Investing Your Money
Investment Basics
Investor.gov, the site of the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy, includes a wealth of information on investing basics.
Money Essentials from CNN and The Street provide step-by-step guides to investments.
Library Resources
Morningstar Investment Research Center*
Provides access to data and analysis on stocks, mutual, exchange-traded and closed-end funds. You can also obtain data on a particular industry. Includes screening tools, portfolio analysis and educational features.
Value Line*
Access to Value Line's leading publications covering stocks, mutual funds, options and convertible securities, as well as special situation stocks. Company news, extensive graphing, market updates, portfolio tracking with alerts and analyst supplements in real time are included. Value Line is also available in print at the Library Center, Schweitzer Brentwood Branch Library, the Library Station and Midtown-Carnegie Branch Library.
Understanding Stocks
Investopedia can get you started with a basic introduction to stocks, types of stocks, how stocks trade and how to buy and trade them.
How to read a stock table/quote is a must for your investment knowledge.
Globe Investor offers free and unlimited stock performance analysis for Canadian and U.S. markets, including stock screening, analysis tools and quotes.
Daily Stock Prices
Weekly stock prices can be found at Barron’s Online.
Online financial news sources are a great way to keep up with your stocks. You might want to look at the following sources.
Cost-Basis Historical Stock Quotes
Figuring out your cost basis is important in determining a payment of capital gains taxes. Big Chart’s Historical Quote Utility has stock and mutual fund quotes dating back to 1970. Mergers and symbol changes disrupt the software, so contact the Library if you don’t find the quote you need.
Researching the value of old stock certificates can be a challenge. Often the company is no longer traded on any exchange or may have merged with another company or changed names.
Need to look up a ticker symbol? Try Yahoo! Finance Ticker Symbol Lookup.
Stock Indexes
A stock index groups representative stocks. If you keep track of the index, can get an idea of how the market is doing without individually looking at every stock involved in that market. There are also bond indexes, industry indexes and other tools. Major market indexes from Big Charts give you a good overall perspective.
Other stock market indexes:
Understanding Bonds
Project : invested gives you a good overview of bonds and investing strategies, as well as why and how to invest.
Yahoo! Finance Bonds Center provides an online newsletter that includes a bonds primer, rates and bond market summary.
Treasury Direct offers product information and research on all Treasury Securities.
Understanding Mutual Funds
Mutual Fund Investor’s Center covers types of funds and information about understanding fees, expenses, risks and taxes.
Try Yahoo! Mutual Fund Screener or Forbes Mutual Fund Screener to zero in on mutual funds using popular investment strategies, including Morningstar ratings and/or minimum initial purchase.
MFEA Fund Selector is useful as a screening tool and to get information on mutual funds sold by and through banks.
Understanding Commodities
Learn some basics about commodities and why you may want to invest in them from Investopedia.
Commodities involve risk and volatility. Forbes leads you to solid sites where you can check prices, get news and read commentary.
Commodity charts:
For current and historical charts and data—some as far back as 1833—use Kitco Precious Metals.
Consumer Protection
If you have been taken advantage of in a fraudulent investment scheme, you can File A Complaint online with the Missouri Securities Division. You can also call the Investor Protection Hotline at 1-800-721-7996.
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