Business & Finance

I'm a staying home Mom who loves numbers and computer. So my husband suggest that I should learn about the stock marketing and try to make some money out of it, even if it's going to be for our retirement. I'm 27, am I too old to start? I'm totally ignorant about stock marketing. Do know know where I should start? Thank you!

You are never to old or young to start.

Here is some reading material that can get you started in the right direction,
The first book you should read is Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
Then try some of these
What Works on Wall Street by James O'Shaunessey
Beating the Street by Peter Lynch
One Up on Wall Street by Peter Lynch
The Warren Buffett Way by Robert Hagstrom
Mastering the Trade” by John Caster
How to Make Money in Stocks” by William O’Neil
24 Essential Lessons for Investment Success by William O’Neil

Get into the habit of making daily visits to some websites like MSN Money and Yahoo Finance. (http://moneycentral.msn.com/home.asp http://finance.yahoo.com/ )

While at MSN following the strategy lab analysts to get a feel for what the pros are doing and why. This site has some basic information for beginners. If any site offers free information, take it.

Other website that can provide instructions and help with procedures and terminology are
Investopedia - http://www.investopedia.com/ Stock Charts - http://stockcharts.com/
http://www.investorshub.com/ http://www.1source4stocks.com/

Visit some of the more professional websites like Zacks - http://www.zacks.com/
Smart Money - http://www.smartmoney.com/ Schaeffer’s – http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/
Some of these web sites will have advertisers who are worth looking into also. And remember, if they offer free information, get it.

Mutual Fund companies as well as ETFs have an entire array of products many will fit your needs. You can go to the MSN.Money website
http://moneycentral.msn.com/home.asp it has an entire section on mutual funds and Exchange Traded Funds. Read about the various products and in doing so you will be getting investment ideas and at the same time educating yourself about investing.

You could also contact the funds companies for more information. I have found that Vanguard & Fidelity can meet your needs for mutual funds. The service and information they provide is all free and you will find it helpful.

Regardless of what you decide, do not ever let anyone tell you not to invest, especially those that do not invest themselves.

Good luck, study hard and you'll invest well, don't ever forget the little ones

It's great that you are starting young. I recommend 'The Warren Buffett Way' by Robert G. Hagstrom, Jr.

I would recommend "The Zulu Principle" by Jim Slater.

you're really recommending books from the "..for dummies" series on a topic such as investment? wow, hate to see your financial report!

Start reading all you can online. A good site is www.motleyfool.com. Investing isn't rocket science, but it's also something you should gain a basic understanding of before you dive in (purchase anything). There are other boards online like to motley fool too. Watch the money channels so you can get familiar with vocabulary. Take you time in learning, spend sometime each day and take it slow....set a goal of making your first trade in a month or so, after you feel confident enough to do so.

Have fun, and best of luck!

What helped me was reading a book called the basics of stocks" by Gerald Krefetz. The book is old but the knowledge is still the same. Ignore the chapter on technical analysis, he tries to summarize technical analysis in one chapter. That is another book of itself. Read this book first. here is the isbn #. 0793103592. The book is old and can be hard to find so I included a url for you.
http://product.half.ebay.com/_W0QQprZ121…
"Value Investing made easy"- by Janet lowe, (only read the first 4 chapters). This book gives you a formula that will help you find steal stocks.
Warren Buffett and the Interpretation of Financial Statements: The Search for the Company with a Durable Competitive Advantage- This book will explain the terminology. For instance money has many different terms like cheese, chedder, dead presidents, grean, big head ones and ect. but it all means money.
"Big profits from small stocks" by samuel case. This book was written to help find value in small stocks but the formulas and knowledge can be applied to mid and large cap stocks as well.
Finally look at my sources especially the about.com articles listed in the sources section. Here are some websites that are crucial in helping you understand what the formulas mean in plain language". UTILIZE THEM TRUST ME. (READ ALL OF BEGINNERINVEST.ABOUT ARTICLES-)
investopedia.com and yahoo answers,
http://www.morningstar.com/Cover/Stocks.…
http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks
I have been watching the stocks and buying a few shares since I was 18; however when I went to college I became lazy and lost interest (spending time on unhealthy things). I have been blessed by GOD to learn so much in the past 2 years and now I am on to technical analysis (just utilizing 4 tools right now) and option contracts.
Also, you need to look at other books about the stock market b/c some authors explain some formulas and concepts better than others. ***Think of it like talking to your familiy/friends about an issue. Some people complicate things while others simplify what is complicated***
Also if you need access to the annual and quarterly reports you can use the sec (security and exchange commission) to view them. This is the way I started but it is very time consuming and complicated.Do this only after you have had extensive experience reading annual reports. Some are easy and some are complex. For instance here are 2 examples of 2 companies I have been tracking look at them and you will see what I am talking about. (Jennifer convertibles-JEN and Radian Group-RDN)
http://sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/80681…
http://sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/89092…
After 3 months I was directed to 2 other sources that really simplified the process and I have been using them for close to 2 years; rueters.com and morningtar.com. Both give you access to the 10-K and 10-Q reports and they give you the answers. I prefer reuters.com b/c they go in more detail and show the info for the TTM(trailing 12 months) however morningtar.com just adds it up for you.***look at the examples I have listed below*** On the bright side morningstar does give you the 10 year report and they put all the info on one page without having to switch from annual to quarterly like reuters.com. In addition they (morningstar.com) gives you the answer for the previous years (that way you know you your answers are right). Rueters doesn't. Here's and example of a stock I have been following b/c I want to buy there option contracts***ticker symbol-DTG*** and here is there 10-k and10-Q reports from each site. http://quicktake.morningstar.com/StockNe…
http://quicktake.morningstar.com/StockNe…
http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/in…
http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/in…
http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/ra…
I have used both to verfify my answers to make sure I am doing it correct. Sometimes morningstars answers will br different than reuters. The reason why is b/c morningstar uses the bottom line net income to calcluate net profit margin, return on equity, return on assets and ect. Rueters just uses net income after taxes to find the net profit margin and return on assets and they use net profit before extra items to find the return on equity. Also to find operating margin you should exclude interest expense, unfortunately retuers adds it to operating expenses depending on the business (interest expense is an operational cost for some companines to do business, but it should be subtracted after operation expenses to find the true operating margin. Also it is never to late to learn, I am a 28 year old college student and I have plenty of work to show you how GOD has guided me in the process. Also read this final book, it will make everything make