The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing

The essential stock market guide, now updated with even more timely and necessary information

Now in its fifth edition, The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing has established itself as a clear, concise, and highly effective approach to stocks and investment strategy. Rooted in the principles that made it invaluable from the start, this completely revised and updated edition of The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing shares a wealth of information, including:

• What has changed and what remains timeless as the economy recovers from the subprime crash 

• All-new insights from deep historical research showing which measurements best identify winning stocks

• A rock-solid value averaging plan that grows 3 percent per quarter, regardless of the economic climate

• An exclusive conversation with legendary Legg Mason portfolio manager Bill Miller, revealing what he learned from the crash and recovery

• Thoroughly updated resources emphasizing online tools, the latest stock screeners, and analytical sites that best navigated recent trends 

Accessible and intelligent, The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing is what every investor needs to keep pace in the current market.

Read more here: The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing: 2013 Edition

3 Ways You’re Overpaying for Your Brokerage Account

This guest article was written by Neda Jafarzadeh, a financial analyst with NerdWallet Investing. NerdWallet Investing helps investors select better mutual funds for their 401(k) plans, find the best 529 plan, and make smarter investment decisions overall.

Investing online is a great way to grow your assets but it’s also has become a huge industry for brokerage firms looking to do the same at your expense. While you may need a broker to assist you with placing your trades, you can still make sure he keeps his hands out of your pockets as much as possible. Here are a few ways that your current brokerage firm might be taking more than their fair share:

1. Charging high rates for things you don’t want, know about, or can get elsewhere

What do Scottrade, TD Ameritrade, TradeKing, and Cobra Trading have in common aside from providing brokerage accounts? They all use the same third parties for trade execution services: Knight, Citadel, UBS and Citigroup. Scottrade and TD Ameritrade are name-brand brokerage firms that charge high rates on trades while TradeKing and Cobra Trading are deep discounters offering the same service at a lower cost.

You might think that another way to avoid paying a lot for execution fees is to limit your trading, but that won’t save you either. Many firms charge annual account fees and inactivity fees - penalties that you’ll only see in the fine print.

In addition, you may also be paying up for real-time market information. While most data can be up to ten minutes old, which isn’t a problem unless you’re a day trader, you may unnecessarily be paying more for real-time information.

2. Discount brokerage firms are every bit as reliable as household names

If you’re looking to save some money but are choosing a brand-name broker because you think the service will be more reliable, think again. Deep discount firms are required to be registered with the SEC and retain membership with FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) and SIPC (Securities Investor Protection Corporation). Translation: Every brokerage firm is held to the same stringent regulations, meaning that each firm is as trustworthy as any other.

While the levels of customer service may vary, every firm is essentially providing the same service under the same requirements. So what are these name-brand brokerage firms charging you so much more for? They use the money to pay overhead costs including covering their advertising budgets. According to a NerdWallet study, the three largest online brokerages (Schwab, TD Ameritrade, and E-trade) spent only 12% of their expenses on trade execution with the rest going to cover overhead costs including paying 11% of the money on their advertisements. By comparison, discount brokers spent an average of 59% on trade execution.

3. They’re not telling you that some fees are negotiable

Think of online brokerage firms as open markets instead of chain retail stores – the prices are not set in stone. Since most firms provide the exact same services (see above), they know that you can take your business elsewhere and are often willing to work with you to keep your business – provided your business is worth it to them. If you have at least $50,000 in a trading account or execute at least ten trades a month, things like account fees, trade commissions, margin rates, and data subscriptions may be negotiable. Take the initiative and approach your firm about receiving a better set of terms, and you’ll notice the savings immediately.

The World's Largest Trading Community | How You Can Benefit From It

Sure it is hard to make money with stock trading. Many try to make money and like to build up a passive income but most of them fail because they have no idea what they do.

When I started to invest my first money into stocks, it was at the top of the technology bubble in the year 2000, the market was definitely oversold. Everybody knows that and the market valuations were very high. But I was an idiot because I had no idea about everything. I just wanted to buy some stocks and learn how to make money with stock trading.

As you know, the market crashed and I lost nearly all of my invested capital. There were two good things: First, I only put 10 percent of my full net worth into stocks and second, I sold not all stocks.

