Internet Resources for Investors
compiled & reviewed by Nancy Picchi, Librarian                            updated May 17, 2008

Learning the Basics
ADRs
Bonds
Ethical Investing
Financial & Company News/Info
Insurance
IPOs
Mutual Funds
Personal Finance
Regulations & Government Site
Retirement Planning
Sites for Children
Tax Links
Moving to the Next Level

Learning the Basics
American Association for Individual Investors: http://www.aaii.com
Some Free Material and Information on Site - Subscription Fee:  $29 Annual Basic
This non-profit organization provides in-depth and unbiased information on the mechanics of investing and financial analysis.  Currently, the AAII offers a number of different articles and investment guides online free to non-members. But, in order to have access to all of the excellent resources on this site, you must subscribe to their excellent service and site. The annual subscription cost for a Basic Membership is $29. 

Two Useful & Free Areas on the AAII Site:
Investing Basics: http://www.aaii.com/invbas/index.shtml
Visitors to the AAII site can use the Investing Basics area without registering and/or becoming a member.

The Best of the AAII Journal: http://www.aaii.com/journal/bestof.cfm
In order to read the Best of the AAII Journal articles, visitors must register (free) with the site.

New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com/
For a comprehensive understanding of the stock market, visit the NYSE's Education section.

The Motley Fool: http://www.fool.com/
Free, but registration required to use Portfolio feature
Started in July, 1993 by brothers David and Tom Gardner, the Motley Fool site is one of the oldest and best financial information sites on the W3.  For a sense of the prevailing Foolish spirit, read the "About" message:  http://www.fool.com/press/about.htmDon't pass up the chance to attend the Fool's School at:  http://www.fool.com/school.htm

Check out the renowned (or is it infamous?) Fool's Message Boards:  http://boards.fool.com/

Quotes & Data:  http://quote.fool.com/

Looking for a good business book on investing? Check out The Motley Fool's Top Investing Books of All Times list.

ADRs
*Note:  ADRs are shares of non-US companies that trade in the US stock market.

ADR.com: http://www.adr.com/
Free, but must agree to usage statement
Run by JP Morgan, this site touts itself as "to the internet's most complete source for worldwide financial data."  This well-organized site offers investors a wealth of valuable ADR information.  Depository Receipts Services from the Bank of New York Mellon: 
http://www.bankofny.com/adr/
Free
Spend anything more than a minute on this site and you'll understand why the AAII awarded it 5 Stars, the highest ranking.  There's so much information here that it should probably be renamed "Everything You've Always Wanted to Know About ADRs and More."  One particularly good section is the DRS: The Basics & Benefits.

Bond Information

Bonds Online: http://www.bondsonline.com
This site sports a number of helpful features, such as: 
Ask the Professor:  http://www.bondsonline.com/asp/research/askbp.asp
Bonds Glossary:  http://www.bondsonline.com/asp/research/glossary.asp

Bureau of Public Debt: http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/
Among the many nifty services available on this site is one where you can view the US public debt real time and up to the penny:  http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=npIf you have any savings bonds gathering dust in safety deposit boxes, make sure you download the Savings Bond Wizard: http://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/tools/tools_savingsbondwizard.htm, a Windows application that will help you determine the current redemption value, earned interest, and other information on your wayward SBs.

Municipalbonds.com: http://www.municipalbonds.com/

TreasuryDirect: http://www.treasurydirect.gov/
Treasury Direct is the official U.S. Government site for purchasing U.S. treasury bonds and notes.

Ethical Investing

Wikipedia's Article on Ethical Investing:  
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethical_investing

Financial & Investment News

AOL Money & Finance: http://money.aol.com/

MarketWatch: http://www.marketwatch.com/default.asp
In addition to up-to-the-minute market news, MarketWatch also offers a free portofolio-tracking service.  To gain access to this service, though, you must register/subscribe. 

Big Charts: http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/
Like CBS Market Watch, Big Charts is a free service provided by MarketWatch.com, Inc. It offers interactive charts, quotes, industry analysis, and intraday stock screeners.Bloomberg.com: http://www.bloomberg.com

Articles by Bloomberg Columnists:  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/commentary/columnists.html

Charts & Analysis :  http://www.bloomberg.com/analysis/index.html

Business Week: http://www.businessweek.com/
Free, but Premium areas for Business Week Magazine subscribers only.
Although the BW site restricts access to certain areas to subscribers, there's enough in the free area to keep everyone happy and busy! Don't miss the special Investing section, which BW presents in partnership with Standard & Poors.

