Sydney, 12 November, 2007: Investing wisely can help you achieve your financial goals and now there is a new, free booklet which could assist in producing greater understanding of the investment basics.

The Australian Bankers’ Association (ABA), the Australian Financial Markets Association (AFMA) and the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) have produced a new booklet designed to show how investing can benefit you.

Investing is about making your money work harder for you and helping you achieve financial security. It’s not just for those who are already wealthy or for those who are about to retire. Regardless of your stage in life, knowing more about investing can help you secure a better financial future.

The booklet – “Smarter Investing: Build wealth and secure your future” covers:

• How to set realistic investment goals which suit your individual circumstances by examining how much money you have to invest, whether you need access to the funds or whether you can lock it away.

• How to plan an investment approach which gives you the best chance of achieving your goals by understanding your investment style, investment time horizon and risk profile before you choose a strategy.

• The main investment options – including basic asset classes, such as cash, property, shares and bonds as well as managed investments, superannuation and alternative investments, such as derivatives and hedge funds.

• The link between risk and reward – some investments offer relatively low returns and are regarded as low risk and others are regarded as high risk, for example, shares in speculative mining companies offer potential large returns but the possibility of significant losses.

• Some of the pitfalls and how to avoid them – there is a list of helpful tips such as how to handle market fluctuations and to be cautious of promises of high returns without risk.

• The costs of investing – the return on investment is affected by direct costs, such as fees or taxes, or indirectly, such as the opportunity lost by investing in an asset which didn’t perform as well as another asset over the same period of time.

• Guidance on how to go about finding financial advice you can trust – advice on how to find a financial adviser that suits your needs and checking that the adviser is licensed to provide you with financial advice.