Some of my stock holdings recovered and I got my money back. But a zero return over five or eight years is also a bad performance as you might know.

Why not learning from others? Sure not everybody is a top trader from which you can learn and cover his strategies. I believe that you must build your own trading philosophy.

You can make money with everything which has a daily market price. Some underlying assets run well others don’t move.

eToro has created the world’s largest investor community with over 1.5 million active traders which you can follow and copy for free. 

I believe it is a great tool to sharp your investment skills and to meet new people with the same interests and problems. Not enough, if you are good enough and you have some followers, you get paid by the network. Yes, eToro pays you if any of your followers makes a buy. The top copied trader in the network made a five-figure amount in only a few months.

Just look at the video and step into the world of etoro. It’s a completely free community where you can find other interesting guys like me. Here is the link:

Copy from the best traders – Join the largest investment network!

Option Trading For Beginners | A Small Guide Of How You Can Make Money With Binary Options

The following article was written by our guest blogger Eddie Miller from Binarypedia.com. Binary options are one of the online trading platforms that have become popular and they are great for beginners who want to sharpen their skills on trading. The article is not sponsored, so I don't earn any fees or commissions by publishing his article. I personally think it is a great source to get more educated.

What are binary options?

Royal Stock Exchange London

Many people ask about what are binary options because they are willing to use this mode for increasing their financial resources. Binaries are known like different types of options, including digital options, and options for Fixed Return (FROs), each category indicating the 0-1 kind of options. This is as there are 2 possible results in any binary option; all of those are taken by investor before purchasing option.

1 - Is if at end of time, Microsoft is still more than at time option was obtained, then we would pay investor almost $17.10 return. 

0 - Would shares be reduced, as we will return investor almost $1.50. 

Details about what are binary options could be obtained and used for increasing chances of success. This shows that when contract is obtained, investor understands that he would receive either almost $17.10 or almost $1.50. These figures will definitely be much higher, the higher the investment. A financing of almost $1,000 along with almost 71% payout would result in almost $1,710 return or almost $150 refund. 

There are 3 major changes among binary options as well as routine (known also vanilla) options. 

If anyone is aware of what are binary options then he is able to use that knowledge for increasing benefits and returns. The reduced term many expiry times indicate investors could make an urgent profit through their set return options as are more optional in their flexible investments. 

As in vanilla type options, a professional pays on the basis of contract, like that point. Occasionally investor would get gain or lose on any amount depending upon number of the points, and difference among expiry level as strike price. Alternatively, in the binary options, in which 2 outcomes are also set from start. Any investor may hold on his option till expiry time. He must then take increased care when obtaining his options like he cannot give them once those are purchased. 

Online modes are helpful in getting details about what are binary options and using them for making final decisions. Dealing binary options also is an original and interesting way of investing into financial markets. These are more easy and elastic than customary options but like with all savings, planning in advance is an essential part of ensuing. 

Binary options also are an electrifying new kind of speculation. Rather than obtaining the advantage itself, investors know how to speculate in what direction they guess an advantage will go in. When any binary option has been purchased on that platform, an agreement is shaped which provides the purchaser (known also as investor) right to purchase an original benefit at a set price, inside a particular time framework to others, the sellers. In this manner details about what are binary options are helpful for users and they can gain a lot in a short time period. Proper strategies are required for making sure that all the areas are considered with care. When proper arrangements are made then the chances of success are increased leading to long term benefits. Many people are using these modes and getting good results.

10 Of The Best Performing Growth Stocks From The Past Decade | A Review

Apple - AAPL
Best Growth Stock Pick

Best performing stocks from the last decade originally published at "long-term-investments.blogspot.com". We all love it to see how our investments grow. Not enough, we spent much more time for searching those stocks that tenfold over the next ten years.

Have you ever had some stocks that doubled in a year, quadrupled in five years and even tenfold in ten years? I do. But I sold the stocks before they started to run. No good choice from me.

Only growth can make you rich. If you buy a stock at a low market capitalization and the company grows over the next twenty years with rates around the double-digit rage, your wealth will follow.

So, let’s spent some time and learn from the best growth stocks of the recent decade. Many of the other top stocks were indeed small and obscure, however. Eight of the companies were valued below $100 million a decade ago. And four of the companies still have market caps below $1 billion, even with the remarkable returns they were able to generate over the past decade.

