Idle Investor: Three simple strategies to beat the professionals (VIDEO)

Video Interview with Juliet Mann of news.markets

Three-simple-strategies-to-beat-the-professionals

In this first video of a new series, the Business Book Club, fund manager Edmund Shing explains his three simple strategies to earn high returns and beat the professionals.

Shing, global equity portfolio manager at BCS Asset Management in Paris, outlines his simple, low-risk investing system that beats market indices and fund manager performance over the long term, but requires only a few minutes of investors’ time each month.

The strategy is detailed in his book The Idle Investor and Shing argues that even the laziest investor can achieve it. The Idle Investor includes three straightforward DIY strategies for long-term investing, Shing tells Juliet Mann. All you have to do is follow the simple rules.

Each method requires only a limited amount of time and they all make use of easily accessible, low-cost funds. Shing’s three strategies are: The Bone Idle Strategy, The Summer Hibernation Strategy and the Multi-Asset Trending Strategy.

Yet, argues Shing, being idle doesn’t mean being unsuccessful. “If you are looking for a straightforward investing method that lets you get on with your life while your money grows in the background, then become an Idle Investor,” he says.

Idle Investor Book Is Out!

Order from the publisher Harriman House: The Idle Investor (2015)

or from amazon.co.uk: The Idle Investor (2015)

Earn high returns and beat the professionals using 3 simple strategies

Are you tired of the paltry interest rates on offer at banks and building societies? Are you are unsure where to begin when investing your own money and concerned about shares given the two sharp drops since 2000? Would you like to use a simple investing system that beats broad market indexes and fund manager performance over time, while limiting the risk taken, and requires only a few minutes each month? You could be an Idle Investor!

In The Idle Investor you will find three simple DIY investing strategies for long-term savings. The methods here are mechanical, so there is no need for you to figure out what to do each month - you simply have to consistently follow the rules of the strategies. Each of the methods requires only a limited amount of your time per month and they all make use of easily accessible, low-cost index funds. The principles behind why the strategies work and everything else you need to know to put them into practice is explained clearly and with worked examples.

The three strategies are:

1.       The Bone Idle Strategy: Part of your portfolio is allocated to shares and part to bonds. Adjustments to the portfolio are only required on two occasions per year. The rest of the time you do nothing.

2.     The Summer Hibernation Strategy: For part of the year your portfolio is allocated to shares and for part of the year it is allocated to bonds. Once again, adjustments to the portfolio are only required twice per year. The rest of the time you do nothing.

3.    Multi-Asset Trending Strategy: A simple trend-following method is employed to determine whether to hold your portfolio in shares or bonds. For this strategy you will need to check your investments and make adjustments once per month.

Each of the three Idle Investor strategies has been tested for the period 1990 to 2012, with the result that they delivered average annual returns ranging from 11% to 28%. By comparison, a buy-and-hold approach of investing in UK shares would have delivered 8.5% per year over the same period. The three strategies also limited the downsides experienced from stock market falls.

If you are looking for a straightforward investing method that will enable you to get on with your life while your investments earn money in the background, become an Idle Investor.