John Robertson - The Value of Simple 2nd Ed.: A Practical Guide to Taking the Complexity Out of Investing

No more excuses, Canadians. With The Value of Simple, John explains not only the theory behind the best way for you to invest, but also provides easy-to-understand step-by-step guides to show precisely how simple it is to implement these investing strategies. The book gives everyday Canadians easy-to-implement ways to invest that will take you from procrastinating neophyte investor to confident portfolio manager in an afternoon or two of straightforward reading. If my high school students can immediately understand these Canadian-specific ways to invest, so can you!

Kyle Prevost, Co-author of More Money for Beer and Textbooks,
and Freelance Personal Finance Writer

Outstanding. There is nothing wrong with this book and lots and lots of things right with it.

Sandi Martin, Financial Planner
Spring Plans (www.springplans.ca),
Co-host of Because Money (becausemoney.ca)

The best part is that I feel much more confident and knowledgeable in my investments than I ever did with the bank-recommended mutual funds that I held onto before. This book is a must-read for anyone wanting to take control of their financial future!

Jill Bressmer, Small Business Owner

Im of the opinion most professions tend to make the simple overly complex. The financial industry is no exception to this. The Value of Simple outlines the reasons for saving (most of them you already know) but then provides some solid how-to steps to make it happen a feat few personal finance and
investing books take on.

Mark Seed, myownadvisor.ca

The author describes the investing process in a way thats rarely explained taking a step-by-step approach to show investors exactly what they need to do in order to start building and maintaining a portfolio of low-cost index funds. This book is for investors who are looking to take the plunge into DIY investing and want a guide to help walk them through the process from start to finish.

Robb Engen, Finance Columnist and Financial Planner
Boomer & Echo (boomerandecho.com)

I highly recommend this book to anyone who feels confused about how to invest.

Michael J. Wiener, michaeljamesonmoney.com

The explain it like Im 5 (ELI5) guide to investing. No other book has a step-by-step guide when it comes to making your first investment so you really have no excuse for not getting started.

Barry Choi, moneywehave.com

Brilliantly simple and simply brilliant!

Shubh, reader in Toronto

The Value of Simple is the only investing book Ive read that actually teaches you how to invest. Many books tell you why, John shows you how. I picked it up with the intention of quickly skimming through the important bits and ended up binge-reading the whole thing cover-to-cover (while on vacation!!). He breaks it down step-by-step and somehow manages to address every single, Ya, but what about?! question that other finance books Id read would gloss over. Investing my own money finally felt like something I could do and I now am!

Kate Smalley, katesmalley.com

This is simply the best book to read if you want to start investing and feel overwhelmed.

Chris Enns, Financial Planner, ragstoreasonable.com
Co-host of Because Money (becausemoney.ca)

A good book is the kind that saves you from having to read ten others. This is that kind of book.

Scott, reader in Ottawa

Your book has become my bible for investing. Honestly nothing comes close
for beginners like me!

Heath, reader in BC

The Value of Simple

A Practical Guide to Taking the Complexity Out of Investing

Second Edition

John Robertson, PhD

2018

THE VALUE OF SIMPLE

A Practical Guide to Taking
the Complexity Out of Investing

Second Edition

John Robertson, PhD

Copyright 2014, 2018 by John Robertson. All rights reserved.

Blessed by the Potato Publishing

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

http://www.holypotato.net

ISBN 978-0-9878189-4-2

This is the second edition of The Value of Simple:A Practical Guide to Taking the Complexity Out of Investing first edition ISBN 978-0-9878189-1-1 and 978-0-9878189-2-8. Cover design by Ben Pakuts.

Errata: For information and corrections released after the publication of this book, please see https://valueofsimple.ca/errata For convenience, links referenced in the text have also been collected on the site.

Disclaimer: This book discusses investment strategies and products in a general sense as an educational resource. Investing involves various risks: you may lose money. Past results do not guarantee future performance. Readers will hold the author free from any responsibility, and adapt the general suggestions and examples to their specific situation as required.

This book is not intended as individualized investment advice, nor as a solicitation or recommendation to buy or sell any securities or investment product. You may need to seek the services of a professional before making any investment decisions.

This work incorporates screenshots from several providers; the content of these screenshots may contain trademarks and logos of Tangerine, TD Canada Trust, or Questrade. Trademarks and logos belong to their respective owners.

Prologue

Hello there, Im glad you decided to give this book a read. I hope youll find it welcoming, understandable, and above all, useful. If youre excited and eager to start learning about do-it-yourself investing, then I might suggest you skip the rest of this and go straight to the table of contents. If you need to summon up your courage a bit more, keep reading.

Investing can be a scary thing. There are entire TV stations dedicated to the topic, yet for many it's completely unfamiliar. It can be technical with its own language, and requires a long-term perspective unlike the rest of everyday life. It also looks suspiciously like math in places. But it doesn't have to be scary and technical; you can be quite successful at investing while letting it stay largely unfamiliar. You can set up a simple, easy-to-follow plan in just a few hours, and then get on with the rest of your life and walking you through that is exactly what this book is about. Taking the first step and making the decision to invest on your own is likely going to be the hardest part. Thats why I started this book with this friendly little page: the casual tone should be a clear sign that you wont be overwhelmed by technical details here.

Theres no one right answer when it comes to managing your money, just as theres no one right answer for the other aspects of how you live your life. However, research shows that when faced with too many options, some people may become paralyzed by the choice and rather than pick something thats at least good enough and move on, they will instead dither and end up with nothing. So in many places Im going to limit the number of options I present by using my judgement to narrow things down to the few that I think are most likely to help you, recognizing the value of simple; anything that adds complexity has to be worth that extra effort.

Investing really can be easy, and I mean actually easy, not like dieting where they say its easy just eat less but hard to actually pull off in practice.

There is inevitably some math involved with money, but you dont need anything more complex than what you learned in grade school, and even then well get spreadsheet programs to do the hard work for us.

You can do this. And just in case, Im going to borrow from Douglas Adams here and put a big, friendly message on the next page. Turn back to read it again whenever you need to.

Dont Panic

Table of Contents