I'm not sure if Mr Bearbull is a real person (Investors' Chronicle)

Member Name: AndrewPo

Product:	Investors' Chronicle
Date:	15/04/09 (96 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good overview of the week's investment news and trading ideas

Disadvantages: Most of the articles are available for free on their web-site

The Investors Chronicle magazine is published by The Financial Times Limited and is probably the most respected weekly investment magazine in the UK. It also has a very comprehensive free web-site and a free daily email service. So why buy the magazine? The magazine gives an overview of the economy and markets, but also suggested investment strategies, fund suggestions, news and comment.

I have a weekly subscription to Investors Chronicle which usually costs £149 for a year although there are often special offers and the price drops for longer subscriptions. Buying from the news agent costs £3.75 a week. I also get a daily email alert which gives me access to much of the information in the magazine, sometimes even before the magazine arrive. This makes the hard copy magazine a luxury, but it is great to get away from the computer occasionally.

The magazine has the following sections: Seven Days, which gives a good concise overview of the week's market movement; News which is a more detailed look at the week's news; Comment, which has several articles by various contributors including "Mr Bearbull" a column which has appeared in the magazine since the 1950s; Strategies, giving a selection of investment ideas for the coming weeks, months or years; Companies, provides news, reports, results, updates, director dealing, takeovers rights issues etc. and tips; Funds, for investment trust, unit trust, OEIC and ETF news, tips and manager interviews; and finally the Trading section which suggests trading ideas for the weeks ahead, mostly based on technical analysis (lots of charts and explanations)

I would be very wary of of blindly following the investment tips in any publication, even one with as good credentials as the Investor's Chronicle, but the share tips, tip updates and other strategy suggestions are certainly a good place to start your research if you are searching for investment ideas. The explanation of the technical analysis approach to short-term trading is also a useful insight for me into this higher risk style of investment.

The coverage of the magazine is very good and offers a lot of investment and trading information in a weekly magazine which would be useful even if you had read the Financial Times or Bloomberg every day. I definitely recommend the free web-site and email alerts and if, like me, you like reading a magazine rather than a laptop or mobile phone and can justify the cost, get the magazine.

Summary: Some good trading ideas