Dunn - SHARE INVESTING FOR DUMMIES: Australian Edition

Share Investing For Dummies, 3rd Australian Edition

by James Dunn

Share Investing For Dummies, 3rd Australian Edition

Third Australian edition published by
Wiley Publishing Australia Pty Ltd
42 McDougall Street
Milton, Qld 4064

www.dummies.com

First edition published 2002

Copyright 2011 Wiley Publishing Australia Pty Ltd

The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

Author: Dunn, James, 1962

Title: Share Investing For Dummies / James Dunn.

Edition: 3rd Australian ed.

ISBN: 978 1 74246 889 1 (pbk.)

Notes: Includes index.

Subjects: Stock exchanges Australia.
Investments Australia.
Stocks Australia.

Dewey Number: 332.63220994

All rights reserved. No part of this book, including interior design, cover design and icons, may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Contracts & Licensing section of John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd, 42 McDougall Street, Milton, Qld 4064, or email auspermissions@wiley.com .

Cover image: James Steidl, 2010, Used under license from Shutterstock.com

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About the Author

Over a 23-year career, James Dunn has built a reputation as one of Australias leading investment journalists. James was founding editor of Shares magazine, and oversaw one of the most successful magazine launches in Australian publishing history. He has also written for BRW , Personal Investor , The Age and Management Today , and was subsequently personal investment editor at The Australian and editor of financial website investorweb.com.au. He writes for The Australian , Insto , Asia Asset Management and The Investing Times magazines, and the websites thebull.com.au and SmartCompany , and is also a sought-after speaker on investment, economic and leadership issues. On radio, James is heard daily on 3AW in Melbourne, and the nationally syndicated Newstalk ZB in New Zealand, and has a weekly commentary spot on Sky Business.

Born and raised in Ararat, western Victoria, James graduated from the University of Melbourne as Bachelor of Letters and Bachelor of Arts. He is a fellow of the Williamson Community Leadership Program, operated by Leadership Victoria.

In 1984, James won two BMWs on Sale of the Century . The sale of the cars financed a year of overseas travel and a substantial share portfolio, which did not survive the crash of 1987, because it was virtually all in speculative stocks. After that event, James decided on a career in financial journalism.

He has never lost his fascination with the sharemarket, and has developed a strong interest in educating people about their investments.

Dedication

Some things have not changed from the first and second editions of this book, when I wrote: This book simply would not exist without the support of and inspiration from my family. Writing a book is a selfish thing to do, and I cant thank my wife, Jane, enough for her love and support. I dedicate this book to her and to my wonderful children, Eliza and Harry, to whom I apologise for locking myself in the study and worse, hogging the computer. This is for you.

Share Investing For Dummies is also dedicated to my mother and father, who made books a part of my life from my earliest memory. At long last, I was able to put my own on the other side of the ledger, a feat they never doubted.

All of the preceding still stands in this third edition of Share Investing For Dummies triply so with regard to Jane, Eliza and Harry. Theyve got their own computers now, but I still hog the one with all the bells and whistles.

Authors Acknowledgements

Thanks firstly to commissioning editor Rebecca Crisp and developmental editor Hannah Bennett, who drove this third edition. Also thanks enormously to the project editor who oversaw the process, Jenny Scepanovic. All three handled the delicate task of badgering and cajoling me with huge reserves of patience and understanding and I want them to know how much I appreciated that. Thanks also to Zo Wykes at John Wiley in the US, and my technical reviewer, Clare Gichard, for her attention to detail, and to the designers and everyone else at John Wiley who have helped to make this book possible.

I also want to express my appreciation to Leeanne Bland and Jeff Olsson at ASX, Anton Tagliaferro at Investors Mutual, David Reid at Andex Charts, Kirsty Gross and Odette Monaghan at IRESS Market Technology, Rebecca Fesq at Citigroup, Daryl Guppy at Guppytraders.com, Andrew Boal at Towers Watson, Sharon Beach and Claudia Sanchez at Standard & Poors, Alex Dunnin at Rainmaker Information, Elio DAmato at Lincoln Indicators, Brian Phelps, Craig James and Savanth Sebastian at CommSec, Shane Oliver at AMP Capital Investors, Michael Knox at RBS Morgans, Andrew Stanley at Ralton Asset Management, Aaron Stambulich at RBS, Moghseen Jadwat at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Phillip Gray at Morningstar Australasia, Martha Wood and Roger McIntosh at Vanguard Investments, George Boubouras at UBS Wealth Management, Gary Stone at Share Wealth Systems, Jim Taig at Seismo Australia, Peter Strachan at StockAnalysis, Kyla Morgan at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Jeff Bresnahan at Super Ratings, Max Newnham at Taxbiz Australia, Joe Kaleb at australianbiz.com.au, Tony McLean at Delisted.com.au, Robert Grigg at the Australian Technical Analysts Association, David Wood at Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Ron Bewley at Woodhall Investment Research, Vince Smith at Ernst & Young, Sean Dostal at Moneybags, Mark Johnston at Investment Trends, David Blake at Bioshares, Jamie Nemtsas at the Centre for Investor Education and Wayne Lee at Nasdaq OMX.