Investing for Beginners - By Category
Investing 101
If you want to learn more about investing but have no previous experience, the Beginner's Corner is for you. Here, you can discover basic investments such as stocks and bonds, read about speculative practices such as trading on margin and shorting, and learn how to open a brokerage account to begin investing today.
Stocks & Stock Options
There are many different types of equity investments including common stock, preferred stock, convertible stock and restricted stock. These resources will help you learn the difference between each and help you understand derivatives such as stock options and warrants.
Mutual Funds, ETF Funds, and Hedge Funds
You've heard that mutual funds are the easiest way to begin investing your money, but aren't exactly sure how to go about getting involved with them. These resources will help make sense and simplify the process of buying your initial shares in the fund of your choice.
Real Estate Investing
Real estate investing has been around for thousands of years. Although the rules are different than the stock market, real estate investing can make you wealthy if done correctly (e.g., billionaire Sam Zell. Use these resources and articles to decide if real estate investing is right for you.
Bonds and Fixed Income Investing
Interested in learning about bonds and other fixed income investments? Use these resources to find out which kind of bonds are right for you, how you can determine the safety of corporate and municipal bonds, and the difference between general obligation, revenue, junk, zero-coupon, and fallen angels bonds.
Markets, Exchanges, Indices and Institutions
These resources will explain the function of financial exchanges such as the NYSE, the importantance of indices such as the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average and the role of institutions such as pension and mutual funds.
Banking, Cash, and the Federal Reserve System
These banking resources will help you understand how your bank can help aid in your investment plans. Banking topics covered include the federal reserve system, prime rate, money market accounts / funds and certificates of deposit.
Economics
Economics is the study of how scarce commodities and resources are affected by supply and demand. Economics is divided into two subdivisions, microeconomics and macroeconomics. These links include economics articles, resources, working papers, and individual disciplines.
Investing Strategies and Styles
Investing is an intensely personal endeavor; no one strategy or style fits everyone. These resources will help you identify which type of investor you are and what may work best based upon your needs and goals.
Planning for the Future
These resources will help you build a nest egg for college, plan for retirement, establish a budget and take control of your future.
Investing Lessons & Quizzes
Get a firm grasp on the stock market and how investment works in this series of investing lessons. To test your knowledge, each lesson has a free quiz at the end. Dive in today! Take it at your own pace, and before long, you'll be a financial expert!
Titans of Wealth
If you have ever been interested in learning about the lives of history's greatest business minds and investors, this is your chance. Learn what they did right, what they did wrong, and most importantly, what they did to ultimately beat the system and excel.
Financial Ratios
Any investor interested in the fundamentals should be able to calculate financial ratios from memory. The following resources have been taken from the Investing for Beginners site; they will teach you how to calculate many financial ratios based using annual reports and financial statements. Each ratio has several examples for reference purposes.
Financial Calculators
Financial calculators can help you plan for retirement, save for a vacation, invest for college, or determine your monthly mortgage payment. There are tons of free financial calculators on the web; these links will help you sort through the best of them.
Investment Research
There are many sources of investment research online or in print. These resources will help you find free or subscription-based investment research for stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and much more.