Stock Investing For Dummies, 5th Edition - Paul Mladjenovic (2016)
Part VI. Appendixes
IN THIS PART …
Find my favorite resources to help you succeed with both stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Get research sites that give you the inside scoop on stocks and market action behind the headlines, as well as resources to help you be ahead of the curve so you aren’t surprised by the stock market’s gyrations.
Discover the ratios that will help make your choices more successful, along with the key ratios that help you see how profitable (and how solvent) your prospective stocks are.
Appendix A. Resources for Stock Investors
Getting and staying informed are ongoing priorities for stock investors. The lists in this appendix represent some of the best information resources available.
Financial Planning Sources
To find a financial planner to help you with your general financial needs, contact the following organizations:
Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards
1425 K St. NW, Suite 500
Washington, DC 20005
Phone 800-487-1497
Website www.cfp.net
Get a free copy of the CFP Board’s pamphlet 10 Questions to Ask When Choosing a Financial Planner. Be sure to ask for a financial planner who specializes in investing.
Financial Planning Association (FPA)
7535 E. Hampden Avenue, Suite 600
Denver, CO 80231
Phone 800-322-4237
Website www.fpanet.org
This is the largest organization of financial planning professionals.
National Association of Personal Financial Advisors
3250 N. Arlington Heights Rd., Suite 109
Arlington Heights, IL 60004
Phone 847-483-5400
Website www.napfa.org
This is the leading organization for fee-based financial planners (in other words, they don’t get paid through commissions based on selling insurance/investment products).
The Language of Investing
Investing for Beginners
Website beginnersinvest.about.com
This site offers good basic information for novice investors.
Investopedia
Website www.investopedia.com
An excellent site with plenty of information on investing for beginning and intermediate investors.
Investor Words
Website www.investorwords.com
One of the most comprehensive sites on the Internet for beginning and intermediate investors for learning words and phrases unique to the financial world.
Standard & Poor’s Dictionary of Financial Terms
By Virginia B. Morris and Kenneth M. Morris
Published by Lightbulb Press, Inc.
A nicely laid out A-to-Z publication for investors mystified by financial terms. It explains the important investing terms you come across every day.
Textual Investment Resources
Stock investing success isn’t an event; it’s a process. The periodicals and magazines listed here (along with their websites) have offered many years of guidance and information for investors, and they’re still top-notch. The books provide much wisdom that’s either timeless or timely (covering problems and concerns every investor should be aware of now).
Periodicals and magazines
Barron’s
Website online.barrons.com
Forbes magazine
Website www.forbes.com
Investing.com
Website www.investing.com
Investor’s Business Daily
Website www.investors.com
Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine
Website www.kiplinger.com
Money magazine
Website www.money.cnn.com
Value Line Investment Survey
Website www.valueline.com
The Wall Street Journal
Website www.wsj.com
Books
Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings
By Philip A. Fisher
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Although the book is from 2003, the information and guidance are still valuable for today’s investors.
Elliott Wave Principle: Key to Market Behavior
By A. J. Frost and Robert R. Prechter
Published by New Classics Library
Robert Prechter is one of the leading technicians and has had some very accurate forecasts about the stock market and the general economy.
Forbes Guide to the Markets: Becoming a Savvy Investor
By Marc M. Groz
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
This book is a solid investing guide from the folks at Forbes.
Fundamental Analysis For Dummies
By Matt Krantz
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
I had the good fortune to review this book, and it’s very worthwhile for serious investors. The author “drills down” into the financials of a company, which any serious investor would need to know.
How to Pick Stocks Like Warren Buffett: Profiting from the Bargain Hunting Strategies of the World’s Greatest Value Investor
By Timothy Vick
Published by McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing
When you’re investing, it’s good to see what accomplished investors like Warren Buffett do, and this book explains his approach well.
The Intelligent Investor: The Classic Text on Value Investing
By Benjamin Graham
Published by HarperCollins
This is a classic investing book that was great when it was published and is very relevant in today’s tumultuous stock market.
Security Analysis: The Classic 1951 Edition
by Benjamin Graham and David L. Dodd
Published by the McGraw-Hill Companies
This book is a classic, and most investors in this uncertain age should acquaint themselves with the basics.
