The Value of Simple: A Practical Guide to Taking the Complexity Out of Investing(2014)

John Robertson

The Value of Simple: A Practical Guide to Taking the Complexity Out of Investing is a plain-language guide to investing for Canadians.

Canada has the highest investment fees in the world, as well as a confusing tax system that features four-letter words like RRSP and TFSA. Fortunately there are low-cost index funds that make it easy and rewarding for you to become a do-it-yourself “couch potato” investor.

With a focus on developing good processes to minimize the room for human error and step-by-step instructions, the book will walk you through the elements of managing your finances for the long term: how to devise a savings plan, stick to it through automation, determine how to allocate funds balancing risk and reward, invest using low-cost index funds, track your investments, and deal with the inevitable issue of taxation. Putting your money to work can look suspiciously like math at times, but this book lays out a simple approach that anyone can follow. Inside you will find tools and templates, along with easy suggestions and rules-of-thumb to help prevent analysis paralysis and get you started fast.

Control what can be controlled; minimize fees and effort. Investing doesn’t have to be complex to be successful. Keep it simple and you will succeed.