Business Week Asian News:  http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/asia_index.htm
Business Week European News:  http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/europe_index.htm

CNN/Money: http://money.cnn.com/
The CNNfn.com site is now CNN/Money and is now a partnership between CNN and Money Magazine. Looking for a tutorial on Personal Finance? Then, link to CNN/Money's Money 101, which is an interactive course on managing your finances. The topic of Lesson Six is Mutual Funds and Lesson 21 is Estate Planning. In between, you'll find lessons on Saving for College and Asset Allocation. Each lesson section begins with a very helpful list of the Top Things You Should Know about the topic/area under discussion.

Forbes Magazine Online: http://www.forbes.com/

Fortune Magazine Online: http://www.fortune.com
Free, but Premium areas for Fortune Magazine subscribers only.
Looking for the list of the Fortune 500? The list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For? You can find these lists and more, by webbing on over to Fortune's List of Lists page. 

Also, don't miss CNN Money/Fortune's Personal Finance section of their site:http://money.cnn.com/pf/index.html
or CNN Money/Fortune's Career section at: http://money.cnn.com/news/economy/annie/

Hoover's Online: http://www.hoovers.com/
Free, but Premium areas reserved for Hoovers Online subscribers only.
This excellent service now has a database of over 43,000 public companies.   Don't be put off by subscription ads on the Hoover's homepage - it's not necessary to subscribe to take advantage of features like the Company Fact Sheets, which are surprisingly detailed.

Also, more in-depth reports are available for a fee and/or as part of one of Hoover's paid subscriptions.

Investors Business Daily: http://www.investors.com
Want to learn more about investing? Check out IBD's Learning Center: http://www.investors.com/learn/

Kiplinger: http://www.kiplinger.com/

MSN Money:  http://moneycentral.msn.com
This site offers a wealth of in-depth financial information. Check out the Investing Home:  http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/home.asp

The New York Times Online:  http://www.nytimes.com
Free, but your must register to use the site.

Make sure to take a look at the New York Times' Business area: http://www.nytimes.com/pages/business/index.htmlIn the NY Times Business Company Research area, you'll find a database of information on over 50,000 publicly traded companies. The NY Times Company Research section includes the following excellent tools: Historical Quote Tool (closing prices of stocks from January 1, 1970 to present), Company Financials, Interactive Charting, Earnings Estimates, Analyst Recommendations, and information on trading by company insiders.

Smartmoney.com: http://www.smartmoney.com
Free, but registration necessary to access all areas
SmartMoney, joint publishing venture of Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and Hearst Communications, offers a wealth of business information and tools. Looking for worksheets to help you determine how much you need to save for retirement? to pay college tuition(s)? - then visit Smartmoney's Personal Finance section.

Quote.com: http://www.quote.com/qc/default.aspx

Valueline Investment Survey Online:  http://www.valueline.com/
Free, but Premium areas reserved for Valueline subscribers only.
Although many areas of Valueline Online are reserved for paying subscribers, there is still quite awealth of free information on the site. Don't miss the Make sure you look at the free How to Invest Guides (provided in PDF format), and at the free Educational Section, which provides visitors with access to the free Valueline University's 4-part online course in investing.

Wall Street Journal Interactive: http://online.wsj.com/public/us
Fee:  $79 Annual (or $49 annually for print subscribers to Barron's or the Wall Street Journal
This site is worth its weight in gold---so at $79 per year, it's a bargain!  The WSJ Interactive is updated throughout the day---so don't forget to use your "refresh" button when you're viewing the site for more than 20 minutes.

Here are a number of features on the WSJ Online site that are free (don't require a subscription):
•Annual Reports for Companies - Free Access to Annual Reports in PDF format
•View Closing Stock Prices - Closing Prices for Major Exchanges

•All Things Digital by Walter Mossberg
•PC Buyer's Guide by Walter Mossburg

•CareerJournal.com - the WSJ's Career & Job portal
•Education - the WSJ's Education portal
•Small Business - the WSJ's Small Business portal

Wired TechBiz News: http://www.wired.com/techbiz/
Wired's TechBiz News provides visitors with the latest tech news, plus links to similar stories (scroll down to see this list).

