Stock Investing

Yahoo Finance - More Than Stock Quotes

Yahoo Finance is one of my favorite sites for stock market and financial information. At Yahoo Finance, you get a lot more than just stock quotes and closing prices, like other websites offer. Key in a stock symbol to get 3 month, 6month, 1 year, 2 year, or 5 year price graphs. Then scroll down to HEADLINES and REPORTS to view recent related news stories, and find out why that stock went up or down.

Over on the left, click on Message Board to access a chat board where you can yack it up with other investors about the company. Or click Profile to access a comprehensive company profile for a stock, which includes the address, phone number, website, business summary, the names of the board members (with salaries) and a boatload of other facts & figures.

Click on Analyst Opinions to find out what savvy brokers are recommending in terms of Buy, Hold or Sell decisions for a company's stock. You can also get earnings history, estimates, view the company's SEC Filings, and see what companies are direct competitors. Want dirt? Click Insider Roster to see what stock trades are being made by company insiders. Is the CEO selling? Are board members buying? Find out!

If you take a few minutes to enter your portfolio data, you can track the value of your investment in each stock or mutual fund, your total portfolio value, and links to other really cool stuff. You can create multiple portfolios too. If you have a handful of individual stocks, you might put them in one portfolio and an IRA or brokerage account in separate portfolios. I recently discovered another very nice side effect of setting up a Yahoo portfolio. If you also create a "My Yahoo" personal start page, it will include a snapshot view of your portfolio(s), with links to view the full portfolio detail or additional information on any of the holdings -- very handy!

Hoover's Company Capsules

Vacuum up a goldmine of business intelligence at Hoover's. Find vital stats for for more than 40,000 companies with description, contact information, web links, the latest stock quotes, and more. Hoovers offers both the company capsules (for free) and the expanded company profiles (for a membership fee).

Hoover's staff of editors and researchers provides daily updates to vital business information, such as news stories, press releases, income statements, balance sheets, cash flow, stock quotes, earnings estimates, and industry information.

Stocks at About.com

Ken Little is the site guide for the Stocks topic on About.com's excellent family of websites. Ken will help you analyze investments and investment strategies. You'll find Internet investment tools and links to good analysis, charting, and portfolio management software. He doesn't recommend specific stocks, but does steer you toward tools and information needed to make good decisions.

Ken says "Investing in stocks may seem like a complicated process, however I believe most people with a little guidance in the right direction can make informed decisions about which stocks to buy or sell. It is my goal to give you the tools and the confidence to make your own decisions." At this site you'll also find links to learn more about investing for beginners, finding a broker, bonds, how to evaluate stocks, investing strategies, and stock scams to avoid.

Online Brokers

Online brokers have been around for just a few years, but already they have captured a large chunk of the retail investor market. You've probably read stories about "day traders" who seek their fortune buying and selling stock online - sometimes holding shares for only a few minutes. You don't have to go to that extreme to reap the benefits of online investing. Online broker sites offer well-informed investors the opportunity to execute their own buy/sell transactions and save big on brokerage fees. If you want to join the fray, here are some online brokerages that are rated highly:

• Charles Schwab - http://www.schwab.com
• E*Trade - http://www.etrade.com
• Fidelity - http://www.fidelity.com
• TD Ameritrade - http://www.TDameritrade.com

I have not personally used any of these extensively, so don't blame me if you lose your shirt in the market. On the other hand, if you make a killing in online investing, I want you to remember all the good advice I gave you. You can find more in-depth reviews of these and many other online brokers at the Gomez Scorecard site, which is a great place to find ratings and reviews of MANY consumer services.

Got something to say about online investing? Post your comments below...