We start to get into slightly racier territory in this section of the book. Chapter 11 explores the many advantages of broadening out your horizons to include foreign shares as well as British ones. Then we discuss the so-called derivatives market – futures, options and so forth – and we take a long look at the fast-growing commodities sector. I show you how to use the new generation of exchange traded funds, which are a cheap and flexible way of backing your hunches on gold, oil and other basic items.

Finally we move on to managed funds – unit trusts, investment trusts, guaranteed income onds (a kind of stock market tracker), and hedge funds. What do they do? How do they calculate their prices? Why are some riskier than others? And where do you get up-to-date information about them?