Using Word's readability statistics to improve your investment commentary

Some participants in my program on writing investment commentary seemed intrigued by the idea of using Word's readability statistics to evaluate their writing.

I've copied below Word's instructions for displaying those statistics.

If you can get your grade level down to 10th grade, my hat's off to you. Investments are complicated. It's not easy to get below the 12th grade.

If you want to lower your grade level, focus on writing shorter sentences using shorter words.

Display readability statistics

1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Spelling & Grammar tab.
2. Select the Check grammar with spelling check box.
3. Select the Show readability statistics check box, and then click OK.
4. On the Standard toolbar, click Spelling and Grammar .

   When Microsoft Word finishes checking spelling and grammar, it displays information about the reading level of the document.