When you ask Warren Buffett why he thinks investors sometimes have trouble understanding investment-related communications he’ll tell you the most common reason is:

A knowledgeable writer with good intensions simply fails to get the message across to an intelligent, interested reader. And, he’ll site jargon and complex constructions are the likely villains.

Using a plain English writing style that avoids obscurity, inflated vocabulary and convoluted sentence construction is the best way to stop these villains and ensures your audience will understand your message easily.

Yet only one out of 50 business and government documents is in plain English. Why? Because untrained writers draft documents full of passive verbs, long sentences, wordy phrases, complex words and other style faults.

Think of the advantages you’ll have over other businesses seeking to attract investors or raise money when you write in plain English: investors will clearly understand what you’re asking them to buy into and truly judge what action is best for them, which in turn saves you time and money.

So, no matter whether you use plain English in long or short documents, in prospectuses, shareholder reports, or business plans – speak to your investors in words they understand.

Here are a few plain English writing resources:

Writing Software

Stylewriter Plain English Software Editor

Books on Plain English

The Plain English Approach to Business Writing
by Edward P., Jr. Bailey, Larry Bailey

Writing in Plain English
by Robert D. Eagleson, Gloria Jones, Sue Hassall

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