Secrets of Successful Investing: How You Can Prosper in Good Times and Bad

Virginia Gillham is university librarian and archivist at Wilfrid
Laurier University library. She is also a judge of national and
international figure skating competions.

If you are a moderately well-informed investor who feels intimidated by
the vocabulary of your financial adviser, if you have all of the correct
financial investment terms in your head but less than complete knowledge
of how they work, if you would like to acquire the understanding
necessary to be an equal partner in investment discussions and the
planning of investment strategies, or indeed even to handle your
investments completely for yourself, this may well be the book for you.
Two highly respected Canadian financial advisers, Gordon Pape and Eric
Kirzner, have combined their knowledge, experience, and understanding of
the needs of their clients to produce this handbook, which guides
readers step by step through the planning and building of a diversified
investment portfolio.

The book begins with an overview of the wisdom of portfolio
diversification, and includes questionnaires to help you determine the
investment strategy that is best for you with respect to your age,
income, and short- and long-term financial goals. It then offers
complete, easy-to-understand explanations of such topics as currency
risk, mutual fund investing, risk/opportunity balance, leveraging,
foreign content regulations, and various specialty funds. There are
explanations of the financial impact of various recent cataclysmic world
events, such as the stock market crash of October 1987, the Asian flu
crisis of 1997, and of course, the terrorist attacks of September 11,
2001. The final chapter, “Putting It All Together,” summarizes the
12 keys to successful investing that have been detailed earlier in the
book.

There are no tricks here, and nothing that guarantees financial
miracles. Rather, the authors stress the importance of patience,
strategy, and long-term goals, and explain in readable form what you
need to know to succeed.