a shorthand way of deciding how highly the market regards a company, with investors prepared to overpay for earnings from a high-P/E 'glamour' stock as opposed to a low-P/E 'value' stock. However, academics have known since 1960 that the opposite is true: value stocks outperform glamour stocks consistently over decades. A company with a low P/E may have been marked down for no readily apparent reason and thus could represent an attractive value investment for those with the patience to wait while the market re-values it. However, the P/E is a backward-looking measure and just because the company earned GBP1 per share last year it doesn't necessarily mean it will earn anything like that in the foreseeable future. Or, a low P/E can mean a company is deservedly cheap because it is in financial difficulty - in this case the company is likely to become cheaper yet or even go into administration. This book is a practical guide to how you can adjust and improve the price-earnings ratio and use it, alongside other financial ratios, to run against the crowd and boost your stock returns.

Kenneth A. Posner spent close to two decades as a Wall Street analyst, tracking the so-called "specialty finance" sector, which included controversial companies such as Countrywide, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, CIT, and MasterCard--many of which were caught in the subprime mortgage and capital markets crisis of 2007. While extreme volatility is nothing new in finance, the recent downturn caught many off guard, indicating that the traditional approach to decision making had let them down. Introducing a new framework for handling and evaluating extreme risk, Posner draws on years of experience to show how decision makers can best cope with the "Black Swans" of our time.

Posner's shrewd assessment combines the classic fundamental research approach of Benjamin Graham and David Dodd with more recent developments in cognitive science, computational theory, and quantitative finance. He outlines a probabilistic approach to decision making that involves forecasting across a range of scenarios, and he explains how to balance confidence, react accurately to fast-breaking information, overcome information overload, zero in on the critical issues, penetrate the information asymmetry shielding corporate executives, and integrate the power of human intuition with sophisticated analytics. Emphasizing the computational resources we already have at our disposal--our computers and our minds--Posner offers a new track to decision making for analysts, investors, traders, corporate executives, risk managers, regulators, policymakers, journalists, and anyone who faces a world of extreme volatility.

This book discusses the key areas that every stock market investor should consider. Starting with the reason for buying shares in the first place it then goes on to consider a host of essential topics, including: ratios, dividends, diversification, directors' deals, technical analysis, ETFs, commodities, dealing techniques and much more. Cotter On Investing is your straightforward guide to the not always straightforward world of stock market investment. The markets can be a dangerous place and the risk involved can put people off the whole concept of stock investing. It shouldn't. Successful investors are those who manage risk and use mechanisms that reduce it to a level they are comfortable with. The stock market is potentially extremely rewarding in financial terms, but when the investor takes control of his or her own money it can also be fun, interesting and immensely satisfying. Throughout the book the author gives his own opinions not only on the different investment vehicles you can use but also on the ways in which you can improve your performance as a self-directed investor. With nearly 40 years of stock market experience, John Cotter is the ideal guide to help you make your investment decisions. Slicing through the jargon and with a solid, 'keep it simple' approach, this book is the ideal companion for anyone building and running their own share portfolio.

Effective share portfolios for the private investor Running an efficient portfolio of shares means buying and selling the shares that make the most sense for you, and at the right time and price. Rodney Hobson, author of the bestselling Shares Made Simple, sets out how to do this without having to be a financial expert or full-time trader. Using plain language, he takes the reader simply and logically through the process, giving helpful examples and real-life case studies at every turn. In How to Build a Share Portfolio you can: - find out how to determine the right objectives for your portfolio - learn how to pick shares that fulfill your investment ambitions, and when to drop those that no longer do so - understand how best to set your portfolio's size and ensure it is diversified against risk - discover the best ways of monitoring your portfolio, and of reducing losses and rebalancing it when necessary. Anyone who is thinking of investing, however much or however little, will benefit from the information, advice and guidance contained in this book.Similarly, those who already have a portfolio will find it helps them to stand back and reassess whether they are making the most of their money and whether their portfolio is meeting their needs.

Nowhere in Europe are people more likely to enjoy a regular flutter in stocks and shares than in Britain. Whether we consider the millions of online stockbroking accounts or the billions spent on spread betting - it is a national pastime in today's Britain to play the markets. How did this distinctively British obsession with investment and speculation come about? Playing the Market tells this story by exploring the history of financial capitalism in Britain during the twentieth century from below. It explains how and why everyday British people increasingly invested, speculated, and gambled in stocks and shares from the outbreak of World War I, over the postwar decades and the Thatcher years, up until the premiership of Tony Blair. The study accounts for a momentous shift in attitudes towards stock market investment that occurred throughout the twentieth century. In the interwar period, traditional moral and cultural constraints about the stock market, which were still powerful in the Victorian period, gradually began to collapse in public and private life. In the following decades, financial securities lost their stigma of being either immoral or suitable only for the upper classes. Promising higher than average returns and a similar thrill of risk and reward as gambling in horses or the football pools, the stock market became a popular pastime for millions of Britons - even in the postwar decades, when Britain had nationalized industries and politicians of both parties indulged in staunchly anti-finance rhetoric. With the expansion of popular investment after both world wars, Britain developed a stock market culture that was unique across Europe and gave rise to a market populist sentiment that eventually proved fertile soil for the arrival of Thatcherism.

Due to the accelerating demographic change of the population the reform of the existing pension systems constitutes one of the greatest political challenges in most European countries.

A theoretical discussion of different pension reforms must incorporate not only the demographic aspect but also the role of financial market risk and the impact on production and employment.

These notes develop a dynamic macroeconomic model which incorporates these aspects within a flexible theoretical framework. The proposed approach provides a large scale population model and features a sound description of the production side as well as of the financial side of the economy and their interactions with the pension system.

Within this framework various adjustment policies of the pension system are studied under different population scenarios. The consequences for the economy and the welfare of consumers are analyzed and compared.