reasons to premiums. Pessimistic investors, managers that aren't very good, and unfashionable investments are the main reasons for them. But sometimes buying trusts at a discount can net you a bargain. Trusts trading at big discounts can be taken over. Or market sentiment may improve and reduce the discount. These are the sorts of trusts that you should be looking to buy. Some investment trusts these days use what is known as a no discount policy. What this means is that the trust tries to make sure that the share price is always at or around the NAV. So when the shares trade at a discount, the trust buys shares in the market to push up the price. If the shares trade at a premium, it will issue new shares on the stock exchange to push the value per share down towards its NAV. Investors in these trusts can therefore be confident that their shares are fairly valued. We like investment trusts here at MoneyWeek magazine. By knowing how to pick a good one, you can go and find the right one for you. However, if you're feeling lazy, we also have picked out a core portfolio of investment trusts that we believe are solid bets for anyone. You can read all about the portfolio here: The MoneyWeek model portfolio .  This article is taken from our beginner's guide to investing, MoneyWeek Basics. Everything you need to know about how to invest your money for profit, delivered FREE to