(by 2 people)
Many of us are tired of media coverage of the markets, which is designed to be shallow and sensational and also have come to realize that the industry is full of kickbacks and hidden fees.
This situation has left many of us wondering where to look for unbiased information. For those who are sick of hearing "strong buy!", I present a list of educational resources and thoughtful writing.
Hope you enjoy it!
Learning the basics
- What are bonds?
- A bond is a promise to repay a sum of money with a certain interest rate over a certain period of time. This site provides a good description or different types of bonds.
- Stock basics
- A stock is partial ownership in a company. This article from Investopedia is a pretty good description.
- The Federal Reserve
- It's worth learning about the Federal Reserve and what they actually do, since it's something that's talked about frequently but poorly understood.
Research Resources
- Yahoo! Finance
- This is my favourite online resource for an overview of price history, option chains, news results, key statistics, just about anything you can think of.
- IVolatitility
- One of the few things not covered very well by Yahoo Finance is option volatility. This is a good place to look if you're interested in options trading.
Thoughtful online writing
- John Mauldin
- John Mauldin writes a free weekly email newsletter, "Thoughts from the Frontline". His business is in advising qualified investors about hedge funds, so in this letter he doesn't have anything to push.
His writing is drawn from many paid-sources and is quite in-depth. I also highly recommend his book, which is linked below. - The Stalwart
- For a little less depth, but more frequent, colorful commentary, the Stalwart is a great blog which seems to pride itself on not getting caught up in the hype.
Brokers I have used
- Interactive Brokers
- It certainly took me a while to find this brokerage, and I wish someone had pointed it out sooner. Comissions as low as $1, instruments in different currencies all around the world, great prices on options. It even has a programmatic API. It does require you to download special software, so this is more for the serious trader/investor, but you'll save a lot in fees if you put the time in.
- Scottrade
- Scottrade also has fantastic comissions, have walk-in storefronts if you'd rather open an account in person and they let you make trades from their website.
Like Interactive Brokers, the service offering is minimal, but I believe it's wise to find the cheapest comissions possible and take financial advice from someone who isn't being paid based on how much they sell you.
Recommended Reading
- Bull's Eye Investing
- This book has a terrible title, but is one of the best investment books I've ever read. It does a great job of covering market mythology and uses a lot of real data to make its points.
- Financial Reckoning Day
- A little alarmist, but very good coverage of the financial issues facing the United States in the future. The stuff that no one really talks about.
- Just One Thing
- Another incredible book edited by John Mauldin (no, I don't know him :) ). This one has some great essays by several top money managers, but with plenty of application to your own investing.
- Wall Street Meat
- Andy Kessler's story of being an analyst during the dot-com era, and the pressures he faced to talk up investment banking clients. This book is particularly cool, as he worked with many of the now infamous analysts who caved to the pressure.
- Fooled by Randomness
- This is one of the most obnoxious books I've ever read, but also one of the best. Most of us are vaguely aware that many people are successful by luck alone, but probably not the extent to which this is true.
Nassim Taleb explains many statistical concepts in a manner that is amusing and patronizing. If you like this sort of thing (and I do), this book is incredible.
