Investing for Growth (Second Edition)
10 March 2026Synopsis
"Britain's most popular stockpicker" –Financial Times
"Buffett 2.0" –Investors Chronicle
Second edition of the celebrated guide to investing from renowned fund manager Terry Smith, with new content covering 2020–2025.
Buy good companies. Don't overpay. Do nothing.
Some people love to make successful investing seem more complicated than it really is. In Investing for Growth, an anthology of essays and letters written between 2010–25, leading fund manager Terry Smith delights in debunking the many myths of investing – and making the case for simply buying the best companies in the world.
These are businesses that generate serious amounts of cash and know what to do with it. The result is a powerful compounding of returns that is almost impossible to beat. Even better, they aren't going anywhere. Most have survived the Great Depression and two world wars.
With his trademark razor-sharp wit, Smith not only reveals what these high-quality companies really look like and where to find them (as well as how to discover impostors), but also:
- Why you should avoid companies that abuse the English language
- How most share buybacks actually destroy value
- How to spot quality businesses and why you should invest in them
- What investors can learn from the Tour de France
- Why ETFs are much riskier than most realise
- Why you should avoid investing in bank shares
- His ten golden rules for investment
- And much, much more.
Backed up by the analytical rigour that made his name with the cult classic, Accounting for Growth (1992), this book is a hugely enjoyable and eye-opening tour through some of the most important topics in the world of investing – as well as a treasure trove of practical insights on how to make your money work for you.
No investor's bookshelf is complete without it.
Details
10 March 2026
9781804093733Reviews
Can dynamite be reassuringly explosive? This book certainly is. Terry Smith has had plenty to say about the stock market in the last ten years and, like his funds, he’s been bang on the money all the way through.
What sets him apart is not just his formidable winning streak, but the principles on which he has chosen to take a stand … Terry has always put his money where his (considerable) mouth is.
His essays are readable, easy to digest and refreshingly light on techno-babble. They will help you understand why some companies have durability while others, ostensibly doing well, suddenly disintegrate.
I could dispute something on around half of Smith's pages - we've been bickering about fees for at least a decade. But I hugely admire his concentrated conviction-led, growth-focused approach, and, oh yes, his fund has done wonders for my self-invested personal pension. So I'm still reading every page.
