David French | 18/02/2009 1:44:12 PM

This article was originally published in The Morning Bulletin in October 2001

Most of the people who come to my investment seminars are over 40. Nearly every time I run one however, there is one young couple sitting in the audience. In their early 20’s, they are keen as mustard. At the last seminar, such a couple suggested that I pitch the message at an introductory, rather than an intermediate, level. It is always difficult to pre-empt what your audience will require, so here is a list of resources that the novice investor can use to get started.

At the risk of promoting a competitor, Noel Whittaker’s “Making Money made Simple” series is a good place to start. Bits of it read like a letter from grandma, but the information is generally sound. Any decent bookshop will have this.

Those interested in the stock market might like to read The Australian Stock Market by Ron Bennetts (ABC books or online at www.abcshop.com.au). A successful stockbroker with a degree in economics, it’s probably inevitable that I find his concise, dry style appealing.

For international news it’s very hard to go past The Economist. Money orientated as it sounds, this weekly journal is a roundup of important economic and political events globally. It also includes book reviews, a science and technology section and job advertisements. The Economist has two main strengths. First the quality of the writing is up there with the world’s best. Second the journalism is structured against a background of economic theory. That enables structured criticism, which is just as useful as the articles themselves. I have been a subscriber since 1990.

Broker and managed fund research is an invaluable source of information. After work at the bar, you’d never pick it, but large stockbroking houses have the resources to employ the best analysts and economists. You don’t have to agree with what they say, but if you don’t read their work, how can you form a view? Try to get institutional research rather than the retail variety.

The Australian Financial Review is essential reading for any serious investor. That journal’s daily round up of corporate, economic and political events is nicely meshed with a smattering of near libellous dirt digging (Rear Window, Chanticleer and Pierpont) and politically incorrect (but often incisive) commentary (Peter Rhuel).

I am constantly amazed at the number of people who don’t read their local paper. Local papers keeps readers in touch with their local community and combined with one of the above, will make you a lot better informed than the average punter, and will put you in a better position to evaluate investment opportunities.

Above all, steer clear of “recipe to get rich” type books. Like Medicine and Meteorology, investing is an art. The technical tools are based on math and economics, but the real value is in their application.

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