For the Do-It-Yourself Investor Part 2: Online and Offline Research Sources

Once you have selected the right online (or discount brokerage) brokerage, it is time to find reliable sites and sources that will help you make sound stock picks that have a higher probability of being successful. You must seperate yourself from every other trader and investor who gets into the game. They say, "a sucker is born every minute", so take heed and make sure the only birth certificate you have is the one your mom gave you. Also remember that "a fool and his money are quickly departed". That means do some research and get schooled in this investment game. Do not enter this game blindly. I didn't just wind up taking some money I scrapped together and throw into a brokerage firm and blindly pick stocks that I saw in "the green" the previous trading day. I looked around and shopped around. I used various websites to see which stocks had an nice run. I didn't pay attention to the stocks at the New Lows! I paid attention to the stocks making the New Highs! Those are the winners. It doesn't matter that they are up already and trading at new highs. All you have to do is let them take a small dip (especially if they were already up 5% the previous day) and then grab them! Also pay attention to what sectors/industries are doing well. There is usually a reason for the great performance and you have to know and recognize that reason. You must recognize the stocks in those great performing industries.

So what tools can we use to find that perfect stock?

The easiest place to start, is online in the comfort of your own home, room, dorm or office!

I like to begin my research the easy way, with the simple sites.

AOL Finance - provides stocks quotes (delayed), news, data on 52wk highs, volume and even tells you how much the volume is (%) above or below average. AOL Finance also can provide (not all stocks) company profiles and even graphs showing earnings results/quarter performance (not all stocks). AOL Finance even has message boards, but they are seldom used. The only cool thing about it is that it sometimes has penny stock message boards (something Yahoo Finance doesn't have). AOL Finance also has charts as well. AOL also provides charts showing how your stock is fareing against their competition.

Yahoo Finance- is another one that I like to use. I like Yahoo Finance because of the entertaining message boards. I also like that Yahoo Finance puts a lot of data on one page (AOL Finance doesn't) Yahoo Finance also has insider information such as 'major holders', insider transactions and insider roster. In addition, Yahoo provides info on balance sheets, cash flow, income statement, analyst coverage. Yahoo even has a little technical analysis. The only problem is that Yahoo's chart are aweful! Regardless, combining Yahoo and AOL Finance together gives you some decent free tools. Yahoo Finance also covers mutual funds!

Morningstar (Morningstar.com) is top-notch for info and research for Mutual Funds, ETF's (exchange traded funds) and even stocks! Morningstar also has many analysts that constantly review different funds and stocks. Morningstar even issues its own star-rated system to let you know which stocks it feels strongly about. Morningstar also has a cool quick rank feature that lets you see the top-performing stocks in relation to their sector, earnings growth, revenue and much more! It even has a decent stock screener that you use to search for stocks that meet your qualifications and standards! I personally like the industry/sector section under markets. This shows you the top performing industries and the stocks that are in those industries!


MSN's Moneycentral is another nice site for charting, portfolio watching, charting tools and much more!

Motley Fool (www.fool.com) is a nice little site with interesting articles that focus on a wide variety of stocks, and especially growth stocks. Motley Fool also has an online community for members, including a message board.

Investors.com (www.investors.com) is the Investors Business Daily's website, where it features tons of great tools for subscribers! I really like the Stock Check which rates your stocks health (A-F) It also features all the other ratings, such as Relative Strength, Accumulation/Distribution, Earnings Growth and much more! It also has a special section called 'Stocks on the Move' which feature stocks that are rising with above average volume! There is so much more on this site than I can write down! Go and check it out for yourself and see!

Zacks (www.zacks.com) is a website that focuses mainly on stocks. It features many analysts recommendations with Strong Buy, Buy, and Sell ratings. Overall, it is a top notch site.

StockTrak (www.stocktrak.com) is a nice site that lets you play stocks with monopoly money in order to hone your skills and just practice! They set you up with a decent account ($100,000 +) and also offer you options, futures, bonds, stocks and mutual funds! It is basically like a competition with others. It's all about forging the skills and being at the number one spot!

Big Chart (www.bigcharts.com) is arguably my favorite site for charting. I really like the way you can play around with a ton of technical factors and then display the chart in a variety of ways (even candle stick, and different sizes).

StockCharts (www.stockcharts.com) is also a great charting website! I really like the fact that they provide a wide variety of charts to satisfy even the pickiest of chartists!