The Financial Post Money and Investment

Sarah Robertson is associate editor of the Canadian Book Review Annual.

If your eyes invariably glaze over at the mere mention of price-earnings
ratios, retractable bonds, subordinated debentures, and the like, but
personal circumstances oblige a plunge into the world of investments,
this slender guide is a wonderfully palatable starting point.

Its 12 sections, generously illustrated with photos, graphs, and
reproductions of FP tables, provide lucid introductions to such subjects
as money and the economy; investing in the stock market; measuring
market trends and tracking stocks; RRSPs; and investing in bonds and
debentures, gold, futures and options, and mutual funds.

Especially valuable is the guided tour through the financial pages.
Unlike many investment primers, this one does not assume that the novice
investor will be able to decode, say, the TSE Short Positions table,
through a sort of fiscal osmosis.

Because it draws its examples directly from The Financial Post, the
guide would be used most profitably in conjunction with that newspaper;
if you subscribe to other papers, you will encounter some variations.

The folks at FP have admirably fulfilled, in this guide, the mandate of
their first editor, way back in 1907, to convey “accurate information
in a popular manner.” Newcomers need not fear to tread these
user-friendly pages.