Standard & Poor’s Stock Reports (available in the library reference section)
Website www.netadvantage.standardandpoors.com
Ask your reference librarian about this excellent reference source, which gives one-page summaries on the major companies and has detailed financial reports on all major companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq.
The Wall Street Journal Guide to Understanding Money & Investing
By Kenneth M. Morris and Virginia B. Morris
Published by Lightbulb Press, Inc.
This is a neat little book that offers a good overview of investing.
Special books of interest to stock investors
The Coming Bond Market Collapse: How to Survive the Demise of the U.S. Debt Market
By Michael G. Pento
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
The global bond market is a huge bubble that will send shockwaves through stock markets and economies; Pento tells you why and what to do.
Crash Proof 2.0: How to Profit from the Economic Collapse
By Peter D. Schiff with John Downes
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
A great “crash course” on the problems facing our modern economy and how to strategize with your portfolio.
The ETF Book: All You Need to Know About Exchange-Traded Funds
By Richard A. Ferri
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Considering the marketplace, ETFs are better choices than stocks for some investors, and this book does a good job of explaining them.
High-Level Investing For Dummies
By Paul Mladjenovic
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
My shameless plug for another great book. Seriously, this book will indeed take your stock investing to the next level as I cover more strategies and resources on investing and speculating with not only stocks but also ETFs and options so you can find out what it takes to be with history’s great investors and speculators.
Hot Commodities: How Anyone Can Invest Profitably in the World’s Best Market
By Jim Rogers
Published by Random House
The cornerstone of “human need” investing includes commodities, and Rogers provides great insights in this book.
The Money Bubble
By James Turk and John Rubino
Published by DollarCollapse Press
These are epic times as historic currency bubbles and crises unfold with serious consequences for stocks and other aspects of the financial picture. This book gives you great guidance for enhancing your financial safety.
Investing Websites
How can any serious investor ignore the Internet? You can’t, and you shouldn’t. The following are among the best information sources available.
General investing websites
Bloomberg
www.bloomberg.com
CNN Money
www.money.cnn.com
Financial Sense
www.financialsense.com
Forbes
www.forbes.com
Invest Wisely: Advice From Your Securities Industry Regulators
www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/inws.htm
Investing.com
www.investing.com
MarketWatch
www.marketwatch.com
MSN Money
www.money.msn.com
Stock investing websites
AllStocks.com
www.allstocks.com
Benzinga
www.benzinga.com
CNBC
www.cnbc.com
Contrarian Investing.com
www.contrarianinvesting.com
DailyStocks
www.dailystocks.com
Morningstar (known for mutual funds but has great research available on stocks as well)
www.morningstar.com
Quote.com
www.quote.com
Raging Bull
www.ragingbull.com
Standard and Poor’s
www.standardandpoors.com
The Street
www.thestreet.com
Yahoo! Finance
www.finance.yahoo.com
Stock investing blogs
These blogs offer a wealth of opinions and insights from experts on investing. Peruse them to round out your research (you may even find some articles from me as well).
BlogCatalog
www.blogcatalog.com
Note: I include this site because it’s a popular search engine for blogs. There are many excellent financial and stock market blogs that I can’t fit in this space, so do a search on BlogCatalog (another source is www.blogsearchengine.com).
Minyanville
www.minyanville.com
Seeking Alpha
www.seekingalpha.com
StockTwits
www.stocktwits.com
StreetAuthority
www.streetauthority.com
Other blogs that are useful for stock investors
Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
www.usawatchdog.com
HoweStreet
www.howestreet.com
King World News
www.kingworldnews.com
Market Sanity
www.marketsanity.com
Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis
www.mishtalk.com
SafeHaven
www.safehaven.com
Zero Hedge
www.zerohedge.com
Investor Associations and Organizations
American Association of Individual Investors (AAII)
625 N. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611-3110
Phone 800-428-2244
Website www.aaii.com
National Association of Investors Corp. (NAIC)
711 W. 13 Mile Rd.
Madison Heights, MI 48071
Phone 877-275-6242
Website www.betterinvesting.org
Stock Exchanges
Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE)
Website www.cboe.com
Note: The CBOE is an options exchange, but I include it here because options have been mentioned throughout this book, and the CBOE options learning center has lots of information about how options can enhance your stock investing.