Only two stocks of the best growth stocks from the past decade pay dividends as of now. But they have much more to offer: Growth and cash!

5 Things You Should Consider Before You Start Trading Stocks Online

Buying stocks online gives you the possibility to make cheap stock trades and save money. The lowest stock trading rate I found was at interactive brokers (IB). I could make a trade at IB for a dollar. This allows me to buy several smaller positions of around a thousand dollar. The benefit is a better price mix if the stock price falls. The lowest commission or fee is not the only aspect you should consider when you trade stocks online. I made a small check list what your stock broker should offer.

The top online stock trading services should provide you with all the resources you need to make well-informed financial choices and the ability to buy and sell stocks from anywhere, including from your cell phone. Some support resources include educational materials such as articles, real–time charts, streaming news, investment calculators and a user-friendly trading platform.

Here are the 5 Points:

1. Fees/Commissions
Fees and commissions can quickly escalate, most services charge fees for trades, broker assisted trades, option trades and so on. Fees and margin rates as well as requirements like minimum account balances and account maintenance fees are very important.

2. Investments Offered
Generally, all online stock trading services offer the ability to buy and sell stocks, options, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds. However, comprehensive services also provide access to a selection of international markets as well as investment services or options for retirement and education saving.

3. Trading/Investment Tools
Buy and selling stocks without the assistance of a broker can be intimidating. Online stock trading services should provide educational resources as well as monitoring tools. The best online brokers offer tools such as investment calculators, analyst reports, cell phone alerts and useful charts, chains or graphs.

4. Ease of Use
Not all investors are pros; many are just starting out or only have a small amount to invest, so we looked for services that are easy-to-use for everyone, regardless of experience. The best online brokers also offer free assistance such as tutorials, articles, FAQs, blogs and so on. Additionally, some also offer one-on-one training.

5. Support/Customer Service
Because buying and selling stocks online can be a bit nerve racking, the best services provide excellent support by telephone, email, instant messaging and chat.

What item is most important for you and what do you pay for a stock trade? Let me know below in my comment area...

My 5 Cheapest Stock Broker To Buy Stocks Online

Investors should know the best online stock brokers to trade with. Out there are many stock brokers which offer stocks to buy online for a cheap commission. In addition, they offer free trades, low margins and best services.  Not all are good, not all are cheap but I've tried to find the top 5 stock broker for trading stocks online. Below are the results.

1. ETRADE was ranked #1 Online Broker 2011 by StockBrokers.com. ETRADE offers trading anytime, anywhere with Etrade Mobile Pro and Power ETRADE Pro offers active traders world class trading tools. The broker, known for its baby commercials, also offers investment guidance with professional representatives. Current ETRADE Offer: Trade free for 60 days (500 free trades max) + Get up to $500 with any new account!

2. TD Ameritrade with its platforms thinkorswim and Trade Architect, won Best Overall Platform and Best Web Based Platform, respectively, in the 2012 StockBrokers.com Review*. The broker also offers a wide offering of 3rd party research reports, no account fees, and a variety of banking services for its clients. Current TD Ameritrade Offer: Trade free for 60 days + Get up to $600 with any new account! 

3. TradeKing offers investors fantastic customer service, ultra competitive trade commissions, and is home to the Trader Network with over 200,000 investors all sharing trade ideas, research, and market analysis. Current Offer: Switch to TradeKing and get up to $150 in transfer fees reimbursed.

4. OptionsHouse was the only online broker rated 5 Stars for both "Commissions & Fees" and "Ease of Use" in the StockBrokers.com 2012 Broker Review*. OptionsHouse offers $3.95 flat fee trades alongside two flexible rates for options trading: up to 5 contracts for $5 or $8.95 + $.15 per contract. Current Offer: Receive 100 free trades with any new account! 

5. Scottrade was honored the award Best Overall Client Experience 2012 with its top of line customer support. Scottrade has over 500 local branch offices for personal service - the largest network out of any of the online brokers - and offers competitive $7 flat-fee stock trades. Scottrade clients can also take advantage of premium trading tools through the Scottrade Elite and OptionsFirst platforms.

An additional broker and not listed here is Interactive Brokers. I use this provider for my most trading activities because I am not a US Citizen. Which broker do you use?