How to Begin Researching Stocks, Bonds, Mutual Funds, and Other Investments
By Joshua Kennon, About.com Guide to Investing for Beginners
Selecting stocks for investment can be overwhelming to a new investor. The process of researching stocks and investments isn't as difficult as it seems once you understand how to read financial statements. In fact, like Peter Lynch, I believe that the average investor can begin researching stocks provided they have the intelligence, discipline, financial resources, and temperament to compete with the professionals on Wall Street. In this section, you'll learn some of the things worth considering when choosing individual investments.
- Global Investing
- Taxes and Other Considerations
- Investing Questions You've Always Wanted to Ask (But Were Too Scared)
- Some Things To Consider Once You've Mastered the Basics
Picking Stocks
Owning stocks is nothing more than owning pieces of businesses. Before we can get into some of the more detailed stuff - like how to value and analyze a company - we need to cover a few fundamentals about picking and researching stocks.
- What Is an Annual Report? How Do I Order One?
- What Is a 10K? Why Is It So Important?
- How Can I Use the Proxy Statement to Pick Stocks?
- How Do I Research Stocks?
- Where Do I Find Investment Ideas?
- Should I Invest In My Employer's Stock?
- How Can I Pick Better Stocks?
- How Can I Tell If a Company's Management Is Shareholder Friendly?
- The Investor's Manifesto
- Making Money in Bad Companies
- How Can I Tell If One of My Stocks Is Heading for Trouble?
Buying and Trading Stocks
Once you know which stocks you want to buy, how do you actually go about doing it? If you want to know the difference between a market order and a limit order, or learn a few basics about how you can conservatively use very limited option techniques to build a position, pull up a chair. Class is in session!
- 12 Types of Stock Trades You Can Place at Your Broker
- Building a Stock Position by Writing Put Options
- Margin Debt 101 - How to Borrow Money to Buy Stock
- I Want to Make Money Off a Stock Falling. How Does Shorting Stock Work?
- I Got a Notice About a Spin-Off or Subsidiary Sale. What Is It?
- Why Should I Want a Company to Buy Back Its Own Shares?
Financial Statement Analysis & Ratios
Reading an annual report is key to being able to value a company. With a little bit of practice, you can learn how to look behind the numbers and see what appears to really be going on with the company. Concepts such as accounting goodwill, depreciation, and diluted shares outstanding can begin to make sense! These lessons are not just for those who want to value stocks. Many small business owners have their life savings invested in a family company, such as a restaurant or a dry cleaner. They are designed to help you understand and better manage that extremely important family investment.
- How to Read a Balance Sheet
- How to Read an Income Statement
- Simple Return on Equity
- Beginners Guide to Financial Ratios
- Beginner's Guide to Financial Statements
- Calculating Enterprise Value
- Return on Equity - DuPont Model
- Return on Assets
- Asset Turnover Ratio
- Current Ratio
- Debt to Equity Ratio
- Gross Profit Margin Ratio
- Gross Profit Calculation
- Interest Coverage Ratio
- Net Profit Margin Ratio
- Operating Profit Margin Ratio
- Quick Test Ratio
- Receivable Turn Ratio
- Working Capital Per Sales
- PEG Ratio
Value Investing
One of the most successful stock picking and investment methods in history is value investing. Started by the famous Benjamin Graham, the value investing approach - either in its pure or modified form - has allowed many investors such as Warren Buffett, John Templeton, Peter Lynch, Charlie Munger, Bill Ruane, Eddie Lampert, Lou Simpson, and the guys at Tweedy Browne & Company, just to name a few, to amass fortunes in the hundreds of millions, or even tens of billions, of dollars. These resources are designed to help you understand value investing and how you can put some its concepts to work in your own portfolio.
- Ben Graham's 7 Investment Secrets
- How to Acquire Undervalued Stocks
- Look-Through Earnings - Warren Buffett's Secret Weapon
- 4 Things to Look for in a Great Investment
- How to Think About Share Price
- How Falling Stock Prices Can Make You Rich
- Real World Investing - A Look at Actual Companies and Their Returns
- Valuing Cyclical Stocks - How to Calculate Intrinsic Value
- Warren Buffett Resources - Bio, Shareholder Letters, and More
- Buy and Hold Investing Strategy
- The Death of Buy and Hold Investing?
- What Does Buffett Mean When He Says "Business-Like" Investing is Important?
- Does a High P/E Ratio Always Mean a Stock Is Overvalued?
Global Investing
In today's markets, you don't have to be confined to the United States when looking for great businesses. Although not without risks, there is much to be said for global investing. In fact, despite owning a collection of businesses and managing my own equity portfolios with tremendous success, my personal accounts maintain a global trading investment with one of the well-heeled Park Avenue private money management companies, allowing me to own shares in companies from the Netherlands to China. These resources should help you begin to do the same thing.
Taxes and Other Considerations
It may seem like a lot of work, but good tax planning can take you a long way in reaching your wealth goals, whether through investment, work, or a combination because it helps you keep more of each dollar you earn. Given enough time, those seemingly small amounts can lead to thousands, if not millions, of extra dollar due to the power of compounding. These articles, resources, tutorials, and lessons are designed to help you understand how the strategies you choose can help or hinder your wealth building due to tax considerations.
- How to Avoid State Taxes with Tax-Free Municipal Bonds
- How You Can Save Thousands by Donating Stocks Instead of Cash
- Capital Gains Tax Holding Periods
- Frictional Expenses: The Hidden Tax
- The Dividend Tax Debate
- Estate Tax Rates & Limits
- How Can I Lower My Estate Taxes Through Gifts? What are the Rules?
- Tax-Free Investment Spinoffs
- Charitable Remainder Trusts - Donate to Charity & Get Guaranteed Income
- Know Thy Tax Code!
- How a Strategy Called Asset Placement Can Save You Thousands in Taxes
- Investing in Life Insurance for Taxes
- What Are My Retirement Account Contribution Limits and Rules?
Investing Questions You've Always Wanted to Ask (But Were Too Scared)
You know the questions you've always wanted to ask but were afraid to in case you looked like you didn't know anything? Relax! Most of the people around you are probably in the same boat. Here's a list of some of the common things that people wonder about when it comes to Wall Street. Whether talking with friends or chatting at a cocktail party, a few of these articles will help put you miles ahead of everyone else when it comes to understanding the nightly news and your portfolio.
- What Is a Derivative?
- What Is a Hedge Fund?
- What Is the Dow Jones and What Does It Mean?
- What Does The Federal Reserve Do?
- What Does the Board of Directors Do?
- What Is Inflation?
- What's a Sector or Industry?
- Can I Sue My Broker If I Lose Money?
- What Is a Collateralized Debt Obligation or CDO?
- How Does the SIPC Protect Me If My Broker Goes Bankrupt?
- What Does It Mean to Hold Stocks "In a Street" Name?
- Is Buying Stocks Gambling?
- What is an Investment Bank? Isn't It Just a Regular Bank?
- What Is Insider Trading?
- What are Mortgage Backed Securities?
- What is An Accredited Investor? Why Can They Buy Hedge Funds and I Can't?
- Some Companies Have "Tracking" Stocks. What On Earth Does That Mean?
Some Things To Consider Once You've Mastered the Basics
Once you've gotten the basics - you know what stocks are, how to research them, how dividends are paid, and more, all of which is available in the other sections of this site - there are some things that are important to learn. These concepts are still geared toward the beginner, but you shouldn't tackle them until you really have all of your bases covered and won't get turned off or intimidated by lingo such as 'capital', 'securities', 'market capitalization', and more.
