Commodities exposure in the Smarter Portfolios was 0% for Portfolio 1, 2% for Portfolio 2 and so on up to 10% for Portfolio 6. James finds the systematic approach that Albion's clients adopt both intuitive and elegant. He enjoys communicating some of the more complicated concepts in the research - which usually involves an elaborate spreadsheet - and he is always looking to learn more. Some investors make the mistake of avoiding risk. However, the savvy investor understands that you will not receive any reward without risks. As an investor, you are paid to take risks. When you avoid risks, your return is also a lot lower. If you want to invest wisely, you will have to take sensible risks. Smart traders therefore spread their investments sufficiently across different investment products and regions. Depending on your risk appetite, you may choose to diversify your investments between shares and bonds. By diversifying, you can achieve good results within any economic climate. If you want to get a good result in the short term, you can decide to put some of your money into derivatives.

Of course, nothing is certain and Hale’s underscoring of the investing vagaries is one of the great favours he does DIY investors. If you've got a Marcus easy-access savings account or cash ISA, you can easily boost your interest rate to 4.75% – here's how. Next, it is important to also develop a clear entry & exit strategy. For example, do you only trade in shares when the price is favourable or do you step in periodically? And do you sometimes take your winnings or do you hold the shares until the end of days? By thinking carefully about your plan, you prevent yourself from acting out too much out of emotions. A smart investor is a rational investor! Rule 5: Embrace risks Today we’ll start work on the book which seems to be the most popular with passive investors – Smarter Investing by Tim Hale. PI – Thanks for the Bernstein link. I enjoyed the piece. Bernstein always has advocated the use of short-dated bonds for as long as I can remember.

Tim Hale’s classic book Smarter Investing has proved an “Aha!” moment for me and many other Monevator readers on the journey to investing enlightenment. Only invest with money that you can miss. Calculate how much money you need for your livelihood and invest with money that you do not need in the upcoming years. By doing so, you prevent a disaster, and you secure a better future for yourself! How can you trade?

We often get asked ‘are we too small (or too big) to work with you?’. It is not about size but about attitude. If a firm is focussed on financial planning, puts its clients at the centre of all that they do, and if they want to manage an inhouse investment proposition that is based on the evidence and theory available, then it is likely we will be a good fit. That is provided you like us and vice versa! Like our financial planning clients, we are looking to work with firms over the long term.The extended look at property as an asset class is also worth a read, as are stiff draughts of reality like the real return of 2.5% p.a. that investors earned from the worst 35 years to afflict UK equities. Our award winning Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) designed to help you prepare for retirement. He loves working with Albion’s clients and takes immense pleasure in seeing them develop and grow, in the knowledge that Albion has played a small part in their success. Like the other team members, he loves investing and likes nothing better than a piece of deep research. Short-dated means holding bonds with maturities of between one and five years. That way the losses you suffer will be staunched in comparison to longer bonds in the face of interest rate rises.