No Monkey Business: What investors need to know and why

Millions of people have accumulated investments on a scale that changes their needs for professional financial services. A shameful number have directly experienced abuse of trust in their dealings with the industry. Many more are discovering that the relationships and products they thought were safe and simple are actually highly complex and conceal risks they were never aware of. Its time to take personal responsibility. No Monkey Business is a kick in the pants for the industry and a wake-up call for individual investors. It shows you how to place money in the context of setting individual life goals – making investment personally relevant. It also counters tricks within the industry using a few essential principles, some helpful devices and a ‘code of safe practice’ that will transform the way individuals think about investment and the way they select and manage their relationships with the industry. The code makes sense of risk, defines how to select agents, products and services, and shows you what to pay and how to pay. No Monkey Business will educate investors, shed light on malpractice and ensure consumers have the ammunition and know-how to make the most of their investments. Interactive Resources for all! No Monkey Business is supported by its own weblog which monitors developments in the industry, and provides links to other information resources and services consistent with the No Monkey Business code of safe practice. Click here to visit the No Monkey Business blog. No Monkey Business An insider’s guide to the money, markets and people in between.

Table of Contents:
YOU AND THE MARKETS: THE SYSTEM THAT WORKS Investment is about you The markets as a system The decision hierachy The entrepreneurial alternative Making sense of riskTHE PEOPLE IN BETWEEN: A SYSTEM CORRUPTED A brief history of hijacking A culture of mis-selling The agenda benders With-profits: broken contract The performance lie The cost wedge Who gets the cream? Madness in their methodsTHE SELF-PROTECTION CODE FOR NEW RELATIONSHIPS Controlling the enemy within Selecting the right relationships Selecting the right products Understanding wrappers Using the internet

About the Author :
Stuart Fowler is the anti-guru guru. He has been in the investment business since leaving Oxford in 1969, first as a stockbroker and then as a money manager. He has worked with institutional investment clients all over the world, including foreign government funds and some of the world’s largest pension funds, as well as individuals. He held senior management positions in two mainstream British firms, Touche Remnant and Hill Samuel, before managing two UK-based international start-ups, Quorum and Valu-Trac. His experience spans investment research, managing portfolios, client relationships and running businesses. A particular focus has been on what he calls in the book ‘investment technology’: the role of computers in expert decision processes and in the design and delivery of investment services. In 1996 he left the coal-face to focus on management consulting for UK investment businesses through his own firm, Investment By Design. Working for fund managers and investment planners, he helps firms break from the past by implementing business models and technology that align their agenda with their customers’. Before starting the book he spent a year working with a former client to develop the concept and technology for a new online portfolio-management business called Fifth Freedom. The dotcom bubble burst before this launched but much of the thinking behind it enthuses the No Monkey Business project and some of its decision technology will be on the book’s website.

Review :
"Guides investors through the pitfalls (of investing) by describing the widespread abuse of consumers by pensions companies and financial advisors, and by giving advice on how to avoid becoming the victim of mis-selling."Alexander Jolliffe, Financial Times, March 2002   "This book should galvanize the reader to take real responsibility for their own financial freedom."Martin Young, Managing Director, Heritable Bank  "This is really two books for the price of one: a disturbing exposé of the incompetence and dishonesty of the UK investment business (hopefully now history) and a wise guide to investing for the future - both written by a person with deep knowledge of the City." David Lascelles, Co-director, Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation  'An excellent blueprint for modern wealth management. Financial advisers would do well to read it before their clients do.' James Baxter, Chief Executive, Capital Management Network.  "No Monkey Business goes a long way to helping the consumer understand what they should expect from a Financial Adviser and to helping the Adviser assist their clients to achieve their goals. Stuart obviously has a good understanding of the market and has not been afraid to express some pretty controversial statements on Investment methodology and the quality of advice in the Financial Services marketplace. An excellent and refreshing piece of work." Nick Cann ACIB CFP, Chief Executive, Institute of Financial Planning "For those looking for something genuinely different that will give you they 'whys' of personal finance and investment planning as well as just 'how to' the get a copy of No Monkey Business" - Financial Times January 2004