Table of Contents
Foreword Lionel Barber xiii
The lessons of the first ten years xvii
Introduction Terry Smith
Fund management fees 1
Straight Talking, 28 September 2010
Annual letter to shareholders 2010 4
Fundsmith, January 2011
Share buybacks - friend or foe? 11
Investment Week, 11 April 2011
Exchange-traded funds are worse than I thought 13
The Telegraph, 24 May 2011
Accelerated stock repurchases 16
Straight Talking, 4 July 2011
Murdoch should give up control of News Corp 18
Investment Week, 13 July 2011
News Corp: a family business 20
The Guardian, 18 July 2011
UBS debacle highlights dangers of ETFs 23
Investment Week, 16 September 2011
The great contender - how Smokin' Joe Frazier defined an era 25
Financial Times, 12 November 2011
Annual letter to shareholders 2011 28
Fundsmith, January 2012
Traders are the ruin of retail banking 36
The Guardian, 1 July 2012
Lessons of the great Wall Street Crash 38
The Independent, 24 October 2012
Lessons from the Tour de France 41
Financial Times, 23 November 2012
Annual letter to shareholders 2012 43
Fundsmith, January 2013
Return-free risk - why boring is best 53
Financial Times, 18 January 2013
Ten golden rules of investment 56
Financial Tunes, 15 February 2013
Market timing: don't try this at home 60
Financial Times, 1 March 2013
Sorting the wheat from the chaff 62
Financial Times, 15 March 2013
Never invest just to avoid tax 64
Financial Times, 28 March 2013
Too many stocks spoil the portfolio 66
Financial Times, 12 April 2013
Keep a lid on costs to protect your investment 68
Financial Times, 29 April 3013
If they use these words, don't buy their shares 71
The Telegraph, 18 October 2013
Why it is safe to pay up for quality 74
The Telegraph, 22 November 2013
It's déjà vu all over again 77
Financial Times, 6 December 2013
Annual letter to shareholders 2013 80
Fundsmith, January 2014
Just the facts when weighing investments 92
Financial Times, 24 January 2014
Shale: miracle, revolution or bandwagon? 95
Financial Times, 7 February 2014
Investors are their own worst enemies 98
The Telegraph, 14 February 2014
Big Blue investors may not have a winning hand 101
Financial Times, 24 February 2014
What did you invest in before the war, great-grandpa? 104
Financial Times, 8 March 2014
Why buy Brics when you can have Mugs? 106
Financial Times, 11 April 2014
A hitchhiker's guide to emerging markets 109
Financial Times, 1 August 2014
How investors ignored the warning signs at Tesco 112
Financial Times, 6 September 2014
Eureka! I discovered how funds are named 115
Financial Tunes, 3 October 2014
Why I don't own bank shares 117
Financial Times, 1 November 2014
Is this the next Tesco? 120
The Telegraph, 29 November 2014
Let's all do the corporate hokey-cokey 123
Financial Times, 5 December 2014
Annual letter to shareholders 2014 126
Fundsmith, January 2015
What exactly do we mean by "shareholder value"? 135
Financial Times, 9 January 2015
Shareholder value is an outcome, not an objective 138
Financial Times, 6 February 2015
Three steps to heaven 141
Fidelity, 27 February 2015
Where's the beef? McDonald's uncertain recovery 143
Financial Times, 22 May 2015
What investors can learn from Alex Bird's 500 winning bets at the races 146
The Telegraph, 12 June 2015
What investors can learn from Sir Alex Ferguson's success 149
The Telegraph, 19 June 2015
Bond proxies: can you afford not to own them? 152
Financial Times, 26 June 2015
Income is not what it used to be 155
Financial Times, 17 July 2015
Keep your eyes on the prize: total return is what matters 158
Financial Times, 24 July 2015
Why bother cooking the books if no one reads them? 161
Financial Times, 24 September 2015
Firms which provide good products or services are key to investing 164
Daily Mail, 9 November 2015
What I have learnt at Fundsmith in the past five years 167
Financial Times, 21 November 2015
Annual letter to shareholders 2015 172
Fundsmith, January 2016
If you do one thing with your money in 2016 179
Financial Times, 15 January 2016
Investors should not write off bond proxies 181
Financial Times, 8 September 2016
What the Nifty Fifty can tell us about bond proxies 184
Financial Times, 14 September 2016
Stay focused on the 'known knowns' 187
The Telegraph, 29 October 2016
Annual letter to shareholders 2016 190
Fundsmith, January 2017
Emerging markets ETFs and the Jaws of Death 198
Financial Times, 17 February 2017
The unique advantage of equity investment 201
Financial Times, 20 April 2017
AstraZeneca is beginning to look like Tesco 203
Financial Times, 4 August 2017
Annual letter to shareholders 2017 207
Fundsmith, January 2018
ESG? SRI? Is your green portfolio really green? 226
Financial Times, 18 January 2018
Adding small-caps to a global equity portfolio adds value without heightening the risk 228
Financial Times, 31 August 2018
Who needs income? 232
Financial Times, 3 October 2018
Do equities outperform bonds? 236
Financial Times, 7 November 2018
Annual letter to shareholders 2018 239
Fundsmith, January 2019
The myths of fund management 258
Global Finance Mauritius, November 2019
Annual letter to shareholders 2019 261
Fundsmith, January 2020
A pandemic letter to shareholders 275
Fundsmith, 31 March 2020
Never let a crisis go to waste 278
Financial Times, 30 April 2020
There are only two types of investors 281
Financial Times, 2 July 2020
In order to finish first 284
Global Finance Mauritius, August 2020
Index 289