Yahoo Finance & Investment Directory:
http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Finance_and_Investment/.

Yahoo Finance:
http://finance.yahoo.com/

IPOs (Initial Public Offerings)

MarketWatch IPO Watch: http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/ipo/

Hoover's IPO Central:  http://www.ipocentral.com/

Motley Fool's ABCs of IPOs: 
http://www.fool.com/Specials/1999/sp990316AboutIPOs.htm

Insurance

Insurance.com:   http://www.insurance.com/
Free
Take advantage of Insurance.com's Learning Center to find about various types of insurance.

Insure.com (formerly Quotesmithcom): http://www.insure.com/
Free
This site offers instant insurance quotes from over 200 companies!  Another neat feature is the Instant Tax Free Annuity Quotes.

Mutual Fund Information

Marketwatch Mutual Funds: http://www.marketwatch.com/funds/

Morningstar.com: http://www.morningstar.com

MSN Money's Mutual Fund Info:
http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/research/fundwelcome.asp?Funds=1

Personal Finance

Bank Rate Monitor: http://www.bankrate.com/brm/default.asp

Quicken.com: http://quicken.intuit.com/

Money Online: http://www.money.com

Business Week Personal Investing:
http://www.businessweek.com/investor/index.html

1040.com: http://www.1040.com/
Extensive tax information available here!

Regulations

Federal Reserve Bank of NY: http://www.ny.frb.org/

Internal Revenue Service:  http://www.irs.gov/FINRA - Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (formerly NASD):
http://www.finra.org/index.htm
Free
Useful features include:  NASDAQ Complaint Program: https://apps.nasd.com/Investor_Information/complaints/complaintCenter.asp

Request Information About Your Broker:  http://www.nasdr.com/2000.htm
Investor Education :  http://www.finra.org/EducationPrograms/index.htm

New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com/
For a comprehensive understanding of the stock market, visit the NYSE's Education section:
http://www.nyse.com/about/education/1022630233386.html

National Fraud Information Center: http://www.fraud.org/

Security & Exchange Commission: http://www.sec.gov/
Free
This government site---the SEC--includes the

Edgar Database of Corporate Information: http://www.sec.gov/edgarhp.htm

Searching for Ownership Information about a Web Site: http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jsp

Retirement Planning

Analyze Now!: http://www.analyzenow.com/
In a 2006 Wall Street Journal article (Saturday/Sunday, July 22-23, 2006), journalist Kelly Greene highlighted this no-nonsense website by Henry Hebeler, as one of the "most comprehensive calculators we have come across." The site features both free and paid programs. Click on "Free Programs" in the lefthand margin navigation panel to access to eight free programs/spreadsheets ranging from a program to help you decide whether to take Social Security at 62, 66, or 70 to a free post-retirement budgeting program.

Firecalc (Financial Independence/Retire Early): http://www.firecalc.com/
Firecalc touts itself as "a different kind of retirement calculator." The site notes that it attempts to help you answer the following question: "With what you have today, and what it costs you to live, can you retire and maintain the same lifestyle?" Before you begin, make sure you read the introduction to the Firecalc approach. Once you've done that, then try the Standard Firecalc Calculator and then move onto the Advanced Firecalc Calculator.

T.Rowe Price Retirement Income Calculator: http://www3.troweprice.com/ric/RIC/

Moving to the Next Level

William Sharpe's Pages:  http://www.stanford.edu/~wfsharpe/
Free
This no-nonsense site offers you the chance to read the latest investment philosophy of Nobel prize winning economist William Sharpe.  While you're checking out Mr. Sharpes' online textbook, you should also web on over to his for-profit site, www.financialengines.com.

Investment Sites for Children

Moneyopolis:  http://www.moneyopolis.com/
Free  Sponsor:  Ernst & Young

Please Note:  This list and commentary has been compiled by Nancy Picchi, Librarian.   The commentary is copyrighted, Nancy Picchi, 1996-2008.

© Copyright, Nancy Picchi 1996-2008

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Last Updated: May 17, 2008