Personal Investment: Financial Planning in an Uncertain World

Mazzucato, Mariana; Lowe, Jonquil; Shipman, Alan and Trigg, Andrew (2010). Personal Investment: Financial Planning in an Uncertain World. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

URL: http://www.palgrave.com/business/mazzucato/index.a...

Abstract

Personal Investment provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the dynamics of personal investment in a world defined by uncertainty. It will be useful for anyone who wants to know more about how savings can be invested as a way of planning for the financial future, and how investments are managed by players in the financial services sector: banks, life companies, fund managers and advisers.

Uniquely, the book places personal investment decisions in the wider social, economic and policy context. Regulation and ethics are shown to have a profound influence on the structure of different investment products and the nature of different investment strategies. Each chapter relates events in the wider marketplace to individual financial concerns. Global phenomena such as bank crashes, stock market bubbles and pension depletion are demystified through case studies and reflective activities. The book:

Reveals how to optimise the risk-return trade-off
Compares different economic and financial theories
Explains key terms and financial planning models
Teaches how to read the financial pages
Presents debates on financial crises and economic booms.
Authoritative, yet practical, this book is designed for students of Economics, Business or Finance, for professionals in the financial services industry, and for individuals wanting a groundwork understanding of the key issues that affect personal investments and their ultimate success or failure.

The authors all teach economics and finance at The Open University.