Nasdaq
Website www.nasdaq.com
The main site for Nasdaq. You’ll find lots of information and guidance for stock investors here.
New York Stock Exchange/Euronext
Website www.nyse.com
The NYSE’s site has a wealth of information for stock investors.
OTC Bulletin Board
Website www.otcbb.com
If you decide to research small cap stocks, this is the site to go to for data and research on small publicly traded companies.
Finding Brokers
The following sections offer sources to help you evaluate brokers and an extensive list of brokers (with telephone numbers and websites) so that you can do your own shopping.
Choosing brokers
Reviews.com
Website www.reviews.com/online-stock-trading
This site provides reviews in many categories, including stock brokerage firms.
Stock Brokers
Website www.stockbrokers.com
This site tracks and reviews brokers.
Brokers
Charles Schwab & Co.
Phone 800-435-4000
Website www.schwab.com
E*TRADE
Phone 800-387-2331
Website www.etrade.com
Edward D. Jones & Co.
Phone 314-515-3265
Website www.edwardjones.com
Fidelity Brokerage Services
Phone 800-343-3548
Website www.fidelity.com
Merrill Lynch
Phone 800-637-7455
Website www.ml.com
Morgan Stanley
Phone 888-454-3965
Website www.morganstanley.com
Muriel Siebert & Co.
Phone 800-872-0444
Website www.siebertnet.com
OptionsHouse
877-598-3190
Website www.optionshouse.com
OptionsXpress
Phone 888-280-8020
Website www.optionsxpress.com
Scottrade
Phone 800-619-7283
Website www.scottrade.com
TD Ameritrade
Phone 800-669-3900
Website www.tdameritrade.com
thinkorswim
Phone 866-839-1100
Website www.thinkorswim.com
TradeKing
Phone 877-495-5464
Website www.tradeking.com
Vanguard Brokerage Services
Phone 877-662-7447
Website personal.vanguard.com
Wall Street Access
Phone 800-709-5929
Website www.wsaccess.com
Wells Fargo Securities
Phone 866-224-5708
Website www.wellsfargoadvisors.com
Fee-Based Investment Sources
The following are fee-based subscription services. Many of them also offer excellent (and free) email newsletters tracking the stock market and related news.
The Bull & Bear
Website www.thebullandbear.com
The Daily Reckoning (Agora Publishing)
Website www.dailyreckoning.com
Elliott Wave International
Phone 770-536-0309
Website www.elliottwave.com
Hulbert Financial Digest
Website www.marketwatch.com/premium-newsletters/hulbert-financial-digest
(Part of MarketWatch.com)
Investing Daily
Website www.investingdaily.com
InvestorPlace
Website www.investorplace.com
Mark Skousen
Website www.mskousen.com
The Motley Fool
Website www.fool.com
Richard C. Young’s Intelligence Report
Website www.intelligencereport.investorplace.com
Richard Russell’s Dow Theory Letters
Website www.dowtheoryletters.com
The Value Line Investment Survey
Phone 800-654-0508
Website www.valueline.com
Weiss Research’s Money and Markets
Website www.moneyandmarkets.com
Exchange-Traded Funds
ETF Database
www.etfdb.com
ETF Trends
www.etftrends.com
ETFguide
http://etfguide.com/
Dividend Reinvestment Plans
BUYandHOLD (a division of Freedom Investments)
Website www.buyandhold.com
DRIP Central
Website www.dripcentral.com
DRIP Investor
Website www.dripinvestor.com
First Share
Website www.firstshare.com
Moneypaper’s directinvesting.com
Website www.directinvesting.com
Sources for Analysis
The following sources give you the chance to look a little deeper at some critical aspects regarding stock analysis. Whether it’s earnings estimates and insider selling or a more insightful look at a particular industry, these sources are among my favorites.
