In an inconspicuous corner of the investment business, there's a valuable circle of professionals having nothing to do with managing money. Rather than making investments, they make sentences. Armed with a facility for language, they pen literature and communications for the consumption of millions of investors—private and institutional—who entrust portfolio managers, advisors, and consultants with trillions of dollars in assets. Their words can sway investors' opinions, shape their attitudes, affect their decisions, and drive their behavior.

These are the industry's investment writers. This handbook is for them primarily—though not exclusively. It is intended for anyone tasked with the responsibility of writing for the investor. There are many, which is why this book is called The Investment Writing Handbook rather than The Investment Writer's Handbook. Still, to understand the context of this craft, it's worth highlighting the dedicated writers for whom this book is chiefly intended.

Investment writers are an ultra‐specialized class of communicators in a niche of the third degree. They are writers of financial services. They serve a well‐defined segment of that industry dealing exclusively with investments. And, within that segment, they write for what is known as the “buy side,” which comprises firms that purchase and sell securities on behalf of investors for money management.

Investment writers have counterparts on the “sell side,” which includes brokerage houses and investment banks that underwrite securities, offer public analyst recommendations for them, and publish research. This book is also for them and offers plenty of principles applicable to their business.

Don't take these über‐niche writers for a paltry bunch. The investment industry, which plays a major role in the global economy and financial markets, employs bevies of them—staff writers, freelancers, and external agency personnel—who churn out content for a range of communications. At year‐end 2016, Cerulli Associates estimated the U.S. investment market alone at nearly $41 trillion in assets¹ that are professionally managed by hundreds of firms on behalf of thousands of institutions and millions of households. These investors include mass‐market (retail) investors and wealthy individuals, retirement‐plan participants, sponsors of government and corporate retirement plans, endowments, foundations, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, and other institutions that invest money.

Since the investment business isn't one of materials but one of ideas, analysis, and consultation, virtually all firms—from hedge funds and family offices to large wealth and asset managers—need to communicate regularly to their clients and place a premium on such communication. So do consultancies and research firms, as well as third‐party intermediaries that offer the products of investment firms.

Investment writers are the thought synthesizers and mouthpieces of investment professionals and corporate executives. Often as ghostwriters, and in addition to authoring marketing communications, they help articulate the viewpoints, analyses, and prognostications of chief executive officers, chief investment officers, portfolio managers, product managers, client‐account managers, economists, analysts, investment advisors, investor‐relations staff, and others. Many investment professionals also carve out precious time between other duties to write themselves—without the help of dedicated writers—and communicate to investors or the general public about investment issues. This handbook is for them, too, for when they don the writer's cap.

All this is to say that investment writing is a vital function in a business whose proposition is intellectual rather than physical. It is performed by seasoned practitioners serving a sizable contingent of firms and their clients, with trillions of dollars in managed assets at stake. Like other disciplines, it has conventions, processes, recommended practices, and complexities. Like other art forms, it involves creativity. And, like other weighty professions, it requires training through experience. That's enough to warrant a handbook, so here you have one. Brace yourself for the journey.