Resources for Learning

The web is a great resource for research and up-to-date investment information. In addition, there are some outstanding books available to help you do more in-depth research to develop your own investing style.

Look over the links and references below to select the right places for you to grown your investment skills.

What's Here?

Use the information on this page to better understand what is involved in researching, selecting, buying, and selling stocks.

Disclaimer

Much of the content provided through links takes you outside of the Invicis site. Not all opinions and information provided in these external links will be consistent. In fact, there may be blatant contra-dictions! Dig deeper. Learn more. Form your own opinions. Then you'll know you've made the best decisions that are right for you!

Free Stock Research Sites

MSN Money provides a great stock screener along with an easy to use stock rating system. The charts are clean and easy to use. Links to a company's SEC filings are quick and complete.

Yahoo! Finance provides a wealth of company data condensed into a common format to make comparing companies quick and easy.

Smartmoney.com provides the usual free research information. They also provide 'maps' that allow to to graphically view your portfolio, ETFs, Mutual Funds, etc. Perhaps on of the greatest strengths of this site is the comparison charting of mutual fund performance. Real performance is show which includes dividends and end of year reinvestments - not just absolute price.

Kiplinger.com is a great source for news and in-depth research on investing.

Newsletters

Newsletters offer you the opportunity to trade your personal time to understand the opinions and observations of others regarding the world of investments. Newsletter offerings on the internet vary widely from pure snake oil to quality information condensed into a readable form with minimal sales content. Below are selected newsletters (from the thousands available) that fall into the latter category. Each of these links will open up in a new window where you can sign up for the newsletter of you choose.

The Daily Pfennig provides the Chuck Butler's daily observations of the world currency markets, world and domestic economies, and helps makes sense out of the endless government economic performance data. This newsletter is a quick read. It's also your only source for the 'Butler Household Index' (BHI) tracking retail sales strength.

Thoughts from the Frontline is a fairly lengthy, weekly email that is as valuable for the references it provides as the actual information content. You will be required to give an email address (not verified) to enter this site. This newsletter tends to focus on wider economic picture rather than individual stocks.

The Opportunity in Time is an Invicis publication that provides specific buy and sell (long and short) recommendations based on either technical analysis, fundamental analysis, or both. This newsletter is fairly brief but includes links to additional reference materials to help the reader understand the how and why behind the recommendations.

Selected Readings

Over the years, there have come to be a few books that stand out in the crowd of thousands published on the world of investing. Here's a few that you might consider (along with their Amazon links).

"Wall Street Journal Guide to Understanding Money and Investing" by Kenneth Morris. This small paperback is a quick overview of stocks, bonds, markets, and all things money. It provides an excellent overview of the world of finance. It is written in everyday English and is easy to understand - even for the financial novice. This is a great starting place for the beginning investor to help understand how the stock market fits into the world of finance.

"The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing" by Jason Kelly. Mr. Kelly has done a great job of summarizing, comparing, and contrasting the views of notable investing minds into a compact and quick read. This is a great place to start in understanding the investments styles and strategies of Warren Buffett, William O'Neil, Peter Lynch, and others. The book closes with some guidelines to help you establish buy and sell rules for your own stock portfolio. The My Stock Minder program provides a default Stock Evaluator template built upon Mr. Kelly's "Stocks to Watch Worksheet".

"How to Make Money in Stocks" by William O'Neil. Although somewhat dated in content, this book offers concise and real-world rules to help you select, purchase, and sell stocks. For example, one rule is "...cut every single loss when it is 7% or 8% below your purchase price with absolutely no exceptions." There are 22 more rules provided in Chapter 20 that are worth the read.

"The Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham (preface & Appendix by Warren Buffett). Written by a guru of value investing, this book is a must read for understanding the investing style used to Berkshire Hathaway into the successful company it is today. Mr. Graham revisits and analyzes historical events providing you a perspective on how an 'intelligent investor' would have seen the situation and why. This book offers the reader perspective and wisdom from one of the leaders in value-based investing.

"Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets" by John J. Murphy. This book provides an encyclopedic reference for recognizing chart patterns. Exceedingly well written, this hefty book also provides information on candlesticks, Elliott Wave Theory, and some limited information on Technical Indicators. The chart pattern reference information alone is worth this price!

Additional Resources

Don't forget to check out the exclusive & typically 'free' resources provided as part of your brokerage account. These can provide information that is typically more thorough and of higher quality than the 'free' sites on the web can offer.

Finally, check back with Invicis periodically. This page is updated to reflect newly discovered and newly published resources that can help you continue developing your knowledge of the stock market and your own personal investing style.