Earnings and earnings estimates
Earnings Whispers
Website www.earningswhispers.com
Thomson Reuters
Website www.thomsonreuters.com
Yahoo’s Stock Research Center
Website biz.yahoo.com/r/
Zacks Investment Research
Website www.zacks.com
Sector and industry analysis
Hoover’s
Website www.hoovers.com
MarketWatch
Website www.marketwatch.com
Standard & Poor’s
Website www.standardandpoors.com
Stock indexes
Dow Jones Indexes
Website www.djindexes.com
Investopedia’s tutorial on indexes
Website www.investopedia.com/university/indexes
Reuters’ list of indexes
Website www.reuters.com/finance/markets/indices
Note: If these direct links don’t work, do a search for indexes from the site’s home page. Also, keep in mind that many of the resources in this appendix offer extensive information on indexes (such as MarketWatch and Yahoo! Finance).
Factors that affect market value
Understanding basic economics is so vital to making your investment decisions that I had to include this section. These great sources have helped me understand the big picture and what ultimately affects the stock market (see Chapter 15 for more details).
Economics and politics
American Institute for Economic Research (AIER)
Website www.aier.org
Note: AIER also has great little booklets for consumers on budgeting, Social Security, avoiding financial problems, and other topics.
Center for Freedom and Prosperity
Website www.freedomandprosperity.org
Federal Reserve Board
Website www.federalreserve.gov
Financial Sense
Website www.financialsense.com
Foundation for Economic Education
Website www.fee.org
Grandfather Economic Report
Website www.grandfathereconomicreport.com
Ludwig von Mises Institute
518 W. Magnolia Ave.
Auburn, AL 36832
Phone 334-321-2100
Website www.mises.org
Moody’s Analytics
Website www.economy.com
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Phone 800-732-0330
Websites www.sec.gov and www.investor.gov
The SEC has tremendous resources for investors. In addition to providing information on investing, the SEC also monitors the financial markets for fraud and other abusive activities. For stock investors, it also has EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval system), which is a comprehensive, searchable database of public documents that are filed by public companies.
Federal laws
Go to any of these sites to find out about new and proposed laws. The on-site search engines will help you find laws either by their assigned number or a keyword search.
Library of Congress (Thomas legislative search engine)
Website thomas.loc.gov
U.S. House of Representatives
Website www.house.gov
U.S. Senate
Website www.senate.gov
Technical analysis
Big Charts (Provided by www.marketwatch.com)
Website www.bigcharts.com
Elliott Wave International
Website www.elliottwave.com
Stock Technical Analysis
Website www.stockta.com
StockCharts.com
Website www.stockcharts.com
Insider trading
ProCon
Website www.procon.org
SEC Info
Website www.secinfo.com
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Website www.sec.gov
StreetInsider
Website www.streetinsider.com
10-K Wizard
Website www.10kwizard.com
Note: This site takes you to Morningstar’s Document Research site, which can help you find the filed documents.
Tax Benefits and Obligations
Americans for Tax Reform
Website www.atr.org
Fairmark
Website www.fairmark.com
Fidelity Investments
Website www.401k.com
IRA
Website www.IRA.com
J. K. Lasser’s series of books on taxes
By J. K. Lasser
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Website www.jklasser.com
National Taxpayers Union
Website www.ntu.org
TaxMama
Website www.taxmama.com
Fraud
Federal Citizen Information Center
Website www.pueblo.gsa.gov
Investing publications for consumers from the Federal Citizen Information Center catalog are available for free downloading at this website.
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)
1735 K St. NW
Washington, DC 20006
Phone 800-289-9999 or 301-590-6500
Website www.finra.org
This website gives you information and assistance on reporting fraud or other abuse by brokers.
National Consumers League’s Fraud Center
Website www.fraud.org
North American Securities Administrators Association
Phone 888-846-2722
Website www.nasaa.org
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Website www.sec.gov
The government agency that regulates the securities industry.
Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA)
1101 New YoArk Ave. NW, 8th Floor
Washington, DC 20005
Phone 202-962-7300
Website www.sifma.org
Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC)
Website www.sipc.org
SIPC has the role of restoring funds to investors with assets in the hands of bankrupt and otherwise financially troubled brokerage firms (make sure that your brokerage firm is a member of SIPC).