Trevor Sykes

This is a great account of the effects of the GFC on Australian companies and how Australia faced the crisis. It provides wonderful insight into what can go wrong with an apparently prosperous and secure business and from this point of view is important reading for investors.

It underlines the importance of doing one's own in-depth research into all aspects of a company or other financial instrument before investing. It also underlines the importance of not relying on the advice of others - show more a lesson no doubt learned by the county councils and others who invested in the toxic assets offered by 'trusted' merchant banks. One wonders how they escaped prosecution after selling instruments with the expectation of future gains, whilst currently shorting the same instrument on their own account.

Sykes is a great writer who can make the most complex financial contortions completely transparent, although he does provide a warning in the preface that some of the complexities may be beyond the average reader. But didn't Warren Buffett say that he only invested in businesses he understood? show less