The 13 Steps to Investing Foolishly
Step 13: Get Fully Foolish"Like many media mavens and education experts, we believe that while a picture may be worth a thousand words, the right thousand words can change the world. You want that in technical terms? Text-based learning works better than image-based learning. Our online materials -- the stuff that can help you make money -- it's words, sentences and paragraphs, not pictures, not videos. And we're *not* sorry, because we think that words work better." -- The Motley Fool Investment Guide
Sure, you can read You Have More Than You Think, The Motley Fool Investment Guide, and Rule Makers, Rule Breakers and be more prepared to invest in today's hurly-burly markets than nine out of ten people. But how can you become better able to handle the twists and turns of individual stocks than 99 out of 100 investors?
We've got six words for you, friend, and they ain't "Call market predictor Elaine Garzarelli now." They are "Check out the Motley Fool online." To really take advantage of the vast breadth of Foolishness, you need to discover our online offerings. Online you will find hundreds of additional educational and interactive features, live online discussions, and much, much, more.
Take a quick tour of the Fool!
Ah, but if it were just that easy, we would not have dedicated a whole step to it, would we? The problem is that with reams of new material being added to this site everyday, a new Fool can easily be confused by the sprawling expanse online, wondering, "Just what the heck have I gotten myself into?" Throughout these 13 Steps we've provided links to our site to help you get a grip on just where you can find all of our content, and in this step we'll do it again.
Get Registered for Free
When you register with the Motley Fool, we'll provide you -- all for free of course -- daily updates on our content (if you desire), the opportunity to post unlimited questions (the more the better!) on our message boards, the ability to set up your own online portfolio, and the opportunity to win great prizes.
Of course, you don't need to register to read anything you'd like here, but participating in the thousands of conversations that are going on here everyday is, we believe, the best free education you can receive on all your personal finance matters.
And just what are the areas that we're covering? The first stop, as we always like to point out, is getting your personal finances in tip-top shape before embarking on any Foolish investing. In our Personal Finance section, check out our in-depth coverage on such matters as getting through college, insurance, housing, future employment, your bank, your IRA account, your 401(k) account, taxes, investing for your kids and your car.
Learn the Basics of Investing
After you're comfortable that you've got your personal finance house on a sound foundation, move over to The Fool's School for an explanation of the Dow Dividend Strategy, a tutorial on starting an investment club, the lowdown on discount brokers and mutual funds, and an explanation of dividend reinvestment plans.
Don't stop there. Possibly one of the greatest treasure-troves of investing basics can be found in the How to Value Stocks area and its sister area, Security Analysis, each featuring articles on how to value companies using earnings, cash flows, revenues, and all sorts of stuff found on the balance sheet.
Folly Online doesn't let up -- we also provide a Help Desk, with everything from Foolishly Answered Questions (FAQs) about anything imaginable to direct links to our non-stop Ask A Foolish Question message board. Believe us, if you have any questions after reading through these steps, they can and will be answered online. If you see any problems or anything you'd like done more or done better, simply drop a note at our Improve the Fool message board.
See What Happens When These Basics Are Applied
Ideas are all well and good, but what happens when they are put to the test in a real-money portfolio? Plenty of investment advisors are happy to tell you what they think you should do. Very few are willing to put their money where their mouth is and explain exactly how to manage a portfolio using a specified investment approach -- warts and all. Even fewer do so and whup the market.
Our real-money portfolios, including the Rule Breaker Portfolio, Rule Maker Portfolio, Drip Portfolio, Boring Portfolio, and Fool Four Portfolio, serve to illustrate the process of imperfectly managing your own money but still managing to better the indices over the long haul. They might not catch all the gains in a stock or always get out at the top, but we can guarantee that the results reflect all commissions and spreads that an individual investor would be charged -- and we do aim to beat the S&P 500 handily. These portfolios are designed to answer that burning question, "How do successful investors weigh the news and rumors that surround their individual stocks -- balancing risk with reward in their selection process or just plain whiling the days away?" Tune in whenever you're in the mood to find out.
Generate Investment Ideas
So you have mastered the basics and have seen what happens when they are applied. Where do you go to get your own real live investment ideas? Our Fool News is set up to tell you what the news means for the stock in order for you to get a sense of whether or not this is an investment opportunity. Not only will be you be able to keep up with what is going on with the companies you own, you will be able to get a gander at the many other companies you could own and review issues important to individual investors.
For those who cannot tune in during the week, we archive all of the week's Fool News and features into Today's Features. Bookmark it and you'll never miss your favorite features again.
In other corners of the forum, we bring you stock screens set to various Foolish criteria, and Duels featuring the pros and cons of a popular stock in a Foolish debate. We also offer information on conference calls, locating those hard-to-find replay numbers.
Talk With Others
The Motley Fool offers a plethora of research resources. You have an integrated package of Foolish resources available. Among these many resources are earnings estimates, press release databases, financial information, and historical price charts for every stock out there. Basically, the online experience offers you a wide range of resources that would have
taken you days to gather offline, while you waited for various investor information packages, press kits, and magazines to arrive in your mailbox. Instead, you can now plug into great resources like FreeEDGAR (a database of companies' SEC filings) and immediately get digging for all the cool facts and numbers that will help you evaluate your investments.
Believe us, if you have any questions after reading through these steps, they can and will be answered online.
The interactive stuff comes in when you venture to the Motley Fool's message boards. On our thousands of message boards, you can debate the value of publicly traded stocks, talk over the merits of a new approach to investing, get money-saving tips, or just ask whatever question happens to pop into your head. Try reading the Post of the Day or the daily Fribble, examples of some of the best material submitted by our readership.
Your Fool
"My Fool" allows you to quickly view your favorite message boards, portfolios, and Fool features all on one page, and to change your Fool preferences such as your e-mail address, your password, and your personal profile. Finally, My Fool lists all of the perks we offer you as a member of The Motley Fool. Check My Fool often to see the new offerings. To set up yours, click here.
Bringing it all Together
Investing is not just something you do once -- it is an ongoing process that requires time and attention. A solid, well-diversified portfolio that moves beyond the Dow Dividend Approach or other mechanical strategies requires work... work that you can do at the Motley Fool online, sharing with other Fools as you go along. Whether it is in our educational areas or out on the message boards, you can hang out with Fools and beat the pants off the Street.
Welcome, and Fool on!
The 13 Steps
What is Foolishness
- Settle Your Finances
- Setting Expectations
- Index Funds
- All About Drips
- Open a Discount Brokerage Account
- Dow Approach
- Read Financial Info
- Evaluating Businesses
- Understand Rule Maker Investing
- Consider Rule Breakers and Small Caps
- Advanced Investing Issues
- Get Fully Foolish
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The 13 Steps |
What is Foolishness |
