Money Week > Reviews (6)

Money Week is a weekly magazine about money (no really), which gives a commentary on the most important financial stories of the week. It is edited by Merryn Somerset Webb, who also writes for the Financial Times and The Sunday Times, but also has contributions from many other regulars and précis of articles, share tips and investment ideas from other publications, presented in an interesting and contrarian style often contradicting the mainstream view.

The magazine is fairly thin, with just 40 or so pages and costs £2.50 or just £14 per quarter on subscription with a three-week free trial. It is however full of useful information for investors whether you are just wondering what to do with this year's ISA allowance or for short-term trading tips and investment strategies. Money Week typically consists of a one-page summary from the editor, two pages of general financial news and individual company news, market news, articles about investment strategy, a section called "Who's tipping what" which summarises what is being printed elsewhere in the financial press and why they might be right or wrong, "sector of the week" analysis, personal opinions from regular contributors, "Best of the financial columnists", analysis of politics and economics, funds, personal finance and property investment. There is also a section on the best information available on the Internet and a section covering how to spend your money on holidays, wine, cars and property and a profile about famous business people. It may not sound like an exciting read, but it really does have a lot of information presented in an interesting way in a small format.

In addition to all of the regular features, the main cover story is usually a fairly long article going into more depth about an important topic and there is also a monthly "roundtable" of the regular contributors and other financial pundits. The magazine has regular recurring themes, which are often the opposite of what you will read elsewhere. The magazine has been negative on the housing market for a long time, before the rest of the press caught up and predicted the "credit crunch" turmoil and recommended buying gold and selling banking shares. It has been correct about many other investment themes over the years that I have been reading it. I am however regretting acting on their suggestion to buy into Japan, but maybe even that will be correct in the long term.

The "who's tipping what" section takes tips from the financial press or from market analysts and goes into the logic behind the tip and why they might be right or wrong. The "Tip of the week" is the best tip and the "Turkey of the week" is the one to avoid. In addition to these there is the "Gamble of the week" if you like to invest in exciting/risky shares. At the end of the magazine there is also a two-page table of the buy and sell tips from various other publications with a short description of the reason behind the recommendation. The final section is "last word" which gives Bill Bonner's gloomy predictions for the world economy.

In addition to the printed magazine there are three free daily email newsletters: Money Morning, Money Sense and Money Week Asia covering similar issues.

If you are an active investor or just want to find the best home for your saving I would certainly recommend trying this informative weekly magazine.

Summary: All of the week's financial news compressed into one magazine