Bank fees may be eating up your earnings, but what can you do about it? Seasoned investment banker Larry Bates is here to help with “Beat the Bank: The Canadian Guide to Simply Successful Investing.” In his book, Bates fills you in on the shady dealings that go on behind the scenes in the Canadian banking industry. He coaches readers to recognize if their trust is misplaced and shows them how easy it is to do something about it. This useful guide shows you how to make the long-term investments that will result in bigger returns to you instead of to your bank.

Bates dedicates much of the book to detailing his three basic steps to making smart and easy investments. The steps cover everything from completely self-directed investing to more automated approaches. He presents the steps through the engaging stories of average Canadians’ investment experiences. These stories include firsthand accounts of his work with clients who have been misled prior to arriving in his office. His clients are not fools; they are educated professionals from all walks of life whose loyalty has been abused. Bates expresses a profound desire to steer his readers away from that kind of financial misfortune.

In the first pages, Bates reveals how even his college-educated sister misunderstood the terms of her mutual fund investment and lost over 20 years’ worth of fees. The author’s protective stance toward his sister comes through in his advice to readers. This book is also a great place to start if you find investment jargon intimidating. Readers are not bogged down by flipping through a glossary for the terms as in many other finance-related books. Instead, clear definitions about types of investments and accounts appear nearby wherever the discussion first includes them. Anyone can benefit from Bates’ decades of financial wisdom and his accessible writing style.