What is the best way to fully understand Stocks and Portfolios? Pretty much investing in general?
I have loved learning about such things for years to hopefully become knowledgeble enough to prepare for my future but want to truly understand stocks and their purpose before I do. I want to make the right choices and really want to know as much as I can. Can someone please help me understand sources of interest to fully teach me the true meaning of portfolios and that sort of thing.
Suggestion by dunkadog8
I’m on a website called top10traders.com it is totally free and a great way to learn about investing. they give you 100k to invest any way you like and they rank your monthly performance against the others on the site. a great way to learn without spending any of your money
Suggestion by Joe
You should invest in a diversified mix of stocks, bonds, and money market funds. You want to buy a diversified portfolio of stocks as individual stocks are too risky. Most folks have a dificult time buying a properly balanced portfoilio of stocks on their own. They will misbalance their portfolio by buying all small stocks or all growth stocks, or some other misbalanced assortment of stocks. Unless you know what you are doing, it is best to buy mutual funds. I like Vanguard.com, other people like Fidelity, TIAA-CREF, and DFA. Buy no-load, low cost funds. If you are like most people you will invest part of your money aggressively in stock funds, and part conservatively in money market funds and bond funds. Vanguard.com has an on-line questionnaire which will give you an idea of how to do “Asset Allocation,” determining how much to put in each type of fund.
If your company offers a 401K plan at work, try to invest the most you can. The money grows tax free, and some companies will match your contribution. Investing in a mutual fund IRA is also a good idea. If you have children, you may want to consider a 529 plan or other college savings plan that grows tax free.
I like index funds. Because of their broad diversification, you are less likely to have a dramatic drop in value. They also have the lowest expenses. For stock funds, I would suggest putting ~70-80% of your money in the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. and ~20-30% in a foreign stock index fund. However, there are many different opinions out there on what the best mutual funds are. Read the links below and form your own opinion.
If you have high-interest debt, like credit cards, it is best to pay this off first before trying most of the investment ideas above. You should also have 3-6 months of salary saved up as an emergency fund in a bank or money market fund before trying more risky investments.
Believing advice you get on Yahoo answers can be risky, so read these websites for further information. If you find it too confusing, contact a professional financial advisor. They will charge you significant commissions, however.
Sources:
http://www.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/planningeducation
http://www.fool.com/school.htm
http://sec.gov/investor/pubs/assetallocation.htm
http://www.diehards.org/readsites.htm
http://finance.yahoo.com/education/begin_investing
http://finance.yahoo.com/funds/basics
Asset Allocation Calculators
(Determining how much to put in stocks and how much into bonds and money markets is a personal decision depending on your financial status. These Asset Allocation questionaires give you a rough idea how to do this. I like Vanguard best, but try some of the other sites as well.)
https://flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/FundsInvQuestionnaire?cbdInitTransUrl=https%3A//flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/planningeducation/education
https://ais2.tiaa-cref.org/cgi-bin/WebObjects.exe/DTAssetAlcEval
http://www.ifa.com/SurveyNET/index.aspx
Web forum: http://www.diehards.org/
(Many investment web forums are overrun by scam artists. This one seems the most legitimate site.)
529 plans: http://www.savingforcollege.com
Suggestion by bizzbagg
read the following books
the intelligent investor
security analysis
Add your own answer in the comments!
What are some tips for keeping my locker organized?
Hey guys,
I love to be organized but my lover is always so messy! Any tips would make me sooo happy. What’s the trick??? 
Thx guys
Suggestion by Brookie
most lockers come with hooks… use them for hanging coat/jacket(s) and your book bag… you may have a top self,… use that for putting your books for your classes… if you have some spare pen pencils markers etc…. you can buy magnetic cup thingys at stores like walmart
Suggestion by Izzy Aberg
I used to always have a super messy locker, but then I found out the trick, as some might say. It works for me, anyway. The first time you clean it out, say, at the end of a day when you don’t have to catch your bus or whatever, chuck out all the trash, take home all the old papers and stuff, and organize all your stuff by the class you use it for. Like, for example, I have my math book, notebook, and calculator all n one place. Same with all my other classes. I have a little magnetic magazine-type holder thing that i use for my planner and I always put pens and pencils and such back in my pencil case at the end of the day too. During the day, chuck any trash, file any papers, and always put stuff back where it belongs in your locker-and you will be messy-locker free forever!
What do you think? Answer below!
