Chapter 6
Shares for intelligent investors
We can go further and assert that in an astonishingly large proportion of the trading in common stocks, those engaged therein don’t appear to know — in polite terms — one part of their anatomy from the other.
Benjamin Graham, author of The Intelligent Investor
Shares have proved to be a solid investment over the years and historically have always outperformed cash over the long term. Much like property, you will want to own shares for two key reasons: they increase in value and they provide income — which in the case of shares is called a dividend.
While shares have the attraction of offering a (potentially) high return, like all such investments they also carry a high risk. Look back at figure 4.